A change in philosophy due to personnel being better. We basically relied on our front 4 all night against max protection, and don't have the pure cover guys to do that if we don't get home, which we didn't. I think we overestimated our fronts ability to get pressure, and over-estimated our coverage against them and came in with a poor gameplan that didn't help those DL and DBs out.
Last year, we knew we needed to go bend but don't break with our youth. We were multiple. Yes, the 3-man front HELPED us as I argued with many how much worse things could have been. The Miami game was exhibit A.
We gave different looks. Were multiple. We sacrificed a little in the run game to give numbers on the back end and keep teams off the scoreboard. It was much harder for teams to sustain drives and hit big plays lasat year than it was for Miami with the approach we came in with Saturday night. FYI, our run defense was always going to be bad with that much youth, but our scheme made it worse, all the while making the total defense better. Just go back and watch the LSU game. We played 4-2-5 19 of 33 snaps in the first half. We dropped guys like Sylla/White in a 3-3-5 look 7 times. When it was obvious passing downs, we brought in M Harris/White/Sylla for edge presence. We did none of that against Miami. It was as if we thought we could man up better this year and it bit us in the ass. Clearly, we can not.
Unlike many on here, I believe Durkin did an okay job in 2022 with the hand he was dealt. Terrible run defense, but total defense and scoring defense was solid, and with the youth we played, those numbers were mostly expected. But Saturday night, he did a horrible job scheming up any kind of help for our DL. Offense was 90% the issue last year. This year, it was basically the exact opposite, where defense was 90% the issue.