The game Saturday was certainly a disappointment, and as many have pointed out, falling behind 21-0, having the DLine effectively blocked in the run game, having linebackers not reading correctly while not having the athleticism to recover from their errors all made for a disappointing, and thank god non-conference game.
It may be that since Duke was having so much success running, at least early, and that Nebraska is really bad, but since the first quarter of the Nebraska game, the pass defense has shown itself to have a lot of promise, especially if it learns to keep is collective heads in the game on bizarre plays.
After the first three drives of the Nebraska game, where Casey Thompson went 10-11, the stat line for opposing team’s passing game has been:
28-55 for 463 yards, 1 TD, 3 int. Breaking that down a little further, that stat line includes 3, let us say, unusual plays. The first was the 11 second scramble by Thompson that resulted in a 58 yard reception, the second the play where, after mutual pushing, Cam Mitchell chose to work the ref rather than tackle, making a 30 yard reception an 81 yard play, and finally the deflected pass that turned into a 51 yard gain.
Of the 463 yards yielded overall, those three plays totaled 189. Yes, those plays count. No, none of those plays were normal.
Let’s assume that on the scramble, Thompson ditches the ball when he first appears cornered, on the push match Mitchell tackles rather than whines, and the deflection falls to the ground. The resulting stat line for 7 quarters would be: 26-55, 300 yards, 1 TD, 3 int.
Normalizing to 4 quarters, the line would be 15-31-171, .5 TD, 2 int.
Another way to look at it would be a completion rate less than 50%, 5.45 yards per attempt, and 3 interceptions for each TD. If the Cats’ secondary can play at that level consistently, I think there is some hope for the defense, and the predicate for playing that way is largely keeping their cool on the odd plays.
A good secondary helps, but it is not the whole defense.
I don’t think the LBs will get quicker, but I sure hope they are capable of getting smarter. I don’t think the inside linemen are going to get stronger, but I think they can do a better job of establishing control on their first step moving into contact, which they did against Nebraska but not against Duke. Finally, I think having Azema in might help in limiting the kind of big plays Duke was able, to their credit, execute on Saturday.
TLDR is that while the defense has often been bad the first two games, I think the pass defense is basically sound and the front 7 can be coached at least to competence, making for a defense that may not win games, but at least would not lose them. With an offense that seems capable of moving the ball, I think the rest of the season still has promise.
It may be that since Duke was having so much success running, at least early, and that Nebraska is really bad, but since the first quarter of the Nebraska game, the pass defense has shown itself to have a lot of promise, especially if it learns to keep is collective heads in the game on bizarre plays.
After the first three drives of the Nebraska game, where Casey Thompson went 10-11, the stat line for opposing team’s passing game has been:
28-55 for 463 yards, 1 TD, 3 int. Breaking that down a little further, that stat line includes 3, let us say, unusual plays. The first was the 11 second scramble by Thompson that resulted in a 58 yard reception, the second the play where, after mutual pushing, Cam Mitchell chose to work the ref rather than tackle, making a 30 yard reception an 81 yard play, and finally the deflected pass that turned into a 51 yard gain.
Of the 463 yards yielded overall, those three plays totaled 189. Yes, those plays count. No, none of those plays were normal.
Let’s assume that on the scramble, Thompson ditches the ball when he first appears cornered, on the push match Mitchell tackles rather than whines, and the deflection falls to the ground. The resulting stat line for 7 quarters would be: 26-55, 300 yards, 1 TD, 3 int.
Normalizing to 4 quarters, the line would be 15-31-171, .5 TD, 2 int.
Another way to look at it would be a completion rate less than 50%, 5.45 yards per attempt, and 3 interceptions for each TD. If the Cats’ secondary can play at that level consistently, I think there is some hope for the defense, and the predicate for playing that way is largely keeping their cool on the odd plays.
A good secondary helps, but it is not the whole defense.
I don’t think the LBs will get quicker, but I sure hope they are capable of getting smarter. I don’t think the inside linemen are going to get stronger, but I think they can do a better job of establishing control on their first step moving into contact, which they did against Nebraska but not against Duke. Finally, I think having Azema in might help in limiting the kind of big plays Duke was able, to their credit, execute on Saturday.
TLDR is that while the defense has often been bad the first two games, I think the pass defense is basically sound and the front 7 can be coached at least to competence, making for a defense that may not win games, but at least would not lose them. With an offense that seems capable of moving the ball, I think the rest of the season still has promise.
