I agree the offense's performance needs to pick up. The turnovers and fumbles are inexcusable at the midway point of the season. My point was, the weakness of our defense is the strength of a majority of the teams we have left to play. I suppose I should have added that our offense currently isn't build to pick up the slack and get into a shootout with those teams. That in turn puts much more pressure on the defense to perform.desmond1957 wrote:I'm curious as to why everyone seems to feel that the Cat's problems all are on the defensive side especially after a loss to a team rated as having a powerful high scoring offense but a mediocre defense. Giving the ball away 3 times on fumbles, twice within EWU,s 21 yard line plus an interception while generating only 14 firstdowns! is a hell of a long way from being what I would call an excellent offensive performance. Especially after two games in which we pissed away several scoring opportunities by stringing together OL penalties to wipe out drives deep in the opponents territories. Until we develop a short passing game like everyone else in the Big Sky to stop opponents from stacking the box, using tight ends and even an occasional screen IMO we are in for a long season. What happened to the imaginative plays and sets we saw flashes of in the PSU game?msuhunter wrote:The biggest concern appears to be how our defensive scheme matches up against 3 of the last 5 opponents. NAU, ISU, and Missoula community college are all teams with QBs capable of throwing, especially against the soft zone coverage over the middle. The defense is a bit of an enigma, as statistically it held EWU to significantly less than its season averages (although it gave up a ton on the ground), yet it cannot seem to make a third down stop when it matters. How the defense contains the QBs and the passing games in these three contests is going to dictate the results of these games. Statistically, the defense doesn't appear to be doing bad, but watching them play at times leaves me more concerned. Should be an interesting five weeks if nothing else.
As has been discussed before by others, I'm not sure why the offense has changed so much since the SDSU and UND game. We've become run only, until we're forced to pass. Apparently the wind only affects us ....
I still think Murray leaves a lot to be desired in the passing game, but certainly no favors are being done when he only slings it 9 times a game. It'd be hard for anyone to get into a rhythm that way. It seems his awful completion percentages occur when he barely throws in a game. Although not outstanding, if he can hit 50% with his athletic ability on 20-25 pass attempts per game, that really opens up the offense.