Depth May Be The Difference
I think our depth this season is going to be a major strength for this team and could be one of the difference makers that will go mainly unnoticed.
After watching last year's MSU game on BTN a couple days ago, I found myself thinking that we really were not that far off from having a top notch offense and good-enough defense that could easily have won 6,7,8 games instead of 5. And that was with Molk out, Mooseman snapping the ball all over the place, and Tate injured. Maybe we beat MSU, Iowa, Purdue, etc if we had more depth.
Of course the lack of CB depth has been well documented over the past weeks, and losing any more players there could be enough to doom the season. But almost every position has serviceable backups that will allow us to do two things we couldn't last year.
1) We will be able to roll two players in certain positions during the game without much of a drop off. This will keep us fresher as the game and the season wears on.
2) We will be able to recover when/if the Angry Michigan Hating God strikes us throughout the season. If an O-lineman, LB, RB, WR, etc goes down we should have someone who can step in and keep up the pace.
I just can't help but feel that these things will really help us out as we roll into the meat of our schedule. As a team, we seemed to get weaker and weaker as the season rolled on, causing us to lose a couple of games (Purdue, Illinois) that we might have won in September.
Hopefully this year will be different! Go Blue!
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:35 PM ^
Depth is going to be the big difference this season. Last season, the defense was just worn down after the first half, which I think accounted for a lot of their struggles. We'll see what happens, hopefully they'll be able to play "bend, but don't break" and keep teams around 25 points. That'll be enough for 8 wins, IMO.
Edit: ESPN article today shows USC is down to 65(!) players. Watch how they get worn down over the season--even with an excellent talent level and solid experience.
August 24th, 2010 at 9:20 PM ^
It is amazing how much it has been emphasized throughout the past year of how many walk-ons and freshman were the back-ups last year. Now the players have another year under their belt with the same O and D coordinators which should make an improvement. It will be great to track USC this year. I think it is a good comparison on depth, and I would love to see them blow it this year.
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:29 PM ^
start forging birth certificates for Woodson
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:32 PM ^
Already have one for Leon Hall and am currently working on Woodson's and Marlin Jackson's.
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:30 PM ^
It will also allow the team to be more explosive more often, and maybe we'll see less threads saying "I thought Barwis was supposed to make these guys ...."
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:37 PM ^
On offense, we have plenty of depth and quality players to suggest that we should average around thirty points a game. There should be a high standard for the offense this fall.
For the defense, I honestly think we have probably three or four guys who can really play and a bunch of question marks. Yeah, we have athletes that we can plug in and compete with, but I wouldn't say we have quality depth.
I feel like we have a more well-rounded defensive line, an extremely experienced linebacking corps, and a questionable secondary that just has to challenge receivers. I'm already excited about Marvin Robinson and Cam Gordon--they could both be four-year starters.
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:42 PM ^
We've already seen the difference. While there was a major panic over losing Woolfolk at least this year there are guys behind him with ability, albeit inexperienced. Those guys will get better through the season and the defense should get better rather than fading.
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:45 PM ^
I agree. If the 2010 team had played last year, we would have beat MSU, Iowa and Purdue. and then who knows how the PSU, WI, IL, and OSU games would have gone. even though our secondary depth is scary. That right there is hope for this season.
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:50 PM ^
I know we lost by a bunch because we collapsed, but anyone watching that game knows it was probably over if we'd scored from the 1 (or not been caught at the 1)
Minor was hurt and hence didn't go in until the last or second to last play. If he's healthy we win that game. The team can take some steps this year, but remember we had BG last year... Roh, VB, Martin, et al have to make up for that loss collectively
gd Illinois game...
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:52 PM ^
especially on defense.
I think that we will be way ahead of where we were last year however. If our offense can increase their time of possession, and the defense step up... it will be a different season.
August 23rd, 2010 at 4:03 PM ^
Depth will help, but we have a lot of defensive players that have to step up from depth to be "solid" before I'll be worried about depth. Having two or three meh players on a three-deep is not a preferable situation for anyone.
(More of less what hausoian said.)