No comments on the Defense so far.

[FootballFanatic 4]

They really weren't doing a great job this Saturday. Hoping for a lot better performance. A lot of guys on their heels instead of their toes and missed assignments in the secondary.

[RunInRed 18,479]

http://bit.ly/cZoyCT

[aucanucktiger 1,896]

First game w/ a lot of YOUNG talent but yes, Roof apologists' "no depth" excuse may evaporate very quickly this year

[aubrandon 5]

I saw improvement in two places. The biggest was in the defensive line. They had a good push all night. The other is I thought we tackled pretty well. There were not many whiffs.

However, I wish our defensive backs would watch highlights of Ronnie Lott on how to tackle. I can not stand this diving at the legs. I understand if it is a 250 lb fullback but they dive at 185 lb running backs.

As far as not getting pressure on the QB you have to credit Arky St. They changed to the QB only taking a quick three step drop and throwing the ball. The were successful because Tedd Roof kept the D backs 10-15 yards off of the line of scrimmage. If you go back and review the game, I think they only threw one pass longer than twenty yards. Everything else was caught and then they had time to turn and run. I do not understand why we would not adjust to what they were doing. I expected a few errors but OUR PASS COVERAGE WAS HORRIBLE!! I do not understand why we can not stop anyone???

[AURaptor 1,137]

They really weren't doing a great job this Saturday. Hoping for a lot better performance. A lot of guys on their heels instead of their toes and missed assignments in the secondary.

" Wrasslin' with them angels... " and such .

Either they'll grow up or they won't. But yeah, I had hoped for more signs of improvement. Nothing against Arky State, mind you, but they're not Arkansas. They may have come with their best effort, but I'd still expect us to show up more on D.

Some teams look like world beaters in their opening games. We'll see if a bit of adversity does this team any good down the road, or it simply is what it is, and as Rumsfeld said, we go to war with what we got.

[TigerfanKM 37]

I had the same concerns about our D the first half, CGC made one comment I agree with. He said we didn't know what to expect from Ark State with their new O coordinator and system. You have to remember when playing someone in a new system with new coaches there is little to no recent film, no tendencies to be aware of, etc. Could we have played better? Yes, especially the one BIG missed assignment.

But I believe the second half was a better picture of our real D once we figured out what they were doing and made some adjustments.

Now we play some teams we are more "familiar" with. I think you will see a much better D Thurs night.

War Eagle!!

[Tigerguy 1]

Our last 2 games of the 09 season provided Ark ST with their game plan. The short pass was their running attack. We MUST be able to stop the crossing patterns OR we will be very vulnerable all year to the dump passing and cross routes of lesser teams.

[AUBURNJAC 53]

I think there is not much need for alarm. Our D-Line was clearly improved and I think there is no question that we have a lot of talent at the linebacker posistion. Our Secondary plays back a little which I really dont understand, but I think it's more of a bend but don't break mentality and basically keeps most big plays from happening. I think we are going to be fine, and I'm GLAD we got a lot of people in and out of the game! There is NOTHING like experience to make you better. I can't wait to trounce all over State on Thursday!

WAR DAMN EAGLE!

[TexasTiger 14,363]

I'm withholding judgement until Thursday...

[tgr4lfe 220]

I'm withholding judgement until Thursday...

Thursday will be the tale tell. I just hope we can keep them to around 20.

[AUslug 1]

I thought the defense stepped up after the second fumble on Auburn's side of the field. I would rather keep the short passes in front of the defensive backs than having them beat deep. I was happy to see the d line getting pressure up front, did get frustrated with the number of pass catches and lack of forced turnovers.

[Duder 243]

I've backed Roof and have been campaigning the depth issue as well but our defense was poor at best Saturday night. A few random thoughts...

Defensive line looked much better. We had a consistent push most of the night. There were struggles getting off blocks to make plays at times but overall greatly improved. I like seeing the freshman on the field.

The LBs greatly missed Craig Stevens. I could see Bates struggling because his position change but Freeman and Bynes didn't exactly play lights out either. Bynes was all over the field though. Freeman continued his MO--he looked fantastic one play and like a freshman the next.

The secondary bothered me. Thorpe and Washington looked OK. Savage and Etheridge may well be shaking off some field rust. Etheridge was flying around like a wild man though, which is nice to see. Three of our four safties on the two deep have missed significant playing time over the last year (or two) so some mistakes are to be expected.

I sincerely hope the safties will settle in but there was no real reason for the coverage lapses with the DBs.

I'm sorry but I'm starting to think the defense is in fact broken. I believe it is time for Chizik to step in at this point. We watched them suffer last year and most passed it off as depth. We don't have that excuse (as much) any more and we still looked weak. Spread, pass-happy offense or not Arkansas State should not put up 26 points against an SEC caliber defense.

[CarolinaTiger 0]

i think it was a tale of 2 halves... they scored 10 pts the 2nd half, and the touchdown was when the offense spotted them the ball early on.

like KM said above, maybe they were still figuring out the new OC in the 1st half.

Also, wasn't this a pattern last year, too... better looking 2nd half than 1st as far as the defense goes, or am i just dreaming.

[LegalEagle 22]

Our D played poorly. 9 completions in a row plus 7 completions in a row. That kind of play does not stop drives.

I'm concerned about Roof. I'll withhold judgment, but there's no excuses Thursday night.

Someone above said it was a tale of two halves - they only scored 10 in the second half. Well 2 x 10 = 20 = too many points.

[TexasTiger 14,363]

Our D played poorly. 9 completions in a row plus 7 completions in a row. That kind of play does not stop drives.

I'm concerned about Roof. I'll withhold judgment, but there's no excuses Thursday night.

Someone above said it was a tale of two halves - they only scored 10 in the second half. Well 2 x 10 = 20 = too many points.

Well, their TD in the second half was after a fumble on the KO.

[TexasTiger 14,363]

I'm withholding judgement until Thursday...

Thursday will be the tale tell. I just hope we can keep them to around 20.

We are just a 3 point favorite-- what if we win 42 to 24?

[Grumps 3,706]

I think we spent much of our prep time on Miss State. Also, we played young guys very early to get them some experience. The defense will not be one of the best in the conference, but will be much improved over last year.

[Tigerguy 1]

Our D played poorly. 9 completions in a row plus 7 completions in a row. That kind of play does not stop drives.

I'm concerned about Roof. I'll withhold judgment, but there's no excuses Thursday night.

Someone above said it was a tale of two halves - they only scored 10 in the second half. Well 2 x 10 = 20 = too many points.

Is it a coaching problem or a prior year recruiting and retention problem ? Roof has to coach what he has, and we don't have a lot of world beaters on D ...yet.

[TitanTiger 21,338]

Consider this: We gave up about 230 yds and 16 pts. in the first half. The second half, we gave up about 130 yds and only 10 pts. The 10 pts thing is especially impressive since we gave them back to back turnovers deep in our own territory to open the 2nd half. They cashed in on the first one but only managed a field goal the rest of the game. Plus, we played a defense that consisted almost entirely of backups late in the 4th. So it looked to me like we made some adjustments at halftime that produced good results.

But I'd like to see those adjustments come earlier. One or two possessions where you're getting hit with the same thing over and over again should produce some immediate tweaks to shut whatever that thing is down, unless the other team is just clearly more talented than you are.

[AU1941 6]

I saw Coach Chizik yelling at Coach Roof quite a few times during the game.... So, I feel very confident that some things will change in the defensive "scheme" this week. I'm just not a huge fan of the "bend but don't break" philosophy in defensive schemes.

Our coaches have had 9 months to make improvements over last years performance. They've had the advantage of added depth and talent to the defensive side of the ball. They've had all spring and summer to teach/coach the basics like tackling, alignment, pursuit patterns, etc. It's time these players execute what should have been drilled into their heads over the past 9 months.

I hope they unleash a beast on Thursday night! WDE!

[LegalEagle 22]

Our D played poorly. 9 completions in a row plus 7 completions in a row. That kind of play does not stop drives.

I'm concerned about Roof. I'll withhold judgment, but there's no excuses Thursday night.

Someone above said it was a tale of two halves - they only scored 10 in the second half. Well 2 x 10 = 20 = too many points.

Is it a coaching problem or a prior year recruiting and retention problem ? Roof has to coach what he has, and we don't have a lot of world beaters on D ...yet.

How can we have less talent than Arky State???? Where have they been on the top recruiting lists??

No Excuses!

[AU1941 6]

Our D played poorly. 9 completions in a row plus 7 completions in a row. That kind of play does not stop drives.

I'm concerned about Roof. I'll withhold judgment, but there's no excuses Thursday night.

Someone above said it was a tale of two halves - they only scored 10 in the second half. Well 2 x 10 = 20 = too many points.

Is it a coaching problem or a prior year recruiting and retention problem ? Roof has to coach what he has, and we don't have a lot of world beaters on D ...yet.

Huh? World beaters aren't needed - we just need to play fundamentally sound/disciplined defense, that's all.

[jptiger 485]

I'm withholding judgement until Thursday...

Agreed.

[Defense(clap clap) 4]

I'm on a wait and see basis until Thursday as well, but I gotta admit, there were flashes, especially against their run D that reminded me of the mid-2000's defenses we had. Just swarming the runner and gang tackling with a ferociousness. That made me happy. If you can hold a team to 48 yards on 34 carries, you're doing something right. 4 sacks, 10 TFL and 12 QB hurries. That's a good sign.

As for the passing, if you break it down, we really only gave up 2, maybe 3 big plays. The first long pass that set up the TD was a breakdown by Etheridge. He bit on the play action. He knows better than that. I can't imagine that will happen again from him.

My biggest concern is playing soft when they kept hitting those quick outs and quick slants. Get up on the line and press them. It seemed like we were willing to give up that short pass to keep from giving up big plays and it was obvious they wouldn't be able to run on us, except for that one TD, where one of our DB's flew by the RB and missed the tackle. I think it was Etheridge.

All in all after watching the replay last night, I'm not hugely concerned with the defense, honestly. The mistakes were made by veteran guys, and on the surface that seems bad, but you know Savage and Etheridge know better and that was just them being rusty. And we were missing arguably our best LB. You could argue for Bynes or Stevens as the best, but either way, he wasn't out there. I do hope he's able to play this week. That would give the D a big boost. I think we make a nice improvement even in a short week.

And one last thing that I think may have been overlooked is we played alot of young guys early and often. I don't think we'll see that many true freshman play quite that much when we get into conference play. They'll still play to give guys a breather, but I just don't think we'll see freshman DB's and LB's out there quite as much. I think they played all those guys, including Dyer, as much as they did to really let them get their feet wet. If we opened up with Clemson or GT or someone, I don't think you see those guys out there quite as much.

[japantiger 4,140]

With our talent; they should not be able to complete that many passes...if this was our strategy; then OK...let them catch the short stuff and tackle them, but no coach or player has said that was the plan. I have to question the aptitude of the coaches after a point...if someone beat me consistently, I think I would adjust what I was doing. But it seems we kept the DB's back in-spite of what was happening... I really don't understand that.