The complaints about our pass defense

[Big10Ponyfan]

I would agree that there is justification for this. When you blitz, you leave corners -- especially our inexperienced corners -- exposed. And we have some technique things we have to resolve.

But let's keep this in perspective, a lot of these yards came we are giving up were when we were way out in front and forced our opposition to abandon its running games. They had to play catch-up. Maybe we were playing a little softer than we should have, but we were also trying to keep the ball in the middle of the field so time would keep ticking off.

We did have the blown coverage on the long ASU TD pass. But remember our defense gave up 21 points to Tulane, and yes, there were a couple of mistakes.

The Tech game was what it was. The fact the Graham Harrells didn't throw for 400 yards was a victory in itself.

I'm not suggesting this will trend this way in El Paso, but I'm just giving the masses something that we might be overlooking.

[ponyboy]

The primary complaint from last week is our inability to deal with the no huddle. We were a sieve. I suspect that some attention is being paid to that during practice this week.

[mrydel]

My primary complaint has not changed. Our corners play very weak and soft. That is ok in a bend don't break, but when the opposition runs an out and go or just a straight fly route, our corners are consistantly caught back on their heels and are blown by. There is some technique problem here. The no huddle, while confusing for a while, simply means that you must play more straight up defense with less blitzing. Thus it was not blitzing that left us vulnerable but rather just poor coverage. I do believe we were in a blitz on the last TD, but if you are going to blitz, you had very well get pressure on quickly. There should not be time for deep passes with a blitz. Our LBs need to get deeper faster, our corners need to get a little tighter, and our safeties need to show more area coverage to help out.

[J.T.supporta]

[quote="Big10Ponyfan"]

The Tech game was what it was. The fact the Graham Harrells didn't throw for 400 yards was a victory in itself.

[/quote]

ARE YOU RETARTED??? anytime a QB puts up 300+ yards on anyones secondary, there is no moral victory what so ever.

[Big10Ponyfan]

The Tech game was what it was. The fact the Graham Harrells didn't throw for 400 yards was a victory in itself.

ARE YOU RETARTED??? anytime a QB puts up 300+ yards on anyones secondary, there is no moral victory what so ever.

Well, since you are going to respond to every thread on every board today, I think it would be wise for you to check your language at the door.

I don't know who you are and you have no right to use that verbal slam at me. What if I had a child who was suffering from mental retardation? I would be pretty upset about.

Choose your words wisely.

[Corso]

Back to the topic at hand:

Big10 is right that the pass defense numbers are skewed. Texas Tech will throw the ball all the time -- they mess up everyone's normal numbers -- and the three opponents we beat all had to throw in an effort to play catch-up. That's not to suggest that we have some world-beating dominant pass defense, but it's not as bad as the numbers might suggest.

[me@smu]

Agree Corso and Big10 alot of ASU and SHS numbers came against our backups because we were up by over 20 pts going into half.

I think Palmer is goign to find it alot harder to throw against us than he thinks. Especially with the pass rush that the front four have been getting lately

[Corso]

To be fair, Palmer also is the best QB we've faced thus far. A big day is not out of the question.

[me@smu]

I don't agree...I think time will show that Harrell is the better QB than Palmer. Palmer makes too many mistakes.

Of course the best we will see will be Kolb when we meet Houston at Ford

[mrydel]

I hope that we intercept 10 passes this weekend and do not allow a single completion, but those of you that are trying to justify our pass defense to date are totally blinded by the light. Our first half performance has been equally bad to the 2nd half, and there have been very few substitutions in the secondary other than the normal rotation of a couple of the CBs throughout the game. The ASU 75 yard TD came early in the game. The 3rd and 17 and 3rd and 20 against Tulane came long before the no-huddle. Admitting the truth is not bad, it is a good thing. Our secondary to date has not performed. tTey are young, inexperienced and learning every game. Just like Willis. Willis, although numbers, alone do not support it, has improved in his ability to run the offense each week. Hopefully our secondary will show improvement also. Again, I truly hope to see some improvemennt and I hold out hope for a win, but if the secondary does not shore up, it will be a long day.

[The PonyGrad]

While our pass defense is #113 our pass efficiency defense is #71 which may be a better indication. That puts us at a C- instead of an F.

[OC Mustang]

Skewed or not, Palmer will probably do three things Saturday regardless of what SMU does:
a) throw for a bunch of yards
b) get sacked at least 3 times
c) stands a strong likelihood of throwing 2-3 pics

So defensively, the obvious approach is to rattle him. Bring heavy pressure. The down side to that is that the secondary gets hung out on their own. Well, if (a) above is true no matter what, then it stands to reason that SMU should stunt and blitz and send Palmer running for his life in order to see that that (b) and (c) occur.

And then when SMU has the ball on offense, the guys make sure that they take their time moving down the field (i.e. 14-15 play drives that suck up 5-10 minutes apiece). UTEP's vaunted offense can't score if it doesn't have the ball.

And that is the key that everybody talking up or down the defense needs to remember. Steal time from them, and their offense must be much more efficient. And if our defense jumps up in efficiency vs. yards passing, then strategically, holding on to the football is the key element in the game.

[SMU_is_bowling]

Easier said than done, but I like where you are going with ball control. That is the best way to keep a good offense out of the game. Sustained drives that keep the opposing offense on the sideline, jumping at the chance to get back out there. Especially if you (SMU) is in the lead, that can make an offense press (because their chances are limited) and make a costly mistake, as this thread has shown, Palmer is prone do doing.

The flip side is you have to control the ball with the running game/short passing game. If that is not working, punts and punts and punts will follow! While we do have a good punter, I would like to see no more than 4 from him saturday (wishful thinking I know).