Herbie: D Looks like a H.S. Defense

[Old Man Mike]

Defensive speed matters tremendously in every play-in-space. You have to be able to "close". Our guys do that Ok on the corners [Gray, Walls, and Blanton are pretty good], and Manti and Carlo do it pretty well on screens and flat passes. We are not very good at all at closing on QBs scrambling or similar pressure opportunities, [or receivers in the middle of the field], and that's what, I believe, Herbstreit was watching. Fortunately Kelly knows this too, and is recruiting the antidote en masse.

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

Another huge thing I noticed on my little 6x4 screen about the D...When QB was scrambling or back or receiver had open space to travel, whereas D in early weeks would sprint to the spot and miss tackles (overpursue), last night in those same situations they took great contain angles and cut off any hope for big gains. Wish I could explain it better and show examples, but it was blatantly obvious to me. Hopefully someone else on here noticed and can better explain.

This D is not only already good, but they are improving. Scary for the other team. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

 

[RyCo1983]

yeah...D will be pretty darned good at the end of the year...they'll see the field way more than most defenses and will probably get pretty gassed by the end of the game.

But the spread hasn't really worked so fantastically yet, so the time of possession thing Kelly does hasn't been a factor yet.

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

yeah...D will be pretty darned good at the end of the year...they'll see the field way more than most defenses and will probably get pretty gassed by the end of the game.

But the spread hasn't really worked so fantastically yet, so the time of possession thing Kelly does hasn't been a factor yet.

They haven't gotten gassed yet. Imagine when the Lynch and co. move in? Goodness friggen gracious...

 

[DirtySecret]

Shembo is quick!!!

 

[RyCo1983]

They haven't gotten gassed yet. Imagine when the Lynch and co. move in? Goodness friggen gracious...

Exactly doomer...
A fact I addressed in my 2nd paragraph.

Give Lynch and his boys a year. Then we have a Defense to fear!

 

[BeatSC]

Our D didn't give up 37 to Stanford they gave up 30 plus some poor clock management at the end of the half added another 3 and the unconverted 4th down in the 4th put them in position for an easy 7. We should have had a couple more picks on Stanford and we hit Luck hard and had him on the run a few times.

Against UM we gave them a short field a couple of times on TO's otherwise I would like to see who keeps D Robinson to 1 TD in a half of a game.

 

[ACamp1900]

Absolute FACT...

b/c the comment was made about ND someone will bring it up on Saturday and Herbie will throw BC under the bus and talk about how terrible they are, instead of stating that a defense he bascially called the worst in cfb just held BC to 10 yards rushing in their house... which, regardless of who it is done against, is a very nice accomplishment for any defense...

 

[Old Man Mike]

The comment was made "Shembo is quick!". Agreed. But I would add: Shembo is STRONG!! Get that kid in the game in pass defense situations!!!

 

[irishtrain]

I'll bet that if you timed these guys as a starting unit ( player by player ) in the 40 they are equal to most great 'D's' in the country. They just are a little 'football timid' ( fear of mistakes ) and are playing under the burden of losing the last 3/4 years. Its reaction/recognition not speed that is holding them back against the tier 1 teams. They're plenty fast enough. I'd like to see a little more of an unpleasant attitude when they arrive at the ball but even that is vastly improved. They're a game bunch.

 

[ACamp1900]

it's not speed, it's positioning decision making no doubt...

but ND is a bunch of slow white guys makes for a better story...

 

[irish1958]

I think the defense is vastly improved; they need to work on forcing turnovers, especially fumbles. And the outside linebackers need to set the edge and force the play inside to Teo and Carlo.
The defensive line play has been fantastic (IMHO).

 

[RDU Irish]

Just like the announcers beating up BC WRs being unbelievably slow, and then torching us with a TD over the top. You break the defender's ankles on a killer move and 2/10ths of a second on your forty isn't going to matter.