Defensive Rankings

[OrdunaDrive]

Wake Forest held UNC to 18 and Duke held them to 20. Not very good company. They put up 50+ on Mercer and Temple, which probably contributes largely to their average.

They definitely were not an offensive juggernaut. I'm just illustrating that we weren't getting smoked on D, and implying that we were getting smoked on O.

 

[dukemv]

They definitely were not an offensive juggernaut. I'm just illustrating that we weren't getting smoked on D, and implying that we were getting smoked on O.

Gotcha. Regardless, I think that using opponents' PPG to evaluate our defense misses the mark.

 

[OrdunaDrive]

@dukemv @Torocane To be clear, I'm not absolving the D of all blame on the season. They regressed a bit from the previous two seasons, both in counting stats and via everyone's favorite bull**** metric: "the eye test". They were about the 25th ranked unit, which is good but not great. That's probably how we'd have felt about the team in general if they finished this season at #25. Good, but not great. I don't think they're a "championship caliber" defense at all (probably a standard deviation away if I had to guess). Obviously we should tinker with whatever needs tinkering to improve.

I do think the D is several steps ahead of the O, which everybody probably agrees on. I think they are also a little better than they might seem to us, too. Turnovers, which involve a fair amount of luck, were down significantly from the last two years (20 this year, 25 the year before, 31 two years back). SP+ actually has us ranked at basically the same spot we've been for the last 2 years, around #15. We were #4(!) in the country in tackles-for-loss and #6 in sacks.

I think the team could have a significantly better record next year if the defense was exactly the same and the offense improved dramatically, which wouldn't be that tall an order. To actually be a championship level team, the D will definitely need to improve, but I have been cured of those unrealistic expectations (at least in the short term) and just want to see a solid 9-3 or 10-2 that we can recruit to and build from.

 

[sebastian91]

This is literally groundhog day. It's insane. There's 50 of these threads every single off-season. We talked about LITERALLY the same stuff at this exact time last year.

And what did we say? Man....if we could just find an offense to score 30 a game. 30 a game. We need 30 a game.

Well......that didn't happen. AGAIN. And guess what? You know how many teams scored more than 30 this year against Miami? ONE. One team. And it was VT, who scored 3 first-quarter TDs on drives of 48, 23, and 20 yards, because our inept offense insisted on giving them the ball deep in our own territory.

The defense DEFINITELY has flaws. No doubt. It's not an elite defense. It's not a championship defense. But I cannot stress enough that the defense is MILES ahead of the offense right now. We just lost a college football game 14-0. In 2019. We lost a game 14-0. ZERO!!

And I say this every year, but here we go again....there's 130 FBS teams. 47 of those teams averaged 30.0 PPG or better. 47 out of 130. So, I'm not asking for The Greatest Show on Turf here. Just be in the Top 48. And see how much better the defense looks.

2019 -- 22.6 PPG
2018 -- 24.8 PPG
2017 -- 28.1 PPG
2016 -- 31.3 PPG

Been since 2016 since this program averaged 30+ a game. That's beyond embarrassing.

That's fair.

 

[Caneboi11]

Our ineptitude offensively was a huge factor in that fact. Use Duke as an example. Here are our second half possessions in that game.

3 plays, 5 yards, punt
6 plays, 13 yards, punt
4 plays, 4 yards, FG
3 plays, -3 yards, punt
3 plays, -2 yards, punt
3 plays, 1 yard, punt
8 plays, 32 yards, punt
5 plays, 6 yards, fumble

Not a single possession of longer than 2:30, the majority no more than a minute long.

What D isn't going to get gassed by the fourth quarter?

lmfao enos was horrible. My goodness at those numbers lol!!!

 

[Caneboi11]

This is literally groundhog day. It's insane. There's 50 of these threads every single off-season. We talked about LITERALLY the same stuff at this exact time last year.

And what did we say? Man....if we could just find an offense to score 30 a game. 30 a game. We need 30 a game.

Well......that didn't happen. AGAIN. And guess what? You know how many teams scored more than 30 this year against Miami? ONE. One team. And it was VT, who scored 3 first-quarter TDs on drives of 48, 23, and 20 yards, because our inept offense insisted on giving them the ball deep in our own territory.

The defense DEFINITELY has flaws. No doubt. It's not an elite defense. It's not a championship defense. But I cannot stress enough that the defense is MILES ahead of the offense right now. We just lost a college football game 14-0. In 2019. We lost a game 14-0. ZERO!!

And I say this every year, but here we go again....there's 130 FBS teams. 47 of those teams averaged 30.0 PPG or better. 47 out of 130. So, I'm not asking for The Greatest Show on Turf here. Just be in the Top 48. And see how much better the defense looks.

2019 -- 22.6 PPG
2018 -- 24.8 PPG
2017 -- 28.1 PPG
2016 -- 31.3 PPG

Been since 2016 since this program averaged 30+ a game. That's beyond embarrassing.

great post. End thread

 

[SonnyLong]

Stats mean nothing. This defense is a walking "Give Up 3rd and Long." Also, scheme is comical. Gregory Rousseau should sue Manure DAss for preventing him from being the NCAA Sack leader.

 

[86Gang]

Ain’t no one defending 90 plays a game... , miamis bad offense averaged having the ball over 30 minutes a game. AND bottom line they HANDED THE DEFNESE THE LEAD IN 5 games in the 4th quarter yet allowed the opposing offense to score a go ahead td immediately after being given a lead from the bad offense...not even going to talk about allowed fiu and duke to score 2 tds each in the 4th quarter. Defense was a fluke in clutch situations period, Fvck what you are doing with frivolous stats,they folded in clutch situations when they had to stand the Fvck up and defend a lead and they DIDNT

See 90 plays