Call me an idiot but....

[TeKEraider]

this loss was the O's fault just as much if not more than the D's!

I know I'm an idiot but read the drive chart.
D gets stop.
1:29 drive. TD. Yay!
D gets stop.
0:45 drive. TD yay!
D Gets stop.
0:18 drive. Fumble on the 18.
D gives up TD on the quick turn around. Happens a lot...
1:08 drive. Int.
D gives up a score on the quick turnaround.


D is gassed and momentum is gone and it was the O's faults. Hawaii had the ball 5 times and in between we had possessed the ball grand total of 3:40. Our D is gassed. We put them on quick turnarounds and short fields. They were set up to fail.

35 points will never be enough to win with this offense. Period. Let me repeat. 35 points will never be enough with this offense. It doesnt matter who the DC is. It doesn't matter who the the position coaches are. We would need Alabama like depth on defense to handle the pace at which we throw them out there. If we are going to play at this pace we have to score. Even if it's FGs. We have to score. We may put up record stats but it is at the expense of our D. We are blinded by stats. If the O had protected the ball and sustained drives, even if we had settled for FGs' we win that game by 10. Turnovers were the difference in this game. Stalled offense was the difference in this. Poor D in the second half was the effect of our problem not the cause. I'm not saying that the D is great but I think we are giving the O a pass for this game because of stats. Stats lie.

 

[TeKEraider]

Btw the next possession was a punt in under 2 minutes. Followed by our only sustained drive which happened to end in a pick 6...

 

[sWiley]

Not arguing it was a total team failure, however; with the way our defense is playing our offense literally has to play perfectly to win. That's just not fair. Our defense shouldn't be that bad. Our offense shouldn't have to score on every possession because our defense is god awful. It just doesn't (and shouldn't) work like that.

There's plenty of defenses out there that are paired with high tempo offenses who get the job done more often than not. Look no further than WKU. They might give up more points than one's comfortable with but their defense turns the opposing offense over like crazy to give their offense more possessions which minimizes the overall point totals they're giving up. They made Memphis (a much stronger team than Hawaii by the way) look silly despite giving up 31 points because they scored 51 on their @$$e$ and could have dropped 70 if they didn't take their foot off the pedal. The WKU defense created what 5 or 6 Memphis turnovers?

How many turnovers did our defense create yesterday? (Against one of the worst turnover margin teams in the country mind you) And turnovers are not just blind luck or happenstance. Turnovers are a mentality and are 100% based upon the style and mentality of a defense including the coverages called and the techniques employed. Our defense is garbage in that respect.

Again, it was a team failure, but you're basically blaming this on the offense because they didn't play a perfect game. And that's just ridiculous.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

Defensive backs are conditioned to go all day. Cutrer (et al) let Hawaii receivers get behind them quickly for shots. The one right before halftime had Stockstill even shaking his head.

Hawaii only scored 41 on UT Freaking Martin

 

[SpaceRaider]

Three turnovers are tough to overcome, so the offense bears responsibility, but this defense can not get off the field unless the opponent's offense shoots itself in the foot with penalties and turnovers. I love our players for their hard work, but our coaches are failing them and failing the fans who are asked to shell out money for a mediocre product.

Our defense is bad. It is their responsibility to get off the field. I'm tired of seeing our line getting shoved around and pushed aside. DBs give ten yards and more to the other team's receivers.

Can anyone make an argument that the defense will be better next season. It's hard to imagine that it can be worse, but that's more believable at this point.

 

[TeKEraider]

Nobody is asking for perfect. They didn't have to play perfect. They had to not turn the ball over and extend drives. Do you think outside of those first two drive we were anywhere near perfect? If we think 35 points can win games with the way we keep our D on the field we are kidding ourselves. 21 of their points in the first half were off of turnovers and an other TD was after a sub 2 min possession following back to back turnovers. Even when we don't turn it over our drives are less than 2 minutes long. If we make a change at D coordinator we are going to get the same results if our offense plays like they did. We're being lazy as fans to put this all on the D because of stats. The O carries the burden for this game.

 

[VARaider84]

O bears some responsibility. But, 35 points and Stock being a bit rusty should be enough to beat this Hawaii team. Same bad techniques and schemes on defense we've seen and complained about all year were in full effect. How many 3rd and 5 or 6 did we let their TE run to the marker uncovered. And make the catch for the first down and sustain the drive. According to Nix, we'll only have a good defense is when we have NFL players. That excuse didn't cut it in the SEC. Doesn't cut here IMO

 

[FranklinRaider315]

O bears some responsibility. But, 35 points and Stock being a bit rusty should be enough to beat this Hawaii team. Same bad techniques and schemes on defense we've seen and complained about all year were in full effect. How many 3rd and 5 or 6 did we let their TE run to the marker uncovered. And make the catch for the first down and sustain the drive. According to Nix, we'll only have a good defense is when we have NFL players. That excuse didn't cut it in the SEC. Doesn't cut here IMO

I heard that same excuse repeated by one of the announcers and just shook my head. Even Byard got burned last year in Bowling Green. What a mess.

 

[sWiley]

Nobody is asking for perfect. They didn't have to play perfect. They had to not turn the ball over and extend drives. Do you think outside of those first two drive we were anywhere near perfect? If we think 35 points can win games with the way we keep our D on the field we are kidding ourselves. 21 of their points in the first half were off of turnovers and an other TD was after a sub 2 min possession following back to back turnovers. Even when we don't turn it over our drives are less than 2 minutes long. If we make a change at D coordinator we are going to get the same results if our offense plays like they did. We're being lazy as fans to put this all on the D because of stats. The O carries the burden for this game.

I refuse to accept your defeatist approach. In nearly every game this year, our offense played good enough to win the game. That includes both Vanderbilt and WKU. If our defense gets even just 1 turn over against Hawaii, we might still be able to win the game despite our offense giving up 3 turnovers. That's pathetic.

When our defense cannot generate a single turn over and also not hold the opponent under 500 yards of offense, then we are not going to win games unless our offense plays perfect, and it's unreasonable to expect our offense to play perfect every game and win every game for this team.

WKU runs an even faster up tempo offense than us but their D had no problem holding Marshall to 6 points, UNT to 7 points, Rice to 14 points, FAU to 3 points, ODU 24 (late garbage TD).......FAU dropped 56 on us while Marshall scored 42 (and could have scored 60 if they wanted to)

I don't know what else to tell you if you think our defense isn't a massive problem holding our program back other than educate yourself more on the game of college football.

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

The bottom line no one, not even Hawaii respects our D. Let that sink in for a min. Constantly all season, teams went for it on 4 th down.

Look, the offense should have scored 60 on Hawaii - we could not run the ball. Even at the end we could not score.

It was a total team failures. Turnovers, special teams, no running game with the best back in 15 years, can't stop the run. Gave up massive big plays over and over.

It's hard to remain hopeful, so since it's Christmas I will try.

 

[MTBig Blue]

The idea that I see people on twitter saying that the reason why the defense is garbage is that the offense is too good and goes up-tempo.

That is one of the lamest excuses that I have heard in my life. How many teams have we seen that have up-tempo offense and their defenses can make a stop every now and then? As someone pointed out...look no further than wku. At some point, Stock needs to hold every single defensive coach responsible. I'm okay with getting rid of them all...even Bibee. I see no reason to keep any of these coaches.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

The Western Kentucky Goats offense doesn't appear to hinder their defensive unit. Just sayin'

Whatever excuse makes u feel good.

 

[bluefutcpa]

This defensive squad from a personnel perspective is so much more talented than the 2009 class. The only that is different is coaching philosophy. We are not developing that those kids. Those kids work hard and deserve better from the university.

 

[RaiderDoug]

This micro-analysis of the offense/defense coulda/woulda/shoulda can't see the forest for the trees.

The fact is, there was a total team lack of effort that caused this loss. From the coaches on down.

They simply approach bowl games like vacations, rewards, not like games they should attempt to win.

It's like this every bowl game. This attitude infects big games as well. As long as they can get by with the minimum 6 wins, there's no reason to put any more effort into it. Mission Accomplished!

The Hawaii bowl was lost before we were even invited.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

Anybody heard from JT yet?

This is not good. I hope he didn't drive down to Murder City.

 

[arg3b]

Anybody heard from JT yet?

This is not good. I hope he didn't drive down to Murder City.

Maybe he's spending time with his family instead of posting on a sports message board on Christmas Day. What's your excuse for posting so much today?

 

[TruBluCop]

This is my take. The athletic dept. looks at this as a paid vacation. They go to party, the coaches party and the team parties. That is the only way they could look so bad year after year at bowl games. I blame the AD for not jumping Stockstill who really needs to clean house on defense and the rest of the coaches for not making the team play like they have been there and done that. This should be embarrassing to the school, the athletic dept., coaches and the team because it was embarrassing to me as a fan and $$ supporter of the school.

 

[TruBluCop]

Maybe he's spending time with his family instead of posting on a sports message board on Christmas Day. What's your excuse for posting so much today?[/QUOTE

My excuse is I'm waiting on the family to arrive because I have everything ready for them. What you doing here?

 

[FranklinRaider315]

Maybe he's spending time with his family instead of posting on a sports message board on Christmas Day. What's your excuse for posting so much today?

Killing time before I have to go to work at the C-store.

 

[AustinLewis]

this loss was the O's fault just as much if not more than the D's!

I know I'm an idiot but read the drive chart.
D gets stop.
1:29 drive. TD. Yay!
D gets stop.
0:45 drive. TD yay!
D Gets stop.
0:18 drive. Fumble on the 18.
D gives up TD on the quick turn around. Happens a lot...
1:08 drive. Int.
D gives up a score on the quick turnaround.


D is gassed and momentum is gone and it was the O's faults. Hawaii had the ball 5 times and in between we had possessed the ball grand total of 3:40. Our D is gassed. We put them on quick turnarounds and short fields. They were set up to fail.

35 points will never be enough to win with this offense. Period. Let me repeat. 35 points will never be enough with this offense. It doesnt matter who the DC is. It doesn't matter who the the position coaches are. We would need Alabama like depth on defense to handle the pace at which we throw them out there. If we are going to play at this pace we have to score. Even if it's FGs. We have to score. We may put up record stats but it is at the expense of our D. We are blinded by stats. If the O had protected the ball and sustained drives, even if we had settled for FGs' we win that game by 10. Turnovers were the difference in this game. Stalled offense was the difference in this. Poor D in the second half was the effect of our problem not the cause. I'm not saying that the D is great but I think we are giving the O a pass for this game because of stats. Stats lie.

The issues on defense go beyond points allowed and amount of snaps they play (presumably, according to CoachTF detractors, because Blue Raiders run too much no-huddle).

No-huddle, up-tempo offenses can strain a defense for sure, but they aren't the sole cause of a defense getting embarrassed on a continual basis. Alabama, for example, had 50 less plays on the season (roughly 4 less plays per game), yet found a way to hold opponents to 11.8 points per game.

Now, I don't think any MT fan has asked for the MT defense to be Alabama's (there's no Nick Saban roaming the sidelines at Floyd, nor are there 5 stars coming off the bench), but to blame the defensive failures on the offense is utterly ridiculous.

 

[MTTim]

Our lack of defense requires our offense to run perfect. That ain't happening. If we had any pulse on defense, maybe a stop on 3rd and long, we could survive a few 3 and out drives.
I agree with Austin. If anyone blames our defensive struggles on our offense they are grasping at straws.

 

[sWiley]

If anyone blames our defensive struggles on our offense they are grasping at straws.

Amen. That's just such a weak stance to take. Heck, just look at WKU. They run a very high tempo offense too and their defense was much, MUCH better than ours. Their defense forces turnovers and knows how to get off the field on 3rd down. Their defense held FAU to 3 points while ours allowed 56. They held Marshall to 6 or 7 points. We allowed Marshall to score 42 and they coulda scored 60 if they wanted to.

Our offense is not preventing our defense from getting off the field on 3rd downs. Our offense is not preventing the defense from forcing turn overs. Our offense is not giving up 12 yards per carry every time the opposing RB gets a touch. Sure, in the Hawaii bowl our offense didn't do the defense many favors, but even with 3 turnovers we still could have won if our defense could do ANYTHING to stop Hawaii from the 2nd quarter and beyond. And when you look at the season as a whole, our offense gave us a legit chance to win every single game we played this season except the UTSA and Marshall games and that's only because Brent was hurt. If our defense played better against WKU & Vanderbilt those would have been wins and maybe Brent doesn't get hurt against UTSA and we go undefeated. But heaven forbid our defense actually have a pulse when we have one of the best offenses in school history.

And to keep harping on the defense, they really do look lost out there. They always look very unprepared and always seem to be doing the wrong things at the wrong times. They cannot even play basic alignment & assignment football and our DE's have no concept of what containment is. Furthermore, the defensive line as a whole seems to have zero concept of gap control. Our defensive backs give 10 yard cushions on 3rd and 3 and don't understand (or just don't execute) basic concepts such as never letting the defender get around your outside shoulder. These are simple fundamental techniques/practices taught at the high school level so it boggles my mind to see such simple mistakes on a consistent basis.

I really have no idea what our defensive staff does to prepare our defense for games. Any time we face an offense with a pulse our players just look flat out lost out there. They might come out and play a good series or two, but the second the opposing team scores a TD and gets any momentum our defense goes on full tilt and it's game over. If we didn't have such an athletic group of kids out there we literally might have never seen an opposing punter all season.

So you'd think Nix and a bunch of position coaches like Tommy West would be fired, right? Nope. Apparently 8-5 and having one of the worst defenses in the country is good enough for Stockstill.

Is it good enough for you? If it's not, don't give another penny to the athletic department until we see change.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

Draw your own conclusions......,

 

[sWiley]

But shouldn't their defense be giving up tons of points because their offense scores so fast?!?!?!?!

 

[sWiley]

You'd think we would be banging down Nick Holt's door if he isn't going to be retained or at the very least going after App State's D Coordinator.

Heaven forbid we actually try to improve one of the worst defenses in school history while we have one of the best offenses in school history.

Guarantee Stock is going to give Nix one more year to "right the ship" because Brent has two years remaining - Stock thinks if Nix can't get it done next year, then at least he can bring in a new d-coordinator for Brent's senior year.

If that's how it does indeed play out, I hope we go winless in Brent's final year because that's such a selfish way to approach the situation.

 

[Hop45]

If what you say is true, he should do it now to give the new DC a year to implement his system before Brent hits his final year. Way too late to do it in the off season before senior year. Needs to be done now.

 

[blueraiderJT]

Glad to know I'm missed.

I totally agree with Tek. The offensive control (or lack thereof) and short drive times does no defense any favor. When you're up 14-0 and your D gets a turnover on downs, you run the dang ball and have a little fun checking in and out of plays before the snap to keep em honest. Run on first, run on second and pass on third if you need too. If you get a first down, rinse and repeat. If you get even a FG on that drive and go up 17-0, it goes a long way in crushing their spirit. 3 turnovers including a pick 6 is 21 points we gave them. 52-21=31. It ain't hard. Yes the D is bad. Fine. Then why the hell would you call pass plays that forces Brent to throw into coverage thus putting the D into a worse spot? Why the hell do you go three and out in under 45 seconds like more than a few times? This is supposed to be a a game of strategy right? Why not play to your strengths instead of constantly giving into your weaknesses.

Getting a new DC is good but until we limit our offensive mistakes, cut way down on constant turnovers, and complete drives, it won't matter if we got Charlie Strong or Kirby Smart for DC. We won't get any better.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

Glad to know I'm missed.

I totally agree with Tek. The offensive control (or lack thereof) and short drive times does no defense any favor. When you're up 14-0 and your D gets a turnover on downs, you run the dang ball and have a little fun checking in and out of plays before the snap to keep em honest. Run on first, run on second and pass on third if you need too. If you get a first down, rinse and repeat. If you get even a FG on that drive and go up 17-0, it goes a long way in crushing their spirit. 3 turnovers including a pick 6 is 21 points we gave them. 52-21=31. It ain't hard. Yes the D is bad. Fine. Then why the hell would you call pass plays that forces Brent to throw into coverage thus putting the D into a worse spot? Why the hell do you go three and out in under 45 seconds like more than a few times? This is supposed to be a a game of strategy right? Why not play to your strengths instead of constantly giving into your weaknesses.

Getting a new DC is good but until we limit our offensive mistakes, cut way down on constant turnovers, and complete drives, it won't matter if we got Charlie Strong or Kirby Smart for DC. We won't get any better.

LMAO.

 

[sWiley]

Brent only had 1 game where he committed too many turn overs, and it was the Hawaii bowl which is fresh on everybodies mind.

Nixes defense failed this team in every game we played this year minus the FCS game, North Texas, and Bowling Green (All bad teams.....surprise) So out of the 13 games we played, our defense was trash in 10 of them. That's unacceptable.

Offensively speaking, in the 13 games, They did enough to win 10 games despite not having Brent towards the end of the year. Brent gave us a chance to win in every game he played in except maybe the Hawaii Bowl, however; I still contend we could have won that game if our defense could have at least gotten 1 turn over.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

Call me an idiot but the problems with the defense didn't just appear in Honolulu. I gave up on Nix-West-Bibee-Ellis after one defining play and their reaction to it. Last year, Bowling Green KY, 3:21 remaining in the 1st half, "WKU - TAYLOR, Taywan 69 yd pass from FANT, Nacarius (SCHWETTMAN, G. kick ) 1 plays, 69 yards, Time Of Possession 0:15" Tops go up 42-14
I was sitting 4 rows behind our bench and watched Nix and Ellis try to figure out what to say to their guys and both of them looked absolutely clueless. Byard would not even look at them and our Head Coach was 20 yards up the sideline pouting by himself. That one moment spoke volumes to me about this staff. I hope these dismissals work but personally, I think it's all for show. I watched West fire four DC's from 2002-2007 Rick Whitt, Joe Lee Dunn, Rick Kravitz (and one being himself when he took over the defense three games into the season after firing Dunn in 2006). All window dressing and scapegoats.

 

[MTTim]

Call me an idiot but the problems with the defense didn't just appear in Honolulu. I gave up on Nix-West-Bibee-Ellis after one defining play and their reaction to it. Last year, Bowling Green KY, 3:21 remaining in the 1st half, "WKU - TAYLOR, Taywan 69 yd pass from FANT, Nacarius (SCHWETTMAN, G. kick ) 1 plays, 69 yards, Time Of Possession 0:15" Tops go up 42-14
I was sitting 4 rows behind our bench and watched Nix and Ellis try to figure out what to say to their guys and both of them looked absolutely clueless. Byard would not even look at them and our Head Coach was 20 yards up the sideline pouting by himself. That one moment spoke volumes to me about this staff. I hope these dismissals work but personally, I think it's all for show. I watched West fire four DC's from 2002-2007 Rick Whitt, Joe Lee Dunn, Rick Kravitz (and one being himself when he took over the defense three games into the season after firing Dunn in 2006). All window dressing and scapegoats.

I believe a lot is for show but given the environment created by Nix, Stock had no choice. The big question now is will he let West, Bibee and Ellis go so we can start anew. My belief is that has to be done. Maybe he plans to have the new DC pick his staff.

 

[bluefutcpa]

I believe a lot is for show but given the environment created by Nix, Stock had no choice. The big question now is will he let West, Bibee and Ellis go so we can start anew. My belief is that has to be done. Maybe he plans to have the new DC pick his staff.

I believe a lot is for show but given the environment created by Nix, Stock had no choice. The big question now is will he let West, Bibee and Ellis go so we can start anew. My belief is that has to be done. Maybe he plans to have the new DC pick his staff.

I say clear the house and let a new D.C. Pick their staff. There's no way you let those guys remain to collect checks. If you fans to come back we need a fresh start. Our staff has a hard time developing these young kids on the field.

 

[blueraiderJT]

We have had problems with defense for years. I get it. However, the offense can help take weight off as well. If it's a weakness, then don't put weight on them with short drives and turnovers. This isn't a Brent thing. This is a play calling thing. Sheesh. Look at the WKU game where we had them beat and we pass instead of run. We lost. The UTSA game where we kept calling the same type of pass plays that left Stock on an island and got him hurt and the 45 second or less possessions. Look at the Marshall game where we did all of that repeatedly. We nearly lost the FIU and Charlotte games doing that.

When Franklin was at Cal, they did the same stuff and had only one good year with Goff. The reason WKU was successful this year on D was because the offense was efficient as hell. They completed drives and took their time doing it. WKU gave up points too at times but the offense put the D in good positions mostly. WKU's D wasn't very good in 2014 and wasn't all that good in 2015 statistically. However, their offenses were incredible and they protected the ball.

So you guys are saying that we've protected the ball well this year on offense? Hahahahaha. Yeah, we were bad on D but it's a 2 sided deal in football.

When you're up 14-0 and your D gets the third straight stop and you roll off 2 straight turnovers and even more 3 and outs with a pick 6, you can't put it all on the D.

Besides, we fired the DC. Isn't that a step in the right direction does 315 want to keep being a douche?

 

[blueraiderJT]

Ellis and West should be gone too. Ellis has done nothing with our secondary since 09 and West hasn't helped us up front either. For that matter, I wasn't impressed with the OL coach we had either. We allowed a lot more sacks this year than we have in a long time.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

Ellis and West should be gone too. Ellis has done nothing with our secondary since 09 and West hasn't helped us up front either. For that matter, I wasn't impressed with the OL coach we had either. We allowed a lot more sacks this year than we have in a long time.

The current O-line coach is a big branch from the Tommy West coaching tree. But I'm sure you already knew that.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

We have had problems with defense for years. I get it. However, the offense can help take weight off as well. If it's a weakness, then don't put weight on them with short drives and turnovers. This isn't a Brent thing. This is a play calling thing. Sheesh. Look at the WKU game where we had them beat and we pass instead of run. We lost. The UTSA game where we kept calling the same type of pass plays that left Stock on an island and got him hurt and the 45 second or less possessions. Look at the Marshall game where we did all of that repeatedly. We nearly lost the FIU and Charlotte games doing that.

When Franklin was at Cal, they did the same stuff and had only one good year with Goff. The reason WKU was successful this year on D was because the offense was efficient as hell. They completed drives and took their time doing it. WKU gave up points too at times but the offense put the D in good positions mostly. WKU's D wasn't very good in 2014 and wasn't all that good in 2015 statistically. However, their offenses were incredible and they protected the ball.

So you guys are saying that we've protected the ball well this year on offense? Hahahahaha. Yeah, we were bad on D but it's a 2 sided deal in football.

When you're up 14-0 and your D gets the third straight stop and you roll off 2 straight turnovers and even more 3 and outs with a pick 6, you can't put it all on the D.

Besides, we fired the DC. Isn't that a step in the right direction does 315 want to keep being a douche?

There you go with the name calling again. I will not lower myself to your level.

 

[RaiderDoug]

We have had problems with defense for years. I get it. However, the offense can help take weight off as well. If it's a weakness, then don't put weight on them with short drives and turnovers. This isn't a Brent thing. This is a play calling thing. Sheesh. Look at the WKU game where we had them beat and we pass instead of run. We lost. The UTSA game where we kept calling the same type of pass plays that left Stock on an island and got him hurt and the 45 second or less possessions. Look at the Marshall game where we did all of that repeatedly. We nearly lost the FIU and Charlotte games doing that.

When Franklin was at Cal, they did the same stuff and had only one good year with Goff. The reason WKU was successful this year on D was because the offense was efficient as hell. They completed drives and took their time doing it. WKU gave up points too at times but the offense put the D in good positions mostly. WKU's D wasn't very good in 2014 and wasn't all that good in 2015 statistically. However, their offenses were incredible and they protected the ball.

So you guys are saying that we've protected the ball well this year on offense? Hahahahaha. Yeah, we were bad on D but it's a 2 sided deal in football.

When you're up 14-0 and your D gets the third straight stop and you roll off 2 straight turnovers and even more 3 and outs with a pick 6, you can't put it all on the D.

Besides, we fired the DC. Isn't that a step in the right direction does 315 want to keep being a douche?

The problem is, you can't radically alter your offense from one drive to the next.

You can't go Air Raid for 3 series, and then say, "we need to give our defense a breather", let's go smashmouth. The team isn't built for that.

What you say has merit - we're never going to be the Denver Broncos. This defense wasn't just bad for a team that has an up-tempo offense. It was virtually non-existent.

This team is what it is - it's an up-tempo offense and it needs a defense that will at least give them a chance to be successful. And as much as it pains me to say it - we need to be like WKU.

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

We do have some challenges on offense and against Hawaii they still scored 35 despite poor play. But the D

We have had problems with defense for years. I get it. However, the offense can help take weight off as well. If it's a weakness, then don't put weight on them with short drives and turnovers. This isn't a Brent thing. This is a play calling thing. Sheesh. Look at the WKU game where we had them beat and we pass instead of run. We lost. The UTSA game where we kept calling the same type of pass plays that left Stock on an island and got him hurt and the 45 second or less possessions. Look at the Marshall game where we did all of that repeatedly. We nearly lost the FIU and Charlotte games doing that.

When Franklin was at Cal, they did the same stuff and had only one good year with Goff. The reason WKU was successful this year on D was because the offense was efficient as hell. They completed drives and took their time doing it. WKU gave up points too at times but the offense put the D in good positions mostly. WKU's D wasn't very good in 2014 and wasn't all that good in 2015 statistically. However, their offenses were incredible and they protected the ball.

So you guys are saying that we've protected the ball well this year on offense? Hahahahaha. Yeah, we were bad on D but it's a 2 sided deal in football.

When you're up 14-0 and your D gets the third straight stop and you roll off 2 straight turnovers and even more 3 and outs with a pick 6, you can't put it all on the D.

Besides, we fired the DC. Isn't that a step in the right direction does 315 want to keep being a douche?

Well we up on Charlotte and caved...we were up on FIU and caved. I get what your saying but no one on this board is asking our D to be a top 20, or even a top 50. Just a D with a pulse, one that is aggressive. One where we may give up big plays but also create more of them.

 

[blueraiderJT]

You don't have to radically alter anything. You have a good running back. Good coaches adjust to what they have. If you have a sucky defense, then running 3 plays in 34 seconds probably isn't a great idea.

You guys are rather one sided. It's either one way or the other. I'm saying, it was equally frustrating watching us go 3 and out without running a minute off the play clock. It's bad football. Not protecting the ball and lack of fundamentals is bad football.

The offense is the only part of your team that can control the clock. The other team sure as hell can't score when you have the ball so yeah, I have a different philosophy. Putting up yards is one thing. Finishing drives and melting time is another. WKU won games over the last 2 years because of their offense, not their D. Their O dominated and finished drives. They allowed LaTech to score way more points in both of their games than we did. However, they were putting up 50+ on them too. They ran fast but slowed the game when they needed to as well. They had one drive in the championship game that went for over 5 minutes. They won that game too. It's connected. That's all I'm saying. That's also a head coach thing too. Stock has to be the one to decide the tempo of the game and to know when the D is gassed. It's not like they are gonna get better so hell, play to your strength.

Personally, I hate this spread no huddle crap. It has taken clean play out of the game. True fundamentals aren't being taught anymore and the kids are much less disciplined. When I was in school, if the ball came out, so did you and you did up downs and ran bleachers until you puked. We need D'wonne Hicks to come in and make them run that brick drill he teaches. Hicks didn't fumble the rock much because his hands were as tough as the bricks he carried in those drills. I'm a "run the ball for a while, control the clock and give your D a rest" guy. It works for teams like Bama. There might be something to it.

 

[blueraiderJT]

We do have some challenges on offense and against Hawaii they still scored 35 despite poor play. But the D

Well we up on Charlotte and caved...we were up on FIU and caved. I get what your saying but no one on this board is asking our D to be a top 20, or even a top 50. Just a D with a pulse, one that is aggressive. One where we may give up big plays but also create more of them.

Great point! When your up on teams, play keep away a bit more, run the clock and stop with the 28 second 3 and out series. Obviously, the D ain't gonna turn into Bama when they're gassed. Also, if that's happening, the opponent has figured out your tempo and scheme offensively. Time to adjust anyway and we rarely did.