Coach - 

Congratulations to North Central College.  North Central won the Stagg Bowl in Houston last night defeating Mount Union 41-25 to complete an undefeated 15-0 season and win their third Division III National Championship in five years. 

Mount Union (14-1), which came into the evening seeking a 14th Division III title, recovered a fumble on the game's opening possession and drove 57 yards to take an early 7-0 lead. It is the only deficit the Cardinals faced all season.

Culture Wins Championships

Head Coach Brad Spencer

Head Coach Brad Spencer has done an outstanding job throughout his career at NCC beginning as the Receivers Coach, then being promoted to Offensive Coordinator. 

In 2019 Coach Spencer was named the FootballScoop NCAA Division III Coordinator of the Year following the 2019 season, which saw the Cardinals win their first Division III national championship over the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, 41-14, in Shenandoah, Texas.

Coach Spencer was promoted to Head Coach in 2022.  Since then, the Cardinals are 44-1 under his leadership with two National Championships and a Runner-Up.

Coach Spencer joined host Rob Pomazak on the Culture OS Series this past off season and discussed the elements of a championship culture.  You can listen to that here.

Defense Wins Championships

It was a total team effort by the Cardinals, but as the cliche goes “defense wins championships.” It does help having a high-powered offense (539.9 yards per game/53.4 points per game) to compliment the strong defense.

Last night was about containing a very powerful Mount Union offense which was still able to put up 426 yards of offense on the night. And as mentioned the Cardinals found themselves behind briefly for the first time all season.

Shane Dierking has presented at two of our clinics and has done an outstanding job leading the Cardinals defense. In 2024 the Cardinals gave up just 253.4 yards per game (85.7 rush/167.8 pass), 10.86 points per game (#2 nationally), and led the nation in 3rd down defense only allowing 24.1% conversions. 

His most recent presentation was at the at the 3rd Annual Lauren’s First and Goal Clinic. He shared his insight on gap manipulation and limiting explosive plays as well as the knowledge and strategies to elevate the performance of your defense. He covered everything from understanding the importance of a tight top-down defense to mastering the art of manipulating gaps.

Defensive Structure and the 30% Rule

Coach Dierking believes the aim of the defense is to make the offense earn their yards by implementing a tight top-down defense while ensuring it never gives up explosive plays. By manipulating gaps, the defense can confuse the quarterback with stems in the secondary, forcing the O-line to adjust tracks, and throw off pass pro communication.

Coach Dierking also wants to avoid giving the quarterback easy access throwl. By constantly self-scouting throughout a season and implementing a 30% rule. His 30% rule is, when they have an offensive formation and they're higher than 30% with a coverage variation against that offensive formation, they look to break the tendency. The 30% rule ensures that they remain multiple in coverage and keep the quarterback guessing.

Gap Manipulation in Football

Coach Dierking utilizes four main techniques to manipulate gaps: gap cancellation, gap call, stunts, and bumping. These tools are crucial for linebackers, Nickel, Mike, and Will to communicate with the defensive line, and can be based on offense tendencies or game plan by formation.

By mastering these techniques, a defense can effectively manipulate gap fits in the run game and gap cancel tools, allowing them to be more multiple in coverage and keep the offense on their toes.

Here’s Coach Dierking discussing “Why Gap Manipulation?” in his clinic talk:

Video: Why Gap Manipulation

The Power of Limiting Explosive Plays

Explosive plays can be a game-changer in football. The chances of scoring in any single drive increase significantly with a single explosive play. By ensuring that the defense never gives up explosive plays, it forces the offense to work harder and increases the chances of the defense creating havoc plays like TFLs, tackles, interceptions, and fumble recoveries.

By making the offense earn every yard, the defense can increase the team’s win-loss percentage and maintain a strong defensive presence on the field.

Let’s take a look at some of the gap manipulations that Coach Dierking explained in his clinic.

2x2 Gap Cancellation

Coach Dierking gives his Will “gap cancelling tools” which allow him to give a call to the defensive line in order to keep himself out of conflict.  These tools are critical in today’s RPO world where the obejective is to put a defender in conflict.  He shares an example of this in this game clip:

Video: 2x2 Gap Cancellation

Bump

Come formations can give a defense issues. Bumping gaps can allow a defense to keep players out of conflict and create better run fits.  Here Coach Dierking shares an example of “Bump” on game film and how they are able to take away the run and defend the stick and almost take it the other way by giving an appearance of a void in the defense.

Video: Bump

Conclusion

Coach Direking’s clinic provided invaluable insights into putting defenders in a better position through the power of gap manipulation. This is a tremendous resource to gain the insight and examples to evolve your own defense to optimize your run fits and remove conflict.

Congratulations again to Coach Spencer, Coach Dierking, the Cardinals staff and players on an incredible season and their third National Championship!

Always be growing!

Coach Grabowski

P.S.  Coach Dierking’s other presentation was at IHSFCA Clinic - Defending Empty Formations

SAVE THE DATE: Lauren's First and Goal 5th Annual Virtual Clinic will be February 20-22.