California Golden Bears - Football - California Golden Bears Athletics

Tom Holmoe leads the Golden Bears.

Coach Holmoe's Responses

Asa Whillock (Berkeley, CA) :
"My question is this, since the defense seems so be so adept at supressing the run but the secondary often seems weaker and tends to give up big passing yards, why not switch to a 3-4 defensive scheme, instead of the 4-3. The defensive line is tough enough to hold with three not to mention we have such great talent at the linebacker positions that wouldn't it help to have the extra talent out on the field to help the corners and safeties.

Anyway, I'm a member of the CAL Band so I just wanted to let you and the whole team know that there are plenty of us out there that rain or shine love the team with all our hearts."

COACH HOLMOE: "Actually, the scheme and number of defensive linemen, whether is three or four, doesn't have a lot to do with the production in the secondary. It's not often that any scheme has only a three-man rush. It's just a matter where they're coming from. We do put a lot of pressure on our secondary by placing them in man-to-man coverage, because we blitz and stunt a lot.

"We could play softer in the secondary with more double coverage and we'd give up fewer big plays, but we'd be giving up a lot more yardage in the passing game than we are doing right now. We rank fourth in the league in amount of passing yardage given up this season (2213), which is acceptable when you also consider we're No. 1 in the league in sacks. Also, be aware that the credit does not just go to the defensive line for the lead in sacks, it also goes to our defensive backs whose solid coverage gives the linemen time to get to the quarterback."