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We're not even out of the 3rd quarter and BG must have given up at least 10 1st downs on 3rd and long.

Perhaps it is lame to reply to my own post, but I wanted to give this thread a bump because I continue to be amazed by the inability of the defense to stop opposing teams on 3rd and long. This was a huge problem last year and, certainly, last night.

For some reason the defense was able to play pretty well for the first two downs and force BSU into 3rd and long situations. Yet, almost without fail (or, should I write "without success"?), the defense gave up big plays on 3rd down. 3rd and 6, 3rd and 9, 3rd and 12, etc. - it didn't seem to matter.
Why could the defense hold for two downs and rarely hold on 3rd and long? When you get a team in a 3rd and long, they aren't supposed to convert.

I noticed, like you did, that we typically fail to put any real pressure on the QB and allow him to escape the pocket and scramble even when our secondary covers all the WRs. Why don't we just rush two lineman and leave a LB as a rover to cover the QB running down the middle of the field.

A crazy formation, but it certainly could not end up being much worse.

It's a combination of two things.

1. We have zero pass rush.....ever.

2. Our secondary is terrible when it comes to covering posts and deep outs.
I'm not sure I've ever seen our secondary make a legitimate PBU on
an out pattern. Even Boise's much maligned secondary broke up
a bunch of outs last night.

I posted on the Boise board that the key to the game was third down performance on both sides of the ball. Unfortunately, we were decimated in that regard and the TOP showed it.