Should we expect the defense to look any better this week?

[NorthFlaCane]

Positives:

• This is the 5th game now, so hopefully the communication in the zone should have improved. It can't be as bad as it was against Boston College.
• Chickillo has been productive the last 2 games.
• Eddie Johnson has stepped up into a role.
• This game is at home, finally. Maybe we'll get more than 20K on hand.
• The safety play has improved a little bit since putting Bush & Highsmith in the lineup.

Negatives:

• The dline is still mediocre at best.
• Our linebackers are still racked with injuries - No Perryman, Kirby (probably), or Buchanon.
• Curtis Porter is still hurt.

Seems like there is more positive than negative, but we've made plenty of ****** QBs look like Joe Montana so there's no hope in confusing a 5th year senior in Glennon. I'm all in on blitzing him and living with the results, but I don't expect D'Onofrio to do that. We'll probably come out with the same vanilla stuff we've ran all year and hope they miss a field goal or something.

 

[umhurricane2511]

This game will come down to 2 things IMO



1) Which team can pick up/get off the field on 3rd down

2) Turnovers

 

[FlipT]

If we have a few long drives in the 2nd half, we will win. The issue with our defense is we have no depth/quality depth and the offense goes 3 and out. When this happens it burns out an already suspect defense and we cant recover. Our defense looked sharper last week after the long drives and were able to get stops when needed.

 

[jevoasis]

Hope that now the Dline has fallen into some type of rotation we start to see both more pressure on the QB, and sturdier play vs the run. Also helps that E Johnson is growing by leaps and bounds each week.

 

[canecountry3]

No. Nothing has indicated any kind of jump in improvement.

 

[HurricaneDeak]

I think we should expect to see the defense get a little better every week. The thing about a defense is they have to gel together. When you have a bunch of first year starters and young players you don't have a gel. Even though a defensive play is called and people should be doing their job, when the play doesn't go exactly how you practiced it you need to know how the other defensive players are going to react. Those reactions come with time and playing together. The more the defense plays together and reacts accordingly the better they will get.

Plus the more the defense gels together the more defensive sets D'Onofrio will be able to put in. With the young players and first time starters, he was really having to dumb the defense down. He will be able to open up soon and you will really get to see what those men are capable of doing. I believe this game is when we really start to see that.

 

[JHallCanes]

I think the defense will be "slightly" better. These guys have been through a lot in a few weeks and have grown up quite a bit.

That said, NC St. is a lot better than the BC team we faced so we will see how it goes.

I love how Finnie and McGee are playing, and obviously Bush as well. Finnie played like a grown *** man last week.

 

[Canesfan1899]

I think the defense will be "slightly" better. These guys have been through a lot in a few weeks and have grown up quite a bit.

That said, NC St. is a lot better than the BC team we faced so we will see how it goes.

I love how Finnie and McGee are playing, and obviously Bush as well. Finnie played like a grown *** man last week.

Agree that the CB play has been a lot better since BC, only issue still comes down to the pass rush. If we can't get after Glennon it's going to be a long afternoon. I like what I saw out of Chick the last 2 weeks though, and S. Green played well, hopefully it's a sign of things to come.

 

[OkieCane]

Klein was 9/11 for 200+ yards and almost 20ypc

 

[JHallCanes]

I think the defense will be "slightly" better. These guys have been through a lot in a few weeks and have grown up quite a bit.

That said, NC St. is a lot better than the BC team we faced so we will see how it goes.

I love how Finnie and McGee are playing, and obviously Bush as well. Finnie played like a grown *** man last week.

Agree that the CB play has been a lot better since BC, only issue still comes down to the pass rush. If we can't get after Glennon it's going to be a long afternoon. I like what I saw out of Chick the last 2 weeks though, and S. Green played well, hopefully it's a sign of things to come.

When we played BC we showed we could be stout on short yardage runs. We stiffened up quite a few times.

We are strong on the line and we proved it again last week.

But yeah, there is just no pass rush to be found and that's not just going to change until guys like McCord can play more snaps.

 

[JHallCanes]

Klein was 9/11 for 200+ yards and almost 20ypc

Meh. Klein was too much for our team, **** he was too much for Oklahoma. We won't see a more dominant player all year, not even against FSU.

 

[865CaneFam]

Is Highsmith playing strong or free safety? i was at the game saturday and He and Bush lined up at both safety positions

 

[Staybon]

No. Nothing has indicated any kind of jump in improvement.

pretty much the truth. we gave up 36 points last game. non subdivision teams are averaging 40 points against us with the lowest being 32 by BC. i'll be happy if its a hop of improvement. Hold them to less than the 32 BC scored and I'll take that as a positive.

 

[Staybon]

Klein was 9/11 for 200+ yards and almost 20ypc

Meh. Klein was too much for our team, **** he was too much for Oklahoma. We won't see a more dominant player all year, not even against FSU.

Klein is great but he's not supposed to be 9/11 for over 200 yards against anyone. He's a runner 1st, 2nd, and passer 3rd.

 

[OkieCane]

Klein was 9/11 for 200+ yards and almost 20ypc

Meh. Klein was too much for our team, **** he was too much for Oklahoma. We won't see a more dominant player all year, not even against FSU.

he was 13-21 for 140 vs OU

 

[guppycane]

I am actually worried about regression since we are playing a team that we don't know they are running the ball 98% of the time. We have done ok at stopping the RB's at least on some 3 and short or 4th and short situations. My fear is when we don't know if it going to be a run or a pass on 3rd and 5 that we will give up 7 yards every time.

that or they decide to pass 40 times and get 400 yards through the air.

but I was wrong about our ability to keep GT in check so hopefully I will be wrong again.

 

[JHallCanes]

Klein was 9/11 for 200+ yards and almost 20ypc

Meh. Klein was too much for our team, **** he was too much for Oklahoma. We won't see a more dominant player all year, not even against FSU.

Klein is great but he's not supposed to be 9/11 for over 200 yards against anyone. He's a runner 1st, 2nd, and passer 3rd.

Right which is exactly why he was 9/11 against us. We sell out against the run, cant get to him, so he has easy passes downfield. But regardless thats not my point.

Klein doesn't have anything to do with the progression of this defense, not even really sure why his name came up in the first place.

 

[OkieCane]

Klein was 9/11 for 200+ yards and almost 20ypc

Meh. Klein was too much for our team, **** he was too much for Oklahoma. We won't see a more dominant player all year, not even against FSU.

Klein is great but he's not supposed to be 9/11 for over 200 yards against anyone. He's a runner 1st, 2nd, and passer 3rd.

Right which is exactly why he was 9/11 against us. We sell out against the run, cant get to him, so he has easy passes downfield. But regardless thats not my point.

Klein doesn't have anything to do with the progression of this defense, not even really sure why his name came up in the first place.

I was responding to posters who thought our pass defense was much improved since BC. Kleins efficeincy was better than Rettigs, not sure it's gotten better, it was opponent driven (BCC/GT aren't going to test the pass defense much, Glennon will)

 

[JHallCanes]

Klein was 9/11 for 200+ yards and almost 20ypc

Meh. Klein was too much for our team, **** he was too much for Oklahoma. We won't see a more dominant player all year, not even against FSU.

Klein is great but he's not supposed to be 9/11 for over 200 yards against anyone. He's a runner 1st, 2nd, and passer 3rd.

Right which is exactly why he was 9/11 against us. We sell out against the run, cant get to him, so he has easy passes downfield. But regardless thats not my point.

Klein doesn't have anything to do with the progression of this defense, not even really sure why his name came up in the first place.

I was resonding to posters who thought our pass defense was much improved since BC. Kleins efficeincy was better than Rettigs, not sure it's gottne better, it was opponent driven.

Ok I see. I wasn't criticizing you I just wasn't connecting the dots.

I agree there is absolutely no way we can tell if our pass defense has improved. We have faced totally different teams. This is the week where we find out if there's any hope IMO.

There's been improvement by a few players that's undeniable, but how that comes together in an entire scheme remains to be seen, especially if we can't get no cot **** pressure on the QB.

 

[Dingaan1828]

No. Nothing has indicated any kind of jump in improvement.

pretty much the truth. we gave up 36 points last game. non subdivision teams are averaging 40 points against us with the lowest being 32 by BC. i'll be happy if its a hop of improvement. Hold them to less than the 32 BC scored and I'll take that as a positive.

I get your point, but all the teams we have played are subdivision teams. FBS and FCS are subdivisions of Div-1