(10-06-2014 02:42 PM)Higher Education Wrote:  

(10-06-2014 01:15 PM)NCeagle Wrote:  

(10-06-2014 01:07 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  Don't get me wrong, I think we are beatable, but it's comical how some of our fans browbeat our pass defense when we're tied for fourth in the country in interceptions and in the top 20 in fewest 30+ yard passes given up. They also apparently think when we're in the prevent and NMSU needs to score two TDs in just a few minutes that we should keep them from marching down the field on short passes underneath the coverage.

Passing teams can keep picking up yards for all I care as long as we don't give up long pass plays, keep getting picks, and keep stopping people in the red zone.

To the point of the actual question, I think the team that can run the ball but still has a capable QB will be the most threatening. In other words, Texas State.

For real. We may give up yards, but we create turnovers and don't allow points. I've seen "well if USA caught more balls..." "if we didn't get 3 INT's against NMSU".... Well they didn't, we did, and we won. End of story. Sure, it may not be pretty on the stat sheet when you give up total yardage, but we aren't getting beat on big plays, and when you keep everything in front of you, you will get your opportunities to make stops and get interceptions.

I will gladly take our 20 points against average any day of the week.

Half of those interceptions came against a New Mexico State quarterback who seems to drunkenly hurl the ball at random rather than pick a receiver to target. USA's passing offense beat themselves by not knowing how to catch. You can't give Georgia Southern's defense credit for keeping an opponent off the board when the opponent couldn't catch rain in a hurricane. There are legitimate concerns about Georgia Southern's ability to cover receivers and produce a consistent pass rush. If the Eagles run into a competent passing attack, they had better bring a flawless offense into the game to keep up.

This is something I never will understand. Basically what you are saying is that if the other team had better players, they would win. This type of thing could be used on every position. "If out left guard picked up that blitz... If our DT didn't get driven back 2 yards on fourth down.. If our QB threw to his fifth check... If our running back was quick enough to make the SS miss.. If our free safety was a tenth of a second faster he would have had that pick...if our punter had an extra half second of hang time that big return wouldn't have happened"

(10-07-2014 05:03 AM)eagleskins Wrote:  

(10-06-2014 02:42 PM)Higher Education Wrote:  

(10-06-2014 01:15 PM)NCeagle Wrote:  

(10-06-2014 01:07 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  Don't get me wrong, I think we are beatable, but it's comical how some of our fans browbeat our pass defense when we're tied for fourth in the country in interceptions and in the top 20 in fewest 30+ yard passes given up. They also apparently think when we're in the prevent and NMSU needs to score two TDs in just a few minutes that we should keep them from marching down the field on short passes underneath the coverage.

Passing teams can keep picking up yards for all I care as long as we don't give up long pass plays, keep getting picks, and keep stopping people in the red zone.

To the point of the actual question, I think the team that can run the ball but still has a capable QB will be the most threatening. In other words, Texas State.

For real. We may give up yards, but we create turnovers and don't allow points. I've seen "well if USA caught more balls..." "if we didn't get 3 INT's against NMSU".... Well they didn't, we did, and we won. End of story. Sure, it may not be pretty on the stat sheet when you give up total yardage, but we aren't getting beat on big plays, and when you keep everything in front of you, you will get your opportunities to make stops and get interceptions.

I will gladly take our 20 points against average any day of the week.

Half of those interceptions came against a New Mexico State quarterback who seems to drunkenly hurl the ball at random rather than pick a receiver to target. USA's passing offense beat themselves by not knowing how to catch. You can't give Georgia Southern's defense credit for keeping an opponent off the board when the opponent couldn't catch rain in a hurricane. There are legitimate concerns about Georgia Southern's ability to cover receivers and produce a consistent pass rush. If the Eagles run into a competent passing attack, they had better bring a flawless offense into the game to keep up.

This is something I never will understand. Basically what you are saying is that if the other team had better players, they would win. This type of thing could be used on every position. "If out left guard picked up that blitz... If our DT didn't get driven back 2 yards on fourth down.. If our QB threw to his fifth check... If our running back was quick enough to make the SS miss.. If our free safety was a tenth of a second faster he would have had that pick...if our punter had an extra half second of hang time that big return wouldn't have happened"

#5 in the the Sun Belt in Sacks (12)
#1 in the Sun Belt in INT's (9)
#1 in Red Zone Defense (14-20, 70%)
#1 in Pass Defense Efficiency
#1 in Yards Per Completions Allowed (6.2)
#1 in Scoring Defense (20.5ppg)
#3 in Defensive Yards per Play (5.3)

Looks to me like our Pass defense is actually pretty good. Total yards is deceiving because we are only 1 of 2 teams that haven't had a BYE yet.

The reason teams have so many first downs and gain a lot of yardage is because we are playing that "bend don't break" philosophy. We'll give them short first downs all day long because the chances of you making a mistake when it takes you 14 plays to get down the field rather than 7 is doubled. Hence the increased number of INT's.

This also leads to an increased Red Zone defense because in or near the Red Zone we no longer have to worry about giving up the big play. The QB tries to throw that same short route he's done all the way down the field but this time our guy is there to make a play on it, it especially helps if there is a pass rush in his face. Both App and NMSU experienced first hand what happens when you drive the length of the field 4-8 yards at a time and get into that position with our defense, it ends up looking like the QB made a rookie mistake (which is true in some cases), but those mistakes are a direct result of the way the defense is playing.

I think a good reason why this philosophy killed us last season is because Curtis wasn't allowed (I use this term loosely because I'm not sure if he was shackled last season or not) to Blitz nearly as often as he is now and so when we got into the Red Zone we weren't able to get pressure on the QB to force those turnovers that we are seeing this season.