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Originally Posted by DataBull |
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Someone asked about the 4-2-5 defense and the moderator jammed it into the NCAA 14 Q & A thread. I'm not sure why, so I'll answer the question here since it is generic to all versions of NCAA.
I started running the mostly out of the 4-2-5 last year. The reality is that a lot of passing happens in college football today, and the 4-2-5 is a way to help defend that while still giving you a chance to stop the run. In this year's version especially, I have found difficulty stopping heavy run teams. Generally, if they are running into the middle of the field a blitz can help stop that. Also, I'll sometimes user the DT and try to help him bust through the line, which seems to be a bit more effective this year.
The outside run is problematic to defend since you don't have linebackers on the outside to shut that down. QB contain can work in that instance, but can open you up on the inside against a smart player. Also the base Cover 2 leaves the corners down low where they can bust up sweeps and screen passes.
In general, like most flavors of defense in NCAA, zone defense works better to shut down the run, and man works better to shut down the pass. If I have the talent, you can formation sub in the 4-2-5 to help both scenarios. With five alignments, I'll put better run support safeties in run alignments, and better pass coverage safeties and LBs in one or two of the alignments. Then I can switch between them to get help stop the run or the pass as needed.
Still, I've found the need to put 4-4 and 5-2 alignments into my playbook to slow down those teams that really rely on a power running game. The 3-4 Predator is also a good alignment to have against the run.
Hope this helps.
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Well, you don't want to really run 4-2-5 or any nickel based defense vs a run heavy team with multiple tight ends on the field. The 4-2-5 is really just the 4-3, or any even front defense, with an additional strong safety replacing the sam linebacker. This was done in order for the base defense personell to be able to (1) be able to defend the spread offense and (2) be able to stay on the field for hurry up.
It *can* stop the heavy running game however your better off subbing in more meat instead of having your nickel backs bang heads vs tight ends all game.