Linebacker AND D L play against the Red wolves

[minister of music 0]

If we are to win Saturday we will need Holland and the rest of the linebackers/db's and the Defensive line to play much better than we saw against Washington State. Adams will need help to get some penetration,and Holland and others are going to have to be quicker to come up and help. He was nowhere to be found on the long runs saturday. We have had that problem for 3 years now. Get past the line and it is clear sailing until a d back can get you. The linebackers are either getting blocked,out of position,or missing the tackles. Oku is for real, and he has legit help. Arky state has a good offensive line and we need the d line to get some push --BAD.

[Dixie1860 27]

We will see different personnel pkgs. vs. Arky St. than we played with against WSU. Cass should see much more PT as well as Garrett. I don't think you can lay all of their longer runs at the feet of JH. While he may have missed an assignment at some point, he was being forced into coverage or not in the game at all. That is something I am certain we will remedy, however, this game (ASU) should tell us more about our run defense than anything we saw this past weekend IMO.

[JMassie11 1,610]

We played 1 lb (and that area wasn't attacked) and what was wrong with db play?....my only concern is getting off the field on 3rd down which really was the only issue I had with the game Sat

[minister of music 0]

Defensive back play was excellent(for the most part) i thought...except on the running plays. And maybe it is my lack of understanding the schemes we now run defensively. But someone has to responsibility for underneath ,as many of the running plays were as such..and not draws...etc.

[weagl1 1,789]

This doesn't show up in the numbers, but we have got to get more push up the middle by the DL. Adams was the only one getting any push against an OL playing a bunch of walkons. It is really sad that a true freshman is better than guys we have had on our DL for 3 or more years. If we are ever going to have a great defense again, we are going to need about 3 more guys like Adams to man the middle. I hope that will be a priority with the next recruiting class.

[Strychnine 1,804]

We will see different personnel pkgs. vs. Arky St. than we played with against WSU. Cass should see much more PT as well as Garrett. I don't think you can lay all of their longer runs at the feet of JH. While he may have missed an assignment at some point, he was being forced into coverage or not in the game at all. That is something I am certain we will remedy, however, this game (ASU) should tell us more about our run defense than anything we saw this past weekend IMO.

Indeed. We cannot actually infer much about our rushing defense from playing an Air Raid team. Their rushing success surprised me, and clearly surprised the team and coaches. However, we were sold out to defending the Air Raid at what it normally does. Leach was smart enough to know that we would have quickly adjusted to containing a run game if they used it more. Besides, most (if not all) of those rushing attempts were check downs. I would certainly be glad to let them have 120 on the ground, if it means that they aren't getting big pass plays consistently (which they didn't).

[Fairleyunderappreciated 0]

I was of the opinion that the push along the dline was confined to Adams immediately after the game as well. Ive rewatched it a couple of times now and, in the second half I think the overall performance of the entire line (save for Nosa) was marked in better in the second half. A lot of the apparent lack of a pass rush in the second half came from lineman dropping into flats to cover the backs, leaving only 2-3 pass rushers. Rarely did we not push the pocket in the second half when we were able to rush all four or blitzed. Still not the performance I was expecting but there was improvement in the second half and it showed in the stats.

[Auburn4Winners 0]

I thought Gabe Wright had some good push on a few plays. WSU has obviously spent the entire off season learning to get the ball out quicker and neutralize D-lines.. I mean it does'nt matter how much push you get when the QB takes a 3-step drop and throws it immediately...which was 50% of their throws.

[IronMan70 3,277]

DTs Adams, Bradley, Wright along with DEs Sanders, Lawson, Owens were all doing some good pass rushing at various times in the game. Adams was the best and most consistent of the group. When you key in on him on the replay of the game, he looks even better.

[beagle34 72]

Could we have batted down some of those passes?

[around4ever 4,139]

Could we have batted down some of those passes?

What kind of question is that? Don't you think they would have batted down a pass if they could have?

[AUGradinTX 0]

This doesn't show up in the numbers, but we have got to get more push up the middle by the DL. Adams was the only one getting any push against an OL playing a bunch of walkons. It is really sad that a true freshman is better than guys we have had on our DL for 3 or more years. If we are ever going to have a great defense again, we are going to need about 3 more guys like Adams to man the middle. I hope that will be a priority with the next recruiting class.

I am very excited about Adams after Saturday. If he continues to improve, along with the other DTs, we should have a pretty stout push with the return of Dee.

[WarTim 3,457]

Geez. Settle down guys. Did we watch the same game? Give them some time.

[alexava 6,973]

Who coaches ark st and what do they run offensively?

[chimesAU 89]

I don't think the OP was saying the sky is falling but he does make a valid point. Jake Holland was absolutely nowhere to be found, yet again. He looks absolutely lost on almost every single play and Frost was no better. I know, I know it's game 1 of a new scheme but that doesn't take anything away from the fact that we're going to need these guys to step up quickly. When Garrett comes back it should help out a little, but I was really looking for more from Jake and his healthy ankles.

[keesler 5,932]

I don't think the OP was saying the sky is falling but he does make a valid point. Jake Holland was absolutely nowhere to be found, yet again. He looks absolutely lost on almost every single play and Frost was no better. I know, I know it's game 1 of a new scheme but that doesn't take anything away from the fact that we're going to need these guys to step up quickly. When Garrett comes back it should help out a little, but I was really looking for more from Jake and his healthy ankles.

Jake has the heart and the head for the game, he knows how to call the defense. After all these years, we are still questioning whether Jake has the natural talent required of an SEC LB. He's still got plenty of opportunities to prove his nay-sayers wrong. Get it done Jake!

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

We can pick on each and every position on the field for various breakdowns etc. However, overall I feel much better about this team than the one we watched the first couple of games last season. Additionally, there was a lot going on at the line of scrimmage that affects the Dline's performance. The qb was getting the ball out very quick in the first half due to us playing mostly zone D. Also, our defensive ends routinely stopped their pass rush to tail a running back out into the flat, leaving only 3 guys rushing the passer. Finally, I understand that G.Wright was playing hurt and not 100%. (not to mention we were without our best DE, Ford).

As for AkSt goes. I expect the D to progress from game one to game two, guys are getting heathy with another week of rest (Garret and Ford may play, and Wright should heal up some), this offense will be a better match up for our D.

Also, while our D took some lumps early, we only allowed 3 second half points. That was encouraging.

[Weegle777 78]

Having four guys rushing for over 100 yards, our LBers better gear up. A State isn't coming just for a paycheck.

[keesler 5,932]

Having four guys rushing for over 100 yards, our LBers better gear up. A State isn't coming just for a paycheck.

I expect them to throw the kitchen sink at our defense. I have faith our defense will be ready - if ASU is running Gus' old offense, then it should play right into our D's hands as they've been defending Gus' offensive scheme all off-season. Ellis "should" be able to draw up a plan to defend it.

[autan 754]

DTs Adams, Bradley, Wright along with DEs Sanders, Lawson, Owens were all doing some good pass rushing at various times in the game. Adams was the best and most consistent of the group. When you key in on him on the replay of the game, he looks even better.

Those 6 guys stood out for me. They looked about as good and played about as hard as I've seen since '10.

[TXaubie 567]

Who coaches ark st and what do they run offensively?

Hartson sp? who was OC at Texas most recently and before that he was at Boise St.

[alabamabrown14 9]

I think the D played a good game overall...we won't play against an offense like that for the rest of the season especially when we get into league play...we'll play some HUNH teams but most of their offense is predicated on the run game like ours...Wazzuu is predicated on the passing game, quick hitches, slants...most of the time they had like 4 or 5 receivers in at all times...it was our first game so we'll see much improved play going forward

[texasautiger 0]

Who coaches ark st and what do they run offensively?

Was wondering that myself. As someone pointed out, his name is Harsin and he was co-offensive coordinator (with Major Applewhite as the other OC) at Texas and with Boise before that. According to this article, looks like he's going to run a mix of Boise stuff and even keep some of Malzhan's stuff as ASU still has some of Malzahn's assistants. We can only hope that mixing of offenses goes as well as it did for us in 2003 & 2012

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

We played 1 lb (and that area wasn't attacked) and what was wrong with db play?....my only concern is getting off the field on 3rd down which really was the only issue I had with the game Sat

WSU converted 7 out of 17 3rd downs, that really is not all that bad ( I think we ranked fourth or fifth in the SEC this week in this catagory). If you look across the SEC that would be better than average. Also saw that the offense only had 2 three and outs. That is the least I can remember in a while. WDE.

[R'dale Tiger 1]

We can pick on each and every position on the field for various breakdowns etc. However, overall I feel much better about this team than the one we watched the first couple of games last season. Additionally, there was a lot going on at the line of scrimmage that affects the Dline's performance. The qb was getting the ball out very quick in the first half due to us playing mostly zone D. Also, our defensive ends routinely stopped their pass rush to tail a running back out into the flat, leaving only 3 guys rushing the passer. Finally, I understand that G.Wright was playing hurt and not 100%. (not to mention we were without our best DE, Ford).

As for AkSt goes. I expect the D to progress from game one to game two, guys are getting heathy with another week of rest (Garret and Ford may play, and Wright should heal up some), this offense will be a better match up for our D.

Also, while our D took some lumps early, we only allowed 3 second half points. That was encouraging.

3 SECOND HALF POINTS!!!! If you wanna doubt this team already....just look at that number for a minute. I see a lot, and I mean A LOT of critiquing going on in here, but many of you aren't seeing the bigger picture. This team seems to have some resiliency and heart. I'll take that any day over picture perfect play. ANY DAY. Wait til this offense gets to fully clicking and gelling. Can any of you honestly imagine what kind of weapons we actually have? I think this team has the potential to shock a lot of people once that happens. Do any of you realize what kind of impact that has on an opposing team when they're being scored on and dominated? It puts their Offense in a precarious position being forced to take chances. That plays right into the hands of Coach EJs relentlessly attacking 4-2-5. This team, yes, THIS YEAR'S team could be very very special. If you're patient, I think we're witnessing the beginning of an era of dominance. WDE.