For all the mopery, and some admittedly bizarre defensive calls on occasion, last year's defense can't be described as bad. It was bad in spots, and they gave up at the end. But it was ok, all in all.
Any improvement this year makes this team a tough out, with a more seasoned Kaaya.
Even if you were right about the defense being adequate, which it wasn't, neither bad nor OK are anywhere near good enough for this program. You complain about mopery and then proceed to make a claim not based in reality that there were bizarre defensive calls "on occasion," even though the entirety of the Nebraska and Georgia Tech games were complete abominations as a result of Golden's philosophy.
Al Golden when our total defenses ranked in the 100s in the previous two years: "Yards don't matter."
Al Golden after giving up 32.5 points per game in 6 embarrassing regular season losses with a misleading, inflated total defense ranking: "Yards matter now because it's the only cherry-picked stat that supports my new narrative."
- Worth repeating: 32.5 points per game allowed in 6 regular season losses
- 63rd in 3rd down defensive efficiency
- T-82nd in passes intercepted
- 60th in red zone defense
- T-68th in team sacks
- 102nd in tackles for loss
When looking at those embarrassing rankings, take into consideration that our offense operates at a snail's pace to slow the game down and protect the defense by keeping it off the field as much as possible. This is despite the geographically built-in advantage of having the most skill talent-rich recruiting base in the entire country at our disposal. Instead of maximizing opportunities to get the ball into the hands of that skill talent, we bleed clock to minimize plays per game. That's all because of the continued ineptitude of Golden's defense.
We had top 15-20 talent and finished 6-7. We were clearly the second- or third-most talented team in the ACC and finished in the bottom half of the worst subdivision among the Power 5. But hey, our total defense ranking was great so that unit's improvement was clear, right?