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Defense
- Thread starter kalm
- Start date
luckyintheorder
Active member
What are you driving at?
luckyintheorder
Active member
Thanks for the clarification. No disagreement here. I would call it "context". :nod:kalm said:
Hot damn, these guys are doing great compared to the 2013-2015 teams! This team is definitely top 8 material and not just on offense alone. I'll defend the defense til I'm blue in the face this year, don't look at yards/game since it's misleading. 3rd down % is the key stat right now in my opinion.
luckyintheorder
Active member
Given who we have played and the fact that is feels like the Defense has given up a lot of long 3rd downs...kalm said:
Ranked 61st in 3rd down conversation rate at .381. Crazy, but that feels pretty good considering the competition. Mont St is 115th at .474.
Team is 103rd in rushing D at just over 200 yds per game. Ick. Mont. St is 10th in rushing at 250 yds per game.(QB is their top rusher at 543 yds, he's thrown for about 650)
Should be a good game this week. Believe the D is up to it.
ewueagle2010
Active member
I stand firm in my belief that the D continues to pass the eye test. Stats do not tell the story for that unit this season. Saturday alone, the offense turned the ball over twice, putting the D on their heels. The first pick was brutal and set UC Davis up in deep Eagle territory. The D stood strong and Davis ended up having the FG attempt blocked.
Additionally, the D was on the field again for over 36 minutes. On the road, against a motivated team with a fantastic player in Doss, I'd say the D did just fine. This unit continues to improve each week despite key injuries and quality opponents.
By the way, Texas Tech is now 4-1 with it's only loss a close one to Oklahoma State. NDSU is 5-0, UM is 4-2 with its only losses to EWU and Washington and Sac State and UC Davis are much improved middle of the pack Big Sky teams that both will knock off more teams. Oh, and we're now 3-1 on the road. Defense wins road games.
Additionally, the D was on the field again for over 36 minutes. On the road, against a motivated team with a fantastic player in Doss, I'd say the D did just fine. This unit continues to improve each week despite key injuries and quality opponents.
By the way, Texas Tech is now 4-1 with it's only loss a close one to Oklahoma State. NDSU is 5-0, UM is 4-2 with its only losses to EWU and Washington and Sac State and UC Davis are much improved middle of the pack Big Sky teams that both will knock off more teams. Oh, and we're now 3-1 on the road. Defense wins road games.
I don't quite share your enthusiasm. While our defense is clearly better than two years ago (which isn't saying much as they were terrible at that time), I'm not sure we've really improved any from last year.
Time of possession is sort of a pain point with our D. We gave up 31 first downs to UC Davis. That is simply too many. We need to get off the field with more regularity.
It'll be a big test this weekend against Montana State. Aside from Fordham, this is probably the most mediocre offense we've played to this point. They are a one-dimensional offense that probably won't throw too many passes. They don't hide what they want to do; they plan on lining up and banging us on the edge. If we surrender a lot of points and yards to MSU, that's a very bad indicator that we aren't close to where we need to be.
It's worth pointing out that every team we've played has hung at least 31 on us except Fordham (and they can't score on much of anyone). We need to get those point total down into the mid 20s.
Time of possession is sort of a pain point with our D. We gave up 31 first downs to UC Davis. That is simply too many. We need to get off the field with more regularity.
It'll be a big test this weekend against Montana State. Aside from Fordham, this is probably the most mediocre offense we've played to this point. They are a one-dimensional offense that probably won't throw too many passes. They don't hide what they want to do; they plan on lining up and banging us on the edge. If we surrender a lot of points and yards to MSU, that's a very bad indicator that we aren't close to where we need to be.
It's worth pointing out that every team we've played has hung at least 31 on us except Fordham (and they can't score on much of anyone). We need to get those point total down into the mid 20s.
ewueagle2010
Active member
LDopaPDX said:
I don't disagree with your assessment. Clearly there are still areas to improve, I just believe I've seen enough to have the confidence they will continue getting better and do exactly what you are saying they need to do.
rontheoldwiseeagle2
Active member
This D is the best we have had in many years. So I am excited about it. It appears to get better every game. The play calling I question on occasion. The Davis QB was good and yet we only rushed three several times and gave him way to much time to find that outstanding receiver, which resulted in big plays. I can't blame the players for those choices.
rontheoldwiseeagle2
Active member
If you have a defensive question for coach, let me know and i will ask him at the coach's show tonight.
EagerEagle
Active member
Looks like D will get stronger as we get Victor Gamboa back this week! Our D has played great considered the injuries they have continued to play through....
rontheoldwiseeagle2 said:
I don't think I could be persuaded to believe our D is better this year than last year. The stats don't seem to bear that out.
But I can reserve some judgment until after this weekend. If there was a team we should be able to make a lot of stops against, it's Montana State. If they chew us up like we've been seeing, that is a really bad sign. They don't offer much through the air, so we should be able to load up the box.
luckyintheorder
Active member
LDopaPDX said:
Dopa, IMO you need to get out of your own way. Ron is absolutely correct, not just because I have been saying the same thing for awhile. By the way, would tell our Defense Coordinator the same thing, "get out of his own way" when he is calling the defense plays and subbing players in given situations. Team is full of the right kind of athletes for the roles they fill, couldn't say that a few years ago. Wouldn't surprise me to see similar results as the second half of the season last year. Tougher slate though. Remember when D couldn't get 2-3 stops a game... averaging 6+ during this winning streak. TO's, penalties and missed opportunities on offense still contributing to some of the poor metrics... Just saying
Listen to what Choate says... will you take his word for it?
http://skylinesportsmt.com/montana-state-football-2017-jeff-choate-on-eastern-washington/
God Bless the Eags!
LDopaPDX said:
If you only go by the stats I can not disagree, defense is not much better than last season. Take out the lopsided defeats by TT and NDSU and the stats look much better.
What I see on the field is a team that plays really hard every play and wears down the competition by the second half. Athletically we are as good as every Big Sky team we have played.
