Why...????

[okanst07]

I have a few questions....

Why do we have to play defenders who give up 600+ yards a game? Because they are seniors? Why play Wooden over Walls or Macneil, or Zbikowski? I mean I understand that Walls, McNeil may not be ready but are they really any less ready then the players we have right now? I'd rather Walls and McNeil get beat and we give up the same 600+ yards and they learn early in their career. Who says we have to play these other guys?

Why do we keep getting beat the same way? Yes, we lack talent compared to LSU and USC but good coaches should be able to change some things and at least keep it close. I mean I'm not even asking that we beat USC and LSU right now but I want progress and to see us hang with them more. If the Tulane's of the world can give up less yards against these guys I expect us to be in more of these games rather then feeling out of it so early.

Why is Travis Thomas starting over Toryan Smith. Move Smith inside Crum outside and get on with it. Put Thomas back at RB. Great kid but he is an average player who is better on special teams.

Why does Ndukwe tackle with his shoulder so much?

I don't get why some things are so set in stone. Roll the dice take some chances with personnel on the D. Why keep getting beat the same way, at least try some new players or some young guys and show recruits they can come in and win a job right away.

Personally I think Minter should go. I didn't see much creativity with him as a coach.

 

[okanst07]

also why do we not spice up the returners a bit.....West and Grimes get to the 20 and fall down. Get some speed in there Zibby as return man, Walls, McNeil, Ambrose Wooden even why let the same guys keep doing the same things try new people, Munir Prince!!

 

[Junkhead]

also why do we not spice up the returners a bit.....West and Grimes get to the 20 and fall down. Get some speed in there Zibby as return man, Walls, McNeil, Ambrose Wooden even why let the same guys keep doing the same things try new people, Munir Prince!!

The kickoff returns have been weak. No spark whatsoever.

 

[wallym]

I normally don't post, but I am pretty disappointed today and feel the need to post. Our defense was horrible, and Ndukwe might be the worst safety I've ever watched. You would think letting a receiver burn you once would be enought that he wouldn't let anyone behind him again...he should be playing linebacker. That goes for a lot of the defenders, they seem to be out of position. Ndukwe should be weak side linebacker, Zibby should be strong safety, but not have deep 1/2 responsibility. Travis Thomas should have stayed at RB to spell Darius.

It's time to start thinking about putting some responsibility on coaching. Minter has no clue, and Charlie needs to stop saying it's his fault they lost this bad...

 

[okanst07]

I think Zibby is also a linebacker, has he defended a pass at all this year. Ndukwe also. No help to anyone. Ndukwe looks scared to tackle with those duck your head and through your shoulder out tackles.

Thomas is a poor LB. Good experiment but once you see Toryan Smith you should get Thomas back to backup RB. I'm not trying to rip the poor kid but he just isn't good enough.

Sure Weis has things to change but I don't think he is the blame here. I think he is to blame if this doesn't start getting fixed.

 

[wallym]

The best we can hope for on defense is graduation and people not taking 5th years. The freshman class will be hungry for PT next year as sophomores, and fresh faces will be a good start in getting this "D" on track. I'm very surprised Bruton and/or Ray Herring don't get more PT with they way they play. Finally, Bill Lewis needs to go. I wonder what he says to Ndukwe during films when he gets burned....???

 

[okanst07]

I agree, I'll take Laws and Carlson as 5th years. That's about it. Let's get the young guys in and see how they do. We can't be afraid to play young guys. We need some young hungry players who aren't scarred like Ndukwe and Zibby and Wooden are.

 

[Aerosmith777]

Um, I'm just curious, did anyone on here actually see the one play Walls go into the game for when Lambert went out? He got absolutely smoked.

I'm not saying he won't be good in the long run, but if you're wondering why seniors get more playing time than freshman, that's why. I don't think Charlie's the type of coach to play one guy over another b/c of class. Look at Sam Young, he started from day 1 this season. If a guy like Lambert/Zibikowski/Ndukwe is playing, I'm sure its b/c they actually are the best man for the job at that time based on what the guys do in practice.

I mean hell, when he took over the team 2 years ago he said QUINN would have to compete for a job.

 

[wallym]

I think Walls was thrown into the fire and wasn't ready to play. HOWEVER, the coverage scheme didn't seem right on that play either, just like it hasn't seemed right all year long. Were they in man, or zone? Did Ndukwe have deep 1/2 support...if so, that's the problem. The guy can't cover 1/2 the field and has ancors for feet. Bill Lewis and Rick Minter have no creativity on defense, and play basic schemes that seem to be confusing to our players (I know it doesn't make sense, but that's what I see).

 

[okanst07]

Yes Walls got beat...BUT....so does everyone else on this D and for 2 years now. My point is at least with Walls we take the lumps now and perhaps he turns into an All American when he learns. It's also hard coming in cold like that. No excuse just, if the seniors aren't performing why not try these other guys a bit more.

 

[wallym]

graduation can't come soon enough

 

[Aerosmith777]

Yeah, I understand that mentality, but its a lot more applicable when its the 8th game of a 4-3 season, not the Sugar Bowl. I want Charlie to play the guys who give them the best chance to win now in the Sugar Bowl, and apparently he still felt like that was the guys who were playing. As the saying goes, you gotta dance with who brung 'ya at that point, and its too late now to say, "He should've changed the starters 6 games ago" imo.

One way or the other, a lot of these players are gone next year so there's no point kicking them while they're down imo. We'll get to see plenty of Walls next season. I hope he looks a lot better than he did as a freshman...

 

[bettis0636]

They play that you are talking about when Walls came in for Lambert, they were in a cover 2 zone. Which they have got burned on all year long. Ndukwe was covering the half but had a man running into the middle so he had both to cover. Walls just didn't turn and cover his half. And if you are playing at a D-1 school you should be ready to get in the game for christ sake. They need a new D-coordinator. His schemes are for crap. Why would you play cover 2 all day against a QB that is a gun slinger? Too many holes is it and a good QB will exploit it everytime. I think that the play calls by Charlie in the 2nd half were crap also. We have the talent to throw it all over the field and they didn't do anything. LSU was running a cover 2 zone also, but I guess nobody seen that. Carlson should have had a career night with getting into the holes in the zone. Hopefully this eats at them till next year. They need to get back to playing hard-nosed smashmouth defense. I want to see some attitude, where other teams fear to play against them. NO intensity at all!! Get rid of Minter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!NOW

 

[Indydomer]

Um, I'm just curious, did anyone on here actually see the one play Walls go into the game for when Lambert went out? He got absolutely smoked.

Thank You. Our best was on the field. It just isn't good enough, YET!

 

[okanst07]

I just want to see some swagger out there. I'd like to see Samardzija type attitude on the D. In people's face. Confident that they won't be beat.

 

[tgolden]

5th year seniors bring intangibles besides just playing ability. Travis Thomas and Zibby are captains. It would be nice to have their leadership back next year. Wooden is a decent corner, and even if he doesn't start next year, it would be nice to have him for depth and experience. Joe Brockington has been pretty solid since he's started starting. McConnell hasn't been fantastic, but he's been decent. and it would be nice to have a back-up should Schwapp get hurt again... I haven't heard anything about the development of Schmidt??? Laws is key in the middle. All of them know how to deal with adversity.

I definitely want these guys to come back next year.

and also, just wondering, does anyone know why Landri hardly played last night?

 

[notdam4]

They play that you are talking about when Walls came in for Lambert, they were in a cover 2 zone. Which they have got burned on all year long. Ndukwe was covering the half but had a man running into the middle so he had both to cover. Walls just didn't turn and cover his half. And if you are playing at a D-1 school you should be ready to get in the game for christ sake. They need a new D-coordinator. His schemes are for crap. Why would you play cover 2 all day against a QB that is a gun slinger? Too many holes is it and a good QB will exploit it everytime. I think that the play calls by Charlie in the 2nd half were crap also. We have the talent to throw it all over the field and they didn't do anything. LSU was running a cover 2 zone also, but I guess nobody seen that. Carlson should have had a career night with getting into the holes in the zone. Hopefully this eats at them till next year. They need to get back to playing hard-nosed smashmouth defense. I want to see some attitude, where other teams fear to play against them. NO intensity at all!! Get rid of Minter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!NOW

I have been one of the guys that has defended Minter the entire season but, after watching last night's game, I have to say enough is enough. I can't make myself believe Ndukwe and Zibby are that bad at safety or that our corners are that slow. They simply have too much to think about in Minter's defensive scheme and are slow to react. Blitzes were telegraphed... no fakes whatsoever... and Russel saw them coming. No coverages worked; be it man, zone, or a combo coverage. And the amount of times we get smoked in cover 2 is sickening. An offensive player, who also played some 'D, told me that he learned Coach Weis' offense in a day and still cannot get Minter's defense down. Something's wrong and I hate to say it because I have been against it all year, but Minter has to go.

 

[marv81s]

I just want to see some swagger out there. I'd like to see Samardzija type attitude on the D. In people's face. Confident that they won't be beat.

You mean the Samardzjja that disappeared again in the big game, the TD pass that hit him in the head, the guy that can't get off the line when he gets jammed on the line. That was big game #3 this year that he failed to come up big for us in this year. I love the guy, but where was he last night? I think he had one too many Hurricanes the night before down at the French Quarter. He acted like he had other places he rather be than at that game.

 

[okanst07]

I was referring more to his confidence then his performance last night. You have to have swagger to play D. Not cockiness, but swagger, I think Samardzija believes in himself even if he didn't have a great game. I get the impression that he BELIEVES he can make plays and come up big. Who on the Defence gives you that opinion of themselves? They all look like glass houses ready to break.

Let's also not mistake swagger for me wanting cocky late 80's Miami athletes but swagger the way Bettis used to be, etc. I think good players and great players all have some sort of swagger to a degree.

 

[polishdomer]

5th year seniors bring intangibles besides just playing ability. Travis Thomas and Zibby are captains. It would be nice to have their leadership back next year. Wooden is a decent corner, and even if he doesn't start next year, it would be nice to have him for depth and experience. Joe Brockington has been pretty solid since he's started starting. McConnell hasn't been fantastic, but he's been decent. and it would be nice to have a back-up should Schwapp get hurt again... I haven't heard anything about the development of Schmidt??? Laws is key in the middle. All of them know how to deal with adversity.

I definitely want these guys to come back next year.

and also, just wondering, does anyone know why Landri hardly played last night?

I was wondering the same thing tgolden...

I am not blaming the secondary at all guys...based on LSU's schemes, we were playing zone due to the fact that if we played man we would get smoked...

The problem that I saw was the lack of pressure on the Quarterback and lackluster LB play...they ran all day, and I don't care who you are, if the QB gets 5 seconds to throw, they are going to make plays. As to Samardzija, he played ok...Quinn was horrible in terms of his accuracy. He had protection for once, and he had time to throw the ball, but I give credit to LSU for great pass coverage. I am surprised that we went away from the run, but in all, our soft run defense hurt us in the overall scheme of things. Ndukwe and Zibby are not safeties; they are true LBs and should have been positioned as such...

 

[sonomairishfan]

Um, I'm just curious, did anyone on here actually see the one play Walls go into the game for when Lambert went out? He got absolutely smoked.

I'm not saying he won't be good in the long run, but if you're wondering why seniors get more playing time than freshman, that's why. I don't think Charlie's the type of coach to play one guy over another b/c of class. Look at Sam Young, he started from day 1 this season. If a guy like Lambert/Zibikowski/Ndukwe is playing, I'm sure its b/c they actually are the best man for the job at that time based on what the guys do in practice.

I mean hell, when he took over the team 2 years ago he said QUINN would have to compete for a job.

the safety was supposed to help in coverage and was late. so you can't blame the whold thing on walls.

 

[notdam4]

the safety was supposed to help in coverage and was late. so you can't blame the whold thing on walls.

Ndukwe had to honor the number 2 receiver in the middle of the field, it was not his fault. Walls was supposed to run with the number 1 and was toasted.