Defense Minded

[TUcandoit]

TU over the last decade and a half have been known for it's offense and not so much on the defensive side. Throwing up 700 yards in a game, Snapping it 80+ times a game. High speed. Todd Graham really brought the style and we tried to cling to it. While I always found it fun to watch I went into every game with nerves all wound up. I have always been a defensive minded person and it's nice to see record breaking stats but I like to see shut down in your face defense instead. For the first time we are getting that. I go into games now thinking we are going to get this win because our D will just shut them down. Our O can struggle and we can still win. We don't have to worry about just out-scoring the other team. First to 30 is no longer the gauge of who will take the victory. This is the kind of football I have been yearning for. I hope we keep up this hard-nose defensive style football. If we do, we will shut this conference down in the years to come. We have some great offenses in the conference but defense is WEAK! We will capitalize on that. DEFENSE is the answer to the championship going forward.

 

[TU_BLA]

I can get behind this style. Even the offense looked good last week, running it effectively, passing it effectively. I still want the play calling to not be so predictable.

As for the Graham years, I often compared it to arena football...first team to get 3 defensive stops in a game wins.

 

[astonmartin708]

2012 was certainly a defensive minded team. They had something like 52 sacks on the season. This season's team has given up two fewer yards per game though.

 

[TU_BLA]

2012 was certainly a defensive minded team. They had something like 52 sacks on the season. This season's team has given up two fewer yards per game though.

That team had some bad asses on the defensive side. And Dexter McCoil is one of my favorite TU players since I've been following (golly, almost 30 years now). That said, I think as a unit and being put into a really good defensive scheme, this year's defense is better and deeper.

 

[TUcandoit]

I loved the Dexter McCoil era but I agree the defense while good was not as good as this one. It was a more of a bend, don't break style. I like a shut yo face we are going to beat you into the dirt style. This defense has already been against 2 offensive juggernauts and our numbers are slightly better. Wait until we play a few more teams that aren't tops in the nation on offense and we will start really showing shutdown defense.

 

[astonmartin708]

I used to play pickup basketball with Jared St. John after he was done with his senior season. Dude had 11.5 sacks in that 2012 season. He was also a lot shorter than I pictured him while he was on the field. He was certainly quick and shifty for a guy his size though. He had a wicked Euro-Step lol.

 

[TUcandoit]

I used to play pickup basketball with Jared St. John after he was done with his senior season. Dude had 11.5 sacks in that 2012 season. He was also a lot shorter than I pictured him while he was on the field. He was certainly quick and shifty for a guy his size though. He had a wicked Euro-Step lol.

That's awesome! It really surprises me sometimes when you see their height in person. I always feel like they will be these HUGE wrecking balls and while not small, they are not as big as I suspect. We had Rod Earls working at our company while he played for TU. He was 6'3 or 6'4 shooting guard. He surprisingly was bigger than I expected lol. He looked small but that was when we had Jerome I believe. Jerome was Freshman when he was senior.