09-02-2007, 08:01 PM
I think it seems to be lost by some here, but our secondary was simply amazing yesterday. We had mostly newcomers getting some run (Carter, Mason, Kube), plus Pruitt alternating at times between safety and corner (mostly safety, which he didn't play much of last year), yet Iowa's passing game was awful. Christensen had a lot of time to throw when we didn't blitz, but they simply couldn't get anybody open all day, and of his 2 big completions, one was just a play where the WR made a play jumping over Carter, the other was a ball that got tipped twice and a great catch was made.
The biggest thing about this is if our secondary is as good as they looked (and I think they are, they will only get better), we can cheat 8 men in the box to help stop the run. Add that to the fact that McCarthy wasn't 100 percent yesterday and Phil Brown is going to be back soon, and I like our defense a lot. The one thing is somebody up front has got to step up and help Larry not get double teamed every play, but I like the chances of that to happen. The rest of the DL is very inexperienced, one of the few vets Holycross is hurt, and we have talented guys that will improve.
Also, the blitzing yesterday was VERY effective. We seemed to do whatever we wanted when we blitzed, but simply we didn't blitz a whole lot. I hope to see us blitz more in future games with how well we did it yesterday and how well our secondary seems to be coming together so we can trust them in 1 on 1 situations. Just keep in mind too, Iowa scored one of it's TD's on a 20 yard drive after our special teams missed 2 tackles on a punt cover.
The biggest thing about this is if our secondary is as good as they looked (and I think they are, they will only get better), we can cheat 8 men in the box to help stop the run. Add that to the fact that McCarthy wasn't 100 percent yesterday and Phil Brown is going to be back soon, and I like our defense a lot. The one thing is somebody up front has got to step up and help Larry not get double teamed every play, but I like the chances of that to happen. The rest of the DL is very inexperienced, one of the few vets Holycross is hurt, and we have talented guys that will improve.
Also, the blitzing yesterday was VERY effective. We seemed to do whatever we wanted when we blitzed, but simply we didn't blitz a whole lot. I hope to see us blitz more in future games with how well we did it yesterday and how well our secondary seems to be coming together so we can trust them in 1 on 1 situations. Just keep in mind too, Iowa scored one of it's TD's on a 20 yard drive after our special teams missed 2 tackles on a punt cover.