This is a good TCU Defense

[FrogLifeYo]

Just want to remind everyone that this TCU defense is a good one...It’s not great but It has a high ceiling..After 4 games

We are Ranked
30th in Total Def ...#1 in the Big 12
12th in 3rd down conversion %...#1 in the Big12

If you factor out (which you can’t) the offense putting the defense in some pretty bad spots we’d probably be a lot higher...

Are we elite? not by any stretch. We are soft in the middle and tackling like pop-warner kids but all indications are that we can stop teams in stretches. As if we didn’t alrea know it, the offense and special team failures are the biggest reason we have 2-losses....clean them up and this defense is good enough to get us in the title hunt..

 

[Wexahu]

Just want to remind everyone that this TCU defense is a good one...It’s not great but It has a high ceiling..After 4 games

We are Ranked
30th in Total Def ...#1 in the Big 12
12th in 3rd down conversion %...#1 in the Big12

If you factor out (which you can’t) the offense putting the defense in some pretty bad spots we’d probably be a lot higher...

Are we elite? not by any stretch. We are soft in the middle and tackling like pop-warner kids but all indications are that we can stop teams in stretches. As if we didn’t alrea know it, the offense and special team failures are the biggest reason we have 2-losses....clean them up and this defense is good enough to get us in the title hunt..

It's only major weakness is it doesn't force turnovers. Not really sure why, but that's the glaring thing that stands out.

 

[FrogLifeYo]

It's only major weakness is it doesn't force turnovers. Not really sure why, but that's the glaring thing that stands out.

Based on the numbers, forcing TOs would likely put us in that elite status..it is odd

 

[The TCU Football Jerk]

We're not good. Too many big plays. We get shoved off the ball in short yardage situations. Our db's are small, weak and get blocked every freakin' play.

 

[Jefffrog1993]

We don’t force turnovers because we are soft on tackling. We don’t wrap up then strip the football. Our pass coverage is great we seem to knock down passes not jump routes. I like this about our defense gambling on pick can lead to miss and td.

 

[FrogLifeYo]

We're not good. Too many big plays. We get shoved off the ball in short yardage situations. Our db's are small, weak and get blocked every freakin' play.

The stats don’t support your assessment

 

[Big Frog II]

It's a good defense, but needs turnovers to be a great defense. They played well against Texas until they wore out due to our offense sputtering and turning the ball over.

 

[Peacefrog]

It's only major weakness is it doesn't force turnovers. Not really sure why, but that's the glaring thing that stands out.

Turnover stats going back to the 2014 season. Trends aren’t great.

Year/turnovers gained/turnover margin

2014/40/18
2015/19/0
2016/16/-4
2017/20/3
2018/4/-5 actual
2018/12/-15 projected

2013 was -2 in TO margin. The years with negative TO margin were losing seasons. It’s not the offense. It’s not the defense. It’s the turnovers plain and simple. If frogs don’t correct that issue it will not be a good year. Defense will be on the field too much. Offense loses chances to score. It’s the worst thing that can happen. Cumbie and GP are fine. They just can’t game plan for what continues to be worst case scenarios.

 

[Sebastian S]

It's only major weakness is it doesn't force turnovers. Not really sure why, but that's the glaring thing that stands out.

Somehow, maybe just bad luck, teams don't make errors when playing us.

 

[Peacefrog]

2014 was a special year. Top 5 offense and a ball hawking defense. Such a great team.

Just one thing had to break our way the last week of the season and not a single one did.

 

[SnoSki]

Good points throughout this thread. The defense doesn’t live in a vacuum. Without looking it up, I would venture to say that our best defenses came in years when our offenses really knew how to eat up clock and/or score a lot, making opponents one dimensional as they play catch-up.

 

[y2kFrog]

When you get bigger leads (2 scores or more) the rate of turnovers forced goes way up. As long as offense is kicking field goals and turning the ball over, it hurts the defenses ability to get turnovers.

 

[FrogLifeYo]

Imagine that..... 2014 was the last time we had an exceptional safety group...I bet if you were to assess which group was responsible for the most turnovers in GPs defense it’s LBs and S...We have struggled in those groups since 2014...That not to say we haven’t had some good players but as groups they have been average a lot of the time

 

[Despite the odds Frog]

Somehow, maybe just bad luck, teams don't make errors when playing us.

It's the DL. If the pressure isn't there than it's rare the opposing team will make mistakes. Depth too, TCU has to get depth at DE and DT.

 

[The TCU Football Jerk]

The stats don’t support your assessment

There are stats for getting blown off the ball and db's getting blocked? I'd like to see those.