Ball St. Vs. Ohio Defense

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

Stephen Howard wrote on the Mean Green Sports Blog about how good the Ohio defense is. That may be true, but so was the Ball State defense.

The Ball State defense returning players have better stats in each defensive categories than those from Ohio. In some cases the difference is minor but here are the stats of the returning players in total:

Ball St. Ohio

Interceptions 8 5

Fumble Ret. 1 1

Tackles 651 597

TFL 58 41

Sacks 13.5 13

PBU 30 20

OK, the fumble returns are even. My point is that the Ohio defense, at least on paper, is not as tough as that of Ball State's. Ohio does have a strong linebacking corps but overall BSU appears to have a better returning defensive line and backfield. If our offense plays with the determination of last week and eliminates big mistakes, this game is very winnable.

Ohio really needs Boo Jackson. He may not be quite as accurate at passing as Theo Scott, but he can be a threat to run whereas Scott is a stay-at-home guy.

[untwillrise]

On paper we suck!

[UNT90]

After we diced the Ball St defense last week, I would expect to see more press coverage this week, challenging R. Dodge to throw the deep ball. Will this be a good or a bad thing?

[Got5onIt]

After we diced the Ball St defense last week, I would expect to see more press coverage this week, challenging R. Dodge to throw the deep ball. Will this be a good or a bad thing?

That we don't know. We'll find out this week.

[LongJim]

After we diced the Ball St defense last week, I would expect to see more press coverage this week, challenging R. Dodge to throw the deep ball. Will this be a good or a bad thing?

UNT has to be able to run the football. If they have their corners tight, and the offense can run consistently, the secondary and LB's will be forced to play run first, which will hopefully open up the medium/deep pass to the middle of the field.

[Green Crazy]

ball states numbers came from a different deffensive scheme than this years team, bsu's defense will need some time to gel with the new system. also, i don't know if anyone noticed, but he bsu offensive and defensive lines are smaller than ohio's. this is going to be a much tougher game for both lines...it should be a more even matchup.

Edited September 10, 2009 by Green Crazy

[greenminer]

How do they stack up in terms of number of returning starts within each group?

DL

LB

DBs

[H-towngreen]

I agree with Greenminer, I think the most important stat is how many returning starters does Ohio have? It will be interesting to see if they play their DB's as far off the line like BSU. Or are they gonna move up and take away our short passing game.

[bstnsportsfan3]

After we diced the Ball St defense last week, I would expect to see more press coverage this week, challenging R. Dodge to throw the deep ball. Will this be a good or a bad thing?

dodge told us at the dog pound meeting yesterday that he feels ohio will play a type of D that will force us to go deep more often but he feels comfortable with riley throwing deep and with our wr's