Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="sutomcat, post: 3632993, member: 27"] I ran some numbers to see just how good the defense was post Liberty. The passing yards didn’t show much improvement through the season. Might have gotten worse. I think this is partly a function of injury/opt outs and partly a function of who we played. Our CBs didn’t give up a TD in man coverage (which we played a ton of) until the last 2 games of the season. Those games were against NC State and ND, who both had big, physical WRs and QBs who could make accurate throws. Another reason was that the SU defense got a lot better defending the run, and passing the ball because the easiest way to move the ball. But here are the numbers: [TABLE] [TR] [TD][/TD] [TD]Yards Rushing[/TD] [TD]Carries[/TD] [TD]YPC[/TD] [TD]Yards Passing[/TD] [TD]Points[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]UNC[/TD] [TD]160[/TD] [TD]35[/TD] [TD]4.6[/TD] [TD]303[/TD] [TD]31[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Pitt[/TD] [TD]127[/TD] [TD]44[/TD] [TD]2.9[/TD] [TD]215[/TD] [TD]21[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]GT[/TD] [TD]275[/TD] [TD]52[/TD] [TD]5.3[/TD] [TD]174[/TD] [TD]20[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Duke[/TD] [TD]363[/TD] [TD]63[/TD] [TD]5.8[/TD] [TD]282[/TD] [TD]38[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Liberty[/TD] [TD]338[/TD] [TD]48[/TD] [TD]7[/TD] [TD]182[/TD] [TD]38[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Clemson[/TD] [TD]147[/TD] [TD]37[/TD] [TD]4[/TD] [TD]289[/TD] [TD]47[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Wake[/TD] [TD]187[/TD] [TD]49[/TD] [TD]3.8[/TD] [TD]250[/TD] [TD]38[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]BC[/TD] [TD]191[/TD] [TD]41[/TD] [TD]4.7[/TD] [TD]208[/TD] [TD]16[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]UL[/TD] [TD]134[/TD] [TD]45[/TD] [TD]3[/TD] [TD]279[/TD] [TD]30[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]NC State[/TD] [TD]95[/TD] [TD]44[/TD] [TD]2.2[/TD] [TD]313[/TD] [TD]36[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Notre Dame[/TD] [TD]283[/TD] [TD]40[/TD] [TD]7.1[/TD] [TD]285[/TD] [TD]45[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [TD]-94[/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]YPG[/TD] [TD]172.8333333[/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]YPG*[/TD] [TD]134.7142857[/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] The only difference between the two yards per game numbers post Liberty are the 172.83 is what actually happened. The 134.71 is what the number would be if we discount that 94 run run that Tyree kid made from ND near the end of the game. The 172.83 number would put SU 73nd in the country in rushing yards allowed per game. The 134.71 number would put Syracuse 35th. My conclusion is that the major improvements [USER=114]GoSU96[/USER] is talking about being possible for the defense are indeed very possible. They are in fact well underway. The way to get good on defense is 1) figure out how to stop the run and then 2) figure out how to stop the pass. I think objective 1 is close to happening. That 283 yards ND got looks bad but the fact is that they have virtually no yards rushing in the first half (they only decent gain was the scramble by Book for the TD near the end of the half). If not for that long run by Tyree late, ND would have been held below 200 yards as well. Clemson, ND, Wake...these are all teams that excel at running the ball. The defense really had a paradigm shift after stopping the game after the disastrous Liberty game. Figuring out how to stop the pass remains a work in progress and a big objective for the spring and pre-season. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?