What's up with the AD?

[WyoBrandX]

Misleading title - this isn't about the athletic director. I'm thinking apathetic defense. rly:

What's your take on the defense this year? It seems like we lost two games in a row because of defense. (Side note: 4 years ago, I'd probably be complaining that our offense was apathetic and our defense was rocking the place).

I don't think even with some of the promise of our offense offers today that we could win many shootouts. It still needs some work.

I watched us blitz against Toledo several times - they always burnt us when we did.

The size appears to be there for the most part. We have speed. What are we missing?


:brick:

 

[Cowduck]

I can tell you one thing that is going on, and it's something that I predicted before the season: our TO margin is -4; we've forced only one turnover in two games and coughed it up 5 times. I thought we would see regression to the mean in that column; it's easier to see last year's TO numbers as a statistical outlier than something we could reasonably expect to repeat this year. I would expect it to even out a bit over the rest of the season but we won't repeat last year's TO numbers, that's for sure. I know, I know, you make your own luck on forcing TOs but that's only true to a point; at a minimum you're relying on your opponent to make a mistake of some sort (failing to tuck a ball away securely, not looking off a safety, errant snap, whatever) and the ball has to bounce your way a bit too. I've read info from practice that they are focusing heavily on forcing more TOs on D; I sure as hell hope they aren't doing that at the expense of emphasizing, you know, tackling the dude with the ball.

 

[fromolwyoming]

I can tell you one thing that is going on, and it's something that I predicted before the season: our TO margin is -4; we've forced only one turnover in two games and coughed it up 5 times. I thought we would see regression to the mean in that column; it's easier to see last year's TO numbers as a statistical outlier than something we could reasonably expect to repeat this year. I would expect it to even out a bit over the rest of the season but we won't repeat last year's TO numbers, that's for sure. I know, I know, you make your own luck on forcing TOs but that's only true to a point; at a minimum you're relying on your opponent to make a mistake of some sort (failing to tuck a ball away securely, not looking off a safety, errant snap, whatever) and the ball has to bounce your way a bit too. I've read info from practice that they are focusing heavily on forcing more TOs on D; I sure as hell hope they aren't doing that at the expense of emphasizing, you know, tackling the dude with the ball.

That's a part of it, and that dropped pick 6 at the Toledo game didn't help either. But blown coverage also hurt, as well as rushing only 3 guys the majority of the game.

 

[djm19]

I was very critical of the DB (which I still am...kind of), but after watching some of the plays again, with no pressure on the qb, our DB are screwed. Unrein, knapton, hendricks, etc got pressure on the qb. I think a lot of our credit for +TO margin goes to those guys last year.

I'm very down on our d this year. They are bigger and on paper seem better. I just haven't seen it in two games. Where is hoffschneider when we need him.

I follow brett on twitter and started to link to other players. I get it, these guys are still college kids and all, but for losing a home opener that should've been won, it was interesting to see the difference in smiths comment ( he was pissed he didn't score) to some of the other players who were more worried about a big mac and their clothes they were getting ready to party in. I dunno, I just think we had good leadership last year on both sides of the ball. Seems like our team has yet to take that next step of maturity. On and off the field. Smith is special. We are lucky to have him.

 

[fromolwyoming]

I was very critical of the DB (which I still am...kind of), but after watching some of the plays again, with no pressure on the qb, our DB are screwed. Unrein, knapton, hendricks, etc got pressure on the qb. I think a lot of our credit for +TO margin goes to those guys last year.

I'm very down on our d this year. They are bigger and on paper seem better. I just haven't seen it in two games. Where is hoffschneider when we need him.

I follow brett on twitter and started to link to other players. I get it, these guys are still college kids and all, but for losing a home opener that should've been won, it was interesting to see the difference in smiths comment ( he was pissed he didn't score) to some of the other players who were more worried about a big mac and their clothes they were getting ready to party in. I dunno, I just think we had good leadership last year on both sides of the ball. Seems like our team has yet to take that next step of maturity. On and off the field. Smith is special. We are lucky to have him.

I didn't know Unrein played for us last year. :lol:

 

[bladerunnr]

My take is a little different. Our d-line looked tiny matched up to their o-line. They had 1 guy who looked about 350. I thought we really got pushed around. It looks like teams can just line up and smash it down our throats, kind of like last year. But we got the turnovers last year. It looks like our safeties will have to play run support again this year, so our db's are bound to get burned. And the speed of our secondary is average, at best.

 

[djm19]

I was very critical of the DB (which I still am...kind of), but after watching some of the plays again, with no pressure on the qb, our DB are screwed. Unrein, knapton, hendricks, etc got pressure on the qb. I think a lot of our credit for +TO margin goes to those guys last year.

I'm very down on our d this year. They are bigger and on paper seem better. I just haven't seen it in two games. Where is hoffschneider when we need him.

I follow brett on twitter and started to link to other players. I get it, these guys are still college kids and all, but for losing a home opener that should've been won, it was interesting to see the difference in smiths comment ( he was pissed he didn't score) to some of the other players who were more worried about a big mac and their clothes they were getting ready to party in. I dunno, I just think we had good leadership last year on both sides of the ball. Seems like our team has yet to take that next step of maturity. On and off the field. Smith is special. We are lucky to have him.

I didn't know Unrein played for us last year. :lol:

I'm just meaning in general. Unrein, biezuns, etc. These guys had motors that didn't stop.

 

[Fullback41]

1. Red Zone offense and Red Zone defense is lacking. If we score another touchdown or force another field goal we would be fine. Giving up yards shouldn't mean crap if we force other teams to kick field goals, especially if we are punching in TDs every time we get in the Red Zone. Especially when we are underdogs against teams like Texas we need to force them to kick it, and punch it in to win the game.

2. Turnovers need to be even in most games, or in our favor to pull and upset.

Easier said than done, but if we do these 2 things we will win many games this year.


I think time will prove that both Texas and Toledo are good teams and that we didn't play our best against them. I would love to have a grudge match vs against Toledo in a bowl game other than the fact it meant we didn't win the MWC.

Pokes will get it done and it will start this weekend.

 

[wellpoke]

My biggest issue with the defense is still poor tackling. I'm tired of watching guys throw out an arm and expect to bring down the runner. I think there's actually been too much focus on creating turnovers, and the players are forgetting that their first job is to bring the runner down. The second guy in can focus on poking the ball out. Turnovers are important, but not at the expense of stopping the play.

Also seems like there's a lack of intensity on third down. Toledo converted close to half their third downs, and all of their fourth down attempts. Unacceptable. Maybe it's a matter of the defensive strategy or stunts being called. But either way, the defense has got to figure out how to get off the field.

And then there's the lack of pressure on the QB. Toledo's QB had all day in the pocket, and it just seems like QB pressure isn't a priority. Maybe this is a size issue, but I've seen undersized defenses get to the QB with stunts and good play calling. Seems like this isn't happening.

The good news is that the offense is finally strong enough to score points and keep up with the lack of defense. But they can't do it all. Tormey better get it together soon, or this could be a long season.

GO POKES!

 

[LawPoke]

Was it just me, or did Toledo target Browder (#24)? He seemed to be out of position nearly all game. When he wasn't getting burned, he was turning the wrong way and making poor breaks on the ball. Certainly, he wasn't the only guy, but he stood out. Maybe it's just the fact that Safety is on an island and, when they make mistakes, they are glaring.

 

[pokefanchaz7]

Was it just me, or did Toledo target Browder (#24)? He seemed to be out of position nearly all game. When he wasn't getting burned, he was turning the wrong way and making poor breaks on the ball. Certainly, he wasn't the only guy, but he stood out. Maybe it's just the fact that Safety is on an island and, when they make mistakes, they are glaring.

Doesn't help that we lost our starting Safety in the first half. I expect Reese to be back there this week and will be a big improvement on Browder.

 

[stymeman]

the last few years i just can't understand our lack of D. We used to be known for that brusing style D, maybe it's the players, or coaching that just doesn't understand how important D is. Wyoming has always had problems with wrapping up and tackling, but the past few years it's getting worse and worse. I know we aren't in the Vic K years, but I'd like to see things change for the better. Swiss Cheese d gets old to watch week in and week out. This week is our true test to stop a FCS team and build from it and have one heck of a conference season. GO POKES

 

[pokefanchaz7]

the last few years i just can't understand our lack of D. We used to be known for that brusing style D, maybe it's the players, or coaching that just doesn't understand how important D is. Wyoming has always had problems with wrapping up and tackling, but the past few years it's getting worse and worse. I know we aren't in the Vic K years, but I'd like to see things change for the better. Swiss Cheese d gets old to watch week in and week out. This week is our true test to stop a FCS team and build from it and have one heck of a conference season. GO POKES

Could be a coaching philosophy... I know Coach C had one real goal in recruiting the first few years and that was to get the personell to run the spread offense. I don't think we can deny he has put together a great offense. I know we have recruited people on both sides of the ball but offense seems to have been more of a priority.

 

[Fullback41]

Agreed, short of first down just get the guy down when tackling. I thought 2 springs ago there was a new focus on being physical and tackling guys to the ground because of poor tackling. If its still an issue we need to address it.

Also a consistent run game or short passing game that consistently ate up some clock would help the defense rest and keep the other team off the field to lose rythym and flow. But I think our offense has improved in being able to move the ball, so really the defense just needs to go out and stop somebody. I was excited when we opened texas with a 3 and out, we need more of that.