UH Defensive 3-4 Install

Understanding the evoultion of the 5-2 Defense.



The late 1950's were dominated by both the Split-T and Wing-T offenses in college football. Coaches flocked to schools such as Oklahoma to get a taste of Split-T option football or the down-the-line option by the Wing-T attack.



Bud Wilkinson knew that coaches were using the Split-T option the way he did and feared that his juggernaut would soon be tested by the kind of football that he himself had designed. The only thing to do in this circumstance was devise an offense to beat it. The defense was about to catch up with the offense.



As with all coaches, Wilkinson knew that offense wins games and defense wins championships. To combat the Split-T defense, Wilkinson invented the 5-2. The Okie Defense called for both inside linebackers to stack behind the nose guard and defensive tackle whenever the QB moved to either side, and then move to any bubbles left by the defensive linemen.



By stacking the LB's, the defense made it difficult for the OG's to block them or prevent them from clogging the running lanes used by the half-back on the dive. Once the dive began to fail gaining yardage, the option began faltering.



The Okie Defense also featured four secondary defenders. When the Split-T option showed, the four-man secondary rotated to the offensive point of attack. The defense, in essence, was able to get an additional defender across the center line and end up with more defenders than blockers, thus stopping the option. Notre Dame used this mirroring type of defensive strategy to beat Wilkinson at his own game and put an end to the Sooners' 48-game winning streak.



Because the extra defensive lineman makes this a strong defense against the run, it is more popular in

leagues (or specific situations) that favor the running game. Thus, this defense is most often used in middle school and little league, and occasionally in different looks and variations in the NFL or college. The 5-2 used to be more popular in college football, when the running game was much more prevalent; for example, teams in the 1980s would often employ the 5-2 to combat the extremely run-oriented offenses of the time.From the mid-1950s until the early 1990s, the 5-2 was the base formation for most teams in the Big Eight Conference, due to the powerful rushing attacks of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Oklahoma Sooners, and later in the 1980s, the Colorado Buffaloes. Currently, the Arizona Cardinals use this defense regularly, in additionto their base 3-4.



The benefit of having a 5-2 is that it adds size to your defense by replacing a linebacker with a defensive lineman. This helps in short-yardage situations where you want to stall the line of scrimmage and not give up the inside run. The disadvantage is in pass coverage -- most 5-2 teams will rush all 5 defensive linemen leaving only 6 pass defenders. In some circumstances a 5-2 team will drop one of the linemen, typically an end also known as a rush end, off into coverage. But this is primarily a situational defense, and not often used in traditional 5-2situations where downfield pass coverage is a significant concern.



It is important to remember the difference between the 3-4 defense versus the 5-2 defensive scheme, The 3-4 scheme is played with 3 down linemen and 4 linebackers vs the 5-2 which aligns with 5 down linemen and only 2 linebackers. The 3-4 evolved with the more spread formations and the passing game in the 1970's.