2008 tOSU Defense discussion (official thread)

[bukIpower]

the 02' defense didn't really play lights out in 01', and the 05' defense didn't really play lights out in 04' either? But, both of those teams the next year when they had more talent returning played exceptionally well. I look for bigger things from this defense

 

[Bleed S & G]

That's nice and all, but it doesn't take away from the fact that they didn't play particularly well late in the season.

2 words. Senior leadership.

 

[OregonBuckeye]

That's nice and all, but it doesn't take away from the fact that they didn't play particularly well late in the season.

And it didn't play particularly bad either.

Did you guys see Florida? Their defense played like shit the entire year. You know why? It's because they only returned 2 starters from that great '06 D, just like our '06 D only returned 2 starters from that great '05 D. Everyone here is selling our defense waaaaaaay short for next season.

 

[OSUBuckeye4Life]

That's nice and all, but it doesn't take away from the fact that they didn't play particularly well late in the season.

They didn't play bad either.

When you are OSU and you return the following:

75%* of the starters on the Dline

66%** of the starters on the LB corp.

100% of the starters from the secondary....

You are going to improve. The unit we had last year + improvement = Great defense.

*: We return Wilson who isn't counted in that.
**: We return Terry who isn't counted in that.

I wont mention how much we return if you count the 2 deep.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

We also only had 2 returning starters in '06 and 4 in '07. In '08, we'll have 9.

This bears repeating.

...and elaboration...

We lost 2 starters:

One was a defensive end - we get a defensive end back that was a starter at the beginning of the season last year but was injured.

Another was an Outside Linebacker - we get an outside linebacker back that was injured all year.

We get all of our depth back at every position.
​

This isn't your average "9 starters returning" situation. It's better.

 

[lvbuckeye]

Just a question here, but how does a defense that finished ranked No. 1 in the country in scoring and total defense and loses only 2 starters have to improve to be labeled "sick, filthy, etc"?

they have to be able to get to the QB without blitzing. which means that the DTs need to improve in a big way.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Until we keep an SEC team from scorching our defense to the tune of 40 points, I'm not going to be thumping my chest over our defense. Our defense was statistically light years ahead of everyone else's going into the bowls and yet again we got blistered by a team whose offensive unit wasn't really any better than our own.

 

[MUBuck]

Let's play a game. Guess which school's defense ranked as such in 2007.

#1 in scoring defense (12.8 pts/game)
#3 in rushing defense (82.85 yds/game)
#1 in passing defense (150.2 yds/game)
#1 total defense (233.0 yds/game)

cfbstats.com - 2007 National Team Leaders

You guessed it, it was OSU. We return 9 starters from the most dominant defense in the NCAA and people are worried? I understand the D didn't play as well as we expected at times and our schedule was not exactly the strongest in recent years, but just look at those stats! We might not have a better D than last year, but that's pretty hard to do when you're already the best.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Let's play a game. Guess which school's defense ranked as such in 2007.

Let's guess which defense got hammered for 38 points after hearing how bad they sucked for 364 days?

 

[jwinslow]

Let's guess which defense got hammered for 38 points after hearing how bad they sucked for 364 days?

Too bad we didn't land Crable, then we could talk smack after that performance (ie 35 vs UF).

 

[Jaxbuck]

Let's play a game. Guess which school's defense ranked as such in 2007.

#1 in scoring defense (12.8 pts/game)
#3 in rushing defense (82.85 yds/game)
#1 in passing defense (150.2 yds/game)
#1 total defense (233.0 yds/game)

cfbstats.com - 2007 National Team Leaders

You guessed it, it was OSU. We return 9 starters from the most dominant defense in the NCAA and people are worried? I understand the D didn't play as well as we expected at times and our schedule was not exactly the strongest in recent years, but just look at those stats! We might not have a better D than last year, but that's pretty hard to do when you're already the best.

Lets play another game, who felt like we had the best defense in CFB after the LSU game? Anyone?

 

[lvbuckeye]

Until we keep an SEC team from scorching our defense to the tune of 40 points, I'm not going to be thumping my chest over our defense. Our defense was statistically light years ahead of everyone else's going into the bowls and yet again we got blistered by a team whose offensive unit wasn't really any better than our own.

don't kid yourself. LSU's O was MUCH better than ours. they actually put those numbers up against some good defenses.

we scored 30 at Minny. here's what some of their other opponents scored on them:

Bowling Green: 32
Miami OH: 35
Florida Atlantic: 42
Purdue: 45
Indiana: 40
Northwestern: 45
M*ch*g*n: 34
Illinois: 44
Wisconsin: 41

only Iowa, who was TERRIBLE on O in '07, and freaking North Dakota State scored fewer points on the Gophers than the Buckeyes.

we scored 23 on Purdue. let's look at how some of their opponents fared:

Toledo: 24
Central Michigan: 22
Minnesota: 31
Ntre Ame: 19
M*ch*g*n: 48
Penn State: 26
Michigan State: 48
Indiana: 27
Central Michigan: 48

how about Akron? we scored 20 points. their other opponents?

Indiana: 41
Kent State: 20
Uconn: 44
Western Michigan: 38
Temple: 24
Buffalo: 26
Bowling Green: 44
Ohio: 37
Central Michigan: 35

i know that transitive analysis is stupid, but the fact remains that there was no way was our O was on par with LSU's. NO WAY. our stats were inflated by playing some HORRIBLE opponents. there's no two ways about it.

 

[Buckeyecty4]

Leadership and returning starters are only positive if those players are actually good enough to become a dominant defense..

I need to see it from these DTs.. usually u at least see flashes of potential.. that u can bank on becoming more consistent with a yrs experience..

Im not sure i really saw that from our 4 DTs.. maybe Worthington at times.. but overall i didnt see the plays from our DTs, where i said, "wow, this guy could be a star in the future"..

You saw that from Heyward, u saw it from Anderson Russell at times, u saw it from Chekwa.. im not sure i saw that from the DT position..

 

[MUBuck]

Let's guess which defense got hammered for 38 points after hearing how bad they sucked for 364 days?

Lets play another game, who felt like we had the best defense in CFB after the LSU game? Anyone?

You're both right, our defense is no good at all because they gave up 38 points to the #1 team in the nation, who was basically playing a home game, and was on the field most of the game because our offense couldn't move the ball. I should add that we also had multiple penalties resulting in the continuances of drives that should have been over. Yeah, that game really revealed how bad our defense is. We'll be lucky if we hold anyone to 30 next year.

 

[GrizzlyBuck]

MUbuck, I don't think anyone is saying that tOSU's defense is not good, nor that it very well may be better in '08, but looking at our defense without the S&G glasses show that the Illini ran the last 8-9 minutes off the clock on the defense and LSU put up 38, great defenses (which is what we hope to have next year do not do those things) Great defenses hold great offenses to field goals sometimes, great defenses get the ball back and give the offense one more chance, something this defense did not do in the two losses.

Read the entire thread (I apologize if you did) and you will see that nobody is saying that the D sucks, or is not good, some, myself included, are just trying to temper the enthusiasm with a slight reality check and some points of weakness that need improved.