Defense Appreciation Thread

[coloradocat]

Our defense has remained a constant strength on the 2021 team.

We don't just rely on a couple stars like Troy Andersen and Daniel Hardy either. Our entire second string has gotten a ton of valuable reps before garbage time. Our secondary may not be experienced but they've more than held their own through injuries. This week we held our opponent to 9 points despite missing two of our most important starters in Chase Benson and Callahan O'Reilly, as well as Tyrel Thomas.

We currently rank 2nd in the country allowing only 10.38 points per game (8.00 per game at home) and we're the only team in the top 10 to have played eight games.

With a new DC and a new scheme as well as absorbing the loss of some great players from the 2019 team I don't think we could have asked for anything more.



Note: Removed some context for people whose feelings were hurt.

[PapaG]

Starting off this post with negative thoughts on individual players lost me. I’m sure the rest was spectacular.

[PortlandCat90]

Why burn McKay and Patterson to start a thread that has nothing to do with them? Christ, let it go.

[84CatGrad]

Hear, hear. We have won our five conference games by an average score of 31-9. We have outgained our opponents by an average of 422-227 YPG and are winning the turnover battle 16-4.

And despite the gnashing of teeth over our offensive inconsistencies, we have scored 28 of 29 times in the red zone (20 TD's) and are converting 44% of our third downs (including 1 of 14 at Weber).

Gentlemen, relax, sit back, and ENJOY this season. Thus far it is one of our very best.

[iaafan]

Andersen 16 tackles, one TFL, three PBUs. The stats only have him for two, but he got a hand on the pass into the end zone that was caught out of bounds. Fairly certain that the receiver makes catch in bounds had he not tipped it.

[Clinton T]

Hear, hear. We have won our five conference games by an average score of 31-9. We have outgained our opponents by an average of 422-227 YPG and are winning the turnover battle 16-4.

And despite the gnashing of teeth over our offensive inconsistencies, we have scored 28 of 29 times in the red zone (20 TD's) and are converting 44% of our third downs (including 1 of 14 at Weber).

Gentlemen, relax, sit back, and ENJOY this season. Thus far it is one of our very best.

This post does a great job of putting things into perspective. There are those who would minimize our record due to our schedule, but what more could we could do given the hand we were dealt? This team is exceptional. Enjoy the ride.

[PHAT CAT]

Hear, hear. We have won our five conference games by an average score of 31-9. We have outgained our opponents by an average of 422-227 YPG and are winning the turnover battle 16-4.

And despite the gnashing of teeth over our offensive inconsistencies, we have scored 28 of 29 times in the red zone (20 TD's) and are converting 44% of our third downs (including 1 of 14 at Weber).

Gentlemen, relax, sit back, and ENJOY this season. Thus far it is one of our very best.

This post does a great job of putting things into perspective. There are those who would minimize our record due to our schedule, but what more could we could do given the hand we were dealt? This team is exceptional. Enjoy the ride.

Yep. Not once have we played down to our level of competition. Some damn short memories for some Cats fans.

[BelligerentBobcat]

Andersen 16 tackles, one TFL, three PBUs. The stats only have him for two, but he got a hand on the pass into the end zone that was caught out of bounds. Fairly certain that the receiver makes catch in bounds had he not tipped it.

You sure that wasn’t Okada?

Anyways, the pass was errant, and got tipped into the WR’s hands. Good play by the defender, just unlucky with what happened.

[91catAlum]

Andersen 16 tackles, one TFL, three PBUs. The stats only have him for two, but he got a hand on the pass into the end zone that was caught out of bounds. Fairly certain that the receiver makes catch in bounds had he not tipped it.

Actually the pass was way behind the receiver and it had no chance of being completed had it not been tipped. TA was just trying to make a play on the ball and accidentally tipped it up which gave the WR a chance to make a play on it. Just a weird play.

[ilovethecats]

Obviously I have watched little to none of any of the other top teams in the country. But I have to think our defense is one of the best.

Though I’d like to learn more from defensive football minds about how ISU seemed to be able to get 3-6 yards every single down, regardless of the fact everyone in the stadium knew they wouldn’t/couldn’t throw the ball. As a casual fan that was frustrating to me.

[TomCat88]

Andersen 16 tackles, one TFL, three PBUs. The stats only have him for two, but he got a hand on the pass into the end zone that was caught out of bounds. Fairly certain that the receiver makes catch in bounds had he not tipped it.

Yes, the deflection slowed the ball down and caused the receiver to go out of bounds before the ball got to him. Had he not tipped it, the wr would’ve still been in bounds and that play would’ve changed the complexion of the game.

[84CatGrad]

Obviously I have watched little to none of any of the other top teams in the country. But I have to think our defense is one of the best.

Though I’d like to learn more from defensive football minds about how ISU seemed to be able to get 3-6 yards every single down, regardless of the fact everyone in the stadium knew they wouldn’t/couldn’t throw the ball. As a casual fan that was frustrating to me.

I was frustrated as well but that ISU back (Ford?) is a beast. 230 lbs with an Ifanse-ish ability to stay on his feet. And we were without O'Reilly and Benson.

[TomCat88]

Obviously I have watched little to none of any of the other top teams in the country. But I have to think our defense is one of the best.

Though I’d like to learn more from defensive football minds about how ISU seemed to be able to get 3-6 yards every single down, regardless of the fact everyone in the stadium knew they wouldn’t/couldn’t throw the ball. As a casual fan that was frustrating to me.

If Benson and O’Reilly play, then that doesn’t happen. MSU didn’t tackle as well as usual. ISU was smart to attack MSU that way, but they couldn’t finish drives. They got a lot of rush yards, but only 3.9 per carry (that’s very good vs MSU).

ISU only had the one early turnover, which is a big improvement for them. They averaged three per game. They have a lot of good athletes, but don’t have it all together yet.

[ilovethecats]

Obviously I have watched little to none of any of the other top teams in the country. But I have to think our defense is one of the best.

Though I’d like to learn more from defensive football minds about how ISU seemed to be able to get 3-6 yards every single down, regardless of the fact everyone in the stadium knew they wouldn’t/couldn’t throw the ball. As a casual fan that was frustrating to me.

If Benson and O’Reilly play, then that doesn’t happen. MSU didn’t tackle as well as usual. ISU was smart to attack MSU that way, but they couldn’t finish drives. They got a lot of rush yards, but only 3.9 per carry (that’s very good vs MSU).

ISU only had the one early turnover, which is a big improvement for them. They averaged three per game. They have a lot of good athletes, but don’t have it all together yet.

This is a good point. I tend to forget that some players truly are much better than others and the loss of even a couple guys can be noticeable.

[Common Cat]

Obviously I have watched little to none of any of the other top teams in the country. But I have to think our defense is one of the best.

Though I’d like to learn more from defensive football minds about how ISU seemed to be able to get 3-6 yards every single down, regardless of the fact everyone in the stadium knew they wouldn’t/couldn’t throw the ball. As a casual fan that was frustrating to me.

If Benson and O’Reilly play, then that doesn’t happen. MSU didn’t tackle as well as usual. ISU was smart to attack MSU that way, but they couldn’t finish drives. They got a lot of rush yards, but only 3.9 per carry (that’s very good vs MSU).

ISU only had the one early turnover, which is a big improvement for them. They averaged three per game. They have a lot of good athletes, but don’t have it all together yet.

To build off what Tom said, we had a lot of arm tackles and Mike Rider had stated we weren’t squaring up the ball carrier like we had been. I also believe there was a bit of an emotional let down after the Weber game.

[TomCat88]

Obviously I have watched little to none of any of the other top teams in the country. But I have to think our defense is one of the best.

Though I’d like to learn more from defensive football minds about how ISU seemed to be able to get 3-6 yards every single down, regardless of the fact everyone in the stadium knew they wouldn’t/couldn’t throw the ball. As a casual fan that was frustrating to me.

If Benson and O’Reilly play, then that doesn’t happen. MSU didn’t tackle as well as usual. ISU was smart to attack MSU that way, but they couldn’t finish drives. They got a lot of rush yards, but only 3.9 per carry (that’s very good vs MSU).

ISU only had the one early turnover, which is a big improvement for them. They averaged three per game. They have a lot of good athletes, but don’t have it all together yet.

To build off what Tom said, we had a lot of arm tackles and Mike Rider had stated we weren’t squaring up the ball carrier like we had been. I also believe there was a bit of an emotional let down after the Weber game.

Hard to argue with Mike Rider.

[VimSince03]

Obviously I have watched little to none of any of the other top teams in the country. But I have to think our defense is one of the best.

Though I’d like to learn more from defensive football minds about how ISU seemed to be able to get 3-6 yards every single down, regardless of the fact everyone in the stadium knew they wouldn’t/couldn’t throw the ball. As a casual fan that was frustrating to me.

If Benson and O’Reilly play, then that doesn’t happen. MSU didn’t tackle as well as usual. ISU was smart to attack MSU that way, but they couldn’t finish drives. They got a lot of rush yards, but only 3.9 per carry (that’s very good vs MSU).

ISU only had the one early turnover, which is a big improvement for them. They averaged three per game. They have a lot of good athletes, but don’t have it all together yet.

To build off what Tom said, we had a lot of arm tackles and Mike Rider had stated we weren’t squaring up the ball carrier like we had been. I also believe there was a bit of an emotional let down after the Weber game.

Hard to argue with Mike Rider.

ISU also got about 90 of those rushing yards in the 4th quarter on two possessions. I guess they decided to....run the clock and kick a field goal down 21?! Vigen was kind of flabbergasted at his presser. He was asked about it and he kind of just brushed it off by saying "yeah they definitely ran a lot today and got yards between the 20s....no touchdowns though".

[coloradocat]

Obviously I have watched little to none of any of the other top teams in the country. But I have to think our defense is one of the best.

Though I’d like to learn more from defensive football minds about how ISU seemed to be able to get 3-6 yards every single down, regardless of the fact everyone in the stadium knew they wouldn’t/couldn’t throw the ball. As a casual fan that was frustrating to me.

If Benson and O’Reilly play, then that doesn’t happen. MSU didn’t tackle as well as usual. ISU was smart to attack MSU that way, but they couldn’t finish drives. They got a lot of rush yards, but only 3.9 per carry (that’s very good vs MSU).

ISU only had the one early turnover, which is a big improvement for them. They averaged three per game. They have a lot of good athletes, but don’t have it all together yet.

This is a good point. I tend to forget that some players truly are much better than others and the loss of even a couple guys can be noticeable.

The drop off from the 1s to the 2s has been noticeable before this game but it really stood out here. We probably have the best 2nd unit in the conference because they get so much non-garbage time minutes sprinkled in with the starters but they're definitely not at the all-conference level of the starters. I'd still take them over plenty of other defenses in the conference. They did an admirable job against a team to ran right at them. 3 FGs!

[Common Cat]

Obviously I have watched little to none of any of the other top teams in the country. But I have to think our defense is one of the best.

Though I’d like to learn more from defensive football minds about how ISU seemed to be able to get 3-6 yards every single down, regardless of the fact everyone in the stadium knew they wouldn’t/couldn’t throw the ball. As a casual fan that was frustrating to me.

If Benson and O’Reilly play, then that doesn’t happen. MSU didn’t tackle as well as usual. ISU was smart to attack MSU that way, but they couldn’t finish drives. They got a lot of rush yards, but only 3.9 per carry (that’s very good vs MSU).

ISU only had the one early turnover, which is a big improvement for them. They averaged three per game. They have a lot of good athletes, but don’t have it all together yet.

To build off what Tom said, we had a lot of arm tackles and Mike Rider had stated we weren’t squaring up the ball carrier like we had been. I also believe there was a bit of an emotional let down after the Weber game.

Hard to argue with Mike Rider.

ISU also got about 90 of those rushing yards in the 4th quarter on two possessions. I guess they decided to....run the clock and kick a field goal down 21?! Vigen was kind of flabbergasted at his presser. He was asked about it and he kind of just brushed it off by saying "yeah they definitely ran a lot today and got yards between the 20s....no touchdowns though".

It was bizarre. I was thinking why is ISU chewing up clock? Not sure I have seen anything like that.

[coloradocat]

Obviously I have watched little to none of any of the other top teams in the country. But I have to think our defense is one of the best.

Though I’d like to learn more from defensive football minds about how ISU seemed to be able to get 3-6 yards every single down, regardless of the fact everyone in the stadium knew they wouldn’t/couldn’t throw the ball. As a casual fan that was frustrating to me.

If Benson and O’Reilly play, then that doesn’t happen. MSU didn’t tackle as well as usual. ISU was smart to attack MSU that way, but they couldn’t finish drives. They got a lot of rush yards, but only 3.9 per carry (that’s very good vs MSU).

ISU only had the one early turnover, which is a big improvement for them. They averaged three per game. They have a lot of good athletes, but don’t have it all together yet.

To build off what Tom said, we had a lot of arm tackles and Mike Rider had stated we weren’t squaring up the ball carrier like we had been. I also believe there was a bit of an emotional let down after the Weber game.

Hard to argue with Mike Rider.

ISU also got about 90 of those rushing yards in the 4th quarter on two possessions. I guess they decided to....run the clock and kick a field goal down 21?! Vigen was kind of flabbergasted at his presser. He was asked about it and he kind of just brushed it off by saying "yeah they definitely ran a lot today and got yards between the 20s....no touchdowns though".

It was bizarre. I was thinking why is ISU chewing up clock? Not sure I have seen anything like that.

I got the feeling watching it that he knew he had been beaten and just wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible