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St. Cloud State University
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Sports
Under the radar
By Matt Janda
Published:
Thursday, September 26, 2002
Scott Underwood
There are a number of possible reasons for the Huskies early season successes.
Quarterback Keith Heckendorf has thrown 14 touchdown passes. Ben Nelson has caught nine of them. The rushing attack has risen from the grave to become respectable. The only problem is, none of these possibilities are the real answer. Through three games in 2001, the offense had scored 70 points, mostly through the air, much the way they have done so far.
The real difference between this year and last is defense. More specifically, the difference lies in the turnovers. The Huskies are already a plus-7 in turnover ratio, due to the 10 interceptions they have already made, matching all of last season’s output.
All of this is music to the ears of SCSU defensive coordinator Scott Underwood, who is off to a great start in his second year of coaching at SCSU. The players feel that now that Underwood’s system has taken hold, their performances have improved.
“We’ve got it down now. I think we had it down last year, we just added some more things this year,” said junior safety Nate Loughran. “He basically made us take baby steps through the system. We didn’t have everything in last year. Now everything is in and our defense knows what’s going on.”
Underwood brings a wealth of defensive knowledge to the Huskies. He was a four-year letterwinner at defensive back for Augustana from 1984-88 and began coaching the defensive secondary at Augie when he graduated. He took the defensive coordinator position at the University of Sioux Falls and helped them to the NAIA Division II National Championship in 1996. From 1997-2000, he coached inside linebackers at the University of North Dakota, working them up to a number five national defensive ranking in 2000. It goes without saying that his travels are reflected in his system.
“We’ve tried to mix two packages together- the 3-4 concept with also a 4-3 concept, probably because of my background and the places I’ve been with those defenses,” Underwood said. “I like the flexibility that both of those have in them and they’re built in to the type of personnel we have.”
That sounds simple enough, but the 3-4 and 4-3 are two very different defenses that aren’t always interchangeable. Underwood has taken this into account and made it so the players can adjust before every play, a provision that sits well with the players.
“There’s a lot of leeway for us to make decisions as far as what we want to do,” defensive tackle Jeremy Pilarski said.
But it’s still not as simple as it sounds. There are a lot of nuances to pick up, something that is only learned by doing, and Underwood’s check defense can be difficult to learn and execute.
“(It) takes a while. At my previous stint at UND we talked about kids there, who in key positions, didn’t really play until their third year,” Underwood said. “Part of it was the talent level and part of it was due to the learning they had to do to be able to get on the field. It’s part of that philosophy we brought here.”
The improvement is visible in the numbers. In 2001, the Huskies were last in the conference in the most important defensive statistics (points allowed, rushing defense, total defense). They allowed 156 yards rushing per game, compared to a paltry 63.3 yards in 2002. They have already picked off 10 passes and their linebackers are getting more of the tackles, which Underwood feels is a function of better play up front.
“Our defensive line is probably a little bit better,” he said. “We’ve faced more passing scenarios with teams that haven’t been real strong on the run. We’ll get tested more as we go through the season, I know that.”
As for the dramatic increase in turnovers, Underwood has a tough time putting his finger on the answer.
“Some years, you can call it luck or whatever you want, but you end up in more turnover situations,” he said. “We do practice ways to get the ball out (by stripping it or punching it). Most of (the turnovers) we’ve had to this point have been interceptions, so the quarterbacks have been pretty helpful to us this time. Sometimes they come in bunches, sometimes you can’t get one.”
One thing is for sure: the defense’s performances this year, while not spectacular, have taken a lot of pressure off of the offense and have been somewhat lost in the barrage of scoring. The Huskies have scored 35 points off of turnovers, which was one of their goals coming into 2002.
“We know that’s part of the game. One of our performance goals is to give the offense field position three times inside the 50,” Underwood said. “We’ve been able to meet that thus far and we know that the short field is key to giving them an opportunity. What you have to look at is time of possession, and our offense keeping our defense off the field.”
Actually, the Huskies average only three more minutes of possession than their opponents, but have had several quick-strike scores. So who’s counting? Numbers only say so much. The real measurement of a team comes in wins and losses, and right now this team is 3-0. But the search for improvement continues.
“We’ve played well in three halves,” Loughran said. “We haven’t played anybody spectacular to test us yet to see what we’re really capable of.”
“The bottom line,” Underwood said, “is to keep learning and trying to get better on defense and as a team.”
