Interesting note regarding our rushing defense

Harry · December 29, 2011

I came across this when looking at an article previewing the Tulsa BYU Bowl Game:

Tulsa (8-4)

1. Run it. Just as BYU has to make an effort to stop the run, Tulsa is going to be making an effort to run the football effectively. The Golden Hurricane failed to rush for over 100 yards just once all season -- against North Texas. They also have rushed for 200 or more yards five times this season. Like BYU, Tulsa does not rely on one primary back -- Ja'Terian Douglas and Trey Watts have each run for over 800 yards, and both are vastly different runners.

To me, this bodes well for not only our defense but for next season IF we can improve in the secondary. I wonder how good our defense and overall record would have been this season with more consistency in the secondary. We gave up WAY too many deep passing plays. If we can address that we could be really salty with the guys we have coming back in the front 7. GMG!

ESPN Blog Link

Eagle1855 · December 29, 2011

When you can throw for 314 yards against us (only Rice and UAB's D gave up more against Tulsa) and 3 TDs, you needn't run it much at all.

But like you said, shoring up that secondary is key. OSU and BSU both did a great job of keeping Tulsa's pass game in check. To me, that starts with getting more pressure on the QB, too.

Edited December 29, 2011 by Eagle1855

Mean Green 93-98 · December 29, 2011

When you can throw for 314 yards against us (only Rice and UAB's D gave up more against Tulsa) and 3 TDs

I don't think Tulsa's offensive yardage and TDs were as much the nail in our coffin as their defensive yards and TDs.

glick1980 · December 29, 2011

I came across this when looking at an article previewing the Tulsa BYU Bowl Game:

Tulsa (8-4)

1. Run it. Just as BYU has to make an effort to stop the run, Tulsa is going to be making an effort to run the football effectively. The Golden Hurricane failed to rush for over 100 yards just once all season -- against North Texas. They also have rushed for 200 or more yards five times this season. Like BYU, Tulsa does not rely on one primary back -- Ja'Terian Douglas and Trey Watts have each run for over 800 yards, and both are vastly different runners.

To me, this bodes well for not only our defense but for next season IF we can improve in the secondary. I wonder how good our defense and overall record would have been this season with more consistency in the secondary. We gave up WAY too many deep passing plays. If we can address that we could be really salty with the guys we have coming back in the front 7. GMG!

ESPN Blog Link

We held the ball for over 40 minutes in that games and threw two INT TD's. They never really had the chance to run it on us with MiniMac throwing the ball right to them and all.

SilverEagle · December 29, 2011

When you can throw for 314 yards against us (only Rice and UAB's D gave up more against Tulsa) and 3 TDs, you needn't run it much at all.

But like you said, shoring up that secondary is key. OSU and BSU both did a great job of keeping Tulsa's pass game in check. To me, that starts with getting more pressure on the QB, too.

...and to me too. Coach Mac has done a great job of developing Cantley (getting him to lose weight and just move faster) and Boutwell (getting some weight on him). I give coach Mac credit for this because Cantley was under Coach Nelson's watch before Coach Mac arrived, and under Coach Nelson he was UNDERACHIEVING as a DT.

Now, does anyone know Coach Mac's history regarding the development of DT's? And by that I mean does he have a history of working well with undersized linemen and getting them to D-1 playing size? Because if we sign those two guys on our list and they DON'T turn out to be D-1 DT's like his first two from last year, then he's going to have to get very creative with what he has left on the shelf.