How much has the D improved?

[solo]

Lots of people are looking at the GT game as the "coming out" party for our defense. And to an extent, I like what I saw last Saturday, particulalry in the 2nd half.

However, I am not a believer yet in our defense. I think just as much of what we saw Saturday was the result of facing an incompetant offense. If you look at GT's last 5 games they scored:

17 vs UVA on Nov12, 2005
14 vs Miami, Nov 19
7 vs GA, Nov 26
10 vs Utah, Dec 29
10 vs ND, Sept 2, 2006

With that in mind, it is hard to say just how much our D has improved. The coming 3 games will be very telling.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

You are definitely right on in this regard.

It was great to see the D play well. However, GT was known for NOT being an offensive powerhouse. We kept their QB to his passing average...and the overall team 1 TD shy of their average.

I thought the D played with heart, but I did not see them do anything to GT that has not already been done by a few other teams.

 

[BGIF]

Weren't you the one that told scooper that last year's results were irrelevant when he used that same Miami game as an example for his point?

 

[NDAlumSon]

Weren't you the one that told scooper that last year's results were irrelevant when he used that same Miami game as an example for his point?

I was thinking the exact same thing.
Which is it? Pick one.

 

[scooper]

Um. yeah.

To answer your question, though. It's unfair to not give the defense credit for what they did Saturday. However, we will really find out a lot about them over the next couple weeks.

Anybody expecting them to be elite will be dissapointed. But I think they will prove to be better. If nothing else, they have shown the ability to step up in the event that the offense has a bad game.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

Um. yeah.

To answer your question, though. It's unfair to not give the defense credit for what they did Saturday. However, we will really find out a lot about them over the next couple weeks.

Anybody expecting them to be elite will be dissapointed. But I think they will prove to be better. If nothing else, they have shown the ability to step up in the event that the offense has a bad game.

Yeah, you are spot on here.

They may not be elite, but they will be better...and they are playing with more confidence.

Confidence in action will lead them to increased success.

 

[solo]

I was thinking the exact same thing.
Which is it? Pick one.

To an extent I agree that this year is this year and last year is last year. But why is ND ranked so high this year? It's based off of what we did LAST year and what we have returning this year. Especially early in the season while we don't have data from this season yet, it is acceptable to look at ALL the information from last year and use that to help form an opinion. Look at the trends. Ga Tech has shown a trend of being a bad offensive football team. In 7/12 games last year they scored less than 20 points. In 1 of 1 game this year they scored les than 20 points. It looks like the trend of them being a bad offensive football team is continuing. That's fair based off theinfo we have right now.

Someone in this forum pointed to one game from last year and tried to make an assessment about this year from that one game. One game is hardly a trend. See the difference?

I don't see those scenarios as the same at all.

 

[scooper]

One game is not a trend, but it is a great example. If you are going to pick and choose in which arguments we can use last year, then the hell with trying to argue with you.

Speaking of trends. The all mighty Miami that you speak was had an awful offense last year. It looks like that trend continues.

That's the end of my arguing with you. If you are going to change the rules to fit your argument, I'll just stick you on ignore and be done with it.

 

[solo]

One game is not a trend, but it is a great example. If you are going to pick and choose in which arguments we can use last year, then the hell with trying to argue with you.

Speaking of trends. The all mighty Miami that you speak was had an awful offense last year. It looks like that trend continues.

That's the end of my arguing with you. If you are going to change the rules to fit your argument, I'll just stick you on ignore and be done with it.

That's OK if you want to ignore me. It's tough debating with someone that doesn't listen to reason anyway. ALL the data from last year suggests that Miami was a better team than GT and that GT simply pulled an upset. Miami was favored, Miami had a better in conference record, Miami had a better overall record, Miami was ranked higher than GT for every week during the season. When you look at the ALL the data from last year and not just one data point, Miami was a better team than GT. But if you have some agenda to prove and only want to look at ONE GAME, rather than all 12, that's your right. But don't expect me to buy into it faulty logic like that.

Not to mention, I notice that you don't really argue fair anyway. When I make a point that you don't have an answer for, rather than acknowledge it, you ignore it. You never answered my question from our last exchange. Who was the better team last year: Michigan State or Notre Dame? In order for your line of thinking to be consistant, you must answer that MSU was the better team because they beat us and that anyone that beat MSU should get more credit for that win than for beating ND. But I don't hear you saying that. Talk about inconsistant, look in the mirror.

So if you choose to put me on ignore, that's fine. I'll still be here posting should you choose to face the facts.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

Speaking of trends. The all mighty Miami that you speak was had an awful offense last year. It looks like that trend continues.

You are too kind. I thought they were worse than awful...they were incompetent.

 

[marv81s]

Its only been one game, so its hard to tell how much they have improved as compared to last year. They did do a fantastic job in the second half, but GT, for whatever reason, didn't go to their #1 guy as much as they should. The subject has been beaten to death already about last week.

Lets see how they do against Penn State and their offense. Better yet, lets see if the offense gets back on track this weekend. Gameday still 2 days away, can these weeks go by any slower?!

 

[domerfor life]

Let's come back to this thread...say after three weeks. We will have a good indication of how much are defense has improved. For the record....I live down here in ACC country. GTech has been a consistently mediocre team for the past 3-5 years. Reggie Ball is not a great QB. I don't even think he's decent. Calvin Johnson is a great WR, but he's the only gamebreaker on offense. You really can't take much from the 1st game. The next three should really tell the story.

 

[NDAlumSon]

The next three should really tell the story.

In more ways than one.