As with the 3-4 or 4-3, there are different variants of a 3-3-5. I think someone mentioned above that Iowa St also runs a 3-3-5. But they typically drop 8 in zone coverage and keep 3 deep safeties. If I remember correctly, Long's 3-3-5 was a more attacking style. There were times when the free safety would be in a single high and the other two safeties would drop toward the box. From that same look, they could also drop the middle safety down to the box to help with run support, and drop the other two safeties in a cover 2. The biggest difference is that Iowa St rarely, if ever, had more than 6 in the box, where Long's style would almost always have at least 7. Long's style would be a bit more vulnerable in the deep middle. And like I said earlier, the Iowa St version almost always has 3 deep and works to keep thing in front of them. It would appear having 7+ in the box, would work against the run heavy teams, but not as well against teams with a really good passing game. Although I am sure you can adjust and keep 3 deep and play zone under against teams like Purdue. I will be interested in looking at some websites that talk about the 3-3-5.
