Dave Aranda: Great DC Or Cool Ranch Doritos?

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"WE CANT DEMAND PERFECTION.”
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I encourage you to read this with an open mind. Many of you have pegged him as our next DC and have begun shoveling coal into the hype train. I don't watch Wisconsin football because I don't hate myself, but I did some digging into the stats his unit has been putting up and a few things have me worried.

Yes, on the surface his three seasons at Wisconsin are impressive. He's averaged the 7th total defense and has a top 10 scoring defense in the country during his stint there. But a lot of stats make me wonder if his philosophy is the attacking aggressive style we seek, or if we're looking directly down the bag of a Deluxe Dorito.

Here are some categories I expect a violent, aggressive, play-making defense to rank highly in, along with Wisconsin's average ranking in that category under Aranda.

Interceptions - 90th
Sacks - 52nd
Tackles for loss - 72nd


I'm left to wonder if he's not just a very good version of the late snack chip Mark D'Onofrio. At Wisconsin, Aranda does a good job keeping yards and points to a minimum. He runs a 3-4, his players are all borderline obese, and its mostly white kids from up north. They do a good job of holding opponents to low yardage, and he's also done well when it comes to keeping points off the board.

But in stats of aggression - creating turnovers, getting to the QB, living in the backfield, causing disruption plays, etc -- they're pretty bad. Does he have the mindset needed to recruit, create, and implement the savage attacking style of defense that made Miami famous? Can he handle the transition from overalls to dreads?

I'm not so sure.
 
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For me, it is simple, keep the points off the ***ing board.

I am down for the DC that keeps the most points off the board.
 
I encourage you to read this with an open mind. Many of you have pegged him as our next DC and have begun shoveling coal into the hype train. I don't watch Wisconsin football because I don't hate myself, but I did some digging into the stats his unit has been putting up and a few things have me worried.

Yes, on the surface his three seasons at Wisconsin are impressive. He's averaged the 7th total defense and has a top 10 scoring defense in the country during his stint there. But a lot of stats make me wonder if his philosophy is the attacking aggressive style we seek, or if we're looking directly down the bag of a Deluxe Dorito.

Here are some categories I expect a violent, aggressive, play-making defense to rank highly in, along with Wisconsin's average ranking in that category under Aranda.

Interceptions - 90th
Sacks - 52nd
Tackles for loss - 72nd


I'm left to wonder if he's not just a very good version of the late snack chip Mark D'Onofrio. At Wisconsin, Aranda does a good job keeping yards and points to a minimum. He runs a 3-4, his players are all borderline obese, and its mostly white kids from up north. They do a good job of holding opponents to low yardage, and he's also done well when it comes to keeping points off the board.

But in stats of aggression - creating turnovers, getting to the QB, living in the backfield, causing disruption plays, etc -- they're pretty bad. Does he have the mindset needed to recruit, create, and implement the savage attacking style of defense that made Miami famous? Can he handle the transition from overalls to dreads?

I'm not so sure.

The Big Ten doesnt pass as much but you would think they would have more Tackles for loss. I just thought I would add this from his time at Utah State.

In 2012, Aranda was a nominee for the Broyles Award as the Aggies defense finished in the top 15 of all FBS schools in all four major defensive categories; seventh in scoring defense (15.4 points per game), 13th in rushing defense (113.8 yards per game), eighth in pass-efficiency defense (14 interceptions, 12 touchdowns, 54.1% completion rate, 5.7 yards per attempt) and 14th in total defense (322.1 ypg). Also 7th in sacks with 42. 40th in tackles for loss with 80.
 
You certainly bring up some very valid points. I guess we'll need to trust that Mark Richt heard the right answers to the questions he asked in the interview.
 
Fullyericht, so WTH just expressed my sentiments. What's your reply?

You kinda sold me on aranda but WTH got me thinking again.

Hard not to sign with vern too. We shall see.
 
I don't think his players are bloated up like Folden's, WTH. His guys are actually relatively light. His is a single gap, get upfield, disrupting 3-4 more like what Stanford runs and less like what Folden ran.
 
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For me, it is simple, keep the points off the ***ing board.

I am down for the DC that keeps the most points off the board.

That's the part that concerns me, though. In their final year at Temple, Dorito and Gluten kept points off the board, too. 16th in scoring defense.

They brought their Big 10-style defense down here and it was a horrendous fit. Is Aranda flexible? Is he bringing down that system from Wisconsin where apparently getting to the QB, creating turnovers, and getting in the backfield isn't important/taught/achieved?

How does that translate here?
 
"He's averaged the 7th total defense and has a top 10 scoring defense in the country during his stint there."

Are you any more comfortable coupling that with a savage DL though? I think Kuligowski gives you that no matter what perceived flaws you may find in Aranda's style.
 
For me, it is simple, keep the points off the ***ing board.

I am down for the DC that keeps the most points off the board.

That's the part that concerns me, though. In their final year at Temple, Dorito and Gluten kept points off the board, too. 16th in scoring defense.

They brought their Big 10-style defense down here and it was a horrendous fit. Is Aranda flexible? Is he bringing down that system from Wisconsin where apparently getting to the QB, creating turnovers, and getting in the backfield isn't important/taught/achieved?

How does that translate here?


He's had a Top 15 defense for 4 straight years. 3 of those years was Top 10. Sorry but Gluten and Cool Ranch never sniffed that.
 
For me, it is simple, keep the points off the ***ing board.

I am down for the DC that keeps the most points off the board.

That's the part that concerns me, though. In their final year at Temple, Dorito and Gluten kept points off the board, too. 16th in scoring defense.

They brought their Big 10-style defense down here and it was a horrendous fit. Is Aranda flexible? Is he bringing down that system from Wisconsin where apparently getting to the QB, creating turnovers, and getting in the backfield isn't important/taught/achieved?

How does that translate here?


He's had a Top 15 defense for 4 straight years. 3 of those years was Top 10. Sorry but Gluten and Cool Ranch never sniffed that.


Well, yeah, that's why I called him Deluxe Dorito.
 
"He's averaged the 7th total defense and has a top 10 scoring defense in the country during his stint there."

Are you any more comfortable coupling that with a savage DL though? I think Kuligowski gives you that no matter what perceived flaws you may find in Aranda's style.

Yep. Pretty sure Kuligowski ain't coming here to teach pattycake.
 
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Does anybody have a break down of his style, coverage, gap philosophy etc. Instead of just total stats. No D and Golden always talk about stats when we know those were bloated by playing crappy teams and as soon as we played anyone decent they raped us
 
For me, it is simple, keep the points off the ***ing board.

I am down for the DC that keeps the most points off the board.

That's the part that concerns me, though. In their final year at Temple, Dorito and Gluten kept points off the board, too. 16th in scoring defense.

They brought their Big 10-style defense down here and it was a horrendous fit. Is Aranda flexible? Is he bringing down that system from Wisconsin where apparently getting to the QB, creating turnovers, and getting in the backfield isn't important/taught/achieved?

How does that translate here?


He's had a Top 15 defense for 4 straight years. 3 of those years was Top 10. Sorry but Gluten and Cool Ranch never sniffed that.


Well, yeah, that's why I called him Deluxe Dorito.


Are there even any DCs in college football other than him that have had top 15 defense for 4 straight years, 3 of those being top 10? Alabama is the only other school I see but I don't know about Coordinators.
 
One thing we need to keep in mind is Dorito came in with highly inflated stats due to him coaching in MAC, or whatever crap conference Temple was in. Aranda has shown out in one of the best conferences in football. We all know if you put Dorito as the Wisky defense the last three years how bad that team would be. So I said all that to say we cannot really compare the two. Clearly Aranda is in a different league than Dorito. Will he succeed at UM? That remains to be determined.
 
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