Before injuries it was as good as thought. Anyone bringing up yards allowed rankings in their contention does not understand defense well enough to comment.
big huge elephant
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Before injuries it was as good as thought. Anyone bringing up yards allowed rankings in their contention does not understand defense well enough to comment.
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I vote for a move on CF to allow users to vote once a month or so for the users to perma-ban a member. Kind of a natural thinning the herd you may say.
Personally, I believe the defense was average to start the year and has progressively gotten worse. At this point, they're worse than the offense. People talk about how they are giving up less PPG than most conference teams...well, with how bad the offense was earlier in the season, teams didn't NEED to score all that much to win. They get up by 2 TDs and they knew ISU couldn't come back on them, so they ran the ball and worked the clock.
Right now I think the D is flat out bad. The O is finally playing well enough to win some games and the D is a sieve. To me, it's shocking how little depth the LB group had. This staff had three years to find replacements for Knott and Klein. You'd think that at this point, the last games of Knott and Klein's season, there would be some guys waiting in the wings to replace them. That is not the case. So, they had to scramble Klein, forcing him to a new position for his last few games and he's spent them trying to do too much. Jeremiah George is a horrible LB. He consistently makes bad reads and misses tackles. You hardly ever see him make a solo tackle or even a good play. He's a liability and that says something that Miller can't see the field over him (or taking over for Knott and keeping George and Klein where they were). I'd rather have Taufoou then George and he wasn't that good. If next year's D is built around George and Miller at LB and Jensen, Woods, Scott and Irving on the DL, I am terrified of what that run D will be like. Maybe one of the worst BCS run defenses of the last 20 years.
So far what I see is some bad recruiting at LB and WR, where the talent seems to go downhill every year. The only difference between those two positions is that the staff lucked onto two all-conference LBs their first season. After that, the recruiting has been strikingly similar.
Right now I think the D is flat out bad. The O is finally playing well enough to win some games and the D is a sieve. To me, it's shocking how little depth the LB group had. This staff had three years to find replacements for Knott and Klein. You'd think that at this point, the last games of Knott and Klein's season, there would be some guys waiting in the wings to replace them. That is not the case. So, they had to scramble Klein, forcing him to a new position for his last few games and he's spent them trying to do too much. Jeremiah George is a horrible LB. He consistently makes bad reads and misses tackles. You hardly ever see him make a solo tackle or even a good play. He's a liability and that says something that Miller can't see the field over him (or taking over for Knott and keeping George and Klein where they were). I'd rather have Taufoou then George and he wasn't that good. If next year's D is built around George and Miller at LB and Jensen, Woods, Scott and Irving on the DL, I am terrified of what that run D will be like. Maybe one of the worst BCS run defenses of the last 20 years.
So far what I see is some bad recruiting at LB and WR, where the talent seems to go downhill every year. The only difference between those two positions is that the staff lucked onto two all-conference LBs their first season. After that, the recruiting has been strikingly similar.
It would be nice to see more options on those plays such as fake jet, end around, or bubble screen to hold the linebackers.
While the defense gives up yards, it is a bend but don't break defense. Part of Wally's defensive philosophy is give up yards but stop the big play. That's why in terms of total yards the defense isn't great. Keep in mind that some games where the defense gave up a lot of yards the offense also couldn't help them by sustaining a drive.
Sort of nullifies the advantage we have from having a great punter though.
Sometimes if feels like we might as well never punt, as we're content to give most of those yards back anyways.
Exactly the opposite, it works in unison with a great punter. If we could not count on good starting field position, we would be forced to take more chances.
Wally frustrates me a bit at the lack pressure he tends to dial up, but overall he keeps ISU in games. Furthermore, if ISU had a legit Big 12 QB/offense, then maybe some of the deficiencies would be masked more. The lack of sacks at all the in October/November has been ridiculous though.
On the flipside the talent level has me feeling good moving forward. Thinking back to years past, if ISU was missing 3 starters in the back 7, uhm....50 point games would rain down from the sky.
I'm concerned about next years defense, and hopeful that Sam and the offense can account for another TD a game average to leverage things out a bit.
On the flipside the talent level has me feeling good moving forward. Thinking back to years past, if ISU was missing 3 starters in the back 7, uhm....50 point games would rain down from the sky.
I'm concerned about next years defense, and hopeful that Sam and the offense can account for another TD a game average to leverage things out a bit.
Not knowing anything isn't a dis-qualifier for commenting. One can start a thread while knowing nothing.
wink:I think you also have to consider the injuries in light of how long they were on the field when the offense couldn't get a first down to save their lives. As the season wore on, injuries took key players off the field, and even those on the field were playing banged up. Of couse, I don't have a crystal ball, but I can't help but think that if the offense could have stayed on the field longer throughout the season the defense would have been healthier.
Is the Big 12 offensive production a function of unbelievable offenses or pretty weak defenses? How many points did OU score at home vs. Notre Dame?
IMO if Roads is going to buid a team that can go 8-4 and win 4-5 Big 12 games each year it will built on the defensive side of the ball and a key part of that is a d-line that controls the line of scrimmage and we can consistently put pressure on the QB.
ISU held Iowa to their lowest point total of the season. ISU has a better defense than anyone in the Big 10!
Unbelievable offense. One poor performance against the #1 defense does not mean the incredible performances on offense are due to weak defense.
Here's my theory on the game....ISU lost the game because of 1 reason, they didn't score more than WVU....
Look at the big 12's entire out of conference record. It's pretty good. The bowl games will give another good indicator.
