Atlanta Griz1 said:
SoldierGriz said:
getgrizzy said:
I hope you're kidding, because at 3.9 allowed per carry (2nd in the league) there's little room for them to get into the top five due to our so-called bad run defense. I think we held almost all those teams below their average. There hasn't been one post that presents any evidence to us having a bad run defense.
Teams ran downhill when they needed to against us...we didn't make the stops we needed to at many critical times. Many examples. When watching last year - did you not cringe when you knew we needed a stop or 2, and just couldn't get it done as teams ran right at us? I know I did.
I am not suggesting we had the worst run-stopping defense in the history of the game. I am suggesting that the Griz need to improve here. We were very good on the edge...
Also - I don't hang my hat on allowing 3.9 ypg and finishing 2nd in the BSC...not a bunch of defense being played in our league as you know.
I blame a lot of our inability to stop the run on Ty G. He allowed too much free-lancing from his LBs, and they frequently over-ran plays allowing cut-backs into vacant gaps by running backs. Holmes did the same on many running plays, and teams ran right at him much of the time. He was great at pass rushing, and made lots of tackles for losses, but he also was schooled quite often on running plays. Great defensive teams defend their gaps, and when everyone does their job correctly, it is difficult for offenses to move the ball on them. Montana, under TG, did not play the level of disciplined team defense needed to be a great defense. Hopefully it will get better under Semore.
Everyone has an inability to stop the run in stretches, but our run defense was one of the best in the nation and our conference. It was 38th in the nation and tied for second (even if you take out the sacks and add the sack yards back in) in the Big Sky. We played the top five rush teams in the BSC and NDSU twice. Our defense was fourth (missed 3rd by 0.1) in scoring, 2nd in total defense, 2nd in run defense and 3rd in pass defense. So the run D was ranked higher than our pass D, which was very good also.
There's little room for improvement. Our stud DE is gone and he led the league in tackles by a DE. Our stud DT, who led the league in tackles by a DT, is moving to DE and we don't really know if he's as good as Holmes or if the guy replacing him will be as good as he was at DT. All our LBs are gone. To improve we'll need Kidder to be better than Holmes (FCS Def POY), new guy to be better than Kidder (1st team all BSC) and three new LBs to better than Kose 3rd team, Gamboa 1st team, and Van Ack 2nd team.