UCF

[AppSt12]

So my goal here is not to argue with anyone, but bring a possible new perspective. Now on the surface I'm on board with the majority of you...it appears ted roof was an awful hire. You cant just point to losing ducks hayes and stout. We have 6 seniors (and plenty of juniors) starting on defense as well as 3 senior LBs (3 of our 4 leading tacklers from 2018). Teams only dream of returning what we have. No offense we have played returned the number of starters our defense has, so that isnt an argument. People just want to play devils advocate when they defend roof.

That being said...

Let's take a look at the undefeated 2017 UCF team:

W 61-17 FIU
W 38-10 Maryland
W 40-13 Memphis
W 51-23 Cincinnati
W 63-21 ECU
W 31-21 Navy
W 73-33 Austin Peay
W 31-24 SMU
W 49-24 Uconn
W 49-42 USF
W 62-55 Memphis
W 34-27 Auburn


They averaged giving up 25 points a game....4 games in we are giving up 29. I think it's fair to say that we will probably bring our average down a bit even if no adjustments are made, as Coastal is one of the known prolific offenses we face and UNC and Coastal are 2 of our 5 best opponents jammed in a 4 game statistical view.

Could this be a precedent that our way of winning may be sustainable?

[TomA415]

The short answer is no.

I think the reason a lot of people, myself included, are upset with this defense is because we have the talent to be a 15-20 ppg defense. We have the best G5 linebacking corps, a really good d line, and our secondary is pretty good.

Some of those drives yesterday, especially the first, we did not attack the ball or LOS at all. We let every play develop exactly how they want and then wait for someone to make the tackle. We’re just too talented of a defense to let this go to waste by playing this timid scheme.

And while our offense is really, really good, we can’t expect to win the SB while giving up 30 ppg.

[MDaniels84]

You make way too much sense for this group that wants to light their torches for Roof and his defense!

[asu7]

I think some of our fans are feeling cozy and some aren’t. I am thinking our O will be off for a game and then we will be in trouble. We are fans and each have our opinions and all are entitled to them. If we all agreed on everything this place would be boring.

I do like your stats and think it could be sustained if our O plays like they are every game. I think Coastal may be the toughest D we will see outside of USC of the teams that we have left. So it might be that if we lose we have beat ourselves. We control our destiny. Our O is just under lots of pressure. I hope they can handle it.

I don’t like the roof hire and never have from day 1. That being said I hope the guy is successful. I love a good defense. I miss our D. We knew going into games last year that if we score 3 or more times we would win. This year we need to score 5 or more.

[Black Saturday]

The Hell of it is Drink is comfortable with him and Roof will be on his staff as long as he is here. To play devil's advocate in that case is, does Drink want to hinge his young bright future on it? The 2 G5 programs we've played so far, we've made their offenses look better than they are.

disclosure: We are 4-0, I feel Drink has brought a lot of positives to the program. He so far has "elevated."

[EastHallApp]

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.

[Saint3333]

I’m not sure our secondary is that good.

[Mjohn1988]

Our guys looked tentative and confused last night. If Drink’s goal is to make this team better than ever he needs to get involved and get our D fixed. It’s a coaches job to make players better and figure out schemes they can succeed in. The O played great last night, specials teams is getting it done. We have play makers on our D but the things we have them doing aren’t working. That’s a coaching issue.

[MrCraig]

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.

[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 ?

[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.

[AppOrange]

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?

[MAD Doctor]

On one hand we are 4-0 and beat the dreaded Tar Holes.
On the other hand, we’ve played 2 of the same teams in 2019 as we did in 2018. Charlotte scored 32 more points than last year and Coastal scored 30 more points than last year.

I’m more than pleased with our record but more than concerned about having to score over 40 points to win a game.

[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.

[EastHallApp]

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.

The difference is the lack of balance. We weren’t the low-scoring team you imply before. Last year we excelled on both sides - 6th nationally in scoring defense, 17th in offense. This year we’re up to 7th in offense - but 81st in defense.

We haven’t been truly in danger against UNCC or Coastal, but we’ll play better teams than those. Can the D step it up when necessary as they did at UNC? Can they start to dominate weaker opponents?

Hopefully so. I’m not ready to write them off yet - yesterday was such a weird game with the delay, and then the last score was obviously garbage time.

But for this team to reach its bigger goals, IMO the D will need to be more consistent.

[Rekdiver]

We made adjustments at halftime... CCU scored 9 in the 2nd. And don’t forget about Tae Hayes who was as good as Duck. We have injuries on the D line and at safety. In effect we have 5 returning starters on D.

[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.

[Saint3333]

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.

[savoyspecial21]

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.

[Saint3333]

If Duck had stayed this defense would give up seven ppg less. Our DBs do a lot more face guarding and allowing the opponent WRs to make plays he and Tae would break up.