I know everyone wants to blame Frost for losing the game because of the onside kick call. And I too think it was a stupid call at a stupid time in the game. Especially since our defense was playing like **** and onside kicks are low percentage plays, so the odds were you were going to give their offense a short field against our **** defense.
Which brings me to my main point. The fact is, our offense, despite poor play calling in the run game, did enough to win that game. It was our defense that lost that game for us. Period. Not the offense. Not Frost. Chinander's defense was beyond wretched against a team that last year had one of the worst offenses in P5 football. Now, they might be better this year than last, but my gut says the rest of the season will show us that their offense is not that much improved to explain what we all saw last Saturday.
Everybody gave Chinander props last year for fielding a stingier defense than what we have seen around here in a while. But that is not saying much and last year's defense still had huge issues with getting off the field on third down and which gave up TD drives to the opposing team at the most inopportune moments when you really needed them to rise to the occasion and make a stop. Remember the opening drive by Illinois to start the second half? Or how about the entire freaking first half against Minnesota which was a total embarrassment? And this year's defense looks like a version of Cosgrove's 2007 defense or Diaco's defense in 2017. Weak. Under conditioned. Poor fundamentals and technique. Bad schemes. Confusion.
Had our defense played better then our offense would have gotten more touches and would have had better field position. How many of our drives started inside our ten because our defense let NW get enough first downs to punt from midfield or so? Same problem as last year. Had our defense played better then maybe at the end Thompson would not have been in full "press" mode realizing that the offense needed to score every ******* time they had the ball since our defense was such a porous sieve.
Chinander is a joke just like his boss. And as we analyze why we lost that game, let's stop focusing on one play -- the onside kick -- and realize that the real reason we lost is that our defensive coordinator is a journeyman hack who has never fielded a really good defense in his entire career.
Which brings me to my main point. The fact is, our offense, despite poor play calling in the run game, did enough to win that game. It was our defense that lost that game for us. Period. Not the offense. Not Frost. Chinander's defense was beyond wretched against a team that last year had one of the worst offenses in P5 football. Now, they might be better this year than last, but my gut says the rest of the season will show us that their offense is not that much improved to explain what we all saw last Saturday.
Everybody gave Chinander props last year for fielding a stingier defense than what we have seen around here in a while. But that is not saying much and last year's defense still had huge issues with getting off the field on third down and which gave up TD drives to the opposing team at the most inopportune moments when you really needed them to rise to the occasion and make a stop. Remember the opening drive by Illinois to start the second half? Or how about the entire freaking first half against Minnesota which was a total embarrassment? And this year's defense looks like a version of Cosgrove's 2007 defense or Diaco's defense in 2017. Weak. Under conditioned. Poor fundamentals and technique. Bad schemes. Confusion.
Had our defense played better then our offense would have gotten more touches and would have had better field position. How many of our drives started inside our ten because our defense let NW get enough first downs to punt from midfield or so? Same problem as last year. Had our defense played better then maybe at the end Thompson would not have been in full "press" mode realizing that the offense needed to score every ******* time they had the ball since our defense was such a porous sieve.
Chinander is a joke just like his boss. And as we analyze why we lost that game, let's stop focusing on one play -- the onside kick -- and realize that the real reason we lost is that our defensive coordinator is a journeyman hack who has never fielded a really good defense in his entire career.
