Can the defense be even better this year?

[Leathernecks]

I know the common theme amongst IU football fans is that we lost a lot on defense last year.  I went through last year's games, and tried to find what the defense actually accomplished for us.  Don't get me wrong, I loved some of our guys who graduated, and we did have a really good defense.  Scales, Fant, Covington and others will be hard to replace, but did the defense actually win us games?

Of our 7 losses, the argument could be made that if our defense played up to what they should have, we would have won 2 of those games.

Maryland - defense was real bad.  Special teams obviously didn't help that game, but no way should we have given up that many points to that offense with their 3rd string QB.  If the defense played well that day, that's a win.

Purdue - they ran all over us.  They had 272 yards rushing and averaged about 7 yards per carry.  If the defense plays like they should have, we might win that game.

Of our 5 wins, how many were because of stellar defense?

Georgia Southern and Charleston Southern obviously didn't matter.  We would have beat them with our 2013 defense. 

Rutgers - the defense played amazing, but we would still win that game with an average defense.

Illinois is awful, so we should have won that game with an average defense.

Virginia - Defense had a good game.  Not great, not bad, but a good game.  Probably made a difference in this game.

So of our 12 games, it could be argued that the defense really only made a difference in one game.  They played really well in some games we lost (Michigan, MSU), but those great games didn't contribute to wins.

I don't mean this post as a slam on last year's defense, they were great.  But, unfortunately their two worst performances were the two games we needed the most.  I think it is a real possibility our defense is better this year in toss up games which are the games that really matter.

[btownqb]

You're leaving out michigan and Michigan st where the defense absolutely was awesome. Especially MSU. 

[btownqb]

OSU solid for 3qs.. Wisconsin the same if I remember correctly. Penn st I didn't see much of. 

 

[btownqb]

And you discount the 4 games they played well when it wasnt against top notch teams because there have been handfuls of examples where IU defenses haven't shown up against that competition. 

[rogue3542]

I'll also add that the offense put quite a bit of extra pressure on the defense as well.

For example, the performance against Purdue was uninspired, but the offense put the defense in a terrible position on literally the first play of the game.

[Leathernecks]

4 hours ago, btownqb said:

You're leaving out michigan and Michigan st where the defense absolutely was awesome. Especially MSU. 

 

4 hours ago, btownqb said:

OSU solid for 3qs.. Wisconsin the same if I remember correctly. Penn st I didn't see much of. 

 

 

4 hours ago, btownqb said:

And you discount the 4 games they played well when it wasnt against top notch teams because there have been handfuls of examples where IU defenses haven't shown up against that competition. 

I said they played great in the MSU and Michigan games. The common theme with MSU, Michigan, OSU, Wisconsin, and PSU that you mentioned is that we lost. Like I said, defense was excellent, but did it actually help us win more games than what an average defense would have? An average defense would have won the 4 games I discounted. The times we lost to teams like that we had a pitiful defense.

[Leathernecks]

3 hours ago, rogue3542 said:

I'll also add that the offense put quite a bit of extra pressure on the defense as well.

For example, the performance against Purdue was uninspired, but the offense put the defense in a terrible position on literally the first play of the game.

No doubt. The offense definitely didn't help things a lot of times.

Like I said, this isn't a slam the defense post. They were excellent. But, in the few toss up games, they didn't perform like a great defense. And for this thread, it doesn't even matter too much who's fault it is. I'm just basing it off the fact that in most toss up games, we could have had better defense (and offense, but that's not what this thread is about).

I think it's reasonable for this year's defense to perform as well or better than last year's defense against Maryland and Purdue. They might not be as good against MSU, OSU, etc., but we list those games anyways.

[Stlboiler23]

1 minute ago, Leathernecks said:

No doubt. The offense definitely didn't help things a lot of times.

Like I said, this isn't a slam the defense post. They were excellent. But, in the few toss up games, they didn't perform like a great defense. And for this thread, it doesn't even matter too much who's fault it is. I'm just basing it off the fact that in most toss up games, we could have had better defense (and offense, but that's not what this thread is about).

I think it's reasonable for this year's defense to perform as well or better than last year's defense against Maryland and Purdue. They might not be as good against MSU, OSU, etc., but we list those games anyways.

I’d be surprised if your defense is as good this year with how much you guys are losing. Don’t think it’ll be easy to replace Scales and Covington especially. 

[btownqb]

17 minutes ago, Leathernecks said:

 

 

I said they played great in the MSU and Michigan games. The common theme with MSU, Michigan, OSU, Wisconsin, and PSU that you mentioned is that we lost. Like I said, defense was excellent, but did it actually help us win more games than what an average defense would have? An average defense would have won the 4 games I discounted. The times we lost to teams like that we had a pitiful defense.

Sorry. I was busy early when I was posting and only skimmed your post. 

[Leathernecks]

50 minutes ago, Stlboiler23 said:

I’d be surprised if your defense is as good this year with how much you guys are losing. Don’t think it’ll be easy to replace Scales and Covington especially. 

I agree, but what games did IU's defense actually win them last year when compared to an average defense?  They under performed in some of the most important games, so I think it's very reasonable to say next year they won't give up 7 yards per carry to Purdue or 42 points to Maryland between defense and special teams.

[Stlboiler23]

7 minutes ago, Leathernecks said:

I agree, but what games did IU's defense actually win them last year when compared to an average defense?  They under performed in some of the most important games, so I think it's very reasonable to say next year they won't give up 7 yards per carry to Purdue or 42 points to Maryland between defense and special teams.

Fair point but I also think your defense kept you in several games that you lost last year too (MSU is the big one I remember). Even though you lost, your defense was a key reason why it was close. Felt like there were several examples like that. It’s possible they might not give up 7 yards per rush to Purdue but maybe they give up more yards through the air? No way to know but if I were betting, I’d bet that overall, your defense will be worse this year (I’d say the same about Purdue’s defense since they lose 7 starters FYI). 

[Leathernecks]

19 minutes ago, Stlboiler23 said:

Fair point but I also think your defense kept you in several games that you lost last year too (MSU is the big one I remember). Even though you lost, your defense was a key reason why it was close. Felt like there were several examples like that. It’s possible they might not give up 7 yards per rush to Purdue but maybe they give up more yards through the air? No way to know but if I were betting, I’d bet that overall, your defense will be worse this year (I’d say the same about Purdue’s defense since they lose 7 starters FYI). 

I probably wouldn't bet on our defense being as good as last year either, but they might be more impactful this year.  They were fantastic against MSU last year.  Had some other really nice performances too, but the impact on W/L wasn't very big.

And in true HTD style, Purdue is going to suck