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Wasted - best defense in country, arguably best ever at The U

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The 2001 Defense was obviously better.

But just look at how the numbers stack up. I've put 2001 stats 1st, 2018 stats 2nd.

Passing YPG - 138 vs 140
Yds Per Attempt - 5.2 vs. 5.5

Rushing YPG - 133 vs. 127
Rushing YPC - 3.9 vs. 3.3

Points Per Game - 10.6 vs. 18.2
Turnovers Per Game - 4.1 vs. 2.0

The Turnovers are the big difference. If we forced 2 more turnovers per game in 2018, the points per game would just naturally drop as well.

But we're giving up 268 yards per game in 2018. 317 was our lowest yards per game in any year 2007 - 2017.

It's not crazy to put the 2018 defense up there with the defenses in the early 2000's. Tons of respect for how well they've played and the fight they've shown, especially with how bad the offense has been.
 
lol. I guess context means nothing.

Lets just gloss over the fact that we played a crappy, offensively challenged schedule in the weakest division of a mediocre conference.
 
Think about this. If he had an offense that stayed on the field longer, ranked something in the 40 to 50 range, then our Defense would be #1 ranked easily.
 
Give the OP a break fellas. There is a character limit on thread titles. Ya'll know that. He clearly meant:

Wasted - best defense in the state, arguably best ever at The U in the last decade
 
kermit.webp
 
bshaw28 said:
The 2001 Defense was obviously better.

But just look at how the numbers stack up. I've put 2001 stats 1st, 2018 stats 2nd.

Passing YPG - 138 vs 140
Yds Per Attempt - 5.2 vs. 5.5

Rushing YPG - 133 vs. 127
Rushing YPC - 3.9 vs. 3.3

Points Per Game - 10.6 vs. 18.2
Turnovers Per Game - 4.1 vs. 2.0

The Turnovers are the big difference. If we forced 2 more turnovers per game in 2018, the points per game would just naturally drop as well.

But we're giving up 268 yards per game in 2018. 317 was our lowest yards per game in any year 2007 - 2017.

It's not crazy to put the 2018 defense up there with the defenses in the early 2000's. Tons of respect for how well they've played and the fight they've shown, especially with how bad the offense has been.
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Also, something that gets lost a lot when comparing teams of the past is that offenses today or far superior to ones 20 years ago. Everybody runs no huddle, spread offenses now and even bad teams can score points. If your offense averaged 30 points per game 20 years ago, it would be one of the top offenses in football. Now it's just a middle of the road offense.
 
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cyrez8 said:
2001 defense didn't have this offense or ST. Wait for the NFL production. Better DL on this team than that team. Better overall LB on this team than that team although that team had the best ever. Better DBs on that team but Johnson, Redwine, and Michael Jackson will be NFL studs.
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JFC dude you are drunk. No one on this D would start for 01
 
Not even close to the best defense at UM. Some of you cats must have just started watching when Folden took the gig.

The whole season was wasted. Defense was good enough to be a 10 win team. But with Rick at the helm we are what we are.
 
I wouldn't say best ever. While the defense played well enough in the 2nd half of pretty much every game to give the team chances to win, the defense was a turnstile in the first half of too many games, particularly the 1st quarter. In those games the team dug a hole for itself quickly, which only put more pressure on the shaky offense right out of the gate. How many touchdowns did opposing teams score on their first drive this year? I don't have the numbers, but it feels like this happened several times.

They did get it under control with the Pitt game. It was fun watching the defense Saturday.
 
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canesbrah said:
JFC dude you are drunk. No one on this D would start for 01
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Gerald Willis is better than Matt Walters and William Joseph.

Jaquan Johnson is better than James Lewis

You could also say that Joe Jackson and Jon Garvin are better than Andrew Williams.

As a total defense, no. This year's team is not as talented but there are certainly guys playing this year that are better than some of the guys on the 2001 team. ****, I'm not so sure Mike Rumph was any better than either of the two starting cornerbacks on this year's team.
 
DTP said:
Also, something that gets lost a lot when comparing teams of the past is that offenses today or far superior to ones 20 years ago. Everybody runs no huddle, spread offenses now and even bad teams can score points. If your offense averaged 30 points per game 20 years ago, it would be one of the top offenses in football. Now it's just a middle of the road offense.
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That a great point. I just did a quick comparison and

2010 - 42 teams averaged 400+ yds per game, 30 averaged 6.0+ yds per play, 42 teams averaged 30+ points per game
2018 - 69 teams averaging 400+ yds per game, 51 averaging 6.0+ yds per play, 60 teams averaged 30+ points per game

And that's just 8 years ago. 20 years ago would probably be a huge difference
 
Look, this D wont match up NFL wise with the greats, but to finish 2 in the country with the punting and O we had is a phucking miracle, I have them up there (top 10) given the situation,
 
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