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(04-28-2021 02:01 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  

(04-28-2021 01:37 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(04-28-2021 01:24 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  Actually, I think the difference between elite and otherwise is the play of our QB. That said, at the risk of splitting hairs the defense still had some moments that was not dominant. We also played many teams with suspect offenses. IMO, the defense this year can be better - not by leaps and bounds - but I meant that any drop off on offense could be offset by a deeper talented defense. Especially across the DLine - getting after the QB should be much improved this year.

The defensive numbers I cited adjust for competition level. UC was elite defensively last year (and the offenses they went against were better than you think). I expect our QB play to be exceptional this season if the offensive line is solid. Ridder made an enormous leap and I think he'll make another this year. I just don't know how much room the defense has to improve to offset any drop in offense.

Well, SMU may have been one we played well against but Memphis and Houston were not as strong as in years past. We didn't hold UCF down and barley won 36-33. I guess the difference in our opinions is I don't anticipate a drop off on offense due to the play at the tackle positions. So long as a certain player isn't holding down one of those spots LOL. We got better in the interior of our line from the center position outward to the guards. That's where your QB gets quick pressure and the running game suffers.

UCF was a weird one, but we definitely held them down on defense...we spotted them 14 points of a muffed punt and a fumble early, but our defense played exceptionally well in that game overall. We held Gabriel to his lowest P/A by over 2 yards and that offense was nearly 220 yards below their season average against us in the first game our team had to play with fans in the stands. Excluding a 41 yard completion on the first drive which very well could've gone our way with an OPI, Gabriel threw for 202 yards on the other 48 attempts, which is a damn good day against ANY NCAA QB. I'll take that all week and twice on Sundays. If you wanted to use a game where our defense didn't perform too terribly well, I'd probably say Georgia, although missing our two best players didn't help in that one.

Also, just to note...one of those guards that you mentioned (Dylan O'Quinn) as a great improvement was bumped to tackle, and is being replaced by a walking holding call (Jeremy Cooper), so I can't guarantee the interior of the line will be as great as they were previously on top of the tackles being a problem. Truthfully, Des is far better against an edge rush than a gut rush, so I hope Cooper can fill in well.