It all adds up: Aranda masters the math of matchups
November 05, 2015 | Football, Mike Lucas
Wisconsin's defense reaches No. 1 by winning the numbers game
Both teams have 11 players. So why does Wisconsin always seem to win the numbers game at the line of scrimmage? What should be a simple equation has confounded teams tasked with facing the Badgers' No. 1-ranked defense. Dave Aranda was a philosophy major in college, but he's put together a master's thesis in the mathematics of matchups as Wisconsin's defensive coordinator.? | From Varsity Magazine
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. -- Dave Aranda was always willing to go the extra mile to further his development as a young coach. That included skipping a week of classes while a student at Cal Lutheran University.
Distance was never a factor. The shorter trips would be the 40-mile drives from the Thousand Oaks campus to Los Angeles, where he would hang out with the defensive staffs at USC and UCLA.
After a chronic shoulder injury had ended his playing career, Aranda directed all of his energy to becoming a coach – starting with his apprenticeship as a Cal Lutheran student assistant.
Because the Division III program didn't conduct spring drills, Aranda decided to pick the brain of others in the college profession who were practicing their craft at that time of the year.
"So I just took a week off from school," said Aranda, a philosophy major.
But it came with a price when he fell short of a passing grade in one course.
"It wasn't philosophy but it was my English teacher that got ticked off," he said. "It was the only 'D' that I got in all of my academic career at Cal Lutheran."
Give him some points for effort since he was intrigued enough by LSU defensive coordinator Lou Tepper that he traveled all the way to Louisiana and spent a week in Baton Rouge.
One of the many things that stood out during the Tigers' spring practice -- "And I was in most of the meetings," Aranda said -- was the daily routine of the LSU head coach.
"It was like clockwork at noon every day," Aranda said. "I remembered he would go jogging around a lake, and he was a hard jogger. He looked like he was going to collapse."
That was his first impression: he was industrious and he sweat a lot. Not that he expected to make his own impression on a high-profile coach of a prestigious Southeastern Conference program.
"I didn't expect him to remember me," Aranda said.
Decades later, they would cross paths again: Dave Aranda and Gerry DiNardo.
Much had changed about their job descriptions. Aranda was Wisconsin's defensive coordinator and DiNardo had long since left coaching and was serving as a studio analyst for Big Ten Network.
As part of the BTN's annual preseason tour of campus sites, Aranda and DiNardo have gotten a chance to know each other better over the past three years that Aranda has been in Madison.
"Ever since he joined the conference, I've been intrigued by what he does defensively, it's very unusual," said DiNardo, whose 12-year head coaching run also included stops at Vanderbilt and Indiana.
"When we would talk to him on the set before we started taping, me and Howard (Griffith, another BTN analyst) would always talk about defense and the unusual defense that it is.
"I also liked him personally very much even though I can't say I'm good friends with him. But I love to interact with him and watch him coach."
The 62-year-old DiNardo is the host of an "Inside the Staff Room" segment that airs on the BTN pregame show on Saturdays. "I made it vague," he said of the title, "so I could go with X's and O's and a little of this and that."
Leading up to the Rutgers game, DiNardo drove up from Chicago and huddled for 30 minutes with Aranda in the film room, where they broke down some cut-ups from Wisconsin's wins over Illinois, Hawai'i and Troy.
DiNardo, an All-America offensive guard, played on Notre Dame's 1973 national championship team. And he had his own interpretation of what Aranda was doing with his 3-4 defensive scheme.
"I wanted to go up there and see if I was right," he said. "That was the genesis of it."
Aranda walked away impressed from their noon hour session last Wednesday.
"He had some good questions; he was pretty insightful," he said. "It was mainly about how we use our people and try to dictate things and take things (away from the offense)."
DiNardo was equally impressed with Aranda and his defensive concepts.
"I found it fascinating," he said.
But he voiced a standard television lament: too much content, too little time.
"I talked to him for a half-hour," DiNardo said, "and three minutes made TV."
But there were still many highlights for the viewer. DiNardo noted how Aranda used a basketball analogy to bring context to how the Badgers are able to free up rushers and exploit matchups.
"He says to me, 'This is no different than picking for your point guard,'" said DiNardo, paraphrasing, "You want to get your best shooter on their worst defender, or a different defender."
The accompanying clip showed an inside linebacker getting a jump on the snap and "picking" a blocker -- occupying the tailback -- while the outside linebacker was speed-rushing the tackle.
"They got the same matchup as people who blitz and have to play man coverage," DiNardo commented. "But the coverage is zone. That's the uniqueness and what intrigues me."
Lining up with three down linemen is not as unique as it has been in the past. More and more college teams are adopting the 3-4 scheme. Until Aranda arrived, the Badgers had been a 4-3 defense.
"The five big guys," DiNardo said of the offensive line, "are responsible for those three down linemen. But there's four linebackers and they're also responsible for two of them.
"The problem is, they don't know which two are going to rush and which two are going to drop (into pass coverage). Then Dave goes to two down linemen, and no down linemen."
To DiNardo's thinking, the tactic of "wasting" O-linemen -- making the five block three (or fewer) down linemen from the defense -- allows Aranda to put additional rushers in position to pressure the quarterback.
As such, Aranda drew a parallel to a late shot clock possession in the NBA.
"Here's my LeBron James or here's my Kobe Bryant," Aranda said of the pass rusher equivalent, "and we're going to clear the floor and we're going to give the ball to Kobe at the top of the key.
"Ten (seconds), nine, eight," he said, counting down, "and Kobe is going to do his work. When I think of 4-3 teams, I think of wide defensive end rushers. That's what I see; I see LeBron and Kobe."
Closer to home, he sees Joe Schobert and Vince Biegel.
"I think we've got two legitimate outside rushers that, given that opportunity, can win those one-on-ones like your 4-3 speed-rushers or a true 4-3 (defense) will do," Aranda said. "But I just feel we're more suited to be a team that passes the ball (the hoops analogy), a team that runs picks for certain players. We're going to pass the ball six or seven times before we take a shot.
"Everyone has an opportunity. That helps the Vince Biegels and the Joe Schoberts … It's a fine line. You want to rush the guys who can do something, so Vince and Joe are obviously those guys.
"But, at the same time, I think Vince and Joe are helped when we're passing the ball."
Last year, Aranda used some film clips of the San Antonio Spurs to illustrate his point.
"I remember Marcus Trotter looking at me and saying, 'C'mon, man,'" Aranda related.
But the more Trotter watched, the more the senior linebacker understood the message.
"With the Spurs," Aranda said, "one guy would get the ball and pass it; the next guy would get it and pass it; the next guy would get it and have a clean shot.
"Whoever they were playing would then get the ball and everyone would spread out and one player would work through the double-team with time running out and take a shot off his back foot.
"The Spurs would get the ball back again and it was pass, pass, pass, clean shot. I was trying to hammer that point.
"In the 3-4 (defense)," Aranda went on, "everyone is going to want to rush. But if we can rush as a team, every individual rush is going to be that much better."
The Spurs were effective and efficient with their spacing -- and with making the extra pass -- especially when they had five scorers on the floor and forced the defense to guard everyone.
The Badgers can create a comparable scenario with multiple rushers on the field. And it can create doubts in the minds of the blockers if they're unsure who's coming and from what angle.
"The offense has to protect all of the available defenders," said Aranda, knowing how the numbers will add up in his favor on defense. "They can't just key and lock in on one guy.
"They have to worry, 'I'm on Vince (Biegel) but Vince could rush outside or Vince could rush inside or Vince could drop. Now, I've got to sink inside because Chris Orr is rushing inside."'
He posed another example: What about linebacker T.J. Edwards? What if he comes on a scrape-rush inside? "You want them to go through all of that in their mind," Aranda said.
You want them to think before reacting to whatever they're expecting or actually seeing. The irony is that Aranda does not call for a lot of blitzes, per se; maybe a half-dozen so far this season.
"We're three down (linemen), a lot of times two down," he said. "So we're bringing one, a lot of times two, every down because we're creating the four-man front that other people are lining up in."
Grasping that concept is fundamental to team success in his system.
"Everyone kind of knows what we're trying to set up," he said. "We're going to get these matchups and it's going to take a few inside rushes to set up the outside.
"It's going to take a few corner rushes to set up the linebacker rushes. We're passing the ball (the basketball analogy again) and we're going to get the best shot we can. But we've got to set it up."
There has been the need for more teaching this year, he acknowledged.
"We're spending so much more time talking about alignment and assignments," he said of the concessions that have been made to inexperience. "It's been more fundamentals and techniques."
Aranda couldn't say enough about his defensive assistants who have "coached up" the players.
On defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield: "Great technician. The D-line is feeding out of his hand right now and they're really playing well."
On outside linebackers coach Tim Tibesar: "He was just what the doctor ordered for Vince and Joe because he has been able to motivate them and he's a good technician, as well.
"He's able to relate to them and answer all of Joe's questions, 'What if this, what if that?' And he knows how to treat Vince -- he allows Vince to be Vince."
On secondary coach Daronte' Jones: "He has the most egos, in a good way, and the most playmakers. And he has been able to manage those young guys that we have playing."
Aranda relies heavily on what his assistants tell him. Overall, he's a very good listener.
"I've learned this from other people telling me," DiNardo said, "but he takes suggestions from his players; sometimes they will text him, 'Coach, what if we did this?'
"That's very unusual that he would have this dialogue with them."
It's not out of the norm from Aranda's perspective.
"You want your players to feel comfortable in the game plan," he said. "Especially within the structure of our defense, there are so many options and different ways that we can solve problems.
"Last week was a great example. I remember talking to Michael Caputo a couple of times. 'How do you feel about the game? Do we have too much in? What things do we need more work on?'
"As you know when you talk with Mike, he's very thoughtful; he takes his time and what he says he means. Joe (Schobert) is very similar. Both of those guys are very intelligent and perceive things. They see through whatever is out front to kind of see what is pushing it from behind. They're good big picture guys.
"So is Jake Keefer (a reserve defensive linemen). Jake has been through a bunch of coaches and systems," he said of the fifth-year senior. "He has got the respect of the D-line and the pulse of those guys up front. You listen to those guys for sure."
Caputo loves that about Aranda.
"He definitely matches the scheme with our abilities and that's one of the main things and why Coach Aranda and this defense is so successful," Caputo said. "Even if it looks like I'm not comfortable with it (something they may be doing schematically), he can see that and he can say, 'All right, we're changing it.'
"He has so many -- I don't want to say tricks up his sleeve -- but he has methods and adjustments of doing things to get the job done a little differently. But the result is the job gets done.
"This past game against Rutgers," Caputo said of last Saturday's 48-10 victory, "we wanted to make sure they didn't know where the blitz was coming from. My feedback to the coaches -- from being up-close to their O-line and quarterback -- was that they had no idea where the blitz was coming from. We knew that and it gave us confidence."
Aranda did feel the urgency to get his defense's attention -- collectively -- after Rutgers' second series that featured 10 straight runs and some sloppy tackling on the part of the Badgers.
He may have even raised his voice.
"I'm not sure if I've seen him really mad," Caputo said. "But there's a firmness in his voice. When he's telling you something and he wants you to get it, and it's more of a command, he has this intense look and you pick up on it. 'OK, we need to do that.'
"A lot of coaches scream their heads off. Coach Aranda is more along the lines of getting you to know what he's talking about. I think that's more effective."
DiNardo had been around Aranda enough to pick up a few things about his personality.
"He's very cerebral to begin with -- very quiet, very low-key," he said. "But the one thing I learned is that he really personalizes his game plan.
"He might say to you, 'Here's the blitz that you have to win. We're setting this up for you. I'm going to put you against the running back, probably their weakest protector. This is for you … win."
Caputo has heard it many times.
"Sometimes in front of the team, sometimes in front of the defense," Caputo said. "Sometimes, he'll do it individually, and that means a lot. He's says, 'You have to win. You have to get over this block.'
"Or, he'll come up at practice when we're re-running something and he'll say, 'You have to get in this gap. You'll make the play -- if you get in this gap. You have to be there.'
"When he says that, I'm thinking only one thing, 'Yeah, I'm going to be in that gap."
Aranda recreated a conversation he had with safety Tanner McEvoy: "We're bringing you on a safety blitz," he told McEvoy before the Rutgers game. "We're going to get the inside linebackers up (on the line), so the offensive front has to recognize and account for them.
"You're going to be free. Let's make it count.'"
McEvoy got his first sack of the season last Saturday.
"I want them to take ownership of it," Aranda said.
From afar, and during his short time in their company, DiNardo couldn't help but notice how UW head coach Paul Chryst and Aranda have formed a compatible and successful partnership.
"This is a perfect marriage," DiNardo said. "Paul has done the head coaching thing at Pitt and that is what made him so qualified for Wisconsin, right?
"But his genius is still offensive football. His genius is still relationships with the players and his character."
DiNardo pointed out that is more the rule than the exception.
"Urban Meyer is built offensively. Paul is built offensively. So when you have someone you totally trust on the other side of the ball, it's one of the most critical things about your organization."
Chryst and Aranda do have one very important thing in common.
"Dave likes football," Chryst said, "and I like football."
When they get the chance, they will break down film together. Maybe on a Sunday or Monday night. Or, maybe Chryst will just pop his head into Aranda's room at some point during the week.
"He's very good at identifying what people are doing," Aranda said, "and what their strengths and weaknesses are and how to go about attacking those weaknesses."
Aranda downplayed the notion that Chryst could pick up anything from him. Not so, says the head coach.
"You're always looking how he does it because you've got a chance to learn from it and grow," Chryst said. "I'm always picking up stuff from him. I wish we were in there (the film room) more."
DiNardo could say the same thing after his film session with Aranda.
"I said it on the air," DiNardo volunteered, "I can't remember the last time I learned so much football in a 30-minute span of time than I did with Dave Aranda."
