The "third down and long" front page post is worth a read....

[Ten Thousan Marbles]

We really have not discussed our poor play on first down very much. Seems like a worthy subject.

Then, we can get to the calls being made on second down plays. Etc.

So, sure, we were not executing consistently well.

I cannot escape the feeling, though, that we seem to just slack off more times than not after the failed first down play. It is akin to a general feeling of dread.....that feeling I get when we do poorly on first down. Against supposedly lesser teams. It seems to be our thing.

 

[Bushwood CC]

We really have not discussed our poor play on first down very much. Seems like a worthy subject.

Then, we can get to the calls being made on second down plays. Etc.

So, sure, we were not executing consistently well.

I cannot escape the feeling, though, that we seem to just slack off more times than not after the failed first down play. It is akin to a general feeling of dread.....that feeling I get when we do poorly on first down. Against supposedly lesser teams. It seems to be our thing.

Conversely, our 3rd Down defense against Temple the final 36 minutes of the game reeked.... The combination of those two things - our offense stinking after a non-productive 1st down play and on the other side, our defense failing to get off the field on 3rd Down repeatedly.....is a deadly combination that we have seen in the past many, many times (I know there are a lot of Scrap fans on the board, and I think he's a great guy - have met him personally several times), but his 3rd-&-long defensive strategies and schemes were some of the worst and least effective IMHO.

 

[PSU-Knocker]

many times (I know there are a lot of Scrap fans on the board, and I think he's a great guy - have met him personally several times), but his 3rd-&-long defensive strategies and schemes were some of the worst and least effective IMHO.

I am not a Scrap fan (but think he's been a great coach that was helped significantly by tutelage from Vanderlinden). How do you explain the consistent top ten defensives if the third down defense was not up to your standards? That's top ten year after year in 120 Division 1 teams.

You don't get to be top ten by giving up first downs, you get there by shutting down the opposing team (allowing them few first downs).

 

[AWS1022]

You say top 10 defense, but top 10 in what? There's a million ways to rank defenses. I would say we were top 10 in points allowed more than anything else. I agree with Bushwood, Scrap's defenses allowed a lot of third down conversions and teams seemed to move the ball until they got down near the red zone, then the defense stiffened up. I remember reading a lot of comments on this board about the bend but don't break defenses. We didn't blitz a lot and we didn't generate a ton of three and outs.

 

[PSU-Knocker]

You say top 10 defense, but top 10 in what? There's a million ways to rank defenses. I would say we were top 10 in points allowed more than anything else. I agree with Bushwood, Scrap's defenses allowed a lot of third down conversions and teams seemed to move the ball until they got down near the red zone, then the defense stiffened up. I remember reading a lot of comments on this board about the bend but don't break defenses. We didn't blitz a lot and we didn't generate a ton of three and outs.

In yards allowed! You perceptions are not reality, statistics are.