Monday, October 7, 1996
The University of Hawaii defensive coordinator spent last week working on having his inside tackles play a yard or so off the line of scrimmage over Colorado State's guards, and his ends straight up on the outside shoulders of the Rams' tackles.
It's a defense the Dallas Cowboys made famous in the 1960s and 1970s when they had Hall of Fame tackles Bob Lilly and Randy White, and one that had its good and bad moments in the Rams' 28-16 victory over the Rainbows.
"We flexed the tackles off the football so they could better read Colorado State's blocking schemes," Lindsey said. "You'd have to understand how they block, how they counter block, stretch and run down the line of scrimmage.
"It's almost like they're always pulling. When you're on the line of scrimmage playing straight ahead, they just hook everybody and seal everybody off. It gives them a chance to get their speed on the corners.
"We don't have much speed defensively, so flexing off the ball gives us a chance to see how they run their blocks and run laterally down the line also on the plays. That's what we felt like we needed to do."
Some of the results were Kodak moments for the Rainbows, who held the Rams to their season average of 198 yards rushing a game. But others were disastrous, especially when linebacker Doug Rosevold and free safety Eddie Klaneski weren't able to go with the flow.
"I didn't do a very good job of sealing on the cutback plays and it hurt us," Rosevold said. "Sometimes I got up field too quickly and they would seal me off, and cut up inside where I was supposed to be. They taught me a lesson on a few plays."
The Rams did the same to Klaneski. Twice near the goal line, Klaneski didn't seal the outside in time, and twice Colorado State running backs Calvin Branch and Damon Washington made the junior pay for it with touchdown runs of 10 and 11 yards, respectively.
"Both times I got too anxious and I left my feet, instead of running to them," Klaneski said. "I tried to dive when I could just have easily run to them, wrapped them up and made the tackle. But I didn't."
Unfortunately for Lindsey, Klaneski was his leading tackler for the second consecutive game with 14. He also forced a fumble and recovered another.
"But we just can't afford to have Eddie making so many plays down field," Lindsey said. "In the flex, you want your linemen occupying their linemen and your linebackers making the majority of the plays.
"Let me say this, Colorado State has a very good offensive scheme. They averaged 7.3 yards a play against Colorado and 5.4 against Nebraska. Last time I checked, those were a couple of pretty good teams."
Against the Rainbows, the Rams averaged six yards a play.
Head coach Fred vonAppen said he expects Macon to be ready to play Friday at San Diego State. He said the same of offensive tackle Mark Hernandez.
"He just strained his back a little," vonAppen said. "He went back in there and played.
"(Middle linebacker) Stephen Gonzales bruised a thigh, but he also came back. We came out of the game in pretty good shape."
VonAppen also expects the return of tight end Gary Ellison and running back Jade Charles. Both have been down a month with leg injuries. It's possible Gary Krug could make the trip as well. The offensive lineman is still recovering from knee surgery he had last spring.
Klaneski has seven punt returns for 77 yards this season, but apparently doesn't have enough to qualify for the NCAA stat list. If he did, his 11-yard average would be good enough for a tie for No. 36 in the nation.
"There was still plenty of time left in the game and if he makes it, we cut the lead to two," vonAppen said. "We aren't very good at fourth-and-five, so I felt it was the right call.
"Carlton also had just missed that extra point, so I didn't want to think we didn't have any confidence in him. He popped it up a little bit and it came up short, but those are the breaks."