2017 Spring Football

[jackmd]

Re: 2017 Spring Football

Getting off the field on 3rd down has been our Achilles heel on defense for several years. I think some of that comes from the bend don't break mantra that Stig touts. NDSU has taken us to the woodshed because of our inability to get off the field. If we want to complete for a natty we've got to figure that out.

100% accurate. The talent is there in my opinion. Is it the scheme? There can't be another successful program in all of FCS that is worse on 3rd down then the Jackrabbit defense. I think its the defensive calls but what do I know.

[Hareofthedog]

Re: 2017 Spring Football

Totally agree with jackmd. How many third and forever did the defense give up last year. Crucial 3rd downs and to give up 15 or more yards to keep the defense on the field. Please change something in the scheme this year.

[jackdaniel]

Re: 2017 Spring Football

Getting off the field on 3rd down has been our Achilles heel on defense for several years. I think some of that comes from the bend don't break mantra that Stig touts. NDSU has taken us to the woodshed because of our inability to get off the field. If we want to complete for a natty we've got to figure that out.

Too much bending and not enough holding your ground.

[GopherHole]

Re: 2017 Spring Football

100% accurate. The talent is there in my opinion. Is it the scheme? There can't be another successful program in all of FCS that is worse on 3rd down then the Jackrabbit defense. I think its the defensive calls but what do I know.

I was hoping to prove you wrong, but you were spot on! Jacks ranked 116 out of 122 schools in the FCS and last in the MVF. It just shows how potent our offense really was to win the conference with a defense that could not get three and outs.

Third down conversion percentage allowed - Defense

1 - Jacksonville St (.231)
7 - Southern Illinois (.297)
8 - Villanova (.299)
21 - Youngstown State (.335)
35 - Illinois State (.359)
55 - Drake (.381)
60 - UNI (.387)
75 - Indiana State (.401)
83 - NDSU (.404)
96 - Western Illinois (.419)
98 - Missouri State (.422)
104 - USD (.436)
116 - SDSU (.474)
120 - Cal Poly (.484)
122 - Western Carolina (.543)

During NDSU's run of national championships, they were consistently in the top 20%, including being #1 in 2012.

Bend, but don't break defenses usually end up breaking at some point.

Other facts: SDSU was 71st in rushing defense at 174.9 yds/game, 76th in passing defense at 228.8 yds/game, 57th in scoring defense at 27.3 pts/game, 73rd in total defense at 403.7 yds/game, 115th in first downs allowed. The bright spots were that we were +7 in turnover margin, ranking us tied with Villanova at #26. We also tied for 5th in defensive TD's scored.

[GopherHole]

Re: 2017 Spring Football

While you could argue that our 3rd down defense was really bad, being really good in that category does not define success. Southern Illinois was best in the MVFC and 7th overall, yet they finished tied for last in the conference standings.

[Hareofthedog]

Re: 2017 Spring Football

Stats are deceiving sometime. Maybe teams got first downs before the third down stat or scored. The Jacks must be better on defense. Those stats on your resume would get you no work. I thought this was a defensive minded head coach and staff? Oh well. Play well this year offense, it's up to you.

[da_coach]

Re: 2017 Spring Football

Stats are deceiving sometime. Maybe teams got first downs before the third down stat or scored. The Jacks must be better on defense. Those stats on your resume would get you no work. I thought this was a defensive minded head coach and staff? Oh well. Play well this year offense, it's up to you.

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

[MontanaRabbit]

Re: 2017 Spring Football

While you could argue that our 3rd down defense was really bad, being really good in that category does not define success. Southern Illinois was best in the MVFC and 7th overall, yet they finished tied for last in the conference standings.

You very well might be right, but I don't think you can argue that our defenses inability to get off the field in the last game against NDSU was fatal. The stats may not say that because they were picking up first downs on second down but the number of long drives and the TOP in that game say we struggled to get off the field.

I'm picking on one game and maybe we were ok statistically on 3rd down but in order for us to make a deep playoff run we are almost certainly going to have to go through Fargo. They've killed us with the grind it out shove the ball down our throat offense.

[91jack]

Re: 2017 Spring Football

You very well might be right, but I don't think you can argue that our defenses inability to get off the field in the last game against NDSU was fatal. The stats may not say that because they were picking up first downs on second down but the number of long drives and the TOP in that game say we struggled to get off the field.

I'm picking on one game and maybe we were ok statistically on 3rd down but in order for us to make a deep playoff run we are almost certainly going to have to go through Fargo. They've killed us with the grind it out shove the ball down our throat offense.

I will agree that the defenses inability to get off the field on 3rd down (especially 3rd and long) in this game killed SDSU and it drove me crazy but our awesome didn't impress me in the 2nd half either.

1) Get and INT so the ball was on the 1 yard line, safety. It happens!
2) 5 plays- 12 yards INT
3) 3 plays- 1 yard punt
4) 5 plays- 40 yards punt
5) 4 plays- -4 yards (pressing to score quickly)

Game over.

I would hope our offense could mount drives of more than 2, 5, 3, 5 and 4 plays together at some point.
I think the defense probably played worse but I would bet they ran out of gas trying to stop NDSU all game. I know that some of that was them not stopping NDSU on 3rd and long but they didn't get many breaks to rest by the offense either.

By the way, please don't just rush 3 linemen on 3rd and long all season this year unless you have somebody that can put some pressure on the opponents QB.

[MontanaRabbit]

Re: 2017 Spring Football

I will agree that the defenses inability to get off the field on 3rd down (especially 3rd and long) in this game killed SDSU and it drove me crazy but our awesome didn't impress me in the 2nd half either.

1) Get and INT so the ball was on the 1 yard line, safety. It happens!
2) 5 plays- 12 yards INT
3) 3 plays- 1 yard punt
4) 5 plays- 40 yards punt
5) 4 plays- -4 yards (pressing to score quickly)

Game over.

I would hope our offense could mount drives of more than 2, 5, 3, 5 and 4 plays together at some point.
I think the defense probably played worse but I would bet they ran out of gas trying to stop NDSU all game. I know that some of that was them not stopping NDSU on 3rd and long but they didn't get many breaks to rest by the offense either.

By the way, please don't just rush 3 linemen on 3rd and long all season this year unless you have somebody that can put some pressure on the opponents QB.

I agree with everything you posted. Lots of fingerprints on the weapon from the second NDSU game.

[thumper_76]

Re: 2017 Spring Football

Stats are deceiving sometime. Maybe teams got first downs before the third down stat or scored. The Jacks must be better on defense. Those stats on your resume would get you no work. I thought this was a defensive minded head coach and staff? Oh well. Play well this year offense, it's up to you.

I agree to an extent. Without looking at the stats however, I feel generally we were pretty good on getting to 3rd down. The problem with being as poor against the run as we were last year you usually end up in 3rd and short. I remember many 3rd and longs where we just couldn't get off the field at crucial times. I never felt confident that we would get off the field even if they opponent was in 3rd and 10+. That shouldn't be the case. Hopefully the inexperienced corners were part of the problem last year and they perform better with more experience.

The other comment you made about the staff being defensively minded, there are some things that didn't help our defense last year, mostly our switch to utilize our talent passing the ball from a run 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. With a high flying offense like ours is, you generally have worse defensive stats due to strong passing attacks scoring quicker and having less TOP. Your defense just tends to be on the field more. When we had real good defenses we had a very run first offense. Also, if your defense practices against a passing offense in practice it's more difficult to be prepared for a tough ground and pound team.

Long story short I don't think we'll have a complete shut down defense but it certainly can be better than it was. If the D can step up we will be serious title contenders. Thankfully we have essentially 3 warm up games to get the new guys on D some experience at game speed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jackedforlife]

Re: 2017 Spring Football

I think with team speed and inexperience we're going to need to gamble more with blitz packages. I'm all for it...I'd rather take that chance and get burned on occasion but also on occasion blow something up, maybe even turn them over. instead of having them on the field for 8+ minute, 17 play drives...

[CappinHard]

Re: 2017 Spring Football

I think with team speed and inexperience we're going to need to gamble more with blitz packages. I'm all for it...I'd rather take that chance and get burned on occasion but also on occasion blow something up, maybe even turn them over. instead of having them on the field for 8+ minute, 17 play drives...

Yes. Blitz, please... I'm so sick of watching us sit back in our base defense and get picked apart.

[goon]

Re: 2017 Spring Football

Yes. Blitz, please... I'm so sick of watching us sit back in our base defense and get picked apart.

Always seems like the D sits in the zone on 3rd and allows teams to attack the gaps. If a team needed 10. They got 11.

[CappinHard]

Re: 2017 Spring Football

The tweet showing the "Iron Jacks" for this year football team surprises me. Only six players made it? Guess the strength and conditioning program is to tough. It looks similar the last couple years as well. Strength and conditioning relates to the field IMO.