Instant Defensive Improvement

[The Franchise]

I watch a ton of football.

You don't watch every snap of every team. Nobody does. That's why you can't accurately rank us in relation to the rest of college football. Only the stats can do that.

Yards per play is the best catch-all metric of defensive performance. Manny Diaz himself has long championed it.

We ranked 9th out of 130 teams. That's very good. The teams ahead of us are the teams you would expect:

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Wisconsin
4. Ohio State
5. Michigan
6. Washington
7. Georgia
8. Penn State
9. Miami

As you know, turnovers are the number one indicator of wins and losses. We ranked first in the country. It's not a fluke. Diaz said going into the season that it was his main point of emphasis for improvement. That's why we had the chain. The fact that we had one of the best pass rushes in the country (first in sacks per game) fueled the turnovers.

Mediocre is middle of the pack. We are far from it. The defense carried us to 10 wins despite an erratic offense and weak special teams. My expectations are a championship defense. We aren't there yet, and the reason is third down defense. But we're closer than we've been in a decade.

LOL

 

[The Franchise]

I have never seen so many people fault an offense for the defensive woes. The last two games teams scored a combined 44 points in the first half. The game before that a true freshman QB couldn’t be stopped. How much of this was due to being “gassed” or the O going 3 and out? Vs Wisky the offense sputtered only in the 2 qtr after lighting it up in the first. Again it’s the offenses fault for giving up 21 unanswered points after the D couldn’t cover Wisky’s midget WRs.

The defense with the exception of 2 games underperformed in a big way. I don’t have all of the answers but I am seriously concerned about this staff’s ability to address the issues. They didn’t address them vs Wisky as they ran the same **** plays that exposed us the previous 2 games.

Preach. There were a couple brilliant moments for our defense this year. But the games where we were getting torched by inferior teams or mediocre QBs it was happening from the beginning of the game.

It didn’t have anything to do with anyone being gassed or being on the field too long when Kelly Bryant did what he did or Benkert or the true freshman from Pitt making his first start or sorry *** Hornyfacquit from Wisconsin and his group of midget freshman WRs. Bethune lit us up throwing. Toledo destroyed us from the beginning of the game. Benkert started 19 for 19. It goes on and on.

We were awesome against ND and VT. Sketchy in most other games and poor in some.

 

[Cribby]

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.

My eyes say that wasn't a good defense. Good defenses don't routinely get raped by true Fr qb's or mediocre qb's. That was an above average D at best that looked very suspect at times.

 

[LPK2006]

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 ****ing sucked bro.

I was going to say, don't forget whatever total scrub UNC trotted out against us....3rd string, 4th string, water boy? Doesn't matter, they all converted 3rd and 9s with regularity against this defense.

We couldn't get off the field on 3rd and long for much of the year. It started to get to the point where I honestly felt we had a better shot at stopping the opposing offense on 3rd and 3 than on 3rd and 11.

 

[BigJoeGrizzly]

You know things aren’t that great when you are hoping for the opposing team that faces a 3rd and 2 instead of 3rd and 12 LOL..

 

[SmokeyRone]

Its hard to ignore the mitigating factors. We all knew our D had talent, depth and experience deficiencies, some units effected by all three.

Look back at how many huge stops and/or turnovers our D had to make over and over starting with Duke, FSU, then GT, then Cuse, UNC, ad nauseum.

How many times did the D do enough early to set up a big half time lead and coast? 4 early TO's against Cuse, and I think at least 3 resulted in our O going 3 and out and giving them a field position edge after our punt. We stopped UNC and GT on 4th down in the red zone multiple times in the first half.

We usually rebounded after giving up big plays.

Just cant ignore the fact our offense was terrible, 3 and outs were the norm, and couldnt score early even after TO's gave us great field position.

I'll bet our first quarter scoring this season was the worst in college. has to be.

Now, I ask, did we play too much zone on 3rd and long? Seemed like we were always getting burned on third and long while in a zone?

 

[ShadowSpring]

The Defense needs to improve.

Is there any disagreement?

No?

Ok, maybe we should focus on 2018 and the **** bright future ahead of this squad.

 

[rok]

You what helps the defense rest and see fewer plays? Forcing a 3 and out.

Clemson's first drive we forced them into 3rd and long, played zone and rushed 4, gave up an easy first down and the game was pretty much over as Bryant completed about 15 straight throws following that.

 

[SmokeyRone]

Still say our offense gave opponents life and kept unreal pressure on our D.

If we had Doritos deepest and most talented defense this year, we finish 3-8.

Continuous 3 and outs, red zone and first and goal possessions with no points, and awful punting hurt our D more than anything.

 

[SmokeyRone]

You what helps the defense rest and see fewer plays? Forcing a 3 and out.

Clemson's first drive we forced them into 3rd and long, played zone and rushed 4, gave up an easy first down and the game was pretty much over as Bryant completed about 15 straight throws following that.

Yeah. We did that all year. Why? Why zone on third and long? IMO, you MUST be able to play man on 3rd and long to be a great D. Right?

 

[CaneToad]

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.

Okay *** clown and which of those coaches were 19-7 ever at any point, won 15 games in a row, beat FSU, Notre Dame, Va. Tech and UNC all in the same year. won the Coastal and played in the OB, a New Years Six bowl ? I'll wait. I don't know where I have ever seen such a collection of morons in one place at the same time..well maybe the Democrat National Convention but...just saying. Talk about being "eat up with the dumbass."

I can tell you from first hand experience, hearing it from the horse's mouth that one reason Pete and CanesInsight didn't get creds until recently was because of the many, not all, but many morons on this site and it's sister site. It is only because of his diligence and good work that Insight now enjoys having those creds, don't doubt me. And don't argue with me, I won't engage morons!

 

[BoxingRobes]

You what helps the defense rest and see fewer plays? Forcing a 3 and out.

Clemson's first drive we forced them into 3rd and long, played zone and rushed 4, gave up an easy first down and the game was pretty much over as Bryant completed about 15 straight throws following that.

In scenarios like that...elite defenses generate pressure with 3 or 4 down linemen.

That should also be a tell at how good our DL is, really. Youve got to get there without the blitz.

 

[CBurrr93]

Good ole CIS. half the posters on here truly believe the defense isnt to blame for playing awful defense. Shucks I guess if the offense just picked up a few more first downs, Horny man wouldnt have looked like Tom Brady. Are you people serious? I bet Alabama wouldve gotten lit up by hornibrook with similar offensive results LMAO he'd be lucky to complete 25 percent of his passes against them. sure, offense having the ball longer helps out a defense but the defense has to stop somebody regardless lol calling this defense very good is absolutely hilarious after watching qbs complete 90 percent of their passes against us. These dumb cherry picked stats that show aggressiveness mean almost nothing when you're swiss cheese on every other play. Some serious sunshine pumpers on here.