Lowest Points Allowed Since ND 2007

Submitted by imdeng on

In 2007, we shut down ND in the 38-0 rout. Since then, we never held anyone (anyone - including several baby seals) to less than 6 points until today.

Granted, EMU did not help its cause today - but the defense so far is doing a good job of being aggressive, getting TOs and getting stops on 3rd downs. Who knew defense will be bailing out offense this season - giving it the time to find its groove.

 

 

imdeng

September 17th, 2011 at 4:11 PM ^

I have not been able to cofirm this - but 236 yards allowed could also be lowest yards allowed in a quite some time. Last significant barrier again seems ND 2007 - 79 total yards!

snowcrash

September 17th, 2011 at 5:36 PM ^

Eastern had 132 yards at the end of the 1st quarter. I thought the D played pretty well for the last 3 quarters, although the OLBs need to improve at closing off the outside. For once we seem to have a decent pair of safeties in T Gordon and Kovacs.

alanmfrench

September 17th, 2011 at 4:13 PM ^

I'm pissed nobody carried gibbons off the field when he made that fg!
Seriously though, thats a win for the d but i would really like them to start off without making me think we're screwed.

Nacho Mama

September 17th, 2011 at 4:13 PM ^

It's a common theme on this page, but it's true.  this defense is getting better.   Tackling is improved. Blocking is improved.  Coverage is improved.  You can see the improvement.   When Hoke and Mattison get their recruits in place, watch out.  

mongoose0614

September 17th, 2011 at 4:14 PM ^

But I will reserve celebration when we surrender 4.5 yds per carry against a MAC opponent while putting 8-9 in the box.  They threw the ball 6 times total.  

Still a long way to go.  I am just happy that Wisky is not on the schedule.

 

 

snoopblue

September 17th, 2011 at 4:14 PM ^

gotta get the run defense solved, but they played very well today. Wish Gardner could have gotten more time, but I think Gardner will be able to win the jug for us this year.

dahblue

September 17th, 2011 at 4:59 PM ^

I thought it really interesting to hear that Mattison had to bring sleds to A2. Seems impossible that we didn't have such a basic piece of training equip. In any event, it's great to see how quickly our defense is adjusting and making plays.

rockydude

September 17th, 2011 at 5:37 PM ^

People have pointed out that we've given up a lot of yardage and points in the first quarter and suggested that we are getting off to slow starts. I don't know if I am engaging in flagrant homerism, but I don't entirely agree with that.

I think that, as you pointed out, Mattison is an absolute wizard with adjustments. My feel is that our defensive roster just isn't that good, but Mattison is so skilled that once the game starts, he can make the adjustments necessary to give us a solid performance in the end. I'd expect that the slow first quarters will taper off once he gets a class or two of recruits in place.

Also, I won't be surprised if the defense improves as the year goes on. To be fair to the current defensive players, they just weren't well coached for the last several years. Mattison hasn't had a lot of time to teach them, and many players lack coaching in the fundamentals. As the season goes on, I expect to see improvements in areas as basic as tackling.

It's a work in progress, and we are just going to have to realize that there are going to be a few bumps in the road. That being said, at this stage in the season, I think we are already seing improvment over the last few years, with the best yet to come.

BlueInDallas

September 17th, 2011 at 5:32 PM ^

Seems both the offense and defense get off to slow starts and then make adjustments along the way.  I'm fairly pleased with how the D has played thus far this year.  If anything, the O has put us in tough spots early on.  Its back to bend, don't break until Mattison gets his guys.  But, that is much better than what we've seen over the last three years when D was an afterthought.

Jake Ryan looks to have something.  I like his size and nose for the football.

Nice to see Raymon Taylor getting some time (but not wearing the Desmond patch).  Did Avery play at all.

BWC had some nice plays.

Roh had a sack and a few other tackles around the LOS.

Kovacs is to the point where his smarts and awareness really do mask whatever lack of athleticism he has.  He is always around the football.

Gordon did a nice job on the INT.  Way to recover after last week's blown cover assignment on the RIddick TD with 30 seconds left.

 

Don

September 17th, 2011 at 5:35 PM ^

They gained 439 total yards on us in a way-too-close for comfort 42-37 Michigan victory, with their QB going 22-29.

And it's not like UMass was Appy St last season. The 37 points they scored against us was their second-highest total in an otherwise lackluster 6-5 season.

We're making progress, in other words. The last couple of weeks ought to bring those who were predicting 10-2 back to earth, though.

Tyang

September 17th, 2011 at 7:40 PM ^

I don't like how much they were running Denard. we were up 2 tds and were still doing Denard right, left, and middle. get the backs in and let them get more runs under their belts. let Denard work on sum dinkin and dunkin. the Dood is not very accurate, sumbody needs to tell him to keep his feet moving or bouncing in the pocket. he always throws standing str8 up. Borges must be pulling his hair out, because he can't even get into his play book because Denard is struggling to make a simple pass. the d looks good, but the offense needs a lot of work. what ever happened to slants and hitches or curls? haven't seen a slant yet this year. go blue!