a fabulously inspirational job you have done bringing along the defense. Never thought it could be done so quickly after being 117th(?) last year. The lack of depth will be felt at some point, not this coach's fault, but until then i expect we will continuing playing like men possessed.
Kudos to Wally Burnham
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I'd wait for a few conference games before I got too excited. That said....they are serviceable through 4.
The defense still has some work to do, but one thing that I have not noticed as much this year is the lack of wrapping up. We are actually finishing tackles this year, not arm tackling as much. Overall it still has some work to do, but the little things that make a defense great are starting to come together a little bit.
I agree. Upon a quick review, it appears the defense is playing better. However, we've played no one with a strong running back yet. NDSU is a poor team. Iowa is still tinkering with its Oline and played 2 freshmen against us. Kent was without its running back, and Army is Army in that they don't have the talent to compete with BCS teams. I was probably a little over excited after the NDSU game so maybe I'm hedging now, but I want to see ISU play a decent team before getting too excited about the defense. When we stop Nebraska or Oklahoma St. from running it, I'll send Wally a nice note.
Iowa's two freshmen looked pretty good last night, we played tough against a good rushing attack with Army. We won't see another team that rushes like that in the Big 12. I see signs of a better defense than the last few years, that makes me happy. They aren't great, but have made significant improvements.
Definately kudos to Wally.
We aren't a great defense by any means.... but I'm sure even Wally was shocked at how little talent we had when he got here. We don't have a Big 12 quality front 7 physically by any stretch of the imagination.
However, Wally is getting the most out of what he has.... and more IMO. We held Army to just over 180 yds rushing last night when they've been averaging over 250 a game. We weren't great, but definately good enough to win the game by a comfortable margin. Especially when you also consider how long our defense was on the field last night.
Wally will have to work miracles this offseason though IMO. We lose Lyle, Parker, Jesse Smith, Garrin, Raven, and James Smith. We basically have nobody to play DE next year besides Maggitt. Laing and Neal are not going to cut it in the Big 12 I'm afraid. At LB, I'm assuming AJ Klein and Knott will be forced to start next year.... along with Tauffou... and possibly Lattimer? We could have used Princeton Jackson and Mike Marry in a HUGE way.
I think Wally needs to go out and recruit the two best JUCO DE's he can possibly find. It is a GLARING weakness and huge need right now.
But what I like about our defense right now is that guys seem to at least be in the right positions. There aren't WRs running wide open all over the field like last year. And... we make needed adjustments throught the game. We don't have the talent to be great yet, but Wally is getting more out of this defense than I thought was possible. That's all you can ask for right now.
We aren't a great defense by any means.... but I'm sure even Wally was shocked at how little talent we had when he got here. We don't have a Big 12 quality front 7 physically by any stretch of the imagination.
However, Wally is getting the most out of what he has.... and more IMO. We held Army to just over 180 yds rushing last night when they've been averaging over 250 a game. We weren't great, but definately good enough to win the game by a comfortable margin. Especially when you also consider how long our defense was on the field last night.
Wally will have to work miracles this offseason though IMO. We lose Lyle, Parker, Jesse Smith, Garrin, Raven, and James Smith. We basically have nobody to play DE next year besides Maggitt. Laing and Neal are not going to cut it in the Big 12 I'm afraid. At LB, I'm assuming AJ Klein and Knott will be forced to start next year.... along with Tauffou... and possibly Lattimer? We could have used Princeton Jackson and Mike Marry in a HUGE way.
I think Wally needs to go out and recruit the two best JUCO DE's he can possibly find. It is a GLARING weakness and huge need right now.
But what I like about our defense right now is that guys seem to at least be in the right positions. There aren't WRs running wide open all over the field like last year. And... we make needed adjustments throught the game. We don't have the talent to be great yet, but Wally is getting more out of this defense than I thought was possible. That's all you can ask for right now.
I remember one tackle that Banks made on their big receiver (#82). Army threw a pass to #82 and Banks came up, lowered his body and lifted him completely off the ground and dropped him. That was so bad *** I couldn't believe it. I thought Banks and Johnson did about as well as they could covering this guy considering they gave up about a foot in size.
Indeed. We'll get beat physically down the road, but it won't be because the OCs are giggling under their breath about how easy it is to fool us. I doubt our defenses the past two years would have been disciplined enough to shut Army down like they did.
It indeed has been refreshing to see the linebackers being the leading tacklers instead of the secondary.
I was going to start a thread just like this. I thought the gameplan last night was spectacular. Never saw it coming. Play in a nickel with Benton basically reading the option and holding contain as sort of a hybrid player and he did it almost perfectly. They didn't get much to the outside. I was very impressed. As far as tackling, Wally can't make up for 10 years of bad habits in this short period of time. Banks does make some good tackles, but he misses some too because he losses technique. As far as our DE situation, well, we have a problem next year. LB isn't incredibly solid either. I think it would be HUGE if we could somehow land Wayne Dorsey. He may be a total game changer. I think we will see a lot of nickel next year with a DB playing more of a hybrid role similar to last night. In fact, we may see that look a lot more often this season because of how affect Benton seems to be in that role. We lack so much speed in our LBs that I think having him in their against the spread attacks we will see will be very beneficial. Also, did anyone see that USF shut down FSU yesterday? Don't think Wally had nothing to do with that personel or system.
I don't think that they'll be too bad off next year. With Parker out, guys like Maggitt, Laing and Neal are going to see more time and they'll be better for it. IMO you are writing off Maggitt and Laing too quickly. I think that they can be solid Big 12 DEs. There's definitely a need for a JUCO or two there for depth and competition though.
At LB, I think we'll see Klein, Knott, Lattimer and Taufoou getting more time as the year goes on and that experience will make them better. A JUCO like Earls and a couple of true FR for depth will make this group solid...I'm actually thinking it could be a better all-around group as they should upgrade speed at MIKE and be more physical at WILL.
DB, they'll miss James Smith, but they already have a JUCO committed plus O'Connell and Sandvig are solid players. I expect Benton to start opposite LJ. I think that he has more upside than even LJ. McDowell would move into Benton's spot at nickel back.
I agree that this D is much more fundamentally sound than any ISU team since maybe 2005. They may not be physically great, but they aren't out of position much and the tackling is WAY better than the last few years.
So far what's not to like about the overall defensive improvement? Basically the same bunch of guys as last year with much better results. Sims has been the main addition and he is a big upgrade, if they find that kind of talent out there in the offseason we will begin to get competitive. This K-State contest will be the first test to see if the "D" can keep the game close enough for the offense to produce. If so, they could win two more at home in the North and get six wins. Great job by Burnham, this game will tell us a lot!!
I didn't think this photo was usable because I was on the back side but this is that play.
This..I think the Stat's will be different after the Big 12 grind, but it sure looks like we'll finish better than last year.
