I am not sure why, but going into the season I thought that we would be fair on defense and it would take the offense time, maybe a lot of time, to jell. Well I was sort of right about the offense, but it does appear to be steadily improving.
I could not have been more wrong about the defense. We are not "fair." UNI and Iowa ran pretty easily on us, and I don't think they have proven to be good rushing teams. TCU and Baylor ran all over us, Baylor much more so than TCU. (Note: I was so damn hot at the TCU game, I am not truly sure of what went on.) Even San Jose State ran on us pretty easily for 3 quarters.
The answers are pretty obvious. Our front 7 (or 6 or 5) is poor. And a lot of that is due to attrition. Linebacker is the weakest, maybe but we are down several "returning" linebackers for various reasons. Luke Knott and Levi Peters had their bodies give out. Jordan Harris wouldn't get with the new program. Marcel Spears left the program. There were no additions. That attrition has made linebacker play almost impossible.
On the Defensive line, for one reason or another, Darius White, Delvyn Cousins, Terry Ayeni and Justin Madison left the program. That is a pretty decent, for us, 2nd team line. Obviously hurt our depth. Again, there has been no significant addition, other than Mitchell Meyer returning, but he does not seem to be the factor he was - which is more than understandable.
Our front 7 is average on the line (at best) and almost non-existent at linebacker. Our defensive backs are as good or better than we have had for a long time. But unless someone can find some magic to fix the defensive front and find linebackers, it is going to be an extremely difficult task to win games.
Is it time to commit 7 to the rush and trust our defensive backs to cover 1 on 1? At least for 2-4 key series in a game? Or just try to find opponents we can outscore. Almost got there against Baylor.
I could not have been more wrong about the defense. We are not "fair." UNI and Iowa ran pretty easily on us, and I don't think they have proven to be good rushing teams. TCU and Baylor ran all over us, Baylor much more so than TCU. (Note: I was so damn hot at the TCU game, I am not truly sure of what went on.) Even San Jose State ran on us pretty easily for 3 quarters.
The answers are pretty obvious. Our front 7 (or 6 or 5) is poor. And a lot of that is due to attrition. Linebacker is the weakest, maybe but we are down several "returning" linebackers for various reasons. Luke Knott and Levi Peters had their bodies give out. Jordan Harris wouldn't get with the new program. Marcel Spears left the program. There were no additions. That attrition has made linebacker play almost impossible.
On the Defensive line, for one reason or another, Darius White, Delvyn Cousins, Terry Ayeni and Justin Madison left the program. That is a pretty decent, for us, 2nd team line. Obviously hurt our depth. Again, there has been no significant addition, other than Mitchell Meyer returning, but he does not seem to be the factor he was - which is more than understandable.
Our front 7 is average on the line (at best) and almost non-existent at linebacker. Our defensive backs are as good or better than we have had for a long time. But unless someone can find some magic to fix the defensive front and find linebackers, it is going to be an extremely difficult task to win games.
Is it time to commit 7 to the rush and trust our defensive backs to cover 1 on 1? At least for 2-4 key series in a game? Or just try to find opponents we can outscore. Almost got there against Baylor.
