Reply to thread

Message

[QUOTE="billsin01, post: 409269, member: 837"]
Well, I was another of those that were -- at best -- very skeptical that we could suddenly turn this offense around. I'm happily dining on crow these days. I will never buy into the argument that it's the same offense, but it has clearly turned on a dime and gone from inconsistent at best to pretty damn productive seemingly overnight.
 
I also think the combined ranking highlights the nice job the defense has done, more or less, this year. Shafer deserves some criticism for some of the struggles the past couple weeks, but the reality in college football these days is that the spread offenses are simply tough to consistently shut down. I mean, 470 yards/game is 24th in the country. That truly is absurd. 
 
What you need a defense to do is tackle as well as possible, try to avoid big plays, force some turnovers, get tough in the red zone and, above all else, be able to generate some negative plays. This defense always generates negative plays (19th nationally), which is huge. The tackling has to improve (40% allowed 3rd down conversions is a bit on the high side) and the turnovers, surprisingly, need to improve going forward. 
 
Still, while 26 ppg (57th), 380 yds/game (50th), and 14 total turnovers aren't great numbers by any stretch, you can win with that kind of defense.
But, the struggles this season have been tied largely to specials: 112th in net punting, 103rd in punt returns, and a terribly shaky kicking game. That hurts.
[/QUOTE]

Verification

What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?