Instant Defensive Improvement

[LuCane]

The mother****ing backup QB for Bethune Cookman lit our *** up, as did the 3rd string QB for UNC.

Woodside, Dungey, Blackmon, Hornibrook, Pickett, Bryant, Benkert all tore our *** apart.

The defense ******* sucked bro.

The defense needs improvement, but it didn't "suck, bro" and I challenge any of you dudes with outlandish statements like that or "Diaz is now Dorito" to explain. Can't wait.

They were pretty bad following the ND game. Pretty **** good before then. That's what I think.

They amount to a slightly above average defense. Pretty much everything - including watching the specific plays we were beaten on and stats - backs that up. If people are disappointed because they didn't make the jump to elite, that's all fair. Our pass D in zone sucks and relies entirely on our DL getting home quickly. Our run D gets toasted at times because we're overplaying gaps. We stuck with 3 LBs way too many times. We'll see if we commit to a significant change with those seemingly obvious issues.

 

[We the Boss]

Rumor has it @nj2flcane still has eligibility.

#theplug

 

[DrStrange]

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

It’s a CIS post-season tradition to pick a side of the ball to blame for our struggles. Dig those stilettos in, fellas.

I feel like we're in year 3 or 4 of the Shannon/Golden era's already.

Fcking Groundhog Day. Guys on here trying to blame the offense and the Punter and everyone else under the sun for our defense drinking from the **** pipe for large portions of this season.

Meanwhile, Thunderfoot Feagles looked like a Ray Guy finalist against Wisconsin, and we still managed to make another colostomy bag of a QB look like Tom Brady.

Did the offense let a true freshmans QB in his first start for a 4 win Pitt disaster slam us and run over us like a tank?

Our offense let journeyman Benkert start 19 for 19? Kelly Bryant, a basic passer, hit every throw he attempted in the first half and put us in an insurmountable hole?

Our defense was mediocre this year. And our offense and STs were poor for the most part. It’s a goddam miracle we won 10 games given the obvious foibles in all 3 phases.

Football is a complimentary game.

This defense is built for speed and relentless pursuit, and they have been the strength of this team--no, CARRIED this team all year. 30+ ******* turnovers!! How many times did the offense NOT convert turnovers into TDs? How many times did this defense play 80-90+ snaps? How many times did the offense NOT convert a third down or score or put the game away and the defense and to trot back on the field AGAIN. (sometimes right after a turnover)?

This DEFENSE won 10 games. Not Malik.

 

[DMoney]

The defense was 9th nationally in yards per play, 4th in turnovers per game (1st in P5) and 1st in sacks per game.

They weren't bad or mediocre. They were very good. But until they fix third down, they won't be great.

 

[The Franchise]

The mother****ing backup QB for Bethune Cookman lit our *** up, as did the 3rd string QB for UNC.

Woodside, Dungey, Blackmon, Hornibrook, Pickett, Bryant, Benkert all tore our *** apart.

The defense ******* sucked bro.

The defense needs improvement, but it didn't "suck, bro" and I challenge any of you dudes with outlandish statements like that or "Diaz is now Dorito" to explain. Can't wait.

They were pretty bad following the ND game. Pretty **** good before then. That's what I think.

They amount to a slightly above average defense. Pretty much everything - including watching the specific plays we were beaten on and stats - backs that up. If people are disappointed because they didn't make the jump to elite, that's all fair. Our pass D in zone sucks and relies entirely on our DL getting home quickly. We'll see if we commit to a significant change there.

I don't know why other people are disappointed, but there's a huge chasm between what we were this year, and elite. I hoped to trend more toward elite on that spectrum, but I would have been satisfied with "very good" and not getting diced up almost every week by mediocre QBs.

 

[The Franchise]

The defense was 9th nationally in yards per play, 4th in turnovers per game (1st in P5) and 1st in sacks per game.

They weren't bad or mediocre. They were very good. But until they fix third down, they won't be great.

There's no way you honestly think our defense was "very good" this year. You can quote good stats, but you watched the games. "Very good" defenses don't allow mediocre passing QBs like Benkert, Pitt's true freshman in his first start, Hornyfacquit, and Bryant to carve us up the way they did.

Pickett was running our guys over in that game and so were their RBs. There's no way that amounts to "very good" no matter what stats we excelled in.

 

[LuCane]

The mother****ing backup QB for Bethune Cookman lit our *** up, as did the 3rd string QB for UNC.

Woodside, Dungey, Blackmon, Hornibrook, Pickett, Bryant, Benkert all tore our *** apart.

The defense ******* sucked bro.

The defense needs improvement, but it didn't "suck, bro" and I challenge any of you dudes with outlandish statements like that or "Diaz is now Dorito" to explain. Can't wait.

They were pretty bad following the ND game. Pretty **** good before then. That's what I think.

They amount to a slightly above average defense. Pretty much everything - including watching the specific plays we were beaten on and stats - backs that up. If people are disappointed because they didn't make the jump to elite, that's all fair. Our pass D in zone sucks and relies entirely on our DL getting home quickly. We'll see if we commit to a significant change there.

I don't know why other people are disappointed, but there's a huge chasm between what we were this year, and elite. I hoped to trend more toward elite on that spectrum, but I would have been satisfied with "very good" and not getting diced up almost every week by mediocre QBs.

I don't think we're very far from your "very good." We picked our own poisons a bunch of times on D and our zone pass defense was for crap. The holes on defense aren't based on philosophical problems and, for that, there's reason for hope. You'd have to ask Diaz why he chose to stay in 3LBs against spread sets so much. When he went Nickel and man against Syracuse and others, you saw what happened. Diaz also tried to go man against Wisconsin and apparently got spooked by the few big plays we immediately gave up. I think there's reason for hope on defense. Certainly, to become a consistently above average defense in that Top 12 range. The next level jump will be up to his willingness to get the right athletes and let them play. The fire zones he's accustomed to throwing around are stale against spread sets. Just ask Dom Capers, one of the kings of zone blitz.

 

[gatorsSUCK!]

Can anyone say why we made all of the QBs look so great? Scheme, talent issue? Technique? All the above?

 

[DMoney]

There's no way you honestly think our defense was "very good" this year. You can quote good stats, but you watched the games. "Very good" defenses don't allow mediocre passing QBs like Benkert, Pitt's true freshman in his first start, Hornyfacquit, and Bryant to carve us up the way they did.

Pickett was running our guys over in that game and so were their RBs. There's no way that amounts to "very good" no matter what stats we excelled in.

The stats are objective and clear. We're not watching every other team and dwelling on their worst games. The stats treat everyone equally, and they confirm that this was a very good defense compared to the rest of the country.

This defense had one huge weakness: third down conversions. That's the difference between a very good defense and a championship defense. We can't be a great defense until we get much better there.

 

[UknowWhat]

The defense was 9th nationally in yards per play, 4th in turnovers per game (1st in P5) and 1st in sacks per game.

They weren't bad or mediocre. They were very good. But until they fix third down, they won't be great.

Agree we were bad on 3rd down all season on offense and defense. WISCONSIN took advantage of our dime package .. we took 2 LBs of the field rushed the third and about 7 passes were completed where our LBs would have been... what hurt us was giving up 3 and 4 yards on 1st and second downs... it was bad on both sides ball for the last 3 and half games

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[westcoastcanes]

The defense was 9th nationally in yards per play, 4th in turnovers per game (1st in P5) and 1st in sacks per game.

They weren't bad or mediocre. They were very good. But until they fix third down, they won't be great.

How were they nationally in the red zone?

 

[StoneWallLoungeCane]

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

It’s a CIS post-season tradition to pick a side of the ball to blame for our struggles. Dig those stilettos in, fellas.

Times a million.

 

[DMoney]

The defense was 9th nationally in yards per play, 4th in turnovers per game (1st in P5) and 1st in sacks per game.

They weren't bad or mediocre. They were very good. But until they fix third down, they won't be great.

How were they nationally in the red zone?

39th out of 130 in RZ TD percentage. Not great but above-average. That's better than five of 10 teams ranked in the AP Top 10.

 

[LuCane]

The defense was 9th nationally in yards per play, 4th in turnovers per game (1st in P5) and 1st in sacks per game.

They weren't bad or mediocre. They were very good. But until they fix third down, they won't be great.

How were they nationally in the red zone?

Someone else mentioned they were low in terms of redzone % and I asked what they were in terms of TD ratio. Haven't gotten a response for that. Would be curious to see how they fared in that regard instead of how many teams made or missed FGs against them. They were pretty decent in scoring defense, so it stands to reason they at least should be fairly decent in getting TD stops in the RZ.

And, as for blaming the offense for things the defense struggled in, that's a garbage strawman just shy of those who say "all" the defense's problems were because of the offense. It'd be absurd not to recognize the offense has a hand in how many plays the defense sees. It's be equally absurd to fail noting how the defense struggled in 3rd down conversion.

I guess nuance isn't for message boards.

 

[westcoastcanes]

The defense was 9th nationally in yards per play, 4th in turnovers per game (1st in P5) and 1st in sacks per game.

They weren't bad or mediocre. They were very good. But until they fix third down, they won't be great.

How were they nationally in the red zone?

Someone else mentioned they were low in terms of redzone % and I asked what they were in terms of TD ratio. Haven't gotten a response for that. Would be curious to see how they fared in that regard instead of how many teams made or missed FGs against them. They were pretty decent in scoring defense, so it stands to reason they at least should be fairly decent in getting TD stops in the RZ.

And, as for blaming the offense for things the defense struggled in, that's a garbage strawman just shy of those who say "all" the defense's problems were because of the offense. It'd be absurd not to recognize the offense has a hand in how many plays the defense sees. It's be equally absurd to fail noting how the defense struggled in 3rd down conversion.

I guess nuance isn't for message boards.

23/37 scores in the red zone against us were touchdowns.

 

[LuCane]

The defense was 9th nationally in yards per play, 4th in turnovers per game (1st in P5) and 1st in sacks per game.

They weren't bad or mediocre. They were very good. But until they fix third down, they won't be great.

How were they nationally in the red zone?

Someone else mentioned they were low in terms of redzone % and I asked what they were in terms of TD ratio. Haven't gotten a response for that. Would be curious to see how they fared in that regard instead of how many teams made or missed FGs against them. They were pretty decent in scoring defense, so it stands to reason they at least should be fairly decent in getting TD stops in the RZ.

And, as for blaming the offense for things the defense struggled in, that's a garbage strawman just shy of those who say "all" the defense's problems were because of the offense. It'd be absurd not to recognize the offense has a hand in how many plays the defense sees. It's be equally absurd to fail noting how the defense struggled in 3rd down conversion.

I guess nuance isn't for message boards.

23/37 scores in the red zone against us were touchdowns.

How does that compare to other schools? Throw me some objective measures here. I genuinely haven't looked.

 

[westcoastcanes]

The defense was 9th nationally in yards per play, 4th in turnovers per game (1st in P5) and 1st in sacks per game.

They weren't bad or mediocre. They were very good. But until they fix third down, they won't be great.

How were they nationally in the red zone?

Someone else mentioned they were low in terms of redzone % and I asked what they were in terms of TD ratio. Haven't gotten a response for that. Would be curious to see how they fared in that regard instead of how many teams made or missed FGs against them. They were pretty decent in scoring defense, so it stands to reason they at least should be fairly decent in getting TD stops in the RZ.

And, as for blaming the offense for things the defense struggled in, that's a garbage strawman just shy of those who say "all" the defense's problems were because of the offense. It'd be absurd not to recognize the offense has a hand in how many plays the defense sees. It's be equally absurd to fail noting how the defense struggled in 3rd down conversion.

I guess nuance isn't for message boards.

23/37 scores in the red zone against us were touchdowns.

How does that compare to other schools? Throw me some objective measures here. I genuinely haven't looked.

Some marquee programs across several conferences:

Miami - 23/37 - 62.16%
Wisconsin - 11/25 - 44%
Ohio State - 23/29 - 79.3%
Bama - 14/22 - 63.7%
Clemson - 13/23 - 56.5%
Georgia - 17/28 - 60.71%
Notre Dame - 24/37 - 64.86%
TCU - 16/25 - 64%
Texas - 21/35 - 60%
Florida - 21/29 - 72.4%
Auburn 20/30 - 66.66%
LSU - 19/30 - 63.33%
Michigan - 18/25 - 72%
Penn State - 18/27 - 66.66%
Mich St 18/27 - 66.66%
Va Tech - 13/21 - 61.9%
Washington - 15/24 - 62.5%
Okla - 30/43 - 69.77%
Florida State - 23/35 - 65.71%

 

[The Franchise]

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

It’s a CIS post-season tradition to pick a side of the ball to blame for our struggles. Dig those stilettos in, fellas.

I feel like we're in year 3 or 4 of the Shannon/Golden era's already.

Fcking Groundhog Day. Guys on here trying to blame the offense and the Punter and everyone else under the sun for our defense drinking from the **** pipe for large portions of this season.

Meanwhile, Thunderfoot Feagles looked like a Ray Guy finalist against Wisconsin, and we still managed to make another colostomy bag of a QB look like Tom Brady.

Did the offense let a true freshmans QB in his first start for a 4 win Pitt disaster slam us and run over us like a tank?

Our offense let journeyman Benkert start 19 for 19? Kelly Bryant, a basic passer, hit every throw he attempted in the first half and put us in an insurmountable hole?

Our defense was mediocre this year. And our offense and STs were poor for the most part. It’s a goddam miracle we won 10 games given the obvious foibles in all 3 phases.

Football is a complimentary game.

This defense is built for speed and relentless pursuit, and they have been the strength of this team--no, CARRIED this team all year. 30+ ******* turnovers!! How many times did the offense NOT convert turnovers into TDs? How many times did this defense play 80-90+ snaps? How many times did the offense NOT convert a third down or score or put the game away and the defense and to trot back on the field AGAIN. (sometimes right after a turnover)?

This DEFENSE won 10 games. Not Malik.

LOL. The team won 10. The defense was mediocre, and Malik was mediocre. They were both sub-mediocre at the end of the season.

 

[LuCane]

How were they nationally in the red zone?

Someone else mentioned they were low in terms of redzone % and I asked what they were in terms of TD ratio. Haven't gotten a response for that. Would be curious to see how they fared in that regard instead of how many teams made or missed FGs against them. They were pretty decent in scoring defense, so it stands to reason they at least should be fairly decent in getting TD stops in the RZ.

And, as for blaming the offense for things the defense struggled in, that's a garbage strawman just shy of those who say "all" the defense's problems were because of the offense. It'd be absurd not to recognize the offense has a hand in how many plays the defense sees. It's be equally absurd to fail noting how the defense struggled in 3rd down conversion.

I guess nuance isn't for message boards.

23/37 scores in the red zone against us were touchdowns.

How does that compare to other schools? Throw me some objective measures here. I genuinely haven't looked.

Some marquee programs across several conferences:

Miami - 23/37 - 62.16%
Wisconsin - 11/25 - 44%
Ohio State - 23/29 - 79.3%
Bama - 14/22 - 63.7%
Clemson - 13/23 - 56.5%
Georgia - 17/28 - 60.71%
Notre Dame - 24/37 - 64.86%
TCU - 16/25 - 64%
Texas - 21/35 - 60%
Florida - 21/29 - 72.4%
Auburn 20/30 - 66.66%
LSU - 19/30 - 63.33%
Michigan - 18/25 - 72%
Penn State - 18/27 - 66.66%
Mich St 18/27 - 66.66%
Va Tech - 13/21 - 61.9%
Washington - 15/24 - 62.5%
Okla - 30/43 - 69.77%
Florida State - 23/35 - 65.71%

In other words, Brown's crew at Michigan (wtf), Saban's crew, OSU (wtf) and Washington are all worse than we are at getting TD stops. Didn't quite expect that.

 

[The Franchise]

There's no way you honestly think our defense was "very good" this year. You can quote good stats, but you watched the games. "Very good" defenses don't allow mediocre passing QBs like Benkert, Pitt's true freshman in his first start, Hornyfacquit, and Bryant to carve us up the way they did.

Pickett was running our guys over in that game and so were their RBs. There's no way that amounts to "very good" no matter what stats we excelled in.

The stats are objective and clear. We're not watching every other team and dwelling on their worst games. The stats treat everyone equally, and they confirm that this was a very good defense compared to the rest of the country.

This defense had one huge weakness: third down conversions. That's the difference between a very good defense and a championship defense. We can't be a great defense until we get much better there.

I watch a ton of football. And we aren’t “very good.” You’ve got high standards. I’m shocked you watch that defense and consider it to be very good.

You quoted two stats—turnovers and sacks—that don’t have much to do with being a very good defense. Jerry Glanville’s defenses used to rack up a lot of sacks, and they’d still get gashed up.

Turnovers can be flukey. Sometimes, you can play great sound defense and not get a turnover. Sometimes, you can play like garbage on defense, and the opposing offense can fumble three times on bad exchanges or the QB could throw a pass right to a DB.

Larry Brown from the Cowboys parlayed two passes from Neil O’Donnell in the Super Bowl that hit him between the numbers into a huge contract with the Raiders. He stunk.