Husker Defense Under Frost

It is a lot harder to have 'good' defensive stats when your offense is scoring a lot of points. They are on the field a lot more, especially if you go 3 and out with running only 1 time that possession. With that said, I think the look Frost wants to implement here looks very close to what Ohio St is doing with Meyer. Dual-threat QB, more no huddle offense, throw more vertical and seem passes, but still run the ball effectively. The Buckeyes were 5th in scoring and 22nd in defense in regards to points/points given up. Hopefully within a few years we can be at that level. 

 
As I've shared elsewhere, UCF's defensive stats are as follows (in terms of percentiles):

Passing Defense: average percentile rating of stats in this category, for 2017 season up to but not including the CCG, is 61

Rushing Defense: 70

Scoring Defense: 79

Total Defense: 44

UCF clearly didn't play a very tough schedule but saying they gave up tons of points shows someone didn't do his homework.  They have given up a little more than the average number of yards.  If you want something more detailed than this, I shared it in a UCF stats post you can find on page 1 or page 2 of this forum.

 
beorach said:
As I've shared elsewhere, UCF's defensive stats are as follows (in terms of percentiles):

Passing Defense: average percentile rating of stats in this category, for 2017 season up to but not including the CCG, is 61

Rushing Defense: 70

Scoring Defense: 79

Total Defense: 44

UCF clearly didn't play a very tough schedule but saying they gave up tons of points shows someone didn't do his homework.  They have given up a little more than the average number of yards.  If you want something more detailed than this, I shared it in a UCF stats post you can find on page 1 or page 2 of this forum.
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How does Memphis skew these numbers? 

 
I believe that a passive 3-4 scheme is not going to consistently beat the type of Wisconsin team that was fielded this year. Their offensive line is one of the best in the country and you'll get chipped for 5+ yards a carry.

**EDIT** -- I'm not saying that Frost's DC runs a passive 3-4. inb4 somebody says that.  :)

It's really about how the linebackers are used. In an agressive 3-4 scheme with physical linebackers it's a completely different defense. Especially when your corners are lined up closer to the line of scrimmage for run support. 

I'm not worried about anything right now. I believe Frost has the tactician's mind and (I hope, at least) won't have the stubborn qualities to not adjust if something isn't working. With that said, I've said for three seasons now that we need a defensive coordinator that takes a simple look at what Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, and Wisconsin do in this conference to be successful and tries to duplicate that. 

 
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I think we will see a very aggressive defense.  Seems they haven't offered a safety under 6'3.  Leads me to believe they will probably move up and play lb.  Get those guys moving and use their speed to attack.  Big lbs to DE, just like the old days 

 
The defense is an area that I am still a bit concerned about however that said  I think that with a solid defensive coach who can at least get equal to or a bit more from the player we will be fine.  It will help to have a offense that can keep a lead so the defense can pin the ears back a bit ............. That said allow me a moment to be like the guy at the meeting with one more thing to say and seeking out a moment to say it .............. This last years defense led by the epic failure of Bobby D. left me stunned.  (It's odd almost that a guy who once led a decent defense turned into such a crap pile,  I almost think that the stink of failure got on him as an HC and he couldn't let is go).   During his last 48 hours on staff he should have written a letter of apology to the defensive players and the parents for stealing a full year of time and development from them.        

 
beorach said:
As I've shared elsewhere, UCF's defensive stats are as follows (in terms of percentiles):

Passing Defense: average percentile rating of stats in this category, for 2017 season up to but not including the CCG, is 61

Rushing Defense: 70

Scoring Defense: 79

Total Defense: 44

UCF clearly didn't play a very tough schedule but saying they gave up tons of points shows someone didn't do his homework.  They have given up a little more than the average number of yards.  If you want something more detailed than this, I shared it in a UCF stats post you can find on page 1 or page 2 of this forum.
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Id like to see where you get these numbers... should be easy for you to go back to your post and copy that link.   just seems odd to me that if you are 61st pass, 70th rush and 79th defense that your total d would be 40. 

 
UCF played Memphis twice.  I just didn't count the second game, when I worked with stats, because most teams didn't play an extra game.  I've shared many times that I get my stats from cfbstats.com because they allow me to purge games versus lower division teams.  As I shared above, you can see all the stats I considered in my UCF post from last week:

UCF Statistical Rankings

To address the other question asked above, I'm also considering the number of plays a defense has faced in the Total Defense category.  That's the worst of the three stats for UCF in that category.  The Golden Knights gave up a roughly average amount of yards overall on the season but they faced a lot more plays than the average FBS team did in the same time period (again, the regular season).  There's always more to the story than the numbers.  I suppose I should have just linked to the old post and been done.

 
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Something I've been questioning in my head but really don't have a way of finding out without one hell of a lot of work that I'm not going to do.

I'm sure UCF wasn't just loaded with talent on both sides of the ball when Frost got there.  Their offense was formed into a very good juggernaut while the defense has held their own but hasn't been dominant.

So....my question is.....were there players that switched from defense to offense to accomplish that?  When Frost got there, did he feel like he needed to be good at something so he loaded up the offense with the best players?

If so, I can see why and I don't think he would need to do that here with the level of talent we have on both sides of the ball.

Again...this is PURE speculation with no facts to back it up.....just something I was thinking about.

 
BigRedBuster said:
Something I've been questioning in my head but really don't have a way of finding out without one hell of a lot of work that I'm not going to do.

I'm sure UCF wasn't just loaded with talent on both sides of the ball when Frost got there.  Their offense was formed into a very good juggernaut while the defense has held their own but hasn't been dominant.

So....my question is.....were there players that switched from defense to offense to accomplish that?  When Frost got there, did he feel like he needed to be good at something so he loaded up the offense with the best players?

If so, I can see why and I don't think he would need to do that here with the level of talent we have on both sides of the ball.

Again...this is PURE speculation with no facts to back it up.....just something I was thinking about.
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I think if Frost and his coaching staff had a choice on where to put an "athlete", they probably chose offense because that's what they wanted to build first at UCF.  When recruiting to a G5 school, most coaches have to decide, "Do we want to be strong on offense or defense".  It's easier to be strong on offense, because that's where most of the best athletes want to play.

Now that Frost and Chinander are at NU, I think they will realize that they should be able to recruit strong athletes on BOTH sides of the ball.  I think Frost will always be "offense-oriented", but he's not dumb in how a strong defense can be on a championship contender.  The strong D may not happen overnight, but I am sure Frost will want to have a D that will complement his offense.

 
There's also the matter of UCF not having been a doormat for long.  See below for the records with players that may have still been there (redshirt considered, I guess) ahead of Frost arriving:

2015: 0-12

2014: 9-4

2013: 12-1

2012: 10-4

 
I understand the uptempo wears out your d and with Memphis also playing fast, there were a lot of coverage mistakes that led to big plays...which is why they play uptempo...what bothered me was the poor tackling.

Now I would probably agree that frost focused on the offense first.  Let's face it, a big time athlete on the offensive side that can touch the ball potentially every snap is going to have a bigger immediate impact than say a stud corner. All you have to do is find a weakness in the D to exploit it and neutralize that impact player. Offense can scheme away from their weak links a little easier. 

Im just hoping the missed tackles were more fatigue from the D as I missed the first half. Can anyone confirm that the tackling was better in the first? 

 
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