Better understanding + better communication = fewer big plays? Southern hopes so in Year 2 under Trei Oliver

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- Look no further than the final game of the 2016 season to identify what Southern defensive coordinator Trei Oliver is seeking to improve most in Year 2.

Grambling rolled up a whopping 571 yards against the Jaguars in the Bayou Classic, but that total wasn’t necessarily what bothered Oliver. It was how the Tigers achieved it.

Of those 571 yards, 365 came on 12 "explosive" plays — rushes of 10 or more yards or passes of 20 or more yards. Five of Grambling’s six touchdowns from scrimmage came on these types of plays.

Grambling exposed a weakness in the Southern defense that the Jaguars had been able to cover up all season by forcing a Football Championship Subdivision-best 32 turnovers. But make no mistake, that weakness was there all season, especially in the run game.

Southern allowed 2,143 rushing yards last season, and nearly 75 percent of those yards (1,606) came on 79 "explosive" runs. More than 20 percent of the running plays by Southern opponents went for 10 or more yards.

The Jaguars were a bit better at containing big plays in the passing game, allowing just 28 plays of 20 or more yards, a little more than 2.5 per game.



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