Defensive stars of UAB game

[Harry]

EJ Ejiya was a stud last night leading the team with 9 tackles.

Khari Muhammed stepped up big again with 8 (3 solo).

McClain and Wheeler had 7 and 6 respectively.

this was not a great defensive effort primarily due to poor pass coverage.  However there are still some good defensive playmakers emerging which is positive.

i have to mention Brandon Garner who had 5 stops and 2 for a loss.  Sid Moore also had another nice game and is playing at an all C-USA level.

Here is a link to the stats;  http://www.meangreensports.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2017-2018/nt04.html#GAME.DEF

[Cerebus]

UAB coaches studied game film and obviously decided that our dbs played aggressive enough that double moves would kill them.

Every staff is going to us that against us now, our coaches need to find a counter.

[DeepGreen]

2 hours ago, Cerebus said:

UAB coaches studied game film and obviously decided that our dbs played aggressive enough that double moves would kill them.

Every staff is going to us that against us now, our coaches need to find a counter.

Throw underneath to Kelvin Smith?  Kelvin was a stud last night.

[GMG24]

Eric Jenkins. 

 

Came in and was targeted 6-7 times quickly and deep and played each of them beautifully.  

[UNT 90 Grad]

3 minutes ago, GMG24 said:

Eric Jenkins. 

 

Came in and was targeted 6-7 times quickly and deep and played each of them beautifully.  

^This.

Side note, after the undisciplined penalties from last week, I wanted to see the coaches rip into Sid Moore after violently chest shoving one of the UAB players in retaliation after a play.  I thought we'd get an unsportsmanlike penalty for sure, but we didn't.  Coaches didn't say a word when he came to the sidelines.  

That crap's got to stop. 

[MeanGreenWarDaddy]

3 minutes ago, UNT 90 Grad said:

^This.

Side note, after the undisciplined penalties from last week, I wanted to see the coaches rip into Sid Moore after violently chest shoving one of the UAB players in retaliation after a play.  I thought we'd get an unsportsmanlike penalty for sure, but we didn't.  Coaches didn't say a word when he came to the sidelines.  

That crap's got to stop. 

I saw Nate Brooks do the same thing after the 1st touchdown he got burned on. Is it me or does Nate seem to be struggling a little bit with the defense style this year. He seem to shine the pervious year(s).

I feel like the coaches and players will get it corrected, but how soon is the question. Pass coverage worries me a lot!! especially with the team we play next.

[SouthBendGreen]

I thought I would log on today and see thread after thread bashing the defense and especially the secondary.  Our run defense is stout but we can't get off the field to save our lives on 3rd and mostly because of the secondary.  What we thought would be the strength is clearly the liability.  Plus we blitz a lot on 3rd down further exposing us.  I'm sure the thought was our secondary is so strong we can leave them on an a island and pin our ears back and blitz but it's not working.  

[Ryan Munthe]

Our secondary is just terrible.

[SouthBendGreen]

13 minutes ago, Ryan Munthe said:

Our secondary is just terrible.

Lol.  You said in 5 words what took me sentences!  But again we need to stop blitzing on 3rd down.  Our inability to get off the field on 3rd will ultimately sink us.  

[Mike Jackson]

41 minutes ago, SouthBendGreen said:

Lol.  You said in 5 words what took me sentences!  But again we need to stop blitzing on 3rd down.  Our inability to get off the field on 3rd will ultimately sink us.  

But the few time they didn't blitz the secondary showed it couldn't with 8 in coverage.  I judge a defense on if they can get a stop when needed.  Against FBS competition they haven't shown that.  UAB stop themselves with inaccurate passing, penalties and dropped balls as much at the Mean Green defense did.  The fact is simply that every time UAB absolutely had to make an offensive play they got it.   So there were no Defensive Stars Saturday .  There just a few who made plays but it wasn't enough.  They just got bailed out by the offense and special teams.

[Cr1028]

4 hours ago, MeanGreenWarDaddy said:

I saw Nate Brooks do the same thing after the 1st touchdown he got burned on. Is it me or does Nate seem to be struggling a little bit with the defense style this year. He seem to shine the pervious year(s).

I feel like the coaches and players will get it corrected, but how soon is the question. Pass coverage worries me a lot!! especially with the team we play next.

Nate looks slower to me this season. He can't recover like he had in the past

Edited September 24, 2017 by Cr1028

[Censored by Laurie]

I'm wondering if Nate Brooks isn't more suited to zone/team coverage than aggressive man-to-man...he excelled in a more complex, conservative system as he seems to have a strong understanding of space, but may simply lack some of the physical and mental (read: arrogant) talents of Jenkins and Hall when put on an island. It was a small sample size, but damn...Eric Jenkins played so well when given his shot late last night. 

I also don't think it can be understated how much Kishawn McCalin has regressed this season and the effect that maybe having on the secondary as a whole, especially Brooks. 

also...not being able to actually see the sideline or hear what chatter is going on the field...does this defense have an actual leader? I think it's right to be critical of scheme and adjustments, but at a point responsibility has to fall on the players as well, especially the third downs which at this point is just as much mental as anything else...something a vocal leader would be taking by the reigns. 

positive notes...Joshua Wheeler needs so much of our love...dude is obviously playing with multiple injuries...he is basically our pass rush right now, though, so he's playing with complete disregard for his body. Ejiya and Muhammad have been fantastic...Young and Moore have over-performed considering they've been asked as under-sized tackles to anchor a three-man line (is Tualo-bear hurt? he didn't play last night, right?). They're gonna benefit so much from English's return.

cleaned up a lot of the silly penalties, too. 

[kj86]

1 hour ago, SouthBendGreen said:

I thought I would log on today and see thread after thread bashing the defense and especially the secondary.  Our run defense is stout but we can't get off the field to save our lives on 3rd and mostly because of the secondary.  What we thought would be the strength is clearly the liability.  Plus we blitz a lot on 3rd down further exposing us.  I'm sure the thought was our secondary is so strong we can leave them on an a island and pin our ears back and blitz but it's not working.  

I, too, was surprised to not find more of this talk on here. The defense was horrible. I can understand that if you blitz, that exposes your secondary, but that means the QB is pressured. It didn't mean that last night. I don't get how DBs repeatedly let receivers get behind them. 

[FireFightnJoey]

They came out in the second half throwing deep.  They obviously knew that was our weakness and it worked.  It is the only plays that kept them alive.  It's the only plays they were successful.  It seemed our D stopped just about everything ran short.  We seemed to get good pressure, but if the play extended too long with their QB running about, someone deep burned us and big.  And almost all their throws were to that Lisa guy.  Every single third and long, I thought to myself they're going deep.  Yep.  Every.Single.Time.  

[UNT 90 Grad]

Why no Colton McDonald last night?  At least I never saw him going in.  We were watching for him because my guest last night is a West Texas A&M alum.  If I remember right, Colton was the 2nd leading tackler in the Iowa game. 

[Caw Caw]

1 hour ago, Censored by Laurie said:

I'm wondering if Nate Brooks isn't more suited to zone/team coverage than aggressive man-to-man...he excelled in a more complex, conservative system as he seems to have a strong understanding of space, but may simply lack some of the physical and mental (read: arrogant) talents of Jenkins and Hall when put on an island. It was a small sample size, but damn...Eric Jenkins played so well when given his shot late last night. 

I also don't think it can be understated how much Kishawn McCalin has regressed this season and the effect that maybe having on the secondary as a whole, especially Brooks. 

also...not being able to actually see the sideline or hear what chatter is going on the field...does this defense have an actual leader? I think it's right to be critical of scheme and adjustments, but at a point responsibility has to fall on the players as well, especially the third downs which at this point is just as much mental as anything else...something a vocal leader would be taking by the reigns. 

positive notes...Joshua Wheeler needs so much of our love...dude is obviously playing with multiple injuries...he is basically our pass rush right now, though, so he's playing with complete disregard for his body. Ejiya and Muhammad have been fantastic...Young and Moore have over-performed considering they've been asked as under-sized tackles to anchor a three-man line (is Tualo-bear hurt? he didn't play last night, right?). They're gonna benefit so much from English's return.

cleaned up a lot of the silly penalties, too. 

I've been thinking about McClain not shining to the same level as last year a lot. I think a lot of it is because Muhammad has been so stellar stopping the run. As far as in the run game, our linebackers, while not Orr level play-makers, play their role pretty disciplined. McClain had so many tackles because our run defense last year was awful and was always in the second level. McClain, is a sure tackler, but he hasn't gotten as many opportunities to make tackles/plays in the run game.

As far as coverage, I think some of our coverage issues begin with the cushion we're giving teams. Even on third and short we're so scared to get beat deep we rarely press. Our corners play pretty cocky, a lot of chip and chatter, I don't think it's helpful when your too focused in on that and not on the situation awareness.

I actually think contrary to a lot people on scheme, I think our worst downs are the ones when we only send three. Maybe when Bryce is back and we can shift Syd back to the edge we'll improve our three man rush, but until that point we need pressure. I think we were scared of the QBs feet which is why we opted for a spy-type set up. Keep bringing heat, put Jenkins in at least for a game to let brooks think about it. If we're sending heat we need good man coverage.

[97and03]

1 hour ago, Censored by Laurie said:

(is Tualo-bear hurt? he didn't play last night, right?).

Yes, he played.

[SouthBendGreen]

2 hours ago, Mike Jackson said:

But the few time they didn't blitz the secondary showed it couldn't with 8 in coverage.  I judge a defense on if they can get a stop when needed.  Against FBS competition they haven't shown that.  UAB stop themselves with inaccurate passing, penalties and dropped balls as much at the Mean Green defense did.  The fact is simply that every time UAB absolutely had to make an offensive play they got it.   So there were no Defensive Stars Saturday .  There just a few who made plays but it wasn't enough.  They just got bailed out by the offense and special teams.

Fantastic point.  Lesser of two evils.  I hope reffet and company can devise a scheme to hide the deficiencies.  I also agree with the comments about guys that played really well last year not playing st those levels.  

But if we keep allowing 50% or more conversions on 3rd we will struggle to win many  more games.  And just think of our offense gets slowed down then we really have no shot.  

[Mean Green 93-98]

1 hour ago, Censored by Laurie said:

I also don't think it can be understated how much Kishawn McCalin has regressed this season and the effect that maybe having on the secondary as a whole, especially Brooks. 

I think you mean "overstated," but that is a good point.  Everyone has spoken of how much the defense revolves around/is led by/depends upon McClain.  If he's not a very strong link, that's a problem for everyone.

[rws69]

1 hour ago, FireFightnJoey said:

They came out in the second half throwing deep.  They obviously knew that was our weakness and it worked.  It is the only plays that kept them alive.  It's the only plays they were successful.  It seemed our D stopped just about everything ran short.  We seemed to get good pressure, but if the play extended too long with their QB running about, someone deep burned us and big.  And almost all their throws were to that Lisa guy.  Every single third and long, I thought to myself they're going deep.  Yep.  Every.Single.Time.  

Being down 30-14 at the half, UAB gambled on an air raid offense in the second half. Our pass defenders did a great job covering most of those passes, but obviously a few got away. Two touchdown catches by Andre Wilson were the only UAB touchdowns that went more than ten yards. That said, UAB averaged almost 20 yards per completion. With nothing to lose, they went deep and deep. 

[Marty]

1 hour ago, UNT 90 Grad said:

Why no Colton McDonald last night?  At least I never saw him going in.  We were watching for him because my guest last night is a West Texas A&M alum.  If I remember right, Colton was the 2nd leading tackler in the Iowa game. 

He was a captain & was out there for the coin toss. That was the last I saw of him. 

Wheeler is a beast off the edge. Hambone & Flusche also played well. DL already solid but should be lights out when English & Tillman return. 

Lots of work to do with the secondary!

[BTG_Fan1]

2 hours ago, UNT 90 Grad said:

Why no Colton McDonald last night?  At least I never saw him going in.  We were watching for him because my guest last night is a West Texas A&M alum.  If I remember right, Colton was the 2nd leading tackler in the Iowa game. 

No idea if he was injured, but isn't he 210-220? could it be due to size vs UABs 300+ avg? 

I'm assuming it's likely not that since he played vs Iowa but a possibly?

[Harry]

3 hours ago, Censored by Laurie said:

Joshua Wheeler needs so much of our love...dude is obviously playing with multiple injuries..

If he is hurt and I think you're right he is -- I can't wait to see what he can do when he is healthy.  There were a couple of edge rushes he had, one was a sack, where he just flat bull rushed and dominated the left tackle for UAB.  Dude is a beast and really elevates the play when he is out there.  

[Mike Jackson]

I don't want to be perceived as a negative Nancy but I just want to ask everyone looking for bright spots in the defense one question.  You have to bet your mortgage payment or rent payment one way or another on whether the defense can stop a potent CUSA level offense from driving 65+ yards for a TD which way do you bet?.   All I know is that if I bet with my heart on the Mean Green I am extremely nervous and looking at my savings accounts.

[BTG_Fan1]

52 minutes ago, Mike Jackson said:

I don't want to be perceived as a negative Nancy but I just want to ask everyone looking for bright spots in the defense one question.  You have to bet your mortgage payment or rent payment one way or another on whether the defense can stop a potent CUSA level offense from driving 65+ yards for a TD which way do you bet?.   All I know is that if I bet with my heart on the Mean Green I am extremely nervous and looking at my savings accounts.

Everyone (or most everyone) is nervous about our defense.. But we can only hope that Jenkins can step in like he did last year (and even last night) and play better than Brooks...

To me, If our offense can keep performing that is the real worry.. Yes we will see some explosive offenses, but C-USA is seems to be whoever has better QB play can win.. Right now Fine is playing a high level and so is this offense. Just have to hope that Jenkins can plug that hole we have had with Brooks.