We are just going to have accept this defense is what it is
- Thread starter TopFrog
- Start date
netty2424
Full Member
Need some guys back in the secondary in a big way. Razor thin back there and it sounds like a couple guys out with possible long term injuries/situations.
Noah is unreliable at this point, so I’m operating under the assumption he’s not going to play in any significant capacity all season. Hope I’m wrong.
Big Frog II
Active Member
Our defense has not been good this year, but we look like the 85 Bears compare to Texas Tech.
Pharm Frog
Full Member
I’ll take it too. Felt good about getting that W all along. FWIW — Tech felt like they needed that win to get to bowl eligibility. They get Kansas next week so that could get them to 5. Personally, I don’t think they are as bad as they played yesterday so I’m thinking they get to 6 although it’s tough to see two more wins in that schedule. Okie Lite hasn’t laid their customary road egg yet. Maybe that’s it.
We give up plenty of big plays. Are you watching the games?
CountryFrog
Active Member
I totally agree in regards to just this one game. They did exactly what they needed to do for 2.5 quarters and that won us the game.
The problem is that the previous 12 quarters of football before last night give me very little reason for hope on the defense. But maybe they're getting better. We will find out very soon.
CountryFrog
Active Member
My biggest issue with the defense is improving, they always start slow angle is the total scheissing [ Finebaum ] show that we saw throughout the SMU game. We've lost to SMU before. We've played poorly on defense against them before. Never have we gotten totally manhandled up front against them for 4 quarters until this year. They had almost 400 yards rushing. Navy and University of North Texas put up more resistance than we did against SMU. And we saw glimpses of those issues against Cal and ultimately lost to Texas mostly because of the same issues.
I fear what Oklahoma will do against our front. It won't matter who their QB is if we haven't massively improved that area of the D. They'll just do to us what we did to Tech last night. Hell, even when we're good on defense OU has had their way with us since Lincoln Riley got there.
I fear what Oklahoma will do against our front. It won't matter who their QB is if we haven't massively improved that area of the D. They'll just do to us what we did to Tech last night. Hell, even when we're good on defense OU has had their way with us since Lincoln Riley got there.
Moose Stuff
Active Member
I agree with this. Health will be a big part of it actually happening (or not happening).
The 4 quarters against Texas weren’t bad. Texas has accumulated around 600 yards in 3 of the last 4 games. They only a little over 400 against us. It might have been even better if they weren’t gifted 3 turnovers.
Moose Stuff
Active Member
Agreed. I’m not saying I’m happy with our defense but people that are freaking out should focus on the Texas game and the first 35 minutes yesterday and not the garbage last 25 minutes.
Pharm Frog
Full Member
I would prefer not to focus on the Texas game. No telling how many yards they would have piled up had we not given them short fields. And they had open receivers all day but Bama hands. Did make them kick field goals though which was good.
CountryFrog
Active Member
Agree to disagree on that one. We came up with some big red zone stops which was definitely an improvement from the SMU game , but my specific problem with the defense is how bad we've been against the run and that is basically what lost us the Texas game. We didn't give up a ton of points and I certainly agree there were other contributing factors but the run defense was really bad in that game.
We did a pretty good job against the pass though and did generate a decent pass rush at times. So credit to the defense in that regard. But then in the 4th quarter when we knew they were going to run we couldn't get the stopswe needed.
CountryFrog
Active Member
If those were the only 2 games we'd played this year then I'd be right there with you on this one. I'm not sure why we no longer are counting the Cal game or SMU disaster when judging this defense though.
All that being said we're still 5 games in and ultimately the defense and team will be judged on what they do over the course of 12 games and not just these last 4. We've seen some slight improvement but I still have my doubts about this defense being able to hold up against a really good OL that is committed to the run for 4 quarters. Obviously if they come out against OU looking anything like they did against Tech then I'll be thrilled and more than happy to admit my premature freaking out. Right now though I'm fully expecting OU to run for 300+ yards on us.
Eight
Member
the four quarters against texas weren't bad?
Moose Stuff
Active Member
I’m using the more recent games as signs of improvement and hope for it to continue. Any overall judgement of this defense would have to be a harsh one.
CountryFrog
Active Member
Totally agree
Farmfrog
Active Member
As fans we can only hope the defense gets better as it often does as the season goes on. There’s a good chance that next week won’t end well but, hopefully, we will improve. With all the defensive injuries we have the backups should have enough experience to be the one of 11 as GP likes to say.
Eight
Member
first 35 minutes of the game last night were a bit skewed as tcu scored on each of its first 4 offensive possessions and tech score on 2 of their 4 and another resulted in 7 points for the frogs.
game was 35-10 at that point and the die was pretty much cast in how it would play out in the second half. the frogs would try to burn clock and tech had to try to score.
curious from an analytics perspective if allowing your opponent to score on 50% of their possesions is above average, equal, or below average
the defense did play better, but there are still some big red flags defensively and 4 of the frogs next 5 opponents have given up 3.0 ypc so it is going to take execution and will for the offense to keep up the way it has been scoring. that is possible as i think the line got the best push it has all year and we will continue to see coleman at guard, there was a plan in the run game, and max made some good throws when put in the right situations
defensively the frog are allowing over 5 ypc and they still look lost at times. would be nice to see bethley back inside and no idea where turnier, missi, and sorrells have been the past few weeks. coleman made a big difference in the pass rush, but the 3 most experienced de's have to give the frogs more against the run and pass .
linebacker is confusing as these are not young players and the most productive safety is a guy who never played n this system until this year and he was a career corner so what is going on at the safety position because there are some experienced players back there who are struggling a great deal
disagree with top in that this year isn't an outlier as we have seen this trend on the defensive side of the ball since 2018 and the worst trend has been the inability to make the big stop when needed late in the game. we can point to holding texas under their averages, but when texas had to move the ball late in the game texas didn't even get close to slowing the run. the excuse can be robinson and his ability, but what about the smu game the week before?
right now, based upon what we have seen even through last week if ou is ahead by 4-6 points, frogs have just scored and their offense is rolling, and ou gets the ball with 5 minutes to go do you believe tcu can stop the sooner run game with brooks and get the ball back. keeping teams below their season averages are a nice talking point but in the end getting that stop and the ball back is what truly is significant at least to me in my skewed view
Moose Stuff
Active Member
No they weren’t, for exactly the reasons he said. I don’t think anyone is saying they were good either, but considering how their offense has been playing that was definite progress.
You could have stopped after the first paragraph. We were dominating them mercilessly. What happened after we hit the brakes doesn’t really bother me.
