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Credit to the staff, but LB and safety are still a question mark
They saw the same stuff that we did on defense. Spectacular offensive and dline efforts wasted by mediocre LB play and horrible secondary play.
So far they have brought in:
CB - 2nd Team all Big 12 likely starter, two 4 star freshman, a Juco All-American, three 3 star freshman. This could in theory turn into a position of strength
LB - USC starter at times who hits hard and should at worst be good depth, two 3 star freshman. I'm not that concerned about this position. Tuputala and Bruener are veterans, if Ulofoshio is healthy he is our best backer, Harnetiaux should be good
Safety - ???? Maybe one ATH that plays safety? Not sure what the plan is here to be honest. The staff seems to like Dunn. Hopefully Hampton learns to cover and Asa looks like he did against Oregon State all year. Maybe Kam Fab does something besides get hurdled and become a walking opposition highlight reel. I would be shocked if we don't get another portal player.
Regardless, if the defense cannot improve to top 3 in the conference next year - DeBoer should bring in a proven SEC DC stuck behind a horrible offense.
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Safety is still an issue. Wish we had pulled a transfer at this position. Maybe Hampton finally stands out next year. KamFab and Asa continue to disappoint. Maybe Dunn,
Esteen, and Nunley step up next year but safety feels like our shakiest position and we only took 1 guy there
Sacks: tied #1
Yards allowed per game: #3
What other stats do you need to somehow substantiate this shit defense was still top 3 in the Pac 12?
In the 60's and 70's the best defenses held teams to around 200 yards a game. Or less in a mismatch. James was a defense first coach and early Husky teams had stats that a modern team would be hard pressed to match in a half
As the 80's turned into the 90's the various spread and run and shoot and one back attacks had the offense gaining the upper hand. So 300-400 yards became good defense. James had enough in 89m and went to the kill your QB 46 defense. Offense caught up to that too
But what really sealed the fate of defense was the hurry up by Chip which is now used by everyone. No huddle and go fast or slow. Spread them out and run it as the defenses got smaller and faster to stop the pass
If the D bunches the box then throw it over them.
Good defense is now holding the opponent to one point less than you score. To come up big when it matters. To play tuff in the red zone
Other than letting the ASU back up look like Bart Starr the Husky defense did that for the most part. The stats make sense even though the D was "horrible" by past standards
https://rolltide.com/sports/football/stats
https://gohuskies.com/sports/football/stats
UW had 65 trips to the red zone. Bama 60
As folks here know - UW sucked on 3rd and 4th down and the stats bear that out - opponents were 45% on 3rd down and 47% on 4th down.
Bama held opponents to 29% and 34%. That has become a big stat in getting the other team off the field. Been a problem here for years