stats

[Flipper]

JFC...no one is saying the defense must be horrible because of our offense. Our defense has been bad because it's been bad, the offense didn't miss tackles and the offense didn't give up TD's of 80 and 60 yards to UMass. There are statistical areas..one of them being YPG...where this year we wil not look as good as other teams because our game is faster and we face more plays. I don't really care how many yards we give up since there has yet to be a game where the officials ignored the final score and awarded the game to the team with the most yards. You win by reaching the endzone more times than the other guys.

I really do not understand the way some of you people act...you bitch when we lose and you bitch when we win. WTF do you want?

and I think Idaho and UTEP and maybe one or two other teams have worse defenses than we do because their YPP is higher than ours

[Globetrotter]

Scoring Defense
2014
128 (Last) 671 2nd is 608 yards per game, 3rd 600, 4th 550
2013
9th 322
2012
7th 307

Yards per defense
2014
128 (Last) 52.8
2013
5th 16.5
2012
12th 17.5

[Globetrotter]

JFC...no one is saying the defense must be horrible because of our offense. Our defense has been bad because it's been bad, the offense didn't miss tackles and the offense didn't give up TD's of 80 and 60 yards to UMass. There are statistical areas..one of them being YPG...where this year we wil not look as good as other teams because our game is faster and we face more plays. I don't really care how many yards we give up since there has yet to be a game where the officials ignored the final score and awarded the game to the team with the most yards. You win by reaching the endzone more times than the other guys.

I really do not understand the way some of you people act...you bitch when we lose and you bitch when we win. WTF do you want?

and I think Idaho and UTEP and maybe one or two other teams have worse defenses than we do because their YPP is higher than ours

Relax bro. People are just really frustrated by the team taking a defense that was top 20 the last 2 years in the statistical categories that matter to most people and turning it into the worst football team on defense in the country.

And they are not taking "this is a product of this type of system" as a good enough excuse.

[MarkL]

Scoring Defense
2014
128 (Last) 671 2nd is 608 yards per game, 3rd 600, 4th 550
2013
9th 322
2012
7th 307

Yards per defense
2014
128 (Last) 52.8
2013
5th 16.5
2012
12th 17.5

I'd look more at yards per play, not yards per game.

Now even with looking at ypp, I expect we're not in good shape because of all the big passing plays we gave up against UMass and big runs against Wisconsin.

I believe going forward that the whole season hangs on our secondary. Our front seven was very good against UMass. They stuffed the run and got some good pressure on the QB as the game went on. The secondary was ineffective when the front seven did not provide pressure; the secondary was only effective when the front seven forced the QB to throw on the run. If the secondary tightens up and quits allowing the big plays that kept UMass in it and even gave them a couple of leads, we can win a lot of games. If we cannot prevent big plays, we're in big time trouble because our offense can only bail out the team so many times.

And if the front seven cannot stop a running game and the secondary does not tight up .....

[Flipper]

AGain...no one saying our poor defense is a product of the system....it's a product of poor play. And we do not have the same PLAYERS this year that we did last year. No Boo Boo...no Pettus...no Foster...No Truss...no Minns...no Campbell...no Lynch..no Colvin...no Oulett..no Ford...no Swan...no Brown. We aren't getting the same results with different players? The hell you say....

[Globetrotter]

AGain...no one saying our poor defense is a product of the system....it's a product of poor play. And we do not have the same PLAYERS this year that we did last year. No Boo Boo...no Pettus...no Foster...No Truss...no Minns...no Campbell...no Lynch..no Colvin...no Oulett..no Ford...no Swan...no Brown. We aren't getting the same results with different players? The hell you say....

Are we the first team to have some different players playing on defense? Wait we are? Every other team is returning all of their starters? Amazing? That's awesome, what a strange phenomenon in college football this season. I am also amazed that everyone on our defensive roster had never played a down prior to this year of defensive football. That seems like a drastic change for them. All new guys this year.

Wait a second. I am not sure that's true. Of our top 19 leading tacklers (10 or more, all have played 4 games or more)
1. Sutton: 38 career games SR
2. Martin: 31 career games SR
3. ADJEI-BARIMAH: 38 career games SR
4. Senn: 14 career games 2 years of JUCO SR
5. Schweiterman: FRESHMAN (As an aside if he isn't one of your favorite players I don't know)
6. Turner: JUNIOR
7. Sanford: SO, FIRST YEAR DNP as freshman due to injury
8. Johnson: FRESHMAN
9. Locke: FRESHMAN
10. Hunter: JR 22 Career Games
11. Ward: SR 39 Career Games
12. Croley: SO 8 Career Games
13. Valdez: FRESHMAN
14. Walker: SR 39 Career Games
15. Royster: JR 23 Career Games
16. Watson: 23 Career Games JR
17. Thomas: 30 Career games SR
18. Gourdine: 10 Career games SO
19. Bush: 11 Career Games SO

So
7 Seniors
4 Juniors
4 Sophomores
4 Freshmen

[Dayons_Den]

And don't shrug off Baylor's rise to where they are just because they are now a recognizable commodity. For DECADES they were a LAUGHING STOCK the absolute worst job in all of college football (Think Temple bad or for some of you older folks Kansas State bad). It was a dead end place for coaches and they couldn't win worth a lick. Heck one of their former head coaches is coaching high school football near where I live now!

[Flipper]

You're arguing in circles GT...first you say you're upset and whining because we aren't getting the same results with last year's players...now you're saying we should just magically get better results with new players because well...that s**t happens.

This year's two deep looks nothing like last year's two deep...new players, new system, sorry if it's looked really ugly in two losses and not quite..perfect...enough for you in three wins.

[kdog27]

The defense isn't good. We all know it and we have all said it. How many ways and times can it be said? Some of us are more patient and willing to see how it all pans out than others, but I think everyone here agrees we have played poorly on defense.

I'm past the point of being pissed about the D. It is what is. This coaching staff isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Might as well sit back and hope they are smarter than all of us.

[San Diego Falcon]

I think most of this bitching about our defense would have been diffused if Babers had simply said prior to the start of the season not to expect anything close to last year's defense due to the losses of key players and the change in overall philosophy. Instead he stuck out his chest and ran his mouth the other direction. I think his system can be successful as long as the concept of discipline within the coaches, players and overall program isn't swept aside.

[Flipper]

That is true...Babers is a heck of a promoter, but he really needs to watch what he says. Tweets and twats...need I say more?

[kdog27]

I think most of this bitching about our defense would have been diffused if Babers had simply said prior to the start of the season not to expect anything close to last year's defense due to the losses of key players and the change in overall philosophy. Instead he stuck out his chest and ran his mouth the other direction. I think his system can be successful as long as the concept of discipline within the coaches, players and overall program isn't swept aside.

I definitely agree with that. He gave the impression all August that the offense ones couldn't score on the defense ones. He also went out of the way to say how good of a D he had several times. I don't know happened between those practices and the first game but the defense never played like what he lead on. Bend but don't break and keep everything in front of us is not what he told us we would have. An attacking, unpredictable D that took gambles is what he advertised. If we was just saying that to trick WKU, it didn't work

[Falcon137]

I think most of this bitching about our defense would have been diffused if Babers had simply said prior to the start of the season not to expect anything close to last year's defense due to the losses of key players and the change in overall philosophy. Instead he stuck out his chest and ran his mouth the other direction. I think his system can be successful as long as the concept of discipline within the coaches, players and overall program isn't swept aside.

Yes. So much yes.

Hell, in the season ticket holder event, he brought up going 12-0 and the playoffs.

[Globetrotter]

You're arguing in circles GT...first you say you're upset and whining because we aren't getting the same results with last year's players...now you're saying we should just magically get better results with new players because well...that s**t happens.

This year's two deep looks nothing like last year's two deep...new players, new system, sorry if it's looked really ugly in two losses and not quite..perfect...enough for you in three wins.

I am convinced you are just arguing with yourself at this point.

I don't expect the same results as last year. I also think it's absurd to ignore the awfulness of the defense by claiming it's because it's all new players and a new system. These players have played college football in a system that worked very well literally just last year. It's not all new players. This system of defense works fine elsewhere.

You are ignoring or routing around the obvious answer because for some reason you don't want to blame the coaches for this atrocious defense. You are minimizing how bad the defense actually is and their role in creating it.

It's not that the defense looks bad. It's that it may just be one of the worst defenses of all time.

[hammb]

I like that Babers has confidence in himself, and I have no issues with him discussing 12-0 and the playoffs. It's maybe not realistic, but I love the shoot for the stars mentality. As for his comments about the defense leading into the season, it could all be coach speak. Or maybe he really believed that and is just that stupid. Or maybe the defense really did look good, but went to s**t as soon as the opening gun went off? I have no idea. I like Babers personality, but he definitely needs to choose his words a little better from time to time.

Regardless his attitude/words have little to do with the product on the field. Our defense is garbage, and has been garbage all season long. Still, it's been enough to win 3 games, one of which we were definitely the underdog. I have faith in his offensive philosophy, and I have faith that when the team starts to get comfortable with his systems (and he gets his own guys in) the defense will be better than what we've seen thus far. It'll never look as pretty on the stat sheet as a Clawson defense (which is why I find it foolish and pointless to even compare the stats), but it will be more effective than it has been through the first 5 games (it really cannot get much worse).

At this point I'm really not sure what the coaches can do. They've been trying to play some bend/don't break defense and still they break. You really cannot transition to a more aggressive pressure type defense if you're giving up 80 yard touchdowns even playing a "keep it in front of you" style. We've got a lot of young kids, and we've been cycling in new ones trying to find some guys that can make plays. Until they start tackling better it won't matter what the coaches do. Even in the Wisconsin game we were in position to make stops throughout the whole first half (announcers kept reiterating it) and we just didn't make tackles. NO matter what scheme you run, if the guys aren't making tackles, it's gonna look like garbage. Throw in the fact that we're playing a game of more possessions (and at times struggling to execute the offensive side of it) and it's kinda steamrolled a few times.

But with all that we're still 1-0 in the MAC, we've beaten a Big 10 team, and we've played some exciting (albeit sometimes frustrating) football.