Breaking Down Memphis' Defense against Georgia State

Memphis defeated Georgia State 38-16 in a game where the defense dominated the second half. Jordon Hankins’ unit allowed just 76 of Georgia State’s 389 total yards in the latter half of the game. Notably, Memphis surrendered only 49 rush yards against a Georgia State team that rushed for 191 yards on 5.5 yards per rush.

Hankins discussed the game in his weekly press conference.

“I don’t care about yards,” Hankins said. “There’s only two lines that matter on that football field, and it’s the one that gives up points.”

The defense lived up to that billing in this game, as they only allowed 16 points (all in the first half) despite surrendering 340 passing yards.

The Good

Memphis shut down the Georgia State run game in emphatic fashion. This was one of the biggest keys to success for Memphis’ defense in this game. Georgia State ran more inside zone and duo runs than gap scheme runs (run plays with blockers pulling across the formation), but when they did go to counter runs, Memphis had it sniffed out almost every time. This is one of many examples where Pooda Walker does a nice job absorbing blockers, and preventing them from climbing to the second level. When this happens, the backside linebacker (Sam Brumfield in this case), has a good chance to make the tackle.

Even when Georgia State went to zone blocking when running the ball, Memphis had no issues with it. William Whitlow splits the left guard and center to blow up the play.

This was a key play for the defense. They had been getting gashed through the air at this point and had given up a back-breaking third-and-12 conversion (more on this later) the series prior to this. Whitlow made this play happen by being too quick off the ball for tight end to make his “gap down” block on him. This allowed DeMarco Ward to stonewall the runner short of the line to gain.

The Bad

Memphis got shredded on seam throws (especially in the first half). Georgia State was able to find holes in Memphis’ defense when they played a 2-high safety shell.

Kamari Wilson and Chris Bracy did not have strong performances vs Georgia State. Bracy is in a tough spot here. Memphis is in cover 0 on this play, which means its man-to-man across the board, while sending 6 to rush the passer. Typically, a DB in man coverage when the call is 0 does not backpedal as much as they normally would. This is because the quarterback usually gets the ball out fast vs cover 0. Bracy stays flat-footed and gets blown by, and TJ Finley gets the ball out just in time. It is easy to understand what Bracy was thinking here, but it is still frustrating to see a third-and-long converted like this.

There were two instances where Memphis was in a drop 8 coverage on third down and allowed a conversion. In this clip, Wilson is the middle-field “pole runner” in a Tampa 2 defense. His depth puts him in a spot where he is over the top of the crosser that Finley throws. Brumfield is a hook defender responsible for the middle of the field, and it is arguable that he does not get enough depth in his zone.

This clip is an example of something else that happened twice. Memphis sends a 5-man pressure, with one of the blitzers coming from a depth that makes it very tough for the blitz to come through. Getting pressure with a blitzer from this depth is tough. Finley has too much time to find a man against only six DBs, with essentially four rushers for most of the play. He does escape the pocket here, but he is able to find a receiver and convert third-and-long again.

Overall, for Memphis’ defense this was a tale of two halves when it came to defending Georgia State’s pass game. Hankins said he did not believe they played any harder in the second half than they did in the first half. The improvement was a matter of positioning players in better spots and giving different pressure looks.

“Pressures, just different ways of pressures, playing on an edge up front,” Hankins said. “We put ourselves in better positions, we didn’t have as bad of pursuit angles.”

Hankins mentioned the missed tackles, and how bad pursuit angles are what lead to missed tackles.

While Memphis was strong against the run, there is a lot to clean up within their pass defense (specifically safeties and linebackers). Memphis will try to build on its second-half performance when it visits Troy on Saturday, Sept. 13, at 11 a.m.