Is our defense really that suspect?

[campshelbydog842003]

Saw this on twitter and I know we have given up yards but we have also been opportunistic.

We gave up 28 points against ULL (7 were on a ten yard drive), 15 against USM (7 was in the 4th when the game was out of reach), 31 against K State (7 was on special teams so really 24), and 13 against Kentucky.

Teams are going to get yards between the 20s in today’s game unless you are ELITE on defense as we were last year. I think we may not be quite as trash as we think we are on that side of the ball. Outside of Alabama and LSU, what offenses are we going to play that should be able to torch us? I don’t see any that we should not at least slow down.

 

[aTotal360]

At full strength, we are good enough to beat the likes of Auburn. 10 men down...prolly not. Depth is something that most fans don't give enough credence too. Especially in the trenches.

With that being said, if we continue to arm tackle in the secondary...good night.

 

[Diggin Out Yo Wife]

We are between the 20s. Definitely bend but don't break. Very similar defense to the second half of 2009 and 2010 in my opinion. I mean we're #14 nationally in S&P.

 

[thatsbaseball]

For the record ULL and K State are pretty good football teams. NOT PLAYOFF TEAMS but pretty good and well coached.

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

I think Shoop has done a really good job considering the hand we’ve been dealt. All of the losses to graduation and the draft, plus the suspensions have taken out arguably the most impactful player on each of the first two levels of our defense, as well as hurt our depth. Then we have had some injuries to deal with.

People will move the ball against us, but we’ve done a good job of creating turnovers and keeping people out of the end zone. I think we’d actually be a pretty solid 8-9 win team if not for the suspensions and the abnormal amount of injuries. As it stands though, I am expecting 7-5- which is what I predicted in July before knowing the extent of the suspensions.

 

[kired]

Yes, the tackling ability of our secondary is... disappointing. I'm afraid it's going to be even more of an issue when we go up against teams with legit WR talent. Alabama, LSU, A&M.

Even Arkansas worries me a little bit. We've got some real issues getting guys on the ground in our secondary.

 

[Drebin]

Stats in totality do not tell the story. You have to look at certain things like how well the other teams run the ball against us on first down. Or how open receivers are. Or how much pressure we get on the QB without selling out. That’s what tells the accurate story.

 

[RiverCityDawg]

At full strength, we are good enough to beat the likes of Auburn. 10 men down...prolly not. Depth is something that most fans don't give enough credence too. Especially in the trenches.

With that being said, if we continue to arm tackle in the secondary...good night.

We're really only 3 guys down. Maybe 4 if you count Whop's special teams play. The other guys wouldn't literally not get in the game unless it was a blow out. With that said, the loss of Gay and Autry is huge because of the positions they play and the noticeable drop off in talent behind them.

 

[Willow Grove Dawg]

Yes our defense has been bad - we have issues tackling and our DL has been consistently getting beaten up at the line of scrimmage. The defense stats don't really tell the entire story thru 4 games.

 

[PineGroveBully]

Has it been confirmed that Autry and Gay are sitting this one out?

 

[Drebin]

Has it been confirmed that Autry and Gay are sitting this one out?

I don’t know about confirmed. But word is that Gay has told people they aren’t playing this weekend.

 

[Seinfeld]

They don't, and the stats that are available don't exactly tell a good story regardless. Here are a handful...

#42 in total yds/gm
#70 in yds/play
#35 in scoring defense
#81 in opponent rush yds/attempt
#44 in pass yds/gm

The defense's savior has been the fact that we're #6 in takeaways, and they deserve credit for that. Problem is... is that necessarily something that we can count on to continue as the season progresses. If it does, it will alleviate some of the issues we have elsewhere. If it doesn't, we're in serious trouble because regardless of how good or bad the schedule has been up to this point, it's about to get a whole lot tougher

 

[coach66]

I think you are correct.

nm

 

[TheStateUofMS]

I'm starting to hear we're more of a "bend but don't break defense" which was okay for us a few years ago and that is huge to not give up many TDs.

I think if we can fix our tackling and stay more disciplined on D our defense can go from "bend but don't break" to an upper tier SEC defense but not elite until our DTs grow up.

ETA: As others have said, creating turnovers our D is pretty good at which is a big time equalizer.

 

[Dawg1976]

Turnovers turnovers is our only hope in over matched games such as this one.

 

[Rupert Jenkins]

This D has been decent at best. Very opportunistic. Pretty good in the red zone. Not good enough to win any games for us. We gotta score a lot to win against good competition. Not sure our offensive line can hold up well enough to accomplish that against a good D line like Auburn.

 

[TheStateUofMS]

If you watch the replay of win Erroll was out of bounds on the tipped Int that led to a UK FG, he actually should have picked it off inbounds. He looked like the WR on the play. It goes into the bread basket as he runs outta the back of the EZ, the ball gets tipped up in the air and he runs back in bounds and catches it. He should have intercepted it pretty easily.

 

[TaleofTwoDogs]

For the record ULL and K State are pretty good football teams. NOT PLAYOFF TEAMS but pretty good and well coached.

And for the record ULL is averaging 52 points a game against their opponents in their own weight class.

 

[Dawgzilla]

I suspect it is.

 

[paindonthurt_]

So if we finish the year giving up less than 20 ppg but give up lots of yards in first down, what does that mean?

 

[Drebin]

So if we finish the year giving up less than 20 ppg but give up lots of yards in first down, what does that mean?

It could mean a bunch of things.

But if we give up lots of yards on first down, our defense is going to be on the field a lot and we're going to get fewer opportunities to run offensive plays.

 

[archdog]

Yes, the tackling ability of our secondary is... disappointing. I'm afraid it's going to be even more of an issue when we go up against teams with legit WR talent. Alabama, LSU, A&M.

Even Arkansas worries me a little bit. We've got some real issues getting guys on the ground in our secondary.

I did notice, that when Cam Dantzler got embarrassed on his terrible angle and tackle last week.... he came back out and starting laying the lumber. Someone needs to walk up and down our defensive huddle as we take the field and slap each one of our players in the face....Hard.

 

[kired]

They just look bad at tackling sometimes. I noticed on the 4th down conversion last week where Brian Cole was run over --- he got back up and ended up making the tackle. They are playing hard, just need to improve. Hopefully some of that gets better as the season goes along.

 

[Lawdawg.sixpack]

I think Errol would've caught that, except he had just turned his head to find the ball. He has good hands - I remember a diving, arms-extended pick he had last year.

 

[paindonthurt_]

At the end of the year, we give up 20 ppg or less and you care if they got tired?

 

[Tall Dawg]

Need to look at ALL facts.
We gave KSU 2 short fields of like 35 and 40 yards...and if I’m not mistaken...we held them to one FG on one of those short drives.

Extremely hard to stop short field drives.

 

[campshelbydog842003]

We are not really down 10. We are down 3 that matter but they certainly matter a lot.

 

[Joe Schmedlap]

Yes