Our defense is missing an critical component..

[JTrain]

Speed and discipline/focus would be higher priorities IMO

[NEsker]

I am comfortable with Will Compton as the leader. The guy is tough as nails.

 

I was as dissatisfied with the defensive performance on Saturday as anybody, but what I saw were fixable things, maybe with exception of the D-Line. I can definitely see this defense growing into a formidable group by years end.

 

I have to disagree. This group will not be formidable in 2012. They are brutally undisciplined. Overpursuit and out of control play made S. Miss look like world beaters on the ground. They struggle working off blocks in a very scary way.

 

If they can't shed blocks against this team, wait til teams like Wisconsin/Michigan take the field against our beloved team.

 

Overall, the defensive front continues to scare the hell out of me. The front 4 can't get any pressure on the QB, and the LB's are too slow to play against top notch athletes.

 

Hey, I hope you're right.....but I don't think you are.

[HuskerShark]

I am comfortable with Will Compton as the leader. The guy is tough as nails.

 

I was as dissatisfied with the defensive performance on Saturday as anybody, but what I saw were fixable things, maybe with exception of the D-Line. I can definitely see this defense growing into a formidable group by years end.

 

I have to disagree. This group will not be formidable in 2012. They are brutally undisciplined. Overpursuit and out of control play made S. Miss look like world beaters on the ground. They struggle working off blocks in a very scary way.

 

If they can't shed blocks against this team, wait til teams like Wisconsin/Michigan take the field against our beloved team.

 

Overall, the defensive front continues to scare the hell out of me. The front 4 can't get any pressure on the QB, and the LB's are too slow to play against top notch athletes.

 

Hey, I hope you're right.....but I don't think you are.

 

Hey, that's alright. I know there are probably more people that disagree with me than people that agree, but I stand by what I said. I just get this weird sense that once this group starts playing with less hesitation and tackling better in space (and they will) they will be fairly stout.

 

Like you, after watching that game, I don't see any improvement at D-Line other than Ankrah, who looked pretty good I thought. I just hope our young guys can step up and be better in the future. Baker just looked like a snail out there. Maybe should have kept him at OL, but what do I know...

[junior4949]

UCLA will more than likely give us a better perspective of our defense this year. I just hope this game doesn't turn into a trackmeet. The troubles of this defense seem to be a comibination of lack of talent and lack of leadership. I think it will get better as the year progresses. I think some of our better talent is young and just doesn't have the defensive schemes down yet.

[NEsker]

I am comfortable with Will Compton as the leader. The guy is tough as nails.

 

I was as dissatisfied with the defensive performance on Saturday as anybody, but what I saw were fixable things, maybe with exception of the D-Line. I can definitely see this defense growing into a formidable group by years end.

 

I have to disagree. This group will not be formidable in 2012. They are brutally undisciplined. Overpursuit and out of control play made S. Miss look like world beaters on the ground. They struggle working off blocks in a very scary way.

 

If they can't shed blocks against this team, wait til teams like Wisconsin/Michigan take the field against our beloved team.

 

Overall, the defensive front continues to scare the hell out of me. The front 4 can't get any pressure on the QB, and the LB's are too slow to play against top notch athletes.

 

Hey, I hope you're right.....but I don't think you are.

 

Hey, that's alright. I know there are probably more people that disagree with me than people that agree, but I stand by what I said. I just get this weird sense that once this group starts playing with less hesitation and tackling better in space (and they will) they will be fairly stout.

 

Like you, after watching that game, I don't see any improvement at D-Line other than Ankrah, who looked pretty good I thought. I just hope our young guys can step up and be better in the future. Baker just looked like a snail out there. Maybe should have kept him at OL, but what do I know...

 

I'm a believer that if you don't have rich talent at D-line, playing a two-gap is a hindrance as it creates passive play.....yes, the opposite of the aggressive play we read about all spring. And with our D-linemen having issues with shedding blocks, we are left with a not-so athletic 2nd level in the LB corps.

 

I just don't see this front 7 stopping any team with athleticism. God, I HOPE I AM WRONG.

[FLU]

NESker, I share your outlook and pessimism...

[HuskerShark]

I'm a believer that if you don't have rich talent at D-line, playing a two-gap is a hindrance as it creates passive play.....yes, the opposite of the aggressive play we read about all spring. And with our D-linemen having issues with shedding blocks, we are left with a not-so athletic 2nd level in the LB corps.

 

I just don't see this front 7 stopping any team with athleticism. God, I HOPE I AM WRONG.

 

NESker, I share your outlook and pessimism...

 

Ha! I don't blame you guys for the pessimism. I am an eternal optimist in regards to the team, but I was definitely disappointed with what I saw from the defense on Saturday. I just look at the guys we have out there, and the staff has a lot of confidence in all of them it seems. I really do expect this defense to be much better than what we saw a couple days ago.

[epocSoN]

Too lazy to read the entire thread but... Will Compton will do just fine.

[The King]

Compton, Stafford, Martin and I believe some of the younger guys will be leaders shortly. Rose, Harvey Jackson, Charles Jackson..maybe Roach or Santos.

[HuskerShark]

Compton, Stafford, Martin and I believe some of the younger guys will be leaders shortly. Rose, Harvey Jackson, Charles Jackson..maybe Roach or Santos.

 

Exactly. I thought Cooper and Harvey Jackson looked pretty good out there in run support. From just roughly watching the game twice, I would say that they appeared to be two of the surest tacklers on the defense.

[HuskerFowler]

2008 450 Western Michigan

2009 358 FAU 274 Ark St 343 to Va Tech...pretty good D #1 scoring i believe

2010 299 Western Kentuky 279 Idaho St..another pretty good D

2011 230 Tenn Chat 444 to Fresno

2012 260 S Miss

 

We will find out what we do against UCLA but i bet we give up in the mid 300 for yards but keep em under 20 points. Bo's defenses has been notoriously slow starters. His defense always gives up yards especially on the ground but is good at holding teams to low point totals because we dont give up the big pass play. I believe we are #6 in the nation on passing TD allowed over the last 3 seasons.

[Enhance]

I would also like to ask how people on here come to the conclusion we have no leaders? The same claims have been made here for years, most noticeably on the offense. What gives? Are you watching the sidelines every play? Do you have a camera/mic strapped to half the defense? Leadership can only take you so far - at the end of every play it comes down to whether or not you did the job you were supposed to. Leadership/motivation isn't always the end-all-be-all to playing good football, not that anyone here is really suggesting it.

 

The point is there's far more to this game than psychology. I'm not saying sports psychology isn't important, because it is, but sometimes a player just isn't very good and that has little to do with pscyhology.

 

I thnk we have some talent on this defense. A leader shows by example and also motivates the others to get better. Who on this defense got better from last year? Seems like everyone pretty much stayed the same or got a little worse. Now lets look at the other side of the ball. Martinez worked hard in the offseason and improved, Burkhead seems to have gotten faster, our Wr's seem to have better hands, Abdullah has gotten stronger, Heard seems to have gotten quicker and our O-line's play has gotten better. Where was that on defense? A leader is vocal out on the field, did you see how our defense got confused quite a few times when southern miss was running the no huddle, our dline got owned and didnt play with that much heart. A leader is suppose to light a fire under their butt's and make them play harder than that. Thats just my opinion, I havent seen compton being that vocal on defense and getting teammates faces to motivate them in the huddle.

Was that first part you posted and then deleted directed towards me? I haven't been overly critical of the way the defense played - I recognize there's a lot of football left and it was only one game. Not sure what you were getting at.

 

Again, I ask anybody who says we have no leaders on this defense to point out how they know this. Are they watching the defensive huddle every play? Are they following every defender on the sidelines? Are they sitting in on their practices, or their meetings? Are they in the locker room at half time? How is one game sufficient evidence of offensive leadership and a lack of it on the defense?

 

You told me to "chill" because it's one game, then applaud our offense for their off-season progression and criticize the defense for their apparent lack of it. The defense did, in fact, get confused by what Southern Miss was running, but I listened to Compton in a post-game interview - he said communication is extremely important and the defense is ALWAYS yelling and calling things out. Compton said he tells the defense to always talk - he said every time they're on the field he wants constant communication and he never wants silence. That seems, at least to me, like the type of thing a leader does.

 

Besides, as you pointed out, what if they play a great game this weekend (the defense)? Does that mean our leaders will have sprouted out of the ground in one week, or will it mean that So. Miss really did confuse our defense enough to the point that they couldn't execute effectively? Questions that will be answered in time.

[walksalone]

speed and awarness

Edited September 4, 2012 by walksalone

[MLB 51]

As Dude said above, an elite DT. In this 2 gap system (see The Duke's explanation on another thread) you need a guy who is strong enough to stand his guy up, read the play and react into the correct gap. See SUH, now look. There in lies the difference. We need a game changing DT in there. IMO, we do not have that yet. Maybe one of the true Freshman. If the O line gets to our LB's, we are screwed (as is really any team that allows the OL to get to the second level), but we are set up to have the DL stuff the line and allow the LB's and secondary to clean up. Missed tackles also doesn't help, but we need those stud D tackles.

This. Controlling the line of scrimmage and occupying O-Lineman make's the LB's job that much easier.

[zoogs]

I think (and hope) Eric Martin will be that guy

 

A backup defensive end???

 

I agree with others that Compton is that guy. As for our defense overall, the CBs and the DL both still need to come into their own.