How good can the defense be in 2014?

[Buffnik]

Can we get a pass rush? Can our LBs cover? Can we hold the edge in the run game?

Still some questions, but fewer than usual. Last year, they started making some plays and forcing turnovers. Still a young defense, but not so young as last season. 9 returning starters + "starting" nickel, right?

 

[BuffLuke80]

To me, that is probably the most important thing to find is a pass rush. It helps the D in a lot of areas.

 

[Buffnik]

Another question: Do we have enough speed to stop screen passes?

(This actually seemed to improve a lot last year, but it's still an issue until teams stop attacking the CU defense that way.)

 

[buffsyko]

Are you really going to be that dense on this?

Do you watch the games? Did you not see the atrocious pass defense and cu giving up 40 points almost every game? Sure, there are some guys who showed some positive steps especially the freshman LB but how you think this defense is going to become #6 in this league is Dense.

 

[Quattro]

Do you watch the games? Did you not see the atrocious pass defense and cu giving up 40 points almost every game? Sure, there are some guys who showed some positive steps especially the freshman LB but how you think this defense is going to become #6 in this league is Dense.

Teams never show progress from year to year. FACT

The defense has issues still, but there are some good pieces. You're not even attempting to acknowledge that year to year improvement happens (not that I should be surprised by this), and even more so in year 2 with a pretty veteran defense and the addition of a couple other players who will make immediate impacts. The defense is not nearly as devoid of talent as you are trying to make it seem. Now I wait for your rebuttle of "did you not watch the games last year?" since that seems to be about all you've got.

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[buffaholic]

Another question: Do we have enough speed to stop screen passes?

(This actually seemed to improve a lot last year, but it's still an issue until teams stop attacking the CU defense that way.)

I saw a huge difference in how our DBs played that bubble screen play, in that they were clearly drilled to use the sideline as their friend. Made a big difference.

 

[buffsyko]

Teams never show progress from year to year. FACT




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That's quite a big jump in progress to 6th. I'd like to see it for once instead of hearing about it every off season. Can they be better than last year? I would hope, no place but up.

Heard the same "progress" BS from hawk fans :rolling_eyes:

 

[Quattro]

Oh the good ol Hawkins defense


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[BlackNGold]

Two major areas the defense needs to address. Pass Rush and Defending the Zone Read (Read Option). Some of this may be related to talent but, IMO, a lot of it is related to scheme. (Full disclosure - I am not a big Kent Baer fan)...Baer runs pretty much a straight up defense without a lot of surprises or disguises. The result is that the offense pretty much knows what they will be seeing. I would argue that the 2013 defense was not any better than the 2012 defense especially when you compare the conference games.

Maybe now that guys have more experience Baer will add in some twists but that has not been his MO in the past. Without a better pass rush CU will continue to get killed. The last two years we have had 17 and 19 sacks, those are some of the lowest totals in the last 20 years plus our rushers are not penetrating enough to disrupt the passing lanes.

The Zone Read defense is just plain broke.

 

[J.R. Ewing]

Definitely a lot of experience on the DL and secondary. We improved from 46ppg to 38ppg iirc. How about another TD or 31pts/game. Where would that put us?

Shaving another touchdown off of our points would put us around 9th in the conference.

Name	G	TD	FG	1XP	2XP	Safety	Points	Points/G
1	Stanford	14	31	17	27	1	0	266	19.0
2	Oregon	13	32	15	29	0	0	266	20.5
3	USC	14	39	7	36	2	1	297	21.2
4	Washington	13	37	14	33	0	0	297	22.8
5	UCLA	13	37	14	35	0	1	301	23.2
6	Arizona	13	39	15	34	0	1	315	24.2
7	Arizona State	14	48	14	41	0	1	373	26.6
8	Utah	12	41	18	32	2	0	336	28.0
9	Oregon State	13	51	19	43	1	0	408	31.4
10	Washington State	13	52	19	48	2	1	423	32.5
11	Colorado	12	58	16	55	2	2	459	38.3
12	California	12	72	16	69	0	1	551	45.9

 

[sackman]

Shaving another touchdown off of our points would put us around 9th in the conference.

Name	G	TD	FG	1XP	2XP	Safety	Points	Points/G
1	Stanford	14	31	17	27	1		266	19.0
2	Oregon	13	32	15	29			266	20.5
3	USC	14	39	7	36	2	1	297	21.2
4	Washington	13	37	14	33			297	22.8
5	UCLA	13	37	14	35		1	301	23.2
6	Arizona	13	39	15	34		1	315	24.2
7	Arizona State	14	48	14	41		1	373	26.6
8	Utah	12	41	18	32	2		336	28.0
9	Oregon State	13	51	19	43	1		408	31.4
10	Washington State	13	52	19	48	2	1	423	32.5
11	Colorado	12	58	16	55	2	2	459	38.3
12	California	12	72	16	69		1	551	45.9

While true, it would also put us in the same relative category as the teams ranked as high as 5th. A 2-3 point difference isn't the end of the world. An 8 point difference is awful. Poor Cal. That's terrible. 46 points per game? Ugh.

I'd like to see us cut our PPG down to the mid 20's. I don't know if that's possible, given the high powered offenses we'll be facing this year, but if we can pull that off, we'll win a few games.

 

[SINKRATZ]

Teams never show progress from year to year. FACT

The defense has issues still, but there are some good pieces. You're not even attempting to acknowledge that year to year improvement happens (not that I should be surprised by this), and even more so in year 2 with a pretty veteran defense and the addition of a couple other players who will make immediate impacts. The defense is not nearly as devoid of talent as you are trying to make it seem. Now I wait for your rebuttle of "did you not watch the games last year?" since that seems to be about all you've got.

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Tini I appreciate your optimism, but you're making a pretty bold claim and getting pissy when someone disagrees with you. I absolutely expect us to improve on defense because, well we were terrible last year despite improvements in some areas.

To climb to 6th we would need to be 2 touchdowns per game better on defense and that's a tough task in the Pac 12. Could it happen? I suppose if the newcomers light it up and almost everything breaks our way, but don't act so surprised if someone doesn't buy into that prediction.

 

[patebuff]

First we need to learn how to stop the zone read offenses, or at least try and neutralize them a little. We are so bad at that, I am scared to death of those teams again this year. The defense will probably be the strength of the team in 2014, but not sure we can expect a top 6 conference defense.

 

[Quattro]

I didn't say top 6, I said in the 6-8 range, which is the same range that Duff laid out


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[Quattro]

Tini I appreciate your optimism, but you're making a pretty bold claim and getting pissy when someone disagrees with you. I absolutely expect us to improve on defense because, well we were terrible last year despite improvements in some areas.

To climb to 6th we would need to be 2 touchdowns per game better on defense and that's a tough task in the Pac 12. Could it happen? I suppose if the newcomers light it up and almost everything breaks our way, but don't act so surprised if someone doesn't buy into that prediction.

Am I making a bold claim? I'm not getting pissy, but I'd really like to hear syko come up with an actual argument for it. If he did that then whatever, but he's not. Your post for example is completely fine. When I get home I'll go through my thought process on the defense.


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[buffsyko]

Teams never show progress from year to year. FACT

The defense has issues still, but there are some good pieces. You're not even attempting to acknowledge that year to year improvement happens (not that I should be surprised by this), and even more so in year 2 with a pretty veteran defense and the addition of a couple other players who will make immediate impacts. The defense is not nearly as devoid of talent as you are trying to make it seem. Now I wait for your rebuttle of "did you not watch the games last year?" since that seems to be about all you've got.



There is some talent and there should be some improvement, but you (not that I should be suprised) seem to every off season make cu to be world beaters and despite seeing the exact opposite, still boldy predict guys who haven't played a snap to make big impacts.

I hope to hell you're right in that CU improves on defense,but until I actually see the improvement....we will just disagree.

 

[buffsyko]

Am I making a bold claim? I'm not getting pissy, but I'd really like to hear syko come up with an actual argument for it. If he did that then whatever, but he's not. Your post for example is completely fine. When I get home I'll go through my thought process on the defense.


The argument is I think CU will not be as good as you think. I don't think they have the pass rush on this team to give their secondary a chance right now. The LB'S seems to have upgraded in speed, but I guess just saying their going to be better is all it takes to win the argument.

But hey, keep saying in every post how YOU and duff figured this all out. I doubt he needs your expertise.

 

[BlackNGold]

	Name	G	TD	FG	1XP	2XP	Safety	Points	Points/G
1	Stanford	10	23	10	19	1	0	189	18.9
2	USC	9	30	6	29	1	0	229	25.4
3	Oregon	9	28	13	25	0	0	232	25.8
4	UCLA	9	29	11	28	0	0	235	26.1
5	Arizona State	10	35	9	30	0	1	269	26.9
6	Washington	9	33	8	29	0	0	251	27.9
7	Arizona	9	34	11	31	0	1	270	30.0
8	Utah	9	36	14	28	2	0	290	32.2
9	Oregon State	9	38	10	32	1	0	292	32.4
10	Washington State	9	43	11	41	0	1	334	37.1
11	Colorado	9	51	12	48	2	2	398	44.2
12	California	9	56	11	54	0	1	425	47.2

I think if you look at the defense from the conference stats you will see that we have to trim almost 14 points a game just to get to 8th. Part of it will also be can the offense stay on the field a little more to give the defense a chance.

 

[SINKRATZ]

I didn't say top 6, I said in the 6-8 range, which is the same range that Duff laid out

Not quite...

But being serious, I'd go with #6.

 

[Quattro]

Am I making a bold claim? I'm not getting pissy, but I'd really like to hear syko come up with an actual argument for it. If he did that then whatever, but he's not. Your post for example is completely fine. When I get home I'll go through my thought process on the defense.


The argument is I think CU will not be as good as you think. I don't think they have the pass rush on this team to give their secondary a chance right now. The LB'S seems to have upgraded in speed, but I guess just saying their going to be better is all it takes to win the argument.

But hey, keep saying in every post how YOU and duff figured this all out. I doubt he needs your expertise.

My point about Duff is that while you are calling me dense for predicting a improved defense, I'm not the only one saying that. If you're going to call me dense for predicting that then I'm going to name other people who are within the range I am in. Is 6 a little optimistic? Yeah, probably but with the same token we have some talent, we have speed, and we have a coach who is a defensive guy and spends a lot of his time in practice with the corners.

DE
-By far the biggest question mark on the defense, but there are a couple of players who can come in and make an impact. We do however, gain Reed and Gilbert who can fill that void. Reed has put some serious work in the weight room and looks like a Pac 12 DE now. I don't like having Gilbert out for the Spring, but Adam has said that Reed looks very good as a pass rusher and can fill that void. Hasselbach will make an early impact and so will Mathewes (who played against top flight competition in HS). Wilson came on near the end of the season last year and with it being his second year with Jeffcoat and third in the program overall I expect him to make an impact. McCartney is another one to watch as he was one of the players that MacIntyre repeatedly said was standing out last fall on the Scout team. On Jeffcoat, Maximus had this to say about his 2nd year at SJSU:

Well, if history sheds any light, there may be reason to hope, as it was in Jeffcoat's second season at San Jose State that his defensive ends really started putting the pressure on opposing passers.

-I wish there was a stat but I trust that Adam wouldn't put anything up on the front page if it was a bunch of bull****. Still, MacIntyre dramitcally increased the turnover numbers just like he did at SJSU in year one and I expect that to happen again.

DT
-Should be the strongest unit on the DL with Tupuo and (

) Solis anchoring the middle, both of which are pretty good DTs with Tupuo being a boss. Tupuo is going to command a lot of double teams this season as a upperclassmen and that will open things up for Solis to get faster pressure on the QB. Both of our starting DTs have very high ceilings and in their third year in a college weight program and the 18 month time period that MacIntyre/Foreman laid out is going to be done in the Summer. I have a lot more questions about Kofavalu coming back than I do Solis, but none of us really know the extent of their issues in the classroom (hell, could be for a couple missed classes or homeworks). If Samson is back, he adds a nice addition to the defense in that he can play both DT and DE. Lopez and Franke will push for early PT as well. I'm not sure about Henington now since he's at 245 so I expect he redshirts. MacIntyre on Tupuo:

Josh Tupou started making more and more plays as the year went on. I look for him to take a big, big step for us. I am hoping he does. He has been working out hard this off-season and doing well in school and doing what he is supposed to. I am look to him to have a chance to be a Pac-12 guy that can make the all-conference team because he has the ability. He played as a freshman, which is hard, and then last part of his sophomore year he started making plays and sacks and a lot of hurries. You watch him on film, he is harassing the quarterback more than just a stat deal, controlling the line of scrimmage so I am excited about seeing what he does.

http://colorado.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1616036&PT=4&PR=2

OLB
-We lose Webb (which I don't think is a big loss), but gain Olugbode and Rippy, both of which are extremely athletic and fast OLBs. Greer is healthy and will be improved. This unit will be the most athletic one we've had in a while, and that is big in the Pac 12 and we will see the difference in the zone read defense and intermediate covering ability.

MLB
-Gillam and Watanabe....'nuff said. Gillam is going to continue to be a boss and Watanabe is just a football player.

CB
-Henderson is a shut down corner, that's all that needs to be said about him, dude just balls. Crawley, I expect him to take another good size jump this fall. Last year he improved on his coverage skills dramatically, but wasn't making any plays on the ball (a few of which led to TDs on the next play). He is very athletic and looks to have put some solid weight on, the light just needs to go on for him. With MacIntyre working a lot with the corners, I expect all of them to take a big leap. Awuzie...baller. He has a NFL body and is extremely athletic. With it being his second year in the program and second year starting I expect him to make more big plays. Witherspoon is another one to keep an eye on. He was a late bloomer but UCLA and a few others tried to get in on him after he visited us but we locked him down. Big and fast corner who I wouldn't be surprised if he took over Crawley's spot and Crawley moves to safety. MacIntyre on the secondary:

"Ahkello will be right in the mix the first day competing to start," MacIntyre said. "I think we have athletically upgraded. Not against anybody in the past but you'll look out there and go, 'wow, that looks like a Pac-12 secondary now.

There will be great competition in the whole back area and we signed a couple high school kids that can play back there. Adding Ahkello and having Chidobe and Tedric in the secondary, they are over 6-foot-0 and have good frames. We are going to be bigger, faster and stronger across the board in our secondary.

http://colorado.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1617325&PT=4&PR=2

S
-Bell showed he can make plays and another year starting will do nothing but help him. Thompson started to come on towards the end of the season and I think he'll take a step forward and compete for the starting job opposite of Bell.

Foreman
-He is absolutely key. The main goal last year was to cut down the bad weight and cut down on the injuries, both of which go together. The goal this offseason was to increase lower body strength, which will go a long way to improving the defense. The 18 month plan of Forman's to transform the players body is nearly up, and we will see the results on the field this fall, especially in the trenches.

"I've got to get them ready to practice," he said. "I'm not going to make them better football players. The coaches are going to make them better football players. I'm not going to make a defensive lineman a better defensive lineman. Coach (Jim) Jeffcoat is. But if they are hurt and dinged up and on the sideline, they're not getting better today. That's my big role is I've got to keep these guys healthy. I have to keep them upright. We got to protect them."

http://www.buffzone.com/cu-news/ci_22655821/football-dave-forman-making-good-impression-cu-buffs

No Transition Period
-MacIntyre and Co being able to jump right into drills and coaching instead of instructing how to do drills or how they want stuff down will be vital to developing the players and improving. With this, should come the increase in turnovers which will also help the defense improve.

"If you got to coach effort, you're really far behind, and we're not there," Forman said. "We're beyond that part and now it's really refining technique and details. These guys are pushing themselves pretty hard. I am impressed with that."

http://www.buffzone.com/cu-news/ci_22655821/football-dave-forman-making-good-impression-cu-buffs

"This January to Aug. 5 when we start is huge for our program," MacIntyre said. "We have got to get stronger on the field. There were a few teams we just weren't strong enough against.

"I know everybody talks about speed, and I think our speed is getting there, but sometimes your speed kind of gets negated on the line or linebackers if you can't get off blocks and be strong and pound them some. That could be a big difference for us this next fall."

http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-colle...-football-macintyre-focuses-building-strength

Not quite...

 

[SINKRATZ]

Not saying you're wrong, but based on that rundown you seem to be pinning a lot of hope on guys who have made little to no contribution at this level. I hope you're right.

 

[slider]

Based on the ppg, my guess is 9th. 6th would be a huge stretch

 

[Quattro]

Not saying you're wrong, but based on that rundown you seem to be pinning a lot of hope on guys who have made little to no contribution at this level. I hope you're right.

Pinning on...

-Bell
-Hendo
-Tupou
-Awuzie
-Gillam
-Solis
-Kofavalu

All have done things when they've played. We're gonna have a good chunk of our D as upper classmen, we haven't had that in a while but I think that will help a bunch.

 

[SINKRATZ]

Pinning on...

-Bell
-Hendo
-Tupou
-Awuzie
-Gillam
-Solis
-Kofavalu

All have done things when they've played. We're gonna have a good chunk of our D as upper classmen, we haven't had that in a while but I think that will help a bunch.

Those guys were on last year's awful defense too, so a couple of them need to make big jumps.

I was referring to your mention of guys like:

Reed
Gilbert
Hasselbach
Mathewes
Wilson
McCartney
Lopez
Franke
Olugbode
Rippy
Watanabe
Thompson

Some of those guys may turn out to be players, but hard to say until they actually play.

 

[Quattro]

Those guys were on last year's awful defense too, so a couple of them need to make big jumps.

I was referring to your mention of guys like:

Reed
Gilbert
Hasselbach
Mathewes
Wilson
McCartney
Lopez
Franke
Olugbode
Rippy
Watanabe
Thompson

Some of those guys may turn out to be players, but hard to say until they actually play.

Out of that list Wilson (end of year), Olugbode (end of year), and Thompson (end of year) have played and showed something. All of them absolutely need to take a step up, but if they aren't then the coaches aren't developing talent every year (on a big scale obviously).

 

[SINKRATZ]

Out of that list Wilson (end of year), Olugbode (end of year), and Thompson (end of year) have played and showed something. All of them absolutely need to take a step up, but if they aren't then the coaches aren't developing talent every year (on a big scale obviously).

It's a tough argument when the defense was as bad as it was; if you return a lot of guys from the year before you're returning the guys responsible for the mess and you're counting on those guys to get a lot better, but if a bunch of new talent is coming in, they are unproven and it's hard to predict how good they will be. I think we need a little of both to happen.

Again, I hope you're right and we make huge strides, but hard to say until we see it.

 

[Duff Man]

I think Reed is going to be a good one at DE. The depth is junk though.

 

[MtnBuff]

I think Reed is going to be a good one at DE. The depth is junk though.

This is huge.

I do believe we are going to take a notable step forward next season on D. Problem is that we have been far enough behind that a big step forward still leaves us well behind.

tini' does a good job of listing lots of positives and no doubt that many of those are going to come to pass, our talent level is improving and I do believe that M2's history at SJSU does apply.

Unfortunately I don't see all of the things tini listed as coming to pass for us and we don't have other unmentioned possibilities lined up to pick up the slack. It is also assuming that we have no attrition in key players and we have no key injuries which history shows is an unlikely hope.

The injuries and attrition create weak spots and we don't have the depth to fill those. We play in a conference full of teams that have the talent and coaching to take advanatage of those weak spots.

I will be happy to see us take another big step forward towards being a respectable PAC12 level defense but even at my most optimistic I don't see us being that this season. What I do see is a defense that at least looks like it has multiple players who belong on a PAC12 level team and a D that makes other teams work harder for their points than in the past.

Two years ago we had multiple games where we were out of the game at the opening kickoff, teams could do what they wanted when they wanted. Last year we made most PAC opponents work for at least a half before we wore out and got blown out. The difference between the years was much larger than the stats reflected because two years ago teams were working hard not to run up more points on us.

This year we could see another big step forward and still be giving up 30 points a game. We are probably going to start giving some of the less proficient offenses in the PAC a challenge. Against the high talent teams we are still going to be hopelessly outclassed.

Give us multiple key injuries and the lack of depth could put us back significantly.

The good news is that we finally do have a solid core of young defensive players who can develop and with additional quality recruiting classes be the core of a decent defense in future years, just not as much this year.

 

[Duff Man]

One other question is whether Tedric Thompson can be a physical presence at safety. Bell is solid, but that just is not his game.

 

[buffsyko]

Solis and the two de spots need much improvement. I'm very interested in what they come up with at safety.