Improved Defense

[Roy CO HSKR]

From rojo:

 

Our defense is not where we want it to be, but it’s closer.

 

I. All across the board there has been improvement in this defense---in spite of…

 

1) Losing two starting Linebackers (Octavien & Bradley)

 

2) Having the most inexperienced Defensive Backs we’ve had in years.

 

--Blake Tiedtke. Little playing time before this year.

--Tierre Green: A running back until mid-August.

--Cortney Grixby: Two starts last year.

--Zachary Bowman: Experience only at a very low level of competion.

--Daniel Bullocks. (Still missing his on-the-field connection with Josh?)

 

Despite the above, we see improvement in all categories---a graphline consistently going up. Compare....

.

II. Our Current Ranking and the 2004 Final Big 12 Rankings:

 

A. Scoring Defense: (The single most important defensive stat.)

 

--#5 this year (22.1 pts/game)

--#10 last year (27.1 pts/game). That’s approaching a TD/game improvement....

 

B. Total Defense:

 

--#7 this year (337 yds/game)

--#8 last year (372 yds/game). Not much better. But better.

 

C. Red Zone Defense:

 

--#1 this year (Give up points 66% of the time.)

--#4 last year (76%)

 

D. Opponent’s 3rd Down Conversions:

 

--#3 this year (30%)

--#6 last year (37%)

 

E. Sacks:

 

--#1 this year (42 so far)

--#5-#6 last year (25)

.

The Bottom Line:

 

1) We’ve improved defensively. The numbers show it.

 

2) Given the season-ending injuries and the inexperienced secondary... what we've done is an accomplishment.

 

3) Wait ‘til next year. Seven starters return.

 

--LB: McKeon & Ruud with Octavien & Bradley returning. Incoming Juco LB Stevie Allen may figure in. (Dillard, Brandenburgh, Covey).

 

--D-Line: John Blake will be smiling. The DE group will be the best in the Big 12: Seniors Carriker & Moore with Barry Turner (Potter, Steinkuhler; Incoming: Seth Jensen & Juco Rulon Davis). DT’s: Dagunduro, Cryer & Suh. Incoming: Juco Brandon Johnson & D. J. Jones.

 

--DB’s: Experienced Cornerbacks (Grixby, Bowman, Green) and incoming 5-star Juco CB Andre Jones. The questions are at Safety: Who will join Andrew Shanle? Leon Jackson. Jeff Souder? Green? Rands? Someone still out there…?

 

Just some stuff to think about…

[CornHunka]

I agree with your post that we will continue to make strides on defense, but Rands at safety?? The guy isn't big enough (5' 7" 160 pounts) to play corner, much less safety. Safety is the position besides OL, that needed a serious influx of talent a couple of years ago so we won't have to be in the position of putting kids back there with little or no experience.

[chuckd]

I agree, Rands will most likely be a special teams players, I think he will contribute very well there. With the continued talent and size we are recruiting, Rands will probably not be playing much other than special teams.

[HuskerWisdom]

I'm going to play devils advocate here and ask you a couple of questions:

 

First, factor out the 11 sacks at Maine and chart the sacks since then. As the season has gone on and the competition has gotten tougher the pressure we've put on the offense has lessened considerably. How many more sacks have we gotten against the true, quality teams on the schedule?

 

2. We still have huge problems with mobile QB's. Why can't Cosgrove use a safety like Shanle to "shadow" those QB's?

 

3. Compare our schedule for this year to the one we played last year. Do we feel that their is a similar amount of offensive talent we've played? I tend to think that last year's schedule makes our defense look a lot like last year's defense. Is the scoring average because of this? or does it represent "true" improvement?

 

I do think we've made some progress. We have good DL coaching and our DL is better. Our DB's aren't being put into as many situations that they simply cannot handle - so it's obvious the coaching staff made some good adjustments there.

 

I'm not convinced by our LB's. I don't think they cover well, and I don't think we have the "type" of LB that we should have. If you look at Cosgrove's D's from WI, they tended to run sets that resembled (to me) 1980's NFL sets. I don't think that works to our advantage when facing the types of offenses that we see in the Big 12.

 

--Alan

[Roy CO HSKR]

It seems to me that scoring is the key stat for a defense, particularly points scored per minute of the opponent's time of possession. Or to put it into perspective, if the opponent takes a long drive repeatedly to score as opposed to quick strikes, the defense should be credited. Although field goals are scored by special teams, the field position was usually a result of the defense. Field goals instead of touchdowns should be a plus for the work of the defense (excluding long returns of the opponent). The red zone defense, this year compared to 2004, bears this out.

 

Five points per game is significant this year over last. Can you really blame a poor Maine team for that difference? In regard to sacks, the missing agrediant is hurries and forcing a different play that is also effective. What defense in the country has done better with the experience that we have on average per player on defense (and offense for that matter)?

[gamecocks]

I think that the fall in sacks may be partially to the fact that offenses are preparing better for our defense pass rush and the fact that two of our quicker linebackers are down with injuries.

[HuskerWisdom]

It seems to me that scoring is the key stat for a defense, particularly points scored per minute of the opponent's time of possession. Or to put it into perspective, if the opponent takes a long drive repeatedly to score as opposed to quick strikes, the defense should be credited. Although field goals are scored by special teams, the field position was usually a result of the defense. Field goals instead of touchdowns should be a plus for the work of the defense (excluding long returns of the opponent). The red zone defense, this year compared to 2004, bears this out.

 

Five points per game is significant this year over last. Can you really blame a poor Maine team for that difference? In regard to sacks, the missing agrediant is hurries and forcing a different play that is also effective. What defense in the country has done better with the experience that we have on average per player on defense (and offense for that matter)?

I tend to look at scoring as very similar to an RBI in baseball. It's important, but whether they go up or down is largely dependent upon everything else going on around the RBI itself. Sometimes players have up years and down years for RBI's and that is largely statistical noise.

 

In this case, I can acknowledge that there has been some improvement. That isn't enough to believe that Colorado won't score 30-40 pts on this bunch next week or that a better schedule would put this defense to the test. Is Pitt nearly as good of an offense as they were last year? Was ISU w/o key players as good of an offense? Was K-State as good as they were last year?

 

Finally, you ask about experience.. Well, Oklahoma is 5-1 in Big 12 play, and they start 4 freshman on offense and another on defense (with a bunch of Freshman seeing time in their secondary). Funny, I haven't heard a peep about how "complex" their offense is to those freshman.

[Roy CO HSKR]

Remember OU's system has been around since 2001 and the players surrounding their new guys have experience. The same cannot be said for us, esp. with the defensive line, which is critical. We didn't plug in new guys, we've played 27 of them! We've played 12 Frosh alone!

 

Patience is harder to come by than the alternative.

[Scarlet"N"Cream]

From rojo:

 

Our defense is not where we want it to be, but it’s closer.

 

I. All across the board there has been improvement in this defense---in spite of…

 

1) Losing two starting Linebackers (Octavien & Bradley)

 

2) Having the most inexperienced Defensive Backs we’ve had in years.

 

--Blake Tiedtke. Little playing time before this year.

--Tierre Green: A running back until mid-August.

--Cortney Grixby: Two starts last year.

--Zachary Bowman: Experience only at a very low level of competion.

--Daniel Bullocks. (Still missing his on-the-field connection with Josh?)

 

Despite the above, we see improvement in all categories---a graphline consistently going up. Compare....

.

II. Our Current Ranking and the 2004 Final Big 12 Rankings:

 

A. Scoring Defense: (The single most important defensive stat.)

 

--#5 this year (22.1 pts/game)

--#10 last year (27.1 pts/game). That’s approaching a TD/game improvement....

 

B. Total Defense:

 

--#7 this year (337 yds/game)

--#8 last year (372 yds/game). Not much better. But better.

 

C. Red Zone Defense:

 

--#1 this year (Give up points 66% of the time.)

--#4 last year (76%)

 

D. Opponent’s 3rd Down Conversions:

 

--#3 this year (30%)

--#6 last year (37%)

 

E. Sacks:

 

--#1 this year (42 so far)

--#5-#6 last year (25)

.

The Bottom Line:

 

1) We’ve improved defensively. The numbers show it.

 

2) Given the season-ending injuries and the inexperienced secondary... what we've done is an accomplishment.

 

3) Wait ‘til next year. Seven starters return.

 

--LB: McKeon & Ruud with Octavien & Bradley returning. Incoming Juco LB Stevie Allen may figure in. (Dillard, Brandenburgh, Covey).

 

--D-Line: John Blake will be smiling. The DE group will be the best in the Big 12: Seniors Carriker & Moore with Barry Turner (Potter, Steinkuhler; Incoming: Seth Jensen & Juco Rulon Davis). DT’s: Dagunduro, Cryer & Suh. Incoming: Juco Brandon Johnson & D. J. Jones.

 

--DB’s: Experienced Cornerbacks (Grixby, Bowman, Green) and incoming 5-star Juco CB Andre Jones. The questions are at Safety: Who will join Andrew Shanle? Leon Jackson. Jeff Souder? Green? Rands? Someone still out there…?

 

Just some stuff to think about…

AGREED. The D has improved. Not as much as I wished and suspected, but it going to get better. Glass half full all the time!!!! Thats the way through life.