What are your measures for success with the new defense?

[sc jacket 22]

I would say last two minutes of the first half. We score and then give up a quick touchdown is how it has been. And the real test, the first drive of the other team in the third quarter. When you stop that first drive you are in a good shot to win.

Given how much this killed us last season, I think this is a reasonable place to start. Realistically, I think the D will probably make some big negative plays / defensive touchdowns, but will probably also give up some home runs as well since it’s a more aggressive style. Make more big plays than we give up, and I think we’ll be okay. The new kickoff rules should help too, assuming opponents will be more likely to call a fair catch.

 

[Longestday]

Minimim:

• 10 yards better field position better then the average of the last 4 years
• 2 X positive turnovers than 2017
• Defensive FEI rank better than 60 (includes points defended per drive)

Very Very happy

• Win a game 21 to X
• FEI top 40 (this is the first year with a very young secondary)
• 3 X positive turnovers than 2017 (2017 turn overs were really that bad)
• 15 yards improved field position

Basically:

• I want the QB worried about being hit
• I want to see double the turnovers by the other team (also reduces starting offensive position and increases number of offensive drives)
• I want to see offensive drives to start 15 yard shorter (basically not starting after a kickoff but starting after a punt)
• I want to see more drives per game due to low time of possession by the opposing offense

 

[cuttysark]

GT needs two things on defense this year as the 3/4 affords a team greater flexibility to showcase a defensive stalwart. Much like when the NY Giants under Al Groh as the DC utilized Lawrence Taylor from all over the field to force offenses to not only game plan for him, but check off at the LOS to avoid him at all costs.

Does GT have an athletic non-stop motor LB or safety type that can become a dominate player? We don't know yet as the Ted Roof bend and keep everything in front of you defensive schemes greatly hobbled the potential game disrupting athleticism of many of the current players.

I'm willing to accept the consequences that come with an aggressive defensive scheme more than getting gouged at the LOS play after play under Roof, which was death by a thousand cuts accelerated with score after score right before halftime. Plus he rarely substituted and that creates countless problems not only on the field with fatigue, but also inside the LOCKER ROOM!!

Groh's schemes were too complicated for college players, and Roof was too passive and vanilla. The big unknown at this point is greatly lessened in my mind as Woody has a formula that translates into proven success year after year, and I will trust a football coach who plays aggressive defense 100% of the time as that forces the offense to guess where pressure will hit, as well as where and when.

With this offense we only need a few more three and outs each game to shift the balance which is already in favor of GT with this sledgehammer offense that chews up time and limits the other teams possessions even before the game starts. So now if Woody can add more pressure to that already facing our opponents who know they will have less possessions heading into a game, IMO this is the missing ingredient that has finally been brought to the table for the first time under CPJ. Someone who can play good defense at another school with less talent, ought to be able to translate that into similar success at GT. I'm excited at the prospect!

What I also am excited to see is that Woody plays lots of kids and that creates a certain type of team camaraderie and chemistry that can become infectious throughout the entire team including the offense and special teams. Keep an eye on the safety who transferred from Wofford as a graduate student as he has played under this system his whole career for Shiel Wood, and will be a great addition to the secondary as a ready made stater and leader on the defense this season.

 

[knoxjacket]

When the Georgia Tech Marching Band plays that F tuning thingy on 3rd down, that it really means something. Scoring a touchdown, making a long run, scoring a field goal does not get a crowd more fired up than sacking the opposing quarterback during a critical moment in a game. We haven't gotten many of these (nobody's stadium was as loud as ours on this day):

I would make the argument we had more talent at every single defensive position on that team than our current team. Many of those backups would start on this team.

I can't remember the last time time both defensive ends beat their blocks on the same play like those third and fourth down plays.

 

[Adadu]

I would like to say success on third down, as that has been such a huge problem over the past couple of years no matter the distance (aka third and Roof). Would of course like to see more pressure and sacks, but the ultimate number one factor that any defense needs to win to be really successful is turnover margin.

 

[bobongo]

I'd be happy to see the D just get the hell off the field. The bend-but-don't-break defense worked at cross purposes to our ball-control offense. I'm looking forward to seeing them line up closer and play the receivers tight. If they get burned a few times, the tradeoff will be that the D will be fresher in the 4th quarter. Last year it was so frustrating to see the D wilt late in the game because of the fatigue caused from bending-but-not-breaking (at best). We're never all that deep, so we need to get off the field. Bend-but-don't break plays to our weakness. An aggressive defense does not play to our weakness, which is a lack of depth. I want to see the time of possession improve and the defense giving the offense getting more opportunities to control the clock and score. I want to see them going for the ball and going for the interception. Get turnovers. We could allow the same amount of points as last year but improve the offensive end by giving them more chances to score and control the clock.

 

[JorgeJonas]

Better tackling. I can live with another player beating our guy. What makes me crazy is being in place to make a play and whiffing.

 

[Techster]

Personally, I would like to see guys like Brant Mitchell, Anree St Amour, Jalen Johnson, Vicious have a monster year. Those guys are in the home stretch of their careers, and have either been miscast or not used at all but have been great representatives for GT.

Brant, for one, has weathered some unfair criticism from fans because he played in a system that was not suited to his skillset. The new defense is perfect for him, and it would be GREAT to see him have an All-ACC season after 3 years of being a great SA for GT. From reports, it sounds like we'll see a LOT of him in the backfield.

 

[awbuzz]

Regardless of teh 3% %, Turnovers, etc.

If we are 13-0, 13-1, 14 -1 or 15-0 this season I'll know it was a success!!!

 

[OldJacketFan]

Regardless of teh 3% %, Turnovers, etc.

If we are 13-0, 13-1, 14 -1 or 15-0 this season I'll know it was a success!!!

Well.............................DUH!

 

[CuseJacket]

Let's see if we can push this further...

For those who cited metrics, but did not include a number, what say you? I see a lot of "3rd down %","points per possession" and "last 2 minute scores". Well, what is the value that will indicate success?

The goal here is to back you into a corner so that you can't get out

 

[Jacket in Dairyland]

Yessss. For many years, I've been disappointed with our tackling. Too many hits stuffed off, largely because the idea isn't to hit someb0dy. The idea is to hit somebody and wrap up. For reasons known only to Tech DCs and God, the second part seemed to suffer in execution. If we can hit and simply slow down the opposition players by trying to wrap up, then we will automatically be a better defensive team.

Btw, talent differences don't dictate this; it's a matter of training and sticking to form. We had that in the Black Watch days. No reason to not have it again.

++++

 

[Jacket in Dairyland]

I want to see the opposing offense put into more longer yardage situations than they are used to having. More low % plays : 2nd and 11, 3rd and 9 , 1st and 15 because their OL jumped to anticipate in a crucial end of game drive because he got burnt bad earlier. It want to see the opposing O look confused as to what our D is doing late in the game. Basically ALL the things along these lines that we didn't seem to do last year.

 

[OldJacketFan]

Okay @CuseJacket, here you go using the NCAA metrics and a restatement of the 4 goals I posted earlier

1. 3rd down conversion % Tech was 12th nationally in this category at .309 so I will take that!
2. Sacks/hurries/TFL Team Sacks >2.86/game, Team Tackles for Loss >7.2/game
3. TO margin > .75/game
4. Completion % aka Team Passing Efficiency Defense <114.0

 

[Jacket in Dairyland]

3rd down conversion rate below 33% with at least 200 attempts ( last year our 3rd down % percentage was good, only because many conversions were made on 1st and 2nd downs ) , 1 takeaway at least in 50% of games in the 4th quarter, sacks and hurries increase by 25%, interceptions increase by 25 %.

 

[iceeater1969]

Mostly eye test and W-L record. I will dig into the stats probably after the season is over, but I just want to feel like we can make a stop on key situations. We may get burned from time to time, but death by a thousand screens and short routes is something I never want to see again.

Instead of qb s padding their stats against us , I want some pick 6, sacks for fumble, type stats..

BUT MY REAL TEST WILL BE DOES THE QB ACTUALLY GET TOUCHED BEFORE 7 SECONDS? . That has been painful.

 

[Jacket in Dairyland]

Okay @CuseJacket, here you go using the NCAA metrics and a restatement of the 4 goals I posted earlier

1. 3rd down conversion % Tech was 12th nationally in this category at .309 so I will take that!
2. Sacks/hurries/TFL Team Sacks >2.86/game, Team Tackles for Loss >7.2/game
3. TO margin > .75/game
4. Completion % aka Team Passing Efficiency Defense <114.0

The reason for #1 , IMO, is that the opposing team had so few attempts. Our D did not force a 3rd down nearly as much as others. As a % it's deceiving. It basically means we were not too good at 2nd down stops.

 

[4shotB]

I can't remember the last time time both defensive ends beat their blocks on the same play like those third and fourth down plays.

I can...back in 2006 when we beat Maryland 27 - 23 when we had back to back sacks near the goal line at the end of the game. You wouldn't believe the talent we used to have on D back then.

 

[4shotB]

Let's see if we can push this further...

For those who cited metrics, but did not include a number, what say you? I see a lot of "3rd down %","points per possession" and "last 2 minute scores". Well, what is the value that will indicate success?

The goal here is to back you into a corner so that you can't get out

Ok, I'll accept the challenge...I said points per possession but will trot out some data for points per play (PPP) as I came across that quicker. Last year, GT ranked #85 in the country on D yielding .423 PPP (.355 @ home, .481 @ away). The prior year, in which we won 9 games our PPP was at .360, which would have been good for 50th nationally last year.

So here is my goal. It's aggressive but I would like to see us hit a .310 PPP goal. For a frame of reference, App State was #31 last year at .311. Duke was #36 nationally at .319. I may be naive, but I still like to think GT has better athletes than Duke and can therefore, given the right coaching, can outperform Duke.

My hypothesis will be put to the test this year. But for those who want quantitative goals, there you have it. The engineer in me says that if we hit this target, all other goals both qualitative and quantitative will be inconsequential. meaning I don't care how good we look getting off the bus or how perfect our tackles are form wise or how many points we give up in the last minute of each half.

 

[JacketFromUGA]

Let's see if we can push this further...

For those who cited metrics, but did not include a number, what say you? I see a lot of "3rd down %","points per possession" and "last 2 minute scores". Well, what is the value that will indicate success?

The goal here is to back you into a corner so that you can't get out