As you know if you've read this space for any amount of time, I'm a huge proponent of your defensive front 7 combined weight as a guage to stop opponents offenses. It's not an original idea but it has relevance this weekend. We will face the 3rd lightest front 7 in South Alabama Saturday. What were the other 2 that were lighter you ask? That would be Shorter and Morehead State. Both were blowouts with the Panthers winning by more than 4 TDs.
A look at our opponents and their front 7 combined weights listed lightest to heaviest:
1) Shorter - 3-4 - 1585lbs.
2) Morehead State - 4-3 - 1591lbs.
3) South Alabama - 3-4 - 1630lbs.
4) Savannah State - 4-3 - 1637lbs.
5) Old Dominion - 4-3 - 1725lbs.
6) Lambuth - 4-3 - 1745lbs.
7) NC Central - 3-4 - 1762lbs.
8) Campbell - 4-3 - 1770lbs.
9) Jacksonville State - 4-3 - 1792lbs.
What do you think? Is this a predictor of things to come this Saturday?
Intersting stat, but it's a bit misleading. We start a defensive end that weighs in at 205, but we also rotate DEs that tip the scales at 300, 250, and 245. Also, you have to consider that only one of the heavier defenses isn't a 4-3.
ReplyDeleteRight but your starters get the majority of snaps unless an injury occurs. I'd venture to say South Alabama hasn't seen an offense as potent as ours. Old Dominion was suprisingly strong against the run and we bombed them for more than 400 yards through the air.
ReplyDeleteI'm very much looking forward to Saturday.
That's not entirely true with our defense. We bring in new players on almost every play.
ReplyDeleteI worry more about our secondary than our ability to stop the run.
I've seen bits and pieces of GSU games online and it looks like the offensive line uses wide splits. Have defenses been able to get much pressure on the QB?
Fair enough. Competition level dictates how many guys you can rotate though.
ReplyDeleteI agree that your secondary is in the crosshairs this weekend.
We do use wider splits with 3 WRs and multiple TEs. For as troublesome as our run blocking has been, the pass blocking has been excellent even to the suprise of our coaching staff. Drew Little has been sacked 7 times in our first 8 games. Drew is incredibly smart to get rid of the ball. He is also on an incredible 189 pass streak without an INT. He has the best grasp of the offense and will make very good reads on the majority of his throws.
This is going to be a very interesting game matchup wise.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that each teams' strenght cancels out the other team's strength.
What about kick coverage? I know GSU has a great punter, but have any big returns been given up on punts or kicks?
Our kick coverage team has been rock solid and averaging 18 yards per kick off return. This is definitely where our speed is evident. Our ST coach is Anthony Midget from Virginia Tech fame and has brought some of Beamer's principles with him. We've not allowed a significant run back on punt or kick off teams.
ReplyDeleteOur Punter Bo Schlechter has been very, very good and actually performed better than ODU's Plisco this past weekend who had been leading all of FCS in Punting average. He's an incredible weapon and we only allow 7 yards per punt return.
I'm interested to know how big Lamar's UCD's and Nicholls' front 7 were.
ReplyDeleteNicholls State does an awful job of maintaining their website and doesn't have an active roster.
ReplyDeleteLamar's 4-3 combined weight was 1580lbs. & UC-Davis's 4-3 combined weight was 1693lbs.
Our front 7 for Saturday at Ladd-Peebles is 1708lbs.
I expect a close game and for them to try to run the ball more than they pass because our DBs might be the best they've seen this year.