Chris Ash Defense

[Fondren & Main 6710]

2 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

GR showed immediate improvement. Ash had all of fall camp and we looked like this.

Ash got a raw deal by coming in after Orlando and not getting any spring ball to install his defense. It’s a rough situation for him, especially when these guys didn’t even know how to tackle under Orlando, hut it doesn’t change the fact that our defense isn’t good and won’t just magically become good anytime soon. There are fundamental flaws in our defense that aren’t going away. 
 
And don’t start with the UTEP nonsense. Their schedule has been a joke and their offense could only score 17 points against Abilene Christian. They’re not good at all, and our defensive performance against them was meaningless. 

 

[LTtxfan 49170]

42 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

Ash got a raw deal by coming in after Orlando and not getting any spring ball to install his defense. It’s a rough situation for him, especially when these guys didn’t even know how to tackle under Orlando, hut it doesn’t change the fact that our defense isn’t good and won’t just magically become good anytime soon. There are fundamental flaws in our defense that aren’t going away. 

Looking for a silver lining...

For the first time,  Ash got to see the problems with this personnel running his defense. Tech was the first real B12 offense that this new Ash Defense faced, so I'm not surprised that some "warts" bubbled up.  Ash definitely has a clearer picture of where these players and defense need work.

It's my hope that it could also be a time where Ash makes some coaching adjustments and targeted training by the defensive assistants might allow this defense to begin showing some improvement week to week.

(Kinda like how Teams tend to improve more from week #1 to week #2.)

 

Edited September 28, 2020 by LTtxfan

[South Austin 52463]

1 hour ago, Fondren & Main said:

The overtime stonewall is my expectation for the defense.  

I wonder how much of that was due to Bowman sitting on the sidelines and getting out of a rhythm. 

[JFKFC 4878]

26 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

so I'm not surprised that some "warts" bubbled up.  Ash definitely has a clearer picture of where these players and defense need work.

 

Some warts?

Ever see pictures of people covered head to toe in warts? That is our defense. 

Things will look even worse after the TCU game. 

[DanTheHorn 4922]

Ash has joined the tradition of us tackling air. At least hope is yet to be lost with Ash since his players were at least in position to miss. Todd Orlando had people running around wide open. The only reason his "vintage" game at Houston vs Oklahoma was not a loss is because the OU QB kept missing a wide open TE for touchdowns.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10232]

What I saw was a defense that desperately needs upgraded play at the LB position. I feel like better play there would have negated much of the success Tech had.

The other pieces are there. Consistent good LB play is not and as shown is a very big Achilles heel with pass friendly teams.

[sunset87 240]

On the long run by the Tech RB, Overshown came flying in, never wrapped up and bounced off the RB.  He plays out of control at times.  He can get to places others can't because of his speed but he's going to have play more disciplined or there will be a lot more of those type of missed tackles from him.

[Burt Macklin 19020]

29 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

What I saw was a defense that desperately needs upgraded play at the LB position. I feel like better play there would have negated much of the success Tech had.

The other pieces are there. Consistent good LB play is not and as shown is a very big Achilles heel with pass friendly teams.

LB is by far the worst position, but I certainly wouldn’t say the DBs are there yet. They had a bad game too. The DL was very solid against the run all game, and were actually getting decent pressure if our back 7 didn’t allow the ball to come out so quickly. 

[USNALonghorn 5078]

I re-watched the game, focusing primarily on our defense. The apparent lack of pass rush falls well outside of the top 3 issues I identified.

1. Tackling. Someone posted a statistic where 168 (over 30%) of Texas Tech's yards came after contact. That 75 yard TD run to ice the game (so they thought) was demonstrative of the severity of our issues. Lack of spring practice and a shorter fall camp could not have come at a worse time for this Texas team. Ash obviously had to balance the incredibly limited practice time between installing a completely different defensive scheme and practicing the basics. That is something that was obviously neglected for the past years of our veteran defenders. I'd hope to see that be the number one priority in practice for the next several weeks. 

2. LB play. The linebackers looked lost in coverage and Tech knew they were going to capitalize on that flaw. The quick slants were there almost all day and that was the actual issue that neutralized our pass rush. I don't think this issue will be fixable at all this year. We desperately need a Jordan Hicks type stud or two. The staff needs to recruit better at this position. 

3. DB eye discipline. This seems to be a carryover from the past years as our backs are reverting to some bad habits in the heat of the game. The safeties appear to have improved in that category, as indicated by the 3 interceptions. The corners are still giving up a lot of plays where they don't ever get their eyes on the ball.

[satyanash 14481]

14 hours ago, South Austin said:

Was just about to post this. This defensive stand would be horrendously shitty at any time during a game. But at that particular point it quickly handed the ball back to Sam, and he never gave it up until he scored the go-ahead TD in overtime.

The defense nearly blew it in regulation. Watch the play with 26 seconds left in the game after we tied the score. T.J. Vasher got behind our secondary and nearly reeled in a backbreaking catch to put Tech in FG range, but luckily his foot caught the sideline as he came down with the ball.

[Yesh 913]

I haven't re-watched the whole game, but just focusing on the first series, is there a reason the LBs don't get their hands on the WRs, even just a quick push to get them off their path?

[JBJ 3654]

Our underneath coverage (LB/N/S) wasn't great.  When I watched live, I just assumed Tech was pulling in our defense with RPOs, but the reality is that Bowman was hitting natural windows.

A lot of Tech's passes into match or man coverages were decently contested.  I'm not sure sure what to make of that.  Getting beat on the route is obviously worse, but I don't think the QB/WR play gets much easier thru B12 play.  We need to finish these contests.

We need to play more physical in the secondary. WRs should not be getting out of brakes without contact.  This was supposed to be an emphasis.

Ossai makes no effort to hold contain on several runs that we get burned on.  I need to go back to make sure, but I think this was a playcall/gameplan issue.  For example, that run that should have ended the game placed Adimora against a free-released OT.

[Mikey4 2476]

The defense nearly blew it in regulation. Watch the play with 26 seconds left in the game after we tied the score. T.J. Vasher got behind our secondary and nearly reeled in a backbreaking catch to put Tech in FG range, but luckily his foot caught the sideline as he came down with the ball.

I forgot about that. That was our Crabtree moment, so to speak. We just got lucky this time.

[Gene Parmesan 4005]

LBs suck.  Not that having a bunch of highly rated LBs wouldn't help, and obviously we'd love to have all the top rated guys we missed out on, but they'd just be poorly coached and making the same mistakes.  Look at our DBs.  

[Ghost of Shag 2608]

Rewatched the game. 

--It's obvious that from the beginning, Tech was targeting our linebackers.  Many, many plays were simply designed for the slot receiver(s) to run just behind the linebackers (sometimes in front of them) and turn around.  They would throw in some play action occasionally to confuse them even more.  Our defensive line did just fine.  But Bowman was throwing it (just like UTEP) quickly because it was easy and effective.

--Overshown really struggled.  The only thing I'll give him is that he put forth the effort, which is more than I can say for Juwan Mitchell.  Fuck that guy, put in a walk-on, I don't care.  What a pussy.  I hope all Overshown does all week is work on tackling.

--The offense hung us out to try in the third quarter with a horrific series that put our guys back on the field too early after a long Tech drive.  Maybe it's an excuse, but it's true that the D was gassed.  

--Reese Leitao gets abused any time he's in the game.  He got flattened so badly on a pancake once that I thought they might need a bulldozer to scrape him off the turf.  

--The DBs aren't great, but they aren't terrible, either.  Give credit to Vasher, a senior wide receiver, for making some really nice plays.  

--I mean I could say our tackling sucks, but you have eyes.  

--Sterns was oddly quiet.  Perhaps they didn't go to his side of the field much, but I didn't see him making much noise.  

--Ash is gonna have to earn his paycheck against these up-tempo spread teams using bad linebackers and mediocre defensive backs.  I hate to think what Oklahoma will do to our defense, and the only hope we have is that our offense can do the same to them.  

Edited September 28, 2020 by Ghost of Shag

[Sgt Hulk 13714]

i know our tackling is terrible and we are attributing some of the failures of spring camp and shortened practice.   But also these guys are accomplished highly recruited stars out of highschool, are labotomies given before their freshman  year to reteach them the game?  Our guys are sometimes making first time ever playing football mistakes

[SuckitKevin 920]

1 hour ago, Gene Parmesan said:

LBs suck.  Not that having a bunch of highly rated LBs wouldn't help, and obviously we'd love to have all the top rated guys we missed out on, but they'd just be poorly coached and making the same mistakes.  Look at our DBs.  

This is where I’m at. Are our lb’s that bad or poorly coached? How long does it take to recognize what they’re doing and add an extra db? In other words, coaching seems to suck. DL is fine, no one can get to the qb when he releases the ball as quickly as he did due to soft or poor coverage.

[USNALonghorn 5078]

6 minutes ago, Sgt Hulk said:

i know our tackling is terrible and we are attributing some of the failures of spring camp and shortened practice.   But also these guys are accomplished highly recruited stars out of highschool, are labotomies given before their freshman  year to reteach them the game?  Our guys are sometimes making first time ever playing football mistakes

It’s a perishable skill, especially when neglected to the extent it was under TO. We saw the same thing with even better athletes under _iaz. 

[LTtxfan 49170]

11 minutes ago, SuckitKevin said:

This is where I’m at. Are our lb’s that bad or poorly coached? How long does it take to recognize what they’re doing and add an extra db? In other words, coaching seems to suck. DL is fine, no one can get to the qb when he releases the ball as quickly as he did due to soft or poor coverage.

Mitchell was a wasted body on the field against Tech -- kid doesn't seem to give a shit about doing his job (eventhough he has talent).

[elguapo 4586]

Mitchell looked like he was running in sand on Saturday. I think he's just totally lost trying to process what he should be doing.

[elguapo 4586]

Also what the hell happened to Green? He got picked on and abused any time he was on the field.

[Stannis 232]

5 minutes ago, elguapo said:

Also what the hell happened to Green? He got picked on and abused any time he was on the field.

My recollection is that Tech's big receivers, including Vasher, who appears to be a damn good football player, made some insane catches in traffic against decent coverage by Green, Jamison, and Thompson at different times.  I know all college football fans are trained to think that when their guys execute, only good things should happen.  But Tech rolled out some really talented receivers and a quarterback who put the ball on the money much of the time, and those guys executed.  I don't recall any glaring busted coverages.  I recall Vasher taking balls out of the air in contested situations.

So, I don't know that Green was "abused."  Consistent with the last few years, our CBs have trouble turning and making plays on the ball and tackling.  

[JBJ 3654]

On one of the longer slant completions, Adimora bit on the swing pass and Thompson was too slow to press the slant. The completion is more on Adimora, but Thompson at least should have made the tackle.

On the diving TD to Vasher the DB lost good position turning for the ball.

But on the whole the CBs played well.  Tech snagged more than their fair share of contested balls.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10232]

55 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Mitchell was a wasted body on the field against Tech -- kid doesn't seem to give a shit about doing his job (eventhough he has talent).

My hope is Adeoye will get up to speed asap and replace him. He's only been back for 3 weeks but from what Mitchell showed I'd take my chances with bringing Adeoye in early.

Otherwise we're looking at Cort who looked great in the bowl game in everything except pass coverage ability....

Pray Adeoye's foot and shoulder injury are healed and he's ready to go.

[elguapo 4586]

43 minutes ago, Stannis said:

My recollection is that Tech's big receivers, including Vasher, who appears to be a damn good football player, made some insane catches in traffic against decent coverage by Green, Jamison, and Thompson at different times.  I know all college football fans are trained to think that when their guys execute, only good things should happen.  But Tech rolled out some really talented receivers and a quarterback who put the ball on the money much of the time, and those guys executed.  I don't recall any glaring busted coverages.  I recall Vasher taking balls out of the air in contested situations.

So, I don't know that Green was "abused."  Consistent with the last few years, our CBs have trouble turning and making plays on the ball and tackling.  

He definitely got abused on the Vasher TD at the end of the 3rd quarter. Losing on 50/50 balls and missing tackles is one thing, Green didn't even get close enough to attempt a tackle on Vasher here.

 

Of course he also got taken out by Adeoye's wild diving tackle attempt after taking a horrible angle

Edited September 28, 2020 by elguapo

[Texasrocks 2133]

I didn't get to watch the whole game, but I don't remember thinking there were structural issues with the defense like we saw with Orlando that resulted in wide open running lanes or receivers running free in the secondary. I thought the secondary provided pretty good coverage and just got beat. That happens. I'll be more concerned if we keep seeing our linebackers getting torched without adjusting. Basically, it didn't look like the design of the defense was flawed. Which hopefully means it can be fixed with better execution and adjusting our coverage to protect the linebackers more.

[Leanderman 2275]

Really surprised no one has mentioned all the holding on techs offensive line during this game?

[bschoolprof 6252]

Can we blame our LB coach for our LBs looking lost?  Hutzler seems like he sucks thus far.  

[Apex73 313]

3 hours ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

What I saw was a defense that desperately needs upgraded play at the LB position. I feel like better play there would have negated much of the success Tech had.

The other pieces are there. Consistent good LB play is not and as shown is a very big Achilles heel with pass friendly teams.

Apparently you missed the part where our secondary couldn't cover a dead man.  I agree that LB is the biggest weakness on defense but that secondary couldn't cover or tackle at all.  Not sure what the LB's have to do with that.

[Burt Macklin 19020]

1 hour ago, elguapo said:

Mitchell looked like he was running in sand on Saturday. I think he's just totally lost trying to process what he should be doing.

He also looked like he was running in sand when he tried to return a fumble caused by Ossai that was called an incompletion. He’s just really slow and not a LB that fits the Big 12. It was evident from his JUCO film when we signed him, but TO hadn’t signed anyone and has a total nightmare depth chart on his hands. 

10 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

My hope is Adeoye will get up to speed asap and replace him. He's only been back for 3 weeks but from what Mitchell showed I'd take my chances with bringing Adeoye in early.

Otherwise we're looking at Cort who looked great in the bowl game in everything except pass coverage ability....

Pray Adeoye's foot and shoulder injury are healed and he's ready to go.

Adeoye is not the answer. He’s also slow AF and hasn’t looked good when he plays. Cort is Adeoye but with better instincts. 

[Apex73 313]

1 hour ago, Ghost of Shag said:

Rewatched the game. 

--It's obvious that from the beginning, Tech was targeting our linebackers.  Many, many plays were simply designed for the slot receiver(s) to run just behind the linebackers (sometimes in front of them) and turn around.  They would throw in some play action occasionally to confuse them even more.  Our defensive line did just fine.  But Bowman was throwing it (just like UTEP) quickly because it was easy and effective.

--Overshown really struggled.  The only thing I'll give him is that he put forth the effort, which is more than I can say for Juwan Mitchell.  Fuck that guy, put in a walk-on, I don't care.  What a pussy.  I hope all Overshown does all week is work on tackling.

--The offense hung us out to try in the third quarter with a horrific series that put our guys back on the field too early after a long Tech drive.  Maybe it's an excuse, but it's true that the D was gassed.  

--Reese Leitao gets abused any time he's in the game.  He got flattened so badly on a pancake once that I thought they might need a bulldozer to scrape him off the turf.  

--The DBs aren't great, but they aren't terrible, either.  Give credit to Vasher, a senior wide receiver, for making some really nice plays.  

--I mean I could say our tackling sucks, but you have eyes.  

--Sterns was oddly quiet.  Perhaps they didn't go to his side of the field much, but I didn't see him making much noise.  

--Ash is gonna have to earn his paycheck against these up-tempo spread teams using bad linebackers and mediocre defensive backs.  I hate to think what Oklahoma will do to our defense, and the only hope we have is that our offense can do the same to them.  

The DB's were beyond terrible.

[elguapo 4586]

5 minutes ago, Leanderman said:

Really surprised no one has mentioned all the holding on techs offensive line during this game?

I think we've all just accepted that our DL are going to get held all game by the opposing OL and it's rarely if ever going to get called by the shitty big 12 refs that we are stuck with for some reason I'll never understand.

[JBJ 3654]

5 minutes ago, elguapo said:

He definitely got abused on the Vasher TD at the end of the 3rd quarter. Losing on 50/50 balls and missing tackles is one thing, Green didn't even get close enough to attempt a tackle on Vasher here.

That's the play I was referencing above.  Got the players mixed up.

This is a Sky 4 coverage.  Green is playing Match 1-2.  He is supposed to top #1 until #2 runs something vertical and out.  He basically owns the entire sideline from deep to short, ignoring the flat.  He is expecting underneath help from the OLB (who is Overshown) for anything short and inside and deep inside help (like on a deep curl or post) from the safety (the Safety Matches 2-1).

Overshown is Match 2-Curl-Out.  He carries anything short and outside from #2, forcing #2 inside to the safety if he goes vertical or mike if he goes inside. Settling into the curl while being aware of anything in the flat.

----

On this play:

Green should be over the top of the slant, favoring the outside (preventing sluggos).  He probably can't get to the ball, but should be able to time a hit to dislodge it or at least make the tackle.

Overshown should force the slot inside (he does) then hover in the curl around 10 yards deep.  He needs to be aware of #3, but he does not need to come down to cover it unless the RB starts to head upfield.

These two defenders should essentially have the slant sandwiched.  Overshown, instead of hovering over the RB, comes down hard and opens an easy lane.  Green isn't positioned well enough to make an immediate hit.

[HtownHorn 14677]

Tech was 5/6 on 3rd-4th downs 5 yards or less, while Texas 5/6.

Tech was 2/6 on 3rd-4th downs 6-9 yards, while Texas was 1/6.

Tech was 1/5 on 3rd-4th downs 10+ yards, while Texas was 0/4.

What really killed Texas in the 3rd quarter and most of the 4th was the 70 yards in penalties, including 3 PFs.

Edited September 28, 2020 by HtownHorn

[LTtxfan 49170]

(Scipio Tex) Texas Tech Postmortem: Defense   (Thanks @satyanash  )

The Texas defense matched the inconsistent output of the Texas offense. If I’m going to hold that the Texas offense wasn’t quite as good as 63 points on the scoreboard suggests, it’s only fair to point out that the Texas defense wasn’t quite as bad as a series record 56 points allowed implies. Texas had stretches of good defense and some alarming periods of incompetence and fundamental ineptitude. But they can’t be held responsible for Red Raider points via fumbled punts, short fields, and punt blocks. They sure as heck can be held responsible for surrendering five TD passes, Tech converting 8 of 16 on 3rd down, terrible tackling  and allowing 75 yard touchdown runs with the game in the balance.

Tech opened the game with an easy opening drive touchdown. The Tech OC Yost played Canadian football the entire drive - they never faced a third down and only ran the ball once. I’m not sure how Tech shocks you going tempo and throwing it on rhythm if you have access to film, but it was an interesting Saturday. On that drive, Alan Bowman went 5 of 5 for 73 yards, with WR KeSean Carter doing the lion’s share of the damage on in cuts off of rub routes. That’s one of their trademarks, so again, I don’t think was a big surprise. Carter would finish the half with 5 catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns. Highly physical Erik Ezukanma also proved a problem early, grabbing 4-61-1td of his own in the first half of play. Bad tackling and a lack of overall awareness was on display in that drive and it foreshadowed much of what plagued this defense in Lubbock.

It is important to note that the Texas defense did eventually acclimate to the Tech passing game. And Tech never completed a pass for more than 29 yards. Aside from forcing three huge interceptions that created significant field position and momentum reversals, the Texas defense held Bowman to 16 of 30 for 153 yards passing in the second half. Absent TJ Vasher’s 2nd half playmaking, Tech really didn’t have much going in the passing game and both Carter and Ezukanma were largely erased after the half.

Similarly, if someone - anyone - simply does their job on SaRodorick Thompson’s 75 yard touchdown gallop, the Texas defense pitches a complete run game shutout. Frustrating. Texas struggled to get pressure on Bowman consistently and that was certainly not for a lack of bodies in the rotation trying to get after it. Tech has a very good pass blocking interior OL, but their tackles were vulnerable and Bowman dropped back 54 times to throw. We can’t log a sack? Or a half dozen QB hits?

As much as this game laid bare deficiencies at LB, a lack of pass rush, and revealed some members of the Longhorn secondary with more preseason press than on-field performance,  it also highlighted some real ballers like Chris Adimora. We’ll need more guys like him to emerge. By my count, three Texas defenders were responsible for 9 missed tackles. The rest of the Texas defense missed four.

Final Thoughts

I promised Texas fans that Chris Ash would have some teaching opportunities with this Texas defense. He just got a big one. Let’s see what he can impart to his pupils and correct against TCU on Saturday. He also has his own learning curve with respect to the Big 12. Let’s see what Tech taught him.

Edited September 29, 2020 by LTtxfan

[Deej 76759]

4 hours ago, Leanderman said:

Really surprised no one has mentioned all the holding on techs offensive line during this game?

You do know that isn't a penalty when playing a conference game against Texas?

[satyanash 14481]

1. Where is Juwan Mitchell's head at? Instead of dropping back to take away the slant he kind of just bounces up and down. By the time he moves the ball is already by him.

2. B.J. Foster's tackling form is more than a little disturbing.

 

[LTtxfan 49170]

4 minutes ago, satyanash said:

1. Where is Juwan Mitchell's head at? Instead of dropping back to take away the slant he kind of just bounces up and down. By the time he moves the ball is already by him.

2. B.J. Foster's tackling form is more than a little disturbing.

 

• Correct on both points Saty...
• No way that was a Rugby style tackle attempt by Foster..
• Overshown missed at least 5 tackles by  Scipio Tex's count

[Hmmm 155]

this play sucked.  could have been a penalty on OU for blocking before catch but that's a hard one to call.  and wouldn't have made a difference.  the optimist in me says that's why Mitchell was late to the throwing lane though, he should have been scooting right earlier

 

Edited September 29, 2020 by Hmmm

[Burt Macklin 19020]

3 hours ago, satyanash said:

1. Where is Juwan Mitchell's head at? Instead of dropping back to take away the slant he kind of just bounces up and down. By the time he moves the ball is already by him.

2. B.J. Foster's tackling form is more than a little disturbing.

 

Mitchell was flat footed like that all game. He was just awful. It’s why a lot of the coverage issues were on the LBs, not the DBs. It’s a bad tackle attempt by Foster but if Mitchell gets to his drop, the pass is never open or the QB at least has to out some height on it, so the receiver is an easy target. We let receivers make easy catches with a full head of steam into our secondary all day, which is part of why the DBs struggled to make tackles. 

[JBJ 3654]

Sterns is lost also on that play.  Doesn't look like he knows what the coverage is.

Edited September 29, 2020 by JBJ

[MonkeyDoughnut 10232]

19 hours ago, Sgt Hulk said:

i know our tackling is terrible and we are attributing some of the failures of spring camp and shortened practice.   But also these guys are accomplished highly recruited stars out of highschool, are labotomies given before their freshman  year to reteach them the game?  Our guys are sometimes making first time ever playing football mistakes

Today that seems to mean great highlight reels, not necessary great football.  Most of these guys are just freak athletes, not great "football" players. Most of them have never been taught how to do things correctly because their athleticism can make up for a lot of it in high school.

[satyanash 14481]

 

[Dnaguy 11943]

22 minutes ago, satyanash said:

 

[Bodacious Bevo 3584]

Bit late to the conversation on defense but I wanted to talk about our upside and ceiling on that side of the ball

I charted all of Tech's traditional run plays (i.e. handoffs) from the weekend (there's probably a couple errors but w/e). Their average yards before contact (YBC) was .55 with half of my charted plays involving contact at or behind the LOS. That's really really good. I can't find a college football YBC stat, but the lowest YBC of any NFL RB last season was 1.2. So .55 is likely an elite number. I think it speaks to the ability of our front 6 to get penetration while maintaining gap integrity. Seriously, all of our DL take turns getting in to the backfield and Overshown/Mitchell, for all their flaws, have been good about meeting RBs in the right gaps. We lost containment on the edge a couple times, but there is enough athleticism and physicality in the secondary to minimize the damage that would cause. All in all, Tech ball carriers only got to the secondary untouched twice on Saturday (once on a jet sweep, once when because Overshown was being held very clearly but there was no call).

Of course, YBC sounds good but doesn't matter if you can't get the guy to the ground. That's why their team had 4.8 YPC, an extra 4.3 yards after contact (YAC). 2 extra yards would be fine, maybe even 3, but 4+ is god awful. Derrick Henry led the NFL at 3.2 YAC last year. Everybody knows that tackling was absolutely horrendous so I'll just add that there's no real reason for any of us to expect significant improvement. We'll be better than we were against Tech, but I'm just going to expect double digit missed tackles per game. (That's one per drive! Pretty dismal) 

So when I look at this Texas defense, the hope has to be that they shore up tackling just enough to be an elite run defense (Overshown could accomplish this by himself) and make teams one dimensional. Of course, Big 12 teams will happily throw all over you. And that's gonna happen. We have athletes at LB and DB but they're not as well developed as the skill players they'll be lining up against. So I expect teams to light us up in the air, but I also think we can steal a couple possessions per game with negative plays and turnovers. I think if we can end up with a ppg average (conference only) around 27-30 (that's the same level as OSU, WVU, and TCU last year and slightly better than our own) that our offense should be good enough to win 9+. Hell, OU won the conference giving up 37.6 in 2018, although our offense won't be that consistent. 

So to finish up: is our defense going to be good? No. Can it be good enough to win the big 12? Yes. Marginal improvements in tackling will make us an elite run D. Shore up LB drops in pass coverage and the pass rush and we're on track for a CCG berth. 

[brojangles2 786]

I have always been of the belief that a few correctable mistakes on film are a positive. Especially week 2. I am all for having bonehead things on film to nip in the bud. Lets see what happens Saturday! A hard nosed performance will bode well for morale going into hate week. 

[Burt Macklin 19020]

15 minutes ago, brojangles2 said:

I have always been of the belief that a few correctable mistakes on film are a positive. Especially week 2. I am all for having bonehead things on film to nip in the bud. Lets see what happens Saturday! A hard nosed performance will bode well for morale going into hate week. 

A few correctable mistakes would’ve been fine, but our list of correctable mistakes make War and Peace look like a Novella. 

 

[Bevo 13576]

4 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

A few correctable mistakes would’ve been fine, but our list of correctable mistakes make War and Peace look like a Novella. 

 

Yeah, but OU and TCU have just as many "correctable" mistakes. As long as we/Overshown improve each week, we will be fine.

[Nueces River Rat 5538]

Why can't we learn to tackle?    Other teams and even horrible ones at that,  tackle better than we do.   

Is there something in the water?   I mean I've seen film of some of our defensive guys from their high school days and they knew how to tackle back then?  

[LTtxfan 49170]

1 hour ago, Bodacious Bevo said:

I think if we can end up with a ppg average (conference only) around 27-30 (that's the same level as OSU, WVU, and TCU last year and slightly better than our own) that our offense should be good enough to win 9+. , although our offense won't be that consistent.    So to finish up: is our defense going to be good? No. Can it be good enough to win the big 12? Yes. Marginal improvements in tackling will make us an elite run D. Shore up LB drops in pass coverage and the pass rush and we're on track for a CCG berth. 

Enjoyed your write-up.  Your Win 9+ projection reads like Texas is playing a 12 game schedule??

So much has to go right for this 2020 TEXAS team to go 9-1 (regular season) and I hope it does.  Tackling should improve for the Horns with more reps/games.  For me, the Texas Offense scoring 40+ pts for the next 8 games is the bigger  key to winning.... kinda like that blOU team that you mentioned "won the conference giving up 37.6 in 2018".  

I think this current defense can keep most teams left on their schedule under 40 points -- although blOU could be one helluva shootout if the Texas defense doesn't "punch Rattler in the mouth early".

 

Edited September 30, 2020 by LTtxfan