ISU wins this weekend if they...
- Thread starter cystate1
- Start date
As most people would assert, the key this week will be the defense....
I will be the devils advocate here... Im going with our offense....
The most obvious is tendencies.... WVU has had one of the highest scoring offenses in the big 12 and have rolled up some big numbers....However, the biggest paper difference is defense. They've not slowed down anyone.... Delaware State put up 16 points...
Inside the numbers
WVU is 97th in the country in scoring defense giving up 31.6 pts per game.
Rushing...
Believe it or not, but, their actually ranked lower then Kansas in rushing defense giving up an astounding 204 yards rushing thats good for 105th.. You might think that is probably because people are trying to slow their offense and thus rushing the ball. However, hold that thought until we look at the passing!!! Conversely - TCU was ranked 3rd in the nation in rushing defense. ISU stands at 28th.
Passing...
Pass Efficiency defense - their 138th and giving up about 256 yards per game (100th) which is a total defensive ranking of 115th in yards per game.
How bad is that you might wonder.... Kansas is 114th!!!
So although a lot of people may say that the need to break their offense is the key... i would counter that by saying a very solid, consistent, slow, pounding offense, that generates points against probably the worst defense in the big twelve is whats needed. If that happens - then our defense will remain fresh and as we've seen, they may not shut them out, but, i firmly believe the way their playing, they could slow them down.... Which should be enough to win the game and get back to AMES....
I will be the devils advocate here... Im going with our offense....
The most obvious is tendencies.... WVU has had one of the highest scoring offenses in the big 12 and have rolled up some big numbers....However, the biggest paper difference is defense. They've not slowed down anyone.... Delaware State put up 16 points...
Inside the numbers
WVU is 97th in the country in scoring defense giving up 31.6 pts per game.
Rushing...
Believe it or not, but, their actually ranked lower then Kansas in rushing defense giving up an astounding 204 yards rushing thats good for 105th.. You might think that is probably because people are trying to slow their offense and thus rushing the ball. However, hold that thought until we look at the passing!!! Conversely - TCU was ranked 3rd in the nation in rushing defense. ISU stands at 28th.
Passing...
Pass Efficiency defense - their 138th and giving up about 256 yards per game (100th) which is a total defensive ranking of 115th in yards per game.
How bad is that you might wonder.... Kansas is 114th!!!
So although a lot of people may say that the need to break their offense is the key... i would counter that by saying a very solid, consistent, slow, pounding offense, that generates points against probably the worst defense in the big twelve is whats needed. If that happens - then our defense will remain fresh and as we've seen, they may not shut them out, but, i firmly believe the way their playing, they could slow them down.... Which should be enough to win the game and get back to AMES....
Keep the offense in front of you on defense (no big plays) and get some push off the O-Line to jump start the running game (sustained drives that eat the clock)
I rewatched some of the OSU vs. WVU game, and my goodness did OSU try to let WVU hang around. They basically did what they wanted during the game, but fumbled the ball away several times (one of which was not forced), allowed a blocked punt for a TD, and Rudolph made a bad decision on a pick 6.
OSU also gave up a long pass for a TD on an underthrown ball where the OSU defender badly misjudged the timing of his jump and the WVU player walked into the endzone.
I still think WVU is a pretty solid team, but ISU should win this game.
If the scoring gets up into the 30's/40's, I like WVU.
If ISU can continue to play ball control and play sound football, I like ISU.
OSU also gave up a long pass for a TD on an underthrown ball where the OSU defender badly misjudged the timing of his jump and the WVU player walked into the endzone.
I still think WVU is a pretty solid team, but ISU should win this game.
If the scoring gets up into the 30's/40's, I like WVU.
If ISU can continue to play ball control and play sound football, I like ISU.
From a defensive perspective, I think we're set up really well to defend WVU. The defense just needs to continue to play solid, the scheme is set up to defend WVU deep air raid. Force a turnover or two and we're really in business.
I expect a heavy, heavy dose of David Montgomery on saturday.. he should run wild and if he doesn't, we're in trouble.
I expect a heavy, heavy dose of David Montgomery on saturday.. he should run wild and if he doesn't, we're in trouble.
Watch the Kansas vs WVU film...run the ball like Kansas did.
Very strange saying do something like Kansas did, but they rushed for over 300 yds against WVU.
Very strange saying do something like Kansas did, but they rushed for over 300 yds against WVU.
WVU's defense should be the cure to our offensive woes. I think we could score up in 30-40+ range like we were before. If we do, that will mean WVU will press more and take more chances on offense, which should lead right in to what our defense wants them to do and create more turnovers.
Our defense is actually already built against him some. He is a big-play, deep ball guy for them. He will have a hard time opening up when we drop eight.
So, I looked it up. ISU has not given up a pass play LONGER than 30 yards since Akron. (Akron had 2 and the Wadley play were the 3 ISU has given up all year).
TCU did have one exactly at 30 yards.
I also looked up ISU's 3rd and 4th down defense in the 4 game winning streak vs the first 4 games:
3rd down success rate for the opposing offense:
- First 4: 48%
- 4 wins: 36%
4th down success rate for the opposing offense:
- First 4: 1/1
- 4 wins: 1/6
I forgot UT was 11/23 on 3rd downs. 23 3rd downs! A combination of our defense and Horizontal Herman.
Looks like it will be 60 degrees and rainy on Saturday in Morgantown. Sounds a lot like the conditions during our game against KU. Hopefully the results will be similar!
Maybe you'd better qualify that. I assume you mean that ISU shuts out West Vagina and not that the home team rolls...
If they continue mistake light-football. Continue to play great defense and control the line in the running game against a marginal at best WVU defense....
Everyone says WVA sucks at defense, I haven't watched one snap of their games, is this really a thing? I don't mind going strength to strength WV Off vs. ISU Def, but if we can get out early again, we win
WV's defense has taken a pretty big step back compared to last year. If we can limit their offense I can see us winning by 14-17 points.