Defense wins championships?

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thailleagle said:
But...but...but...Mason had terrible Defenses!
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The 2003 Defense wasn't terrible, but it wasn't much better. To have that good of an offense, with that running game and all those points they should have finished higher IMO.

Let's face it - I believe one of the reasons why the offense was #4 in total yards that year was because I don't think they faced a lot of short fields created by defensive turnovers or a lot of 3-and-outs. They had to go long distances quite often. Also, playing a weak NC and not facing Ohio State or Purdue helps. The D got gashed against Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Jim frikkin Sorgi threw for 300+ against us. That pretty much says it all. Samie Parker had 273 catches for 2,386 yards in the Sun Bowl if I am recalling the exact stats correctly.
 

Since we are posting about defense. Our defense was no where near the caliber that people thought they were going to be this year. Coming into the year I thought no one would be able to get the ball across the fifty yard line against us when you read the posts on gopherhole. Hope was on sale and people were buying it in large amounts. If we had last years defense this team would have a winning record right now.
 

Defense, Defense, Defense!!!!!!!!!!

Bottom line is if we can't get someone who can build a winning defense we will be looking at another change 4-5 years down the road.
 

wdgold said:
Bottom line is if we can't get someone who can build a winning defense we will be looking at another change 4-5 years down the road.
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A winning defense is a defense that makes one more big play than the other guy's. You don't have to be faster than the bear, you just have to be faster than the other guy.
 

I stand corrected.

Do you see how easy it is to just say, "I was wrong" instead of spending 2 pages defending my lazy posting?
 


gold04 said:
Coming into the year I thought no one would be able to get the ball across the fifty yard line against us when you read the posts on gopherhole.
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That's not true and you know it. Please point out any posts where people thought this defense was going to be awesome. You can't find any because you're making this up. The most that people said was that the defense was not going to be totally awful. It turns out the defense was awful, but no one was predicting that this was going to be an incredible defense, as you claim they did.
 

Rosemountian said:
The knock on Mason's defenses wasn't so much the fact that they consistently gave up a lot of yardage. The knock on Mason's defenses was, when the cards were on the table, they always came up small.
That is the knock in general on Mason teams. People remember the blocked punt against Wisconsin, they forget that the play before was 3rd and 1, with Maroney in the backfield, and 2 all Americans on the line, and they couldn't get the yard for the win. Offensively and Defensively, Mason coached teams found ways to come up small and lose in big games.
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They also forget that Mortenson got knocked out of bounds and the clock stopped with about 4 minutes (or so) left in the game. Within a couple of years, that rule was changed and I believe now that the clock re-starts. I could be wrong on that, but I remember that when Mortenson went out of bounds, I thought "Well, that stinks. Hope it doesn't come back to haunt us."

And let's not forget the personal foul on Dom Jones against Brandon Williams on Williams' TD catch that moved the kick-off up 15 yards for the Badgers. That was a melt-down of epic proportions and a combination of the weird and the pedestrian.

Anyway, I basically agree. Mason's defenses were pretty much filled with assignment-driven guys who weren't much at creating havoc for the other team. The were "reaction" defenses and not "forward" defenses. When you lack top-drawer athletes on the defensive side of the ball, you tend to want to prevent breakdowns as opposed to forcing the opposing offense to change its game plan.

Egad, the mention of that Wisconsin game brings back nightmares. Whether or not one likes Mason, you have to admit that he was just about the unluckiest coach in the world. He lost more games in bizarre circumstances than anyone in my recollection.
 

Seniorsmoke said:
Regardless of who everyone's individual favorite is, all with maybe the exception of Golden are "offensive coaches." Even Haubaugh's team is currently averaging over 40ppg. Big time college football today is about offense. Looking at the current BCS Top 10:

1. Auburn- #4 in total offense 39.4 ppg
2. Oregon- #2 in total offense 55.1 ppg
3. Boise St.- 47.5 ppg
4. TCU- #5 toffense 39.6 ppg
5. Michigan St.- #9 in total offense
6. Missouri- 33.9 ppg
7. Alabama- 34 ppg
8. Utah- 48.6 ppg
9. Oklahoma- 34.7 ppg/didn't score enough in loss to Missouri
10. Wisconsin- 35.6 ppg

Only 4 of these teams (Boise, TCU, Utah and Alabama) rank in the Top 20 in Total Team Defense. With every option someone brings up as the next head coach, the point against them seems to be raised on how their defenses have/will fare. Shutdown defenses are just not what college football is about anymore. It is who can score the most points!
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I love how everyone likes to point out that Leach had terrible defenses at TT but never mention Harbaugh's swiss cheese defense at Stanford.
 





glovedgopher said:
I love how everyone likes to point out that Leach had terrible defenses at TT but never mention Harbaugh's swiss cheese defense at Stanford.
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Great point, although he has shown improvement every year, moving from ungodly bad to mediocre:

2010: #58 defense (5th in the Pac 10)
2009: #71 defense (6th in the Pac 10)
2008: #84 defense (8th in the Pac 10)
2007: #98 defense (9th in the Pac 10)
 

50PoundHead said:
Egad, the mention of that Wisconsin game brings back nightmares. Whether or not one likes Mason, you have to admit that he was just about the unluckiest coach in the world. He lost more games in bizarre circumstances than anyone in my recollection.
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That is like saying Ron Gardenhire is unlucky against the Yankees, once a pattern forms it isn't about luck. It is about Coaching, Motivation, and Confidence. It is about playing to win and playing not to lose.
 

Gopher07 said:
Great point, although he has shown improvement every year, moving from ungodly bad to mediocre:

2010: #58 defense (5th in the Pac 10)
2009: #71 defense (6th in the Pac 10)
2008: #84 defense (8th in the Pac 10)
2007: #98 defense (9th in the Pac 10)
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I didn't realize they were that bad. Against Oregon, they have given up an average of 46 points the last 4 years. I would argue that Oregon's offense has the same type of qualities that Leach faced in the BIG 12.
 



also the type of game you play has to do with the weather you play in, big passing games misfire in rain/snow/cold and rushing and D becomes big. The top four offensive teams all play in good weather during their season. Remember Holtz wanted the dome to favor a lighter speed team like he wanted.
 

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