Imagine how many acorns if we were Clearly Pretty good on defense verses the opponents make unforced errors.That's 7 acorns this season so far.
Go Jackets!
I like CTR, my only issue is scheme, and even with giving him time I don't believe it will work with the type of players GT has historically gotten. Our scheme makes it to where you have to win a lot of one on ones which is fine if you are Bama, but we are not. When our D line is not big, strong, or athletic enough to over power the OL why are they going into the OL with their hands and trying to shed off the block instead of shooting gaps? ( which you still use your hands), but it allows a hole to be clogged better instead of having to shed the block to fill the hole. We also are not very "exotic" in coverages or blitz which I think would help our D cover up some weaknesses. This is honestly my only complaint about our D and why I don't believe it will get much better until we either recruit better( D line mainly) or change scheme that plays to the players strengths better. I honestly believe we have better talent than what shows.I don't doubt that we have more in common than not, I just grow wearisome of the 'bash CTR regardless' posts. When the D plays well, the people who have an axe to grind with CTR refuse to give him any credit, but instead point out the offenses mistakes. (Ironically, we don't tend to trash an opponents D when we exposes them on offense) I have said all along I am not sure CTR was the best hire, but I want to give him time to prove me wrong or not, and fixing CAGs 3-4 debacle was always going to be a project that took some time.
I'm glad PJ doesn't agree with you that a win always equates to good D since he fired his first DC after winning the ACC.That's 7 acorns this season so far.
Go Jackets!
Here's what I find most frustrating about how we judge our D: The scale keeps moving. I've heard all year that if we could just get more TOs on D or do better on third down, then we'd be all right. We did both today. We held UVA to 7-17 on third down. We had two TOs. (Not counting the garbage time heave that ended the game) And yet here we are still griping about how bad our D is. So again, I ask, what is the benchmark we are looking for? We held UVA in check for most of the game. I am not sure that some of you guys even know how to be happy...
I like CTR, my only issue is scheme, and even with giving him time I don't believe it will work with the type of players GT has historically gotten. Our scheme makes it to where you have to win a lot of one on ones which is fine if you are Bama, but we are not. When our D line is not big, strong, or athletic enough to over power the OL why are they going into the OL with their hands and trying to shed off the block instead of shooting gaps? ( which you still use your hands), but it allows a hole to be clogged better instead of having to shed the block to fill the hole. We also are not very "exotic" in coverages or blitz which I think would help our D cover up some weaknesses. This is honestly my only complaint about our D and why I don't believe it will get much better until we either recruit better( D line mainly) or change scheme that plays to the players strengths better. I honestly believe we have better talent than what shows.
7 of 17 is still over 41%. If we averaged that for the season, we'd be #83 rather than #126. It's not like that's great.
Fwiw, I think that you're misrepresenting the "scale" being used in the past. That being said, we did keep them off the board. We were better in points/drive defense.
...This is honestly my only complaint about our D and why I don't believe it will get much better until we either recruit better( D line mainly) or change scheme that plays to the players strengths better. I honestly believe we have better talent than what shows.
I can respect that, I honestly just don't see us winning the battle inside more than not and imo it takes more physically gifted guy than what we have. That's nothing against our guys because I believe they are good ball players. It's just my opinion that you need the best of the best to run our scheme consistently. But regardless we both want the same thing, a strong D.This is probably where you and I disagree. I think that the DL CTR has been bringing in are pretty solid, but just need time to develop. We're already seeing a couple of them beginning to shine.
For years we have struggled with defense, but we have never been this bad:
http://www.espn.com/college-football/matchup?gameId=400869064
Here's what I find most frustrating about how we judge our D: The scale keeps moving. I've heard all year that if we could just get more TOs on D or do better on third down, then we'd be all right. We did both today. We held UVA to 7-17 on third down. We had two TOs. (Not counting the garbage time heave that ended the game) And yet here we are still griping about how bad our D is. So again, I ask, what is the benchmark we are looking for? We held UVA in check for most of the game. I am not sure that some of you guys even know how to be happy...
I don't need to look at the statistics to know that we are playing a lot harder and faster than we used to. We dished out some massive hits today. PJ won't get to play in the NFL but he hit like an NFL linebacker yesterday. The DL was fairly solid too and playing physical. The apathetic body english of three or four games ago is gone.
Our biggest problem on D (I'm not a D expert at all) is that our secondary gives way too big of a cushion. Good QBs or QBs not fighting the wind have taken advantage of that.
At the end of the season, our D may be ~100th. We were 111th after VT. http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/feidef
That is not redemption for the coaching staff to me.
Our biggest problem on D (I'm not a D expert at all) is that our secondary gives way too big of a cushion. Good QBs or QBs not fighting the wind have taken advantage of that.
...... I see these two games as an indicator that the guys are starting to get it.