UCF

[Yosef84]

The argument that "we've replaced this number of defensive players before without dropping off before" is completely absurd. Sorry guys. We aren't Clemson, Alabama or Georgia. Replacing 4 or 5 starters (depending on how you choose to count them) is no small task. The fact it's been done in the past has nothing to do with anything. Those were different players, different coaches, and different opponents. But hey....I know..."you don't want to hear about how we lost Stout, Duck, etc. etc. etc."

OK, let's compare this defense to previous defenses. Last year's 4th ranked defense against Georgia Southern...let's talk about that. Brown was the DC. We lost Zac (not defense) but that changed things because the offense stalled out and left the D on the field. That's a factor you can't ignore. Then Fehr got ejected...ONE player. The combination....The GS offense that can't throw the ball if their life depends on it, runs up and down the field on us and we get embarrassed on national television by our primary rival one week after being ranked. Motivation wasn't an issue. Plenty of athletes! Holy Cow! I guess we should have fired Brown because he obviously couldn't make adjustments in that game. Obviously I'm not serious with that statement....but my point is that the facts are similar except there wasn't a pre-disposition against Brown.

Let's talk about the previous year. We had some injury issues which ultimately focused on the loss of Stringer. Suddenly our vaunted D can't stop UMass or ULM. TWO LOSSES IN A ROW! Those were LOSSES to INFERIOR teams! We had both Woody and Brown coaching on that staff. How could that be possible?

We were playing yesterday without our starting NG. I do think the rain delay hurt us on D. Coastal moved down the field on their first possession but we shut them down on the second. We had momentum and the break gave them a chance to re-group. Pierre Banks was talking about how it would hurt the D more than the O and he was obviously correct. It did look like we made adjustments and stopped them much better in the 2nd half.

Am I tickled to death with the D this year? No I'm not. I just don't pretend that there is one simple answer. Some of you obviously know more about football Xs and Os than I do but some of you are obviously trying to justify conclusions that were drawn long ago. I will enjoy this season as it unfolds and trust coach Drink. Personally, I don't believe Roof is a singular problem as he is being painted and I certainly don't believe he is going to defy the head coach. Coach Drink is a nice, amiable guy but I don't get the impression he is a patsy and this is HIS team.

[ukappfan]

Maybe we just had trouble getting up for 2 teams with no football culture?

[WASU 93]

I’d say the more relevant comparison would be to our own previous defenses than someone else’s.

As far as whether you can go unbeaten with a shaky D, I’d say you cherry-picked a rare example of someone who did it when the reality is there are loads of teams who regularly play shootouts, and eventually a couple of those 45-42 games are almost always going to go against you.

But, so far, we haven’t had games like that. Our best defensive showing was also our closest game (34-31 over UNC). Every other game we are winning by more than two TDs. To compare to last year, we only gave up more than 19 points twice. However, we only scored more than 50 twice, and that was against The two worst teams we played. I think we’ve all just gotten accustomed to winning 28-6, so we think that’s what every game should look like. But what’s the difference between a 28-6 score and a 52-31 score? Basically the same margin of victory, just slightly different numbers.

It’s easier to win games where your opponent scores six points. Your O can be off. Last year our O could score if it wanted to. It didn’t need to due to the defense. This year it has to score. That’s the difference.

What's the difference between a 28-6 score and 52-31 score?

A lot.

I guess if we're cool with 52-31, then we're cool with being a good Big 12 team. And in some ways that's fine, but I'd rather be a good SEC team.

There are way too many teams that score a lot of points, and give up a lot of points. Our D has been something we could hang our helmets on nationally. Something that truly separated us.

We've given up 116 points in 4 games. Last year we gave up 201 in 13 games. Holeee shit. Not sustainable, and frankly, not that fun to watch.

If Satterfield and company had stayed this team is a serious and legitimate contender for a New Years game. Unfortunately, the way we're playing we're looking at two more losses, at least. But I am excited about Drink and the potential for him to elevate the program. So, that's where we are.

I'm good with being a great Sun Belt team that is 4-0 and meeting all challenges. Sure, our defense is not as good as it was last year. But, we may still be a better team than we were last year.

We won Championships under Jerry Moore in this manner.

We scored 56 points yesterday, yet our offense did not score in consecutive 4th Quarter possessions when we started on our own 44 yard line and the 50 yard line. In fact, we didn't get a first down on either of those possessions.

To say that Satt would have us in serious contention for a NY6 Bowl is pure speculation. To say that we are looking at two losses is pure speculation. NO ONE has stopped our offense yet (we put the brakes on against Carolina and milked the clock starting at the end of the 4th Quarter). Our Defense has gotten the job done and Special Teams are better than the other team's special teams every game (including a monster hit on the one kickoff we let them run back, touchbacks on every other kickoff, great kickoff and punt returns and a superb punting game.

It may not be the style that some fans are looking for, but we are 4-0 and did a better job beating Carolina than the #1 team in the nation did.

[AppStFan1]

The argument that "we've replaced this number of defensive players before without dropping off before" is completely absurd. Sorry guys. We aren't Clemson, Alabama or Georgia. Replacing 4 or 5 starters (depending on how you choose to count them) is no small task. The fact it's been done in the past has nothing to do with anything. Those were different players, different coaches, and different opponents. But hey....I know..."you don't want to hear about how we lost Stout, Duck, etc. etc. etc."

OK, let's compare this defense to previous defenses. Last year's 4th ranked defense against Georgia Southern...let's talk about that. Brown was the DC. We lost Zac (not defense) but that changed things because the offense stalled out and left the D on the field. That's a factor you can't ignore. Then Fehr got ejected...ONE player. The combination....The GS offense that can't throw the ball if their life depends on it, runs up and down the field on us and we get embarrassed on national television by our primary rival one week after being ranked. Motivation wasn't an issue. Plenty of athletes! Holy Cow! I guess we should have fired Brown because he obviously couldn't make adjustments in that game. Obviously I'm not serious with that statement....but my point is that the facts are similar except there wasn't a pre-disposition against Brown.

Let's talk about the previous year. We had some injury issues which ultimately focused on the loss of Stringer. Suddenly our vaunted D can't stop UMass or ULM. TWO LOSSES IN A ROW! Those were LOSSES to INFERIOR teams! We had both Woody and Brown coaching on that staff. How could that be possible?

We were playing yesterday without our starting NG. I do think the rain delay hurt us on D. Coastal moved down the field on their first possession but we shut them down on the second. We had momentum and the break gave them a chance to re-group. Pierre Banks was talking about how it would hurt the D more than the O and he was obviously correct. It did look like we made adjustments and stopped them much better in the 2nd half.

Am I tickled to death with the D this year? No I'm not. I just don't pretend that there is one simple answer. Some of you obviously know more about football Xs and Os than I do but some of you are obviously trying to justify conclusions that were drawn long ago. I will enjoy this season as it unfolds and trust coach Drink. Personally, I don't believe Roof is a singular problem as he is being painted and I certainly don't believe he is going to defy the head coach. Coach Drink is a nice, amiable guy but I don't get the impression he is a patsy and this is HIS team.

Against GS, losing Fehr and Thomas was a big blow. The concern over us giving up so many points is a big deal now because we already know without Thomas we could see a game like that for sure.

The reason many of us are concerned with Roof is that he has never put up a great defense when he had control besides that one year at Auburn where they had everyone go to the NFL.

Losing Duck is not as big as many of our fans think. Duck was good but Hayes was the better corner last year. Ask any coach and they will tell you that. Stout was our biggest loss combined with the experience that both Duck and Hayes brought. There is no question that has hurt some. I don't think anyone would fail to acknowledge that.

When most were against the Roof hire in the preseason because of his past results you can't give him excuses all day long when this was the exact type of results we feared. I trust Drink 100% but I believe he is letting Roof do his thing and Drink is focusing on the offense.

Regardless of which player is the biggest loss or what calls Roof is making the bottom line is that we have to make adjustments, young guys better step up, and Thomas better stay healthy for us to go 1-0 every week.

[asu7]

I’d say the more relevant comparison would be to our own previous defenses than someone else’s.

As far as whether you can go unbeaten with a shaky D, I’d say you cherry-picked a rare example of someone who did it when the reality is there are loads of teams who regularly play shootouts, and eventually a couple of those 45-42 games are almost always going to go against you.

But, so far, we haven’t had games like that. Our best defensive showing was also our closest game (34-31 over UNC). Every other game we are winning by more than two TDs. To compare to last year, we only gave up more than 19 points twice. However, we only scored more than 50 twice, and that was against The two worst teams we played. I think we’ve all just gotten accustomed to winning 28-6, so we think that’s what every game should look like. But what’s the difference between a 28-6 score and a 52-31 score? Basically the same margin of victory, just slightly different numbers.

It’s easier to win games where your opponent scores six points. Your O can be off. Last year our O could score if it wanted to. It didn’t need to due to the defense. This year it has to score. That’s the difference.

What's the difference between a 28-6 score and 52-31 score?

A lot.

I guess if we're cool with 52-31, then we're cool with being a good Big 12 team. And in some ways that's fine, but I'd rather be a good SEC team.

There are way too many teams that score a lot of points, and give up a lot of points. Our D has been something we could hang our helmets on nationally. Something that truly separated us.

We've given up 116 points in 4 games. Last year we gave up 201 in 13 games. Holeee shit. Not sustainable, and frankly, not that fun to watch.

If Satterfield and company had stayed this team is a serious and legitimate contender for a New Years game. Unfortunately, the way we're playing we're looking at two more losses, at least. But I am excited about Drink and the potential for him to elevate the program. So, that's where we are.

Hey man I agree with you I think you were referring to another poster?

[EastHallApp]

Oh and if nothing else, it would be nice to be able to pull our starters before the end of the game to reduce the wear and tear on ZT and others.

I like how we rotated the RBs, all three performed well, which should help Evans in the back half of the schedule.

Defense is going to have to play better vs. ULL, I believe they are the best all around team in the SBC thus far.

I think we are, but they aren’t far behind. Agree, it’s likely going to take more of a complete game to beat them.

[asu7]

I’d say the more relevant comparison would be to our own previous defenses than someone else’s.

As far as whether you can go unbeaten with a shaky D, I’d say you cherry-picked a rare example of someone who did it when the reality is there are loads of teams who regularly play shootouts, and eventually a couple of those 45-42 games are almost always going to go against you.

But, so far, we haven’t had games like that. Our best defensive showing was also our closest game (34-31 over UNC). Every other game we are winning by more than two TDs. To compare to last year, we only gave up more than 19 points twice. However, we only scored more than 50 twice, and that was against The two worst teams we played. I think we’ve all just gotten accustomed to winning 28-6, so we think that’s what every game should look like. But what’s the difference between a 28-6 score and a 52-31 score? Basically the same margin of victory, just slightly different numbers.

It’s easier to win games where your opponent scores six points. Your O can be off. Last year our O could score if it wanted to. It didn’t need to due to the defense. This year it has to score. That’s the difference.

This is a tad lazy don't you think? Our offense could score if it wanted to last year? Then why didn't they? Well hell then our D could stop people if they wanted to but they don't need to due to the offense. See how ridiculous that sounds. We have new schemes on both sides of the ball and one side(offense) has scheme more tailored to the personnel. Please be clear I am very concerned by our D in particular the play calling, positioning and lack of adjustments. It really feels like we are going to spot every team 7 on the opening drives and I don't care for it. I want to be optimistic and think we are still working through some things but maybe this is what our D is this year; it is still early yet.

Thank you for your service!


We were a tad lazy on O last year. We played conservative A LOT! look at the game against MTSU as an example of what the O was capable of last year.

[Stonewall]

We are down 2 of 3 starters on the d line for the season. Our top two nose tackles are walk ons. We are squeezing about every drop of production we can from them. Will it be enough on going ?

Who?

Out -Willis at end , Clark at nose. Walk ons-Scott ,Blackstock

[NavyApp]

I’d say the more relevant comparison would be to our own previous defenses than someone else’s.

As far as whether you can go unbeaten with a shaky D, I’d say you cherry-picked a rare example of someone who did it when the reality is there are loads of teams who regularly play shootouts, and eventually a couple of those 45-42 games are almost always going to go against you.

But, so far, we haven’t had games like that. Our best defensive showing was also our closest game (34-31 over UNC). Every other game we are winning by more than two TDs. To compare to last year, we only gave up more than 19 points twice. However, we only scored more than 50 twice, and that was against The two worst teams we played. I think we’ve all just gotten accustomed to winning 28-6, so we think that’s what every game should look like. But what’s the difference between a 28-6 score and a 52-31 score? Basically the same margin of victory, just slightly different numbers.

It’s easier to win games where your opponent scores six points. Your O can be off. Last year our O could score if it wanted to. It didn’t need to due to the defense. This year it has to score. That’s the difference.

This is a tad lazy don't you think? Our offense could score if it wanted to last year? Then why didn't they? Well hell then our D could stop people if they wanted to but they don't need to due to the offense. See how ridiculous that sounds. We have new schemes on both sides of the ball and one side(offense) has scheme more tailored to the personnel. Please be clear I am very concerned by our D in particular the play calling, positioning and lack of adjustments. It really feels like we are going to spot every team 7 on the opening drives and I don't care for it. I want to be optimistic and think we are still working through some things but maybe this is what our D is this year; it is still early yet.

Thank you for your service!


We were a tad lazy on O last year. We played conservative A LOT! look at the game against MTSU as an example of what the O was capable of last year.

I think we are on the same page here. Yes our offensive personnel could score at will(as evidenced by the last 5 games) but the scheme was not built to feature the vertical passing game and explosive scoring. Now what the hell scheme our D is running this year isn't condusive to keeping the other team out of the end zone. It kinda feels like a schizophrenic scheme where we get glimpses of a dominant D mixed in with confusing play calls. Hopefully over the next 10 days we get this figured out.

[hapapp]

The argument that "we've replaced this number of defensive players before without dropping off before" is completely absurd. Sorry guys. We aren't Clemson, Alabama or Georgia. Replacing 4 or 5 starters (depending on how you choose to count them) is no small task. The fact it's been done in the past has nothing to do with anything. Those were different players, different coaches, and different opponents. But hey....I know..."you don't want to hear about how we lost Stout, Duck, etc. etc. etc."

OK, let's compare this defense to previous defenses. Last year's 4th ranked defense against Georgia Southern...let's talk about that. Brown was the DC. We lost Zac (not defense) but that changed things because the offense stalled out and left the D on the field. That's a factor you can't ignore. Then Fehr got ejected...ONE player. The combination....The GS offense that can't throw the ball if their life depends on it, runs up and down the field on us and we get embarrassed on national television by our primary rival one week after being ranked. Motivation wasn't an issue. Plenty of athletes! Holy Cow! I guess we should have fired Brown because he obviously couldn't make adjustments in that game. Obviously I'm not serious with that statement....but my point is that the facts are similar except there wasn't a pre-disposition against Brown.

Let's talk about the previous year. We had some injury issues which ultimately focused on the loss of Stringer. Suddenly our vaunted D can't stop UMass or ULM. TWO LOSSES IN A ROW! Those were LOSSES to INFERIOR teams! We had both Woody and Brown coaching on that staff. How could that be possible?

We were playing yesterday without our starting NG. I do think the rain delay hurt us on D. Coastal moved down the field on their first possession but we shut them down on the second. We had momentum and the break gave them a chance to re-group. Pierre Banks was talking about how it would hurt the D more than the O and he was obviously correct. It did look like we made adjustments and stopped them much better in the 2nd half.

Am I tickled to death with the D this year? No I'm not. I just don't pretend that there is one simple answer. Some of you obviously know more about football Xs and Os than I do but some of you are obviously trying to justify conclusions that were drawn long ago. I will enjoy this season as it unfolds and trust coach Drink. Personally, I don't believe Roof is a singular problem as he is being painted and I certainly don't believe he is going to defy the head coach. Coach Drink is a nice, amiable guy but I don't get the impression he is a patsy and this is HIS team.

Against GS, losing Fehr and Thomas was a big blow. The concern over us giving up so many points is a big deal now because we already know without Thomas we could see a game like that for sure.

The reason many of us are concerned with Roof is that he has never put up a great defense when he had control besides that one year at Auburn where they had everyone go to the NFL.

Losing Duck is not as big as many of our fans think. Duck was good but Hayes was the better corner last year. Ask any coach and they will tell you that. Stout was our biggest loss combined with the experience that both Duck and Hayes brought. There is no question that has hurt some. I don't think anyone would fail to acknowledge that.

When most were against the Roof hire in the preseason because of his past results you can't give him excuses all day long when this was the exact type of results we feared. I trust Drink 100% but I believe he is letting Roof do his thing and Drink is focusing on the offense.

Regardless of which player is the biggest loss or what calls Roof is making the bottom line is that we have to make adjustments, young guys better step up, and Thomas better stay healthy for us to go 1-0 every week.

Hayes was likely the better corner but that doesn't discount losing Duck. He was experienced unlike what we have back there right now. I think Jolly and Sherm are going to be good, they are talented but inexperienced. And, remember Roof doesn't coach the DBs. So, its quite possible that they are having to learn the position differently than they played it in the past. It's just too simple to point to one person and lay the blame.

I'm not defending the scheme or approach but its too simple just to look in one place and say that's the entire problem. It does seem we blitz more and seem to be more focused on stopping the run. That likely opens up the passing game. My guess is we will be run stoppers first as well against UL.

Where I'm most concerned is our red zone defense. We always have played a bit of a bend don't break scheme but really toughened up inside the 20. This year teams are finding the scoring much easier but they're putting up TDs and not FGs like last year. Giving up 7 instead of 3 makes a huge difference in the score and margin of victory.

[AppStFan1]

The argument that "we've replaced this number of defensive players before without dropping off before" is completely absurd. Sorry guys. We aren't Clemson, Alabama or Georgia. Replacing 4 or 5 starters (depending on how you choose to count them) is no small task. The fact it's been done in the past has nothing to do with anything. Those were different players, different coaches, and different opponents. But hey....I know..."you don't want to hear about how we lost Stout, Duck, etc. etc. etc."

OK, let's compare this defense to previous defenses. Last year's 4th ranked defense against Georgia Southern...let's talk about that. Brown was the DC. We lost Zac (not defense) but that changed things because the offense stalled out and left the D on the field. That's a factor you can't ignore. Then Fehr got ejected...ONE player. The combination....The GS offense that can't throw the ball if their life depends on it, runs up and down the field on us and we get embarrassed on national television by our primary rival one week after being ranked. Motivation wasn't an issue. Plenty of athletes! Holy Cow! I guess we should have fired Brown because he obviously couldn't make adjustments in that game. Obviously I'm not serious with that statement....but my point is that the facts are similar except there wasn't a pre-disposition against Brown.

Let's talk about the previous year. We had some injury issues which ultimately focused on the loss of Stringer. Suddenly our vaunted D can't stop UMass or ULM. TWO LOSSES IN A ROW! Those were LOSSES to INFERIOR teams! We had both Woody and Brown coaching on that staff. How could that be possible?

We were playing yesterday without our starting NG. I do think the rain delay hurt us on D. Coastal moved down the field on their first possession but we shut them down on the second. We had momentum and the break gave them a chance to re-group. Pierre Banks was talking about how it would hurt the D more than the O and he was obviously correct. It did look like we made adjustments and stopped them much better in the 2nd half.

Am I tickled to death with the D this year? No I'm not. I just don't pretend that there is one simple answer. Some of you obviously know more about football Xs and Os than I do but some of you are obviously trying to justify conclusions that were drawn long ago. I will enjoy this season as it unfolds and trust coach Drink. Personally, I don't believe Roof is a singular problem as he is being painted and I certainly don't believe he is going to defy the head coach. Coach Drink is a nice, amiable guy but I don't get the impression he is a patsy and this is HIS team.

Against GS, losing Fehr and Thomas was a big blow. The concern over us giving up so many points is a big deal now because we already know without Thomas we could see a game like that for sure.

The reason many of us are concerned with Roof is that he has never put up a great defense when he had control besides that one year at Auburn where they had everyone go to the NFL.

Losing Duck is not as big as many of our fans think. Duck was good but Hayes was the better corner last year. Ask any coach and they will tell you that. Stout was our biggest loss combined with the experience that both Duck and Hayes brought. There is no question that has hurt some. I don't think anyone would fail to acknowledge that.

When most were against the Roof hire in the preseason because of his past results you can't give him excuses all day long when this was the exact type of results we feared. I trust Drink 100% but I believe he is letting Roof do his thing and Drink is focusing on the offense.

Regardless of which player is the biggest loss or what calls Roof is making the bottom line is that we have to make adjustments, young guys better step up, and Thomas better stay healthy for us to go 1-0 every week.

Hayes was likely the better corner but that doesn't discount losing Duck. He was experienced unlike what we have back there right now. I think Jolly and Sherm are going to be good, they are talented but inexperienced. And, remember Roof doesn't coach the DBs. So, its quite possible that they are having to learn the position differently than they played it in the past. It's just too simple to point to one person and lay the blame.

I'm not defending the scheme or approach but its too simple just to look in one place and say that's the entire problem. It does seem we blitz more and seem to be more focused on stopping the run. That likely opens up the passing game. My guess is we will be run stoppers first as well against UL.

Where I'm most concerned is our red zone defense. We always have played a bit of a bend don't break scheme but really toughened up inside the 20. This year teams are finding the scoring much easier but they're putting up TDs and not FGs like last year. Giving up 7 instead of 3 makes a huge difference in the score and margin of victory.

For sure. I'm not sure how well Harbison and Roof are synced up yet. I do think we will get better regardless because the corners are getting experience but we definitely aren't making adjustments like we have in the past.

I too like the bend but don't break style and we have not done that. Teams get in the red zone and score more than in the past. I don't mind giving up 4 FGs in a game if we have 5 TDs but if we give up 4 TDs and we score 5 TDs we may win but it is too close for comfort and could easily flip the other way with just one mistake on our end.

[Yosef84]

The argument that "we've replaced this number of defensive players before without dropping off before" is completely absurd. Sorry guys. We aren't Clemson, Alabama or Georgia. Replacing 4 or 5 starters (depending on how you choose to count them) is no small task. The fact it's been done in the past has nothing to do with anything. Those were different players, different coaches, and different opponents. But hey....I know..."you don't want to hear about how we lost Stout, Duck, etc. etc. etc."

OK, let's compare this defense to previous defenses. Last year's 4th ranked defense against Georgia Southern...let's talk about that. Brown was the DC. We lost Zac (not defense) but that changed things because the offense stalled out and left the D on the field. That's a factor you can't ignore. Then Fehr got ejected...ONE player. The combination....The GS offense that can't throw the ball if their life depends on it, runs up and down the field on us and we get embarrassed on national television by our primary rival one week after being ranked. Motivation wasn't an issue. Plenty of athletes! Holy Cow! I guess we should have fired Brown because he obviously couldn't make adjustments in that game. Obviously I'm not serious with that statement....but my point is that the facts are similar except there wasn't a pre-disposition against Brown.

Let's talk about the previous year. We had some injury issues which ultimately focused on the loss of Stringer. Suddenly our vaunted D can't stop UMass or ULM. TWO LOSSES IN A ROW! Those were LOSSES to INFERIOR teams! We had both Woody and Brown coaching on that staff. How could that be possible?

We were playing yesterday without our starting NG. I do think the rain delay hurt us on D. Coastal moved down the field on their first possession but we shut them down on the second. We had momentum and the break gave them a chance to re-group. Pierre Banks was talking about how it would hurt the D more than the O and he was obviously correct. It did look like we made adjustments and stopped them much better in the 2nd half.

Am I tickled to death with the D this year? No I'm not. I just don't pretend that there is one simple answer. Some of you obviously know more about football Xs and Os than I do but some of you are obviously trying to justify conclusions that were drawn long ago. I will enjoy this season as it unfolds and trust coach Drink. Personally, I don't believe Roof is a singular problem as he is being painted and I certainly don't believe he is going to defy the head coach. Coach Drink is a nice, amiable guy but I don't get the impression he is a patsy and this is HIS team.

Against GS, losing Fehr and Thomas was a big blow. The concern over us giving up so many points is a big deal now because we already know without Thomas we could see a game like that for sure.

The reason many of us are concerned with Roof is that he has never put up a great defense when he had control besides that one year at Auburn where they had everyone go to the NFL.

Losing Duck is not as big as many of our fans think. Duck was good but Hayes was the better corner last year. Ask any coach and they will tell you that. Stout was our biggest loss combined with the experience that both Duck and Hayes brought. There is no question that has hurt some. I don't think anyone would fail to acknowledge that.

When most were against the Roof hire in the preseason because of his past results you can't give him excuses all day long when this was the exact type of results we feared. I trust Drink 100% but I believe he is letting Roof do his thing and Drink is focusing on the offense.

Regardless of which player is the biggest loss or what calls Roof is making the bottom line is that we have to make adjustments, young guys better step up, and Thomas better stay healthy for us to go 1-0 every week.

I really do understand the concerns about the defense. I even share many of the concerns / frustrations. I'm just really worn out with the dogmatic drum beating on the cause. We are four games into this season. This junk started after game TWO. That's simply not a reasonable sample to base a conclusion on. The calls to fire Roof were premature and unreasonable then, and they still are. He is NOT going to be fired during the season, and there will be no public flogging to appease those who weren't pleased with the hiring. I would just like to give the entire coaching staff, including Roof, a chance to get things going. Frankly the offense took a couple of games to really start clicking. We all want to believe it was being reigned in intentionally but sometimes it just takes a few games for things to gel.

The team has a highly emotional game at UNC. They were playing a statistically strong team Saturday and a team that in fact HAS improved but, let's be honest....not a team that strikes fear into the Apps yet. Factor in the weather delays and I think it's possible the D was simply flat. D is the more emotional part of the game. Even the fans were impacted by the weather (fewer showed up and even fewer returned after the delay). It was a weird game in general and we won. I think a more collaborative process has already been implemented and I will choose to believe they will figure this out and get these guys focused for a strong Louisiana team that played us tough twice last year.

By the way, the NC team was not Roof's best D. His Auburn D's were ranked 76 and 53 in 2009 and 2010 respectively. His UCF D was ranked 9th in 2011. That's the highest rated D EVER at UCF by the way. UCF's Defensive ranking the past 3 years has been 41, 53, 36. Roof was also the DC at Penn State in 2012 and had a defensive ranked 16th.

My point is that he has, in fact, coach very successful defensive units at a very high level of competition.

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

When I opened this thread, I thought it was going to be more about UCF.

[Yosef84]

When I opened this thread, I thought it was going to be more about UCF.

Sorry about that. All threads lead to the Roof apparently.

I do think we should try to schedule UCF though! For the record....I did mention UCF in my last post.

[AppSt94]

When I opened this thread, I thought it was going to be more about UCF.

Sorry about that. All threads lead to the Roof apparently.

I do think we should try to schedule UCF though! For the record....I did mention UCF in my last post.

We can talk about cups with ice if that is better.

[Yosef84]

Here's a little perspective:
App state's Defensive ranking (total Defense per ESPN) is #68
A few other names you'll recognize:
UCF - #59
Alabama - #60
Auburn - #55
Louisiana - #72
Texas - #73
UNC - #90
South Carolina - #92
Georgia Southern - #64
Troy - #53
Arkansas State - #127

[bigdaddyg]

Here's a little perspective:
App state's Defensive ranking (total Defense per ESPN) is #68
A few other names you'll recognize:
UCF - #59
Alabama - #60
Auburn - #55
Louisiana - #72
Texas - #73
UNC - #90
South Carolina - #92
Georgia Southern - #64
Troy - #53
Arkansas State - #127

The absolute best response to the sky is falling on the defense junk. Hate to let this thread sway from UCF talk but the defensive ranking numbers can be overblown. We were highly ranked last year sure but look at some of our opponents compared to the big boys. Is there a weighted defensive ranking out there that takes into consideration the strength of opponents? We racked up some hefty defensive numbers against several of the Sunbelt cupcakes. I am sure that this year there are plenty of G5 schools ranked ahead of the likes of Alabama for defense. Does that mean anything?

[HighPointApp]

BBQ

[Yosef84]

Here's a little perspective:
App state's Defensive ranking (total Defense per ESPN) is #68
A few other names you'll recognize:
UCF - #59
Alabama - #60
Auburn - #55
Louisiana - #72
Texas - #73
UNC - #90
South Carolina - #92
Georgia Southern - #64
Troy - #53
Arkansas State - #127

The absolute best response to the sky is falling on the defense junk. Hate to let this thread sway from UCF talk but the defensive ranking numbers can be overblown. We were highly ranked last year sure but look at some of our opponents compared to the big boys. Is there a weighted defensive ranking out there that takes into consideration the strength of opponents? We racked up some hefty defensive numbers against several of the Sunbelt cupcakes. I am sure that this year there are plenty of G5 schools ranked ahead of the likes of Alabama for defense. Does that mean anything?

That's kind of my point. I'm not saying we don't need to improve on defense, but it is misleading to evaluate things in a vacuum. That applies to this year's D and that applies to the performance of Roof's Ds in the past. Defensive Rankings are an indicator but they are only meaningful in the context of the overall team stats. We have been scoring very quickly this year which keeps our D on the field more. That's skews the stats. We had this issue during our championship runs also when we had explosive teams. Everyone loves an explosive offense and aggressive play calling but as we play some of these teams like Lousiana, we might see Coach Drink looking more like Satterfield and taking a ball control approach in order to keep that UL offense (and our defense) off the field. People complained about Satterfield being too conservative at times and not letting Zac air it out, but it helped to create that high defensive ranking that we are now so proud of.

[bigdaddyg]

we currently rank 101st in time of possession at 27:54 per game. Last year at this time we averaged 30:18. More time for the defense to be on the field. Might be a significant stat I don't know.