2012 Defense Discussion

[BearBuck27]

Agreed, after 3 quarters, the D held PSU to 10 points and we had the game in hand,

And technically, the defense only gave up three of those points. Improvement these last two weeks for sure. I have to give a ton of credit to the coaching staff as well. Keep up the good work, guys!

 

[Bestbuck36]

Silver Bullets!

That's what I'm talking about. When you fire a REAL bullet, it flies, no ifs ands or buts. Sometimes the bullet misses the mark, sometimes it hits the target and sometimes it obliterates the target. Regardless of hitting the mark or not, when the bullets are flying, you keep your head down.


Finally. I've wanted this for a while now. Attack, attack, attack!!!! Make mistakes but make them at 100% effort - balls to the wall - attitude. We gave up plays where we weren't in the right position or the wrong guy was there. We can live with that because its fixable. They went balls out all night long and made a ton of plays. In the end PSU could do nothing with the defense until the game was in hand. IF the offense shows up earlier, its a total rout.

Good job this week coaches. Thank you for bringing back the Silver Bullets.

 

[scarletngray]

I think two things are contributing to better Defensive play.

The first is the greater rotation of players in along the DLine. This is helping
our guys stay fresh and not be so worn out by the end of the game. This has
been huge. It is also affording the newbies to get much needed playing time.
Seeing Spence, Washington and Shutt getting good reps is only going to help going into next year.

BOREN - His move to MLB was a brilliant move. Though his first start was a bit shaky he has come on strong the last couple games and is just going to get better over this next month. He will be key in beating UW especially since they love to run inside the tackles so much.

I also think that having a bye week so late in the season is key. It will allow guys to heal up so that we can close the deal and end up being 12-0 at seasons end.

Who would have thunk it after last year?

If undefeated would this be the greatest turn around in the history of CFB?

:osu:

 

[BUCKYLE]

I believe the emphasis on manufacturing fumbles was installed by Heacock and Fickell after 2007 when OSU had a really bad year in TO margin. They put work into it that off season and wound up being in the Top 10 in the nation in TO margin the following season. Kurt Coleman was exceptional at ripping the football out. The current 2012 Buckeyes ... not so much.

Urban said in his presser after the MSU game that he was going to make sure raking at the football stopped, and if it didn't guys who continued to do it wouldn't play. His view is that the best way for the defense to force turnovers is to stick their helmets on the football.

Yeah...but...they didn't do it last year. I think it had to be an indirect result of Urban stressing turnovers before the season. I just can't imagine him watching film for seven games and not putting a stop to it sooner if it wasn't what he wanted.

 

[Coqui]

If undefeated would this be the greatest turn around in the history of CFB?

:osu:

While harder to go undefeated, this hasn't been the best improvement over a year that someone has had.

South Carolina in 2000
Hawaii in 1999
Miami (OH) 2010
Clemson in 1948 went from 4-5 to 12-0
Purdue in 1942 went from 1-8 to 9-0
USC in 1962 went from 4-5-1 to 11-0 (Pretty much the equivalent of what we will have done if we finish the season undefeated)
Stanford in 1940 went from 1-7-1 to 10-0

 

[TheStoicPaisano]

Champions Club vs PSU:

Roby and Shazier, co-players of the game

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

Champions Club vs PSU:

Roby and Shazier, co-players of the game

I normally prefer them to pick a winner, but I don't know how you tell either of those guys they didn't earn it

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Agreed, after 3 quarters, the D held PSU to 3 points and we had the game in hand,

fify

Giving up the blocked punt TD doesn't go against the defense. PSU had 369 yards of total offense, 147 of which came in the fourth quarter. So, in three quarters, the PSU offense racked up a whole three points and 222 yards of total offense.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Found this to be an interesting comparison between our offense and defense:

Offense: 432 yards and 38.6 ppg (11.2 yards per point)
Defense: 390 yards and 24.1 ppg (16.2 yards per point)

Although we're outgaining our opponents by an average of only 42 yards per game (which is less than 10 yards per quarter), we're outscoring our opponents by over two TDs per game. Not to mention being 9-0 in those games...

 

[pnuts34]

Found this to be an interesting comparison between our offense and defense:

Offense: 432 yards and 38.6 ppg (11.2 yards per point)
Defense: 390 yards and 24.1 ppg (16.2 yards per point)

Although we're outgaining our opponents by an average of only 42 yards per game (which is less than 10 yards per quarter), we're outscoring our opponents by over two TDs per game. Not to mention being 9-0 in those games...

Sounds like a "bend don't break defense". Not my cup of tea, but we're undefeated. Can't complain too much about that

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Sounds like a "bend don't break defense". Not my cup of tea, but we're undefeated. Can't complain too much about that

We gave up 532 yards against Cal (140 of which came on the two TD runs by Bigelow) and 481 to Indiana (135 of which came on a 59 yard TD run and a 76 yard TD pass), whch sort of inflates those yardage totals. Those four plays accounted for 275 yards (almost 69 yards per play).

 

[jwinslow]

whch sort of inflates those yardage totals

I know you like totaling yardage without certain plays, but I can't imagine why in this case, given the consistency with which they have occurred.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

I know you like totaling yardage without certain plays, but I can't imagine why in this case, given the consistency with which they have occurred.

More illustrating the point that the defense has played better than the stats may indicate, despite the occasional catastrophic breakdown. I also left out the first play of the Purdue game, the 83-yard TD caused by confusion in LB coverage responsibility. After that play, the defense locked down Purdue fairly well (264 yards), and played solid for nearly the entire game at PSU. You're, the big plays have happened far too often, but still detract somewhat from the overall performance of the defense.

 

[pnuts34]

We gave up 532 yards against Cal (140 of which came on the two TD runs by Bigelow) and 481 to Indiana (135 of which came on a 59 yard TD run and a 76 yard TD pass), whch sort of inflates those yardage totals. Those four plays accounted for 275 yards (almost 69 yards per play).

Our defense has definitely been susceptible to big plays. But the fact that our defense has stepped up the biggest in our 3 most difficult games(msu, Nebraska and psu) bodes well for our next biggest game(against scUM, because let's be honest, wisky is no longer wisky this year and will be far worst if stave is injured for a while)

I spoke too soon about stave, just found this article:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/wisconsin-qb-stave-season-210623894--ncaaf.html


Suddenly an immensely one dimensional team now. Boren, shazier and Hankins should have big games stopping Monte ball.

 

[Jagdaddy]

Sounds like a "bend don't break defense". Not my cup of tea, but we're undefeated. Can't complain too much about that

Found this to be an interesting comparison between our offense and defense:

Offense: 432 yards and 38.6 ppg (11.2 yards per point)
Defense: 390 yards and 24.1 ppg (16.2 yards per point)

Although we're outgaining our opponents by an average of only 42 yards per game (which is less than 10 yards per quarter), we're outscoring our opponents by over two TDs per game. Not to mention being 9-0 in those games...

Yards per point is a big time winning statistic, and the lower you are on offense and higher on defense the better (the '02 team had an insanely high defensive yards per point number and a low offensive number). I'd put it only behind turnovers and yards per passing attempt in terms of importance. It reflects good play in both red zones and usually (though not so much with this year's team, consistent winning of the field position battle).