Big plays hurting Cajuns

[Bandwagon King]

Coach just play your game & quit worrying about your long irons. If UL can play way better defense by being super aggressive, then giving up a big play every now & then won't hurt them. It's the twenty five plays of the fifteen & twenty yard variety that killed this team on their tail spin. Don't break what's fixed trying to fix something you can't. The year the Saints won the Superbowl, they gave up big plays all year. But it didn't matter because they owned the football most of the game, won the turnover battle, & made hay with the ball when they had it in their possession. And that miracle touchdown where the guy was tackled but wasn't on the ground probably won't happen again until that refereeing crew calls another one of our games at least.

[MountainDew]

I liked what I saw from the defense. ASU scored on a play where everybody in the stadium thought the runner was down. They scored on a busted assignment on a QB keep from the read option. They also had another big play on the QB keep that we ended up tackling him before he got to the endzone. That's probably close to 150 yards just on 3 plays. And other times when stAte had a big play, our coverage was great, our pressure was great. It forced the QB to scramble and the receivers to break off their routes. The 600 yards of offense for stAte didn't feel like 600. If that makes any sense.

[CajunJack55]

Maybe something didn't translate over the airwaves that did live, but I saw a bad defense with very slow DB's. Sure we made some nice plays behind the line of scrimmage (Ringo, Hamilton and Boris were solid), but there is nothing positive about 600+ yards and 40pts. IF we had scored our usual 30-35 points we would be freaking out about how bad our defense is.
If I played us I would go four downs on anything under 6 yards. I would be shocked if we could consistently stop it. Going forward I expect any QB who can execute a short/intermediate passing game to have a ton of success against us. Like Tuesday, we will just have to hope Broadway and Company can continue to execute the offense.

Winning the turnover battle is key to our defense..not saying you are completely wrong but we are able to control the clock the way we played Tuesday night as opposed to other games. It's not always about the amount of yard giving up.

[campo118]

I think the majority of us feel the same way… Numbers don't lie, but they also don't always show the whole picture… I saw great improvement and liked what I saw from the defense… They gave up 600 yards and 40 points… but they played well. The first 4 games of the season, the field could have been 1000 yards long, and they would have just drove the 1000 yards for a TD every single possession going 10-20 yards at a time. If I was on a defense like that I would feel defeated… Much rather make a mistake that costs a long td, but feel like I am physically able to compete, then to just get pushed around all game long. Compare it to boxing… If I got in the ring with Butterbean, he would eventually knock me out with a big haymaker… but I'd take my chances in that fight well before I'd get in the ring with Mayweather… Mayweather may not knock me out, but for 30 minutes, I'd be swinging and missing while continuously getting tapped in the face… and would just want to quit. That's how our early season defense looked…

[Just1More]

It's an interesting evaluation. No doubt, the yardage doesn't lie. But, we are a better defense, by a long shot, than what we were several games back. Personally, I think our staff can identify where the break down was and it can be fixed. The inside LB got out of position, and some overpursuit by committee burned us. The DBs were not too slow as someone put it. We over-pursued and some small adjustments will fix it. If inside LBs don't guard the middle and force the slightest lateral break on up the gut runs, you can't expect safeties and DBs to win the resulting foot race. Few are going to converge to catch an unimpeded sprinter up the middle.

[Boomer]

It's an interesting evaluation. No doubt, the yardage doesn't lie. But, we are a better defense, by a long shot, than what we were several games back. Personally, I think our staff can identify where the break down was and it can be fixed. The inside LB got out of position, and some overpursuit by committee burned us. The DBs were not too slow as someone put it. We over-pursued and some small adjustments will fix it. If inside LBs don't guard the middle and force the slightest lateral break on up the gut runs, you can't expect safeties and DBs to win the resulting foot race. Few are going to converge to catch an unimpeded sprinter up the middle.

--------OK lets look at the situation and the choices---there are 6 eligible receivers on every play ---2 on the end of the line and 4 backs (yes the QB)---basically you have 4 DBs and 3-4 LBs (total 7-8) to cover in a man situation on their really 5 guys---Obviously the more that rush the less time hopefully for the QB to throw and the Backs having to cover---I have always thought that a good receiver can get loose from man coverage and squat to open zone coverage---ergo the combo man zone with the 5 short guys playing man or zone and the 2 safeties back to cover halves----Zone coverage makes the areas between the 5 droppers open and the deep sidelines and middle areas----Man makes the receiver get away from his coverage guy and he then on deep routes need to run to the sidelines or the middle---So just in cover 2 you can have advantages and the opposite---Mr mayor doesn't like the zone along with many on here and it is just as HUD says ---playing back to give them the short and not the Home Run----Again just one part of the cover 2 scheme!!!

[cajun4life]

Yall are a funny group, we played the same way against La Tech. I said it then and I will say it now. The defense has never been our problem. The lack of offensive production and consistancy were the biggest reasons we lost to Boise, La Tech and Ole Miss.