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How Much Does Our Defense Improve?

Interesting. Not sure how much experience JL has running this D, but we can't be worse than last year.
 
Bufffan68 said:
Interesting. Not sure how much experience JL has running this D, but we can't be worse than last year.
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I don't mean we would be running it exactly the way it's described in the article, but I believe the base concepts could be similar. So much depends on the personnel and whether or not CU has the right guys to run it. As stated by others, we'll see a mix of 3 and 4 man fronts, but there are literally thousands of variations from this kind of front combination. To me, the best part is the separation between the "Front 6" and the Secondary, where the DL and LBs have little to nothing to do with the coverage being run behind it. It's a defense where everybody is focused and dialed in on their job and their job only.
 
TSchekler said:
I don't mean we would be running it exactly the way it's described in the article, but I believe the base concepts could be similar. So much depends on the personnel and whether or not CU has the right guys to run it. As stated by others, we'll see a mix of 3 and 4 man fronts, but there are literally thousands of variations from this kind of front combination. To me, the best part is the separation between the "Front 6" and the Secondary, where the DL and LBs have little to nothing to do with the coverage being run behind it. It's a defense where everybody is focused and dialed in on their job and their job only.
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Gotcha. We seem to have good starting talent and some depth on D...my concern is this being the first season of a new system. But as many have said before...it's hard to imagine being any worse. I'm pretty sure if we were in the ACC, we wouldn't be 120th...but we are stuck in the toughest damn division in CFB.
 
I hope you are right. I think the overall talent level on defense is bottom quarter of the Pac-12.
 
TSchekler said:
Couldn't find an established thread where I've posted a similar article, but here is another piece on the TCU defense, this time written by Grantland. I keep posting about this defense because I believe this is the model that CU is moving towards. Really good stuff if anyone cares to to read up about it.

http://grantland.com/features/hard-knocks-playing-defense-with-tcus-gary-patterson/
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I think you keep posting about it because you think it's a good defense. But I can't say I've heard one shred of evidence that states we are doing this...
 
buffaholic said:
I think you keep posting about it because you think it's a good defense. But I can't say I've heard one shred of evidence that states we are doing this...
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It is a good defense, and it's been built with a lot of unheralded recruits, much like CU is going to doing/has to do.

Nobody seems to know exactly what defense CU will be running and even the beat writers have talked about a 3,4 and 5 man front. Then they throw out the depth chart and show a 4-3 base defense (which we know just isn't the case). So if you're waiting on the staff to officially announce anything, I wouldn't hold your breath. Otherwise, there have definitely been various tidbits, if you read between the lines, that suggest they are moving toward a similar model.
 
Duff Man said:
I hope you are right. I think the overall talent level on defense is bottom quarter of the Pac-12.
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Which is still way ahead of where we were a couple years ago.

I think we have PAC12 quality DBs. Our LBs are okay as long as Gillam stays healthy but even with him they are lower half of the conference until proven otherwise. DL is a huge question mark. Teams last year abused our DEs and OLBs with fakes and misdirection. We overran plays, took bad angles, and got tied up on blocks allowing a lot of plays that continued drives or scored.

How much of that was talent and how much was coaching is still to be determined. It looks like we are finally getting the level of athletes who can play at the PAC12 level but will they execute and stop people? We will find out a lot tonight.
 
Our secondary had what 3 interceptions last year? That is by definition not good. We have some good players. But they lack consistency.

Hopefully we get double digits this year. For me, that is good.
 
they will be in nickle or dime most of the time anyway, at least when we get to PAC play. i'm most interested in how they rotate/shift the front d-line and how they utilize awini's athleticism.
 
Speaking of turnovers, how many fumbles did we recover on D?
 
I tried some stat mining on what firing Kent Baer is worth to a team but it is really inconclusive.
 
J.R. Ewing said:
Our opponents fumbled 14 times, and we recovered 8 of them. 8 recoveries was good for 79th in the nation. For contrast, Oregon recovered 21 fumbles.
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I hate Oregon, but I love watching those ****ing Ducks recover fumbles. So confident and so quick.
 
Orr said:
I hate Oregon, but I love watching those ******* Ducks recover fumbles. So confident and so quick.
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Glancing back at some past year fumble recover stats. I can't believe how lucky MMac's 2011 San Jose St squad was. They recovered 20/21 opponents fumbles that year. Unbelievable.
 
J.R. Ewing said:
Glancing back at some past year fumble recover stats. I can't believe how lucky MMac's 2011 San Jose St squad was. They recovered 20/21 opponents fumbles that year. Unbelievable.
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That could be viewed as luck, but could just as easily be interpreted that the rest of the team was swarming to the ball and was put in a position to succeed. Who knows. Maybe Baer is a hell of a DC at the MWC level, but his defenses just don't work at the P5 level.
 
Bufffan68 said:
You could be right...lots of untested kids in there...the only group I'm totally sold on is the DBs.
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Our defense wasnt very good when we had Jimmy Smith and Jalil Brown back there - don't think the current corners are that caliber.
 
absinthe said:
Our defense wasnt very good when we had Jimmy Smith and Jalil Brown back there - don't think the current corners are that caliber.
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With that staff we may not have been any good with a young Champ Bailey or two back there along with Jimmy and Jalil.

Our corners are good, not as good as Jimmy and Jalil but good. The guys in front of them are mostly better and the coaching is much better. It couldn't be worse.
 
I have no idea if our defense will be in the 60s or 100s this year statistically, but I do know that Jim Leavitt will have them playing much harder and smarter than last season and eventually he will turn it into a strength of this program. Sooner rather than later, I'd bet.

"I love Jim Leavitt. He reminds me of my high school coach in a way. He never lets you have a day off. Even if you aren’t feeling good, he finds a way to make you smile…What he didn’t know what that I was a fan of him, too. He was at USF, and he brought that team up from nothing. I was up at Penn State for my visit when they played USF, and I always wondered who that coach (of theirs) was. You’d see him on the sideline and he’s so enthusiastic during the game, and that’s the type of coach you want to play for." - NaVarro Bowman
 
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