1.) Linebackers - Man, a week after praising Gamboa for such a great game at Nebraska, he has a stinker. Unfortunately, the same things we complained about before, a lack of athleticism. The QB who didn't appear to be this great running kept running right by him. He would stick 1 foot in the ground and get behind Gamboa time after time. I give Rick props for the awesome pick, but dang, the UCLA freshman is licking his chops after watching that film. What's funny is Van Diest actually made a play in the same situation. Was able to reverse foot and turn back and tackle the QB for a very short gain.
- Overall the past 3 games though, obviously linebacker is coming along very well despite the hickup yesterday. Landman is a beast coming forward. His aggressiveness has completely changed what we can do defensively. His play on 4th and 2 against Nebraska might be one of the plays of the year. I can't think of another CU LB who makes that play. Chad Brown maybe. It was a special play for a special player. He came off the field on passing downs as CU was trying some different nickel and dime packages yesterday, but I assume he'll be a 3 down LB going forward.
- Our outside LBs haven't been quite as impressive. Lewis is still learning his gap assignments while Callier and Falo are learning their roles. Davion has probably been the surprise. He has played a little more hesitantly than expected. It seems he's still learning. He had his best game against UNH so maybe he's turning the corner. More than anything, I would like to see our OLBs bend the corner and get to the QB with consistency. That hasn't really happened yet. They have, what, 1.5 sacks on the year? That's 1/2 a sack per game. That is not good enough.
2.) Defensive backs - This has been a bit of a hodgepodge. They have been solid if not unspectacular to this point.
- They have no picks in 3 games. Ouch.
- They have made some excellent passes defended that stopped big plays from happening.
- They have given up 3 long play touchdowns and could have had 2 more against them if not for bad play by the opponent. Ouch.
- They have aggressively come up and made big tackles.
- The CBs have honestly been solid. Abrams has been excellent in pass defense and Wigley has really improved in that area. I don't know if we necessarily have a guy who can shut down N'Keal Harry, but we seem to be doing well in pass defense. Most of the passing touchdowns have actually not been their fault. Even the first touchdown against Wigley (CSU game), Dante was expecting inside help from the safety that never picked up the WR forcing him to try to make up for the lack of coverage late. Most of the big plays were on the safeties.
They have come up aggressively against the run and that has been a big help over last year. Last year, we would have given up a lot more in the run game. We've held our own this year due to corner backs joining the run support. Granted, Abrams has made a few whiffs that he is going to have to work on. He is our most aggressive tackling CB though and is really becoming quite good at it. He just needs to complete plays because once he does, CU's run defense will be really stout (aside from the QB runs... another story).
Chris Miller got out there against UNH early and often which was nice to see. We really need him to step up with all of his physical abilities. He could be that coverage corner we need down the stretch. He has the hops and the coverage ability to cover a top WR. He also gives us that 4th CB we're going to need against teams like WSU.
Blackmon at nickel got a ton of time against UNH with mixed results. He was a bit all over the place with eyes in the backfield and leaving his receiver. He covers ground quickly once beat, but he needs to be more disciplined.
I don't know what to think of Udoffia right now. He just needs to keep working.
- The safeties have been one of my disappointments. I thought this is the one area we were going to be dominant, but just haven't been. Worthington played better against UNH than the other games for sure. He was really solid in coverage. Fisher also played better, but he had 2 chances to get picks and didn't get them. He has been late with his over the top coverage and that has lead to 2 long TD passes against us. Teams will be scouting that. His eyes get lost in all the motion and receivers run right by him. Worthington had a really aggressive tackle against CSU and had to be taken out with head trauma. After 2 concussions, I wonder if they put the clamps on his big hits. He hasn't been aggressive since that hit and it has showed. He is not the enforcer I was expecting back there and has zero picks so far. For as much as teams have thrown the ball against us, for our safeties to have zero picks is concerning.
Don't have much to say on the backups like Maddox, Hypolite, Lewis, etc. Udoffia seems to play the most backup reps at safety. Rakestraw and Maddox got a lot of time yesterday. I can see why we are recruiting this position hard this off season though. We are not as good here as we were hoping.
-Overall, Abrams seems like he can be our superstar defender and maybe the couple of weeks rest will allow us to use Worthington more aggressively again. If that happens, then we'll be much better in our defensive backfield coming into Pac 12 play and that's going to help us win games that will otherwise make us nervous.
3.) DL - I'm actually very satisfied with the DL. I'm not satisfied because they are dominant, but because they are much better than a year ago and have stayed very healthy all things considered. I'm satisfied that we rotate 7 and that has kept things solid. We are also much better technique wise than we were a year ago when it was a disaster. No one stands straight up and gets blocked 10 yards back again.
- Granted we struggled against Nebraska, but the DL has been really good the first 3 games. The Nebraska game was a holder's paradise as our guys got held on just about every play and it was obvious. They fought through that though and played so much better in that 2nd half. NU also played up tempo and didn't allow us to sub as much and when guys got tired in that 2nd quarter, it was evident with hands on the hips and heavy breathing.
- Run stuffing has been very good! The QB runs have been our opponents best plays and that's because the DL has stuffed the opponents running game for the most part. The QB runs are on the back 7 and in particular the linebackers who have lost contain and not the DL which doesn't have that job. We haven't missed too many tackles here and even when double teamed, we have fought through and made backs stop and choose different gaps. If not for holding, our opponents running backs would be held to little or nothing.
- Pass rushing has been a bit more difficult. We haven't had the penetration we should have and in some cases, QBs have had all day. This is a place where we can certainly get better. Lang has provided some very good pass rush at times despite not having a sack. His pressure on the qB against UNH caused an interception. Mustafa has been terrific as a pass rusher which is crazy considering his short stature. At 6'0" he not only gets his hands in the air and forces bad throws or a pick against CSU on a tip, but he has gotten to the QB for 3.5 sacks in just 3 games. Once he gets his mitts on you, you go down. There is no escaping his grasp. Strong hands and long arms have helped him in the run and passing games tremendously. Heck, even Javier Edwards got a coverage sack proving he is working in there as last year he probably would have stopped on a play that went that long. Antwine is still learning and still getting there. Missed a big sack opportunity against Nebraska and in general hasn't been able to clamp guys down. He needs more reps but will be a good one soon enough.
- I'm also really liking what I see in backups Franke and Mulumba. Each have had their moments. Mulumba was great against CSU (our best lineman that day) and Franke has been tough the past couple of games plugging gaps and being really hard to block.
- Overall, not quite dominant here yet, but so much improved over last year that it has helped open up the LBs to make more plays. The rubber hits the road when we get to Pac 12 play. They will be tested in every way. Our depth will also be heavily put to the test.
4.) Overall, I really like what we're doing on defense. The Nebraska numbers were heavily inflated due to a poor 4th quarter where the offense sputtered and the D got tired in that tempo (not to mention the massive amounts of holding). Martinez proved to be a problem at QB and we still have a long ways to go against the running QBs. We'll see 2 of them in the next 2 games before getting a reprieve on the road against the 2 most talented teams in the league. The first 4 games will tell us all we need to know about the defense.
5.) The rest of the league.
- WSU. Surprising defense. Without Grinch, still very solid. Did not expect to see that.
- Cal. Another very solid defense. They haven't played anybody with a pulse on offense, but no one can deny their defensive improvement the past couple of years. They hit you now and are much tougher up front.
- Oregon State. Disaster on defense. We should score 50 against these guys.
- UW. Best defense in the league thus far. They are strong and that's not surprising. They have play makers at every level. Even with a couple of guys out, they are so stout and no team in the league has enough weapons offensively to scare them.
- Oregon. Leavitt has them playing well, but they aren't really great yet. Running defense seems stout, but passing defense giving up a little too much IMO. Considering they've played 3 home games against Bowling Green, SJSU, and Portland State, you would think they would be more stout against the pass.
- Stanford. Same as always. Very stout on defense and look to win low scoring games.
- USC. Still solid on defense, but offense is killing them and leaving that defense on the field for far too long. Need help with safeties in running game this year which has made them vulnerable to play action pass... something we haven't seen in the past. USC has played the toughest schedule so far, but is 1-2 with 1 very unimpressive win (where they ran it up in the 4th quarter). It seems the rest of their schedule is a break for them. I'm sure their fans are restless at this point though. Really bad game against Texas.
- UCLA. For a team that talented defensively, how could you let Fresno do that to you at home? I know they got blown out by OU, but still expected them to be more defensively. Offense isn't helping them but the defense suddenly looks bad. We need to put it to those guys early and often. Just go up and down the field on them and score TDs. They can't pass their way back into a game with what they have at QB. Speight might be back, but I don't think he can help this cause. Defense is right now, just bad... again!
- ASU. They have some stalwarts on defense... and in particular that DL. They have some big dudes up front that just shoot the gap and get through. SDSU ran away from all of that pressure and got 2nd level blocks. CU should look at that film and study it hard. ASU will get penetration on the DL, but they shoot the gaps so hard that they lose contain. You can get outside of them and get to their LB level and that's when their defense falls apart. Their LBs were not good against SDSU. It's a weakness we could exploit but don't have the depth SDSU has at RB so we'll need to use Montez. Their defense also wore down due to a poor ASU offense and we know that story (similar to us against NU but unfortunately for ASU, it was the 4th quarter and not the 2nd quarter). Probably still the best defense in the south overall due to their aggressive DL but not unbeatable.
- Zona. They have no defense. They have 3 guys who can play at a high level and 8 others who are just terrible. Their best defense is that high flying offense. If the offense is working, then they can work that D and try to get takeaways. If their offense is grounded, then this D will just give up yard after yard. Their DL is the Maginot line at best. Scary looking dudes that can't defend if their life depended on it.
- Utah. Yeah, they are still stout on defense. Chase Hansen looks like an All Conference LB. Their DBs are playing at a high level. They just aren't good enough to win them any games overall though because they lack team speed. As always, so strong in the trenches and they can bring 4 and deliver pressure, but you can beat them over the top.
Overall:
Defensively, CU is middle of the road right now in the league. We could move up to the top 4 if we can get more pressure on the QB and tackle better (no more whiffing). We also have to handle the mobile QB. We also need our safeties to come up with picks and for Worthington to be the enforcer back there again. We'll need our outside linebackers to get more pressure on the QB while maintaining gap integrity. The corner backs will get better. The DL will get better. The depth is starting to come together with so many guys playing in the first 3 games. We have a shot here but need a lot of work in the next couple of weeks. My fingers are crossed. A good defense could take this team a long ways.
- Overall the past 3 games though, obviously linebacker is coming along very well despite the hickup yesterday. Landman is a beast coming forward. His aggressiveness has completely changed what we can do defensively. His play on 4th and 2 against Nebraska might be one of the plays of the year. I can't think of another CU LB who makes that play. Chad Brown maybe. It was a special play for a special player. He came off the field on passing downs as CU was trying some different nickel and dime packages yesterday, but I assume he'll be a 3 down LB going forward.
- Our outside LBs haven't been quite as impressive. Lewis is still learning his gap assignments while Callier and Falo are learning their roles. Davion has probably been the surprise. He has played a little more hesitantly than expected. It seems he's still learning. He had his best game against UNH so maybe he's turning the corner. More than anything, I would like to see our OLBs bend the corner and get to the QB with consistency. That hasn't really happened yet. They have, what, 1.5 sacks on the year? That's 1/2 a sack per game. That is not good enough.
2.) Defensive backs - This has been a bit of a hodgepodge. They have been solid if not unspectacular to this point.
- They have no picks in 3 games. Ouch.
- They have made some excellent passes defended that stopped big plays from happening.
- They have given up 3 long play touchdowns and could have had 2 more against them if not for bad play by the opponent. Ouch.
- They have aggressively come up and made big tackles.
- The CBs have honestly been solid. Abrams has been excellent in pass defense and Wigley has really improved in that area. I don't know if we necessarily have a guy who can shut down N'Keal Harry, but we seem to be doing well in pass defense. Most of the passing touchdowns have actually not been their fault. Even the first touchdown against Wigley (CSU game), Dante was expecting inside help from the safety that never picked up the WR forcing him to try to make up for the lack of coverage late. Most of the big plays were on the safeties.
They have come up aggressively against the run and that has been a big help over last year. Last year, we would have given up a lot more in the run game. We've held our own this year due to corner backs joining the run support. Granted, Abrams has made a few whiffs that he is going to have to work on. He is our most aggressive tackling CB though and is really becoming quite good at it. He just needs to complete plays because once he does, CU's run defense will be really stout (aside from the QB runs... another story).
Chris Miller got out there against UNH early and often which was nice to see. We really need him to step up with all of his physical abilities. He could be that coverage corner we need down the stretch. He has the hops and the coverage ability to cover a top WR. He also gives us that 4th CB we're going to need against teams like WSU.
Blackmon at nickel got a ton of time against UNH with mixed results. He was a bit all over the place with eyes in the backfield and leaving his receiver. He covers ground quickly once beat, but he needs to be more disciplined.
I don't know what to think of Udoffia right now. He just needs to keep working.
- The safeties have been one of my disappointments. I thought this is the one area we were going to be dominant, but just haven't been. Worthington played better against UNH than the other games for sure. He was really solid in coverage. Fisher also played better, but he had 2 chances to get picks and didn't get them. He has been late with his over the top coverage and that has lead to 2 long TD passes against us. Teams will be scouting that. His eyes get lost in all the motion and receivers run right by him. Worthington had a really aggressive tackle against CSU and had to be taken out with head trauma. After 2 concussions, I wonder if they put the clamps on his big hits. He hasn't been aggressive since that hit and it has showed. He is not the enforcer I was expecting back there and has zero picks so far. For as much as teams have thrown the ball against us, for our safeties to have zero picks is concerning.
Don't have much to say on the backups like Maddox, Hypolite, Lewis, etc. Udoffia seems to play the most backup reps at safety. Rakestraw and Maddox got a lot of time yesterday. I can see why we are recruiting this position hard this off season though. We are not as good here as we were hoping.
-Overall, Abrams seems like he can be our superstar defender and maybe the couple of weeks rest will allow us to use Worthington more aggressively again. If that happens, then we'll be much better in our defensive backfield coming into Pac 12 play and that's going to help us win games that will otherwise make us nervous.
3.) DL - I'm actually very satisfied with the DL. I'm not satisfied because they are dominant, but because they are much better than a year ago and have stayed very healthy all things considered. I'm satisfied that we rotate 7 and that has kept things solid. We are also much better technique wise than we were a year ago when it was a disaster. No one stands straight up and gets blocked 10 yards back again.
- Granted we struggled against Nebraska, but the DL has been really good the first 3 games. The Nebraska game was a holder's paradise as our guys got held on just about every play and it was obvious. They fought through that though and played so much better in that 2nd half. NU also played up tempo and didn't allow us to sub as much and when guys got tired in that 2nd quarter, it was evident with hands on the hips and heavy breathing.
- Run stuffing has been very good! The QB runs have been our opponents best plays and that's because the DL has stuffed the opponents running game for the most part. The QB runs are on the back 7 and in particular the linebackers who have lost contain and not the DL which doesn't have that job. We haven't missed too many tackles here and even when double teamed, we have fought through and made backs stop and choose different gaps. If not for holding, our opponents running backs would be held to little or nothing.
- Pass rushing has been a bit more difficult. We haven't had the penetration we should have and in some cases, QBs have had all day. This is a place where we can certainly get better. Lang has provided some very good pass rush at times despite not having a sack. His pressure on the qB against UNH caused an interception. Mustafa has been terrific as a pass rusher which is crazy considering his short stature. At 6'0" he not only gets his hands in the air and forces bad throws or a pick against CSU on a tip, but he has gotten to the QB for 3.5 sacks in just 3 games. Once he gets his mitts on you, you go down. There is no escaping his grasp. Strong hands and long arms have helped him in the run and passing games tremendously. Heck, even Javier Edwards got a coverage sack proving he is working in there as last year he probably would have stopped on a play that went that long. Antwine is still learning and still getting there. Missed a big sack opportunity against Nebraska and in general hasn't been able to clamp guys down. He needs more reps but will be a good one soon enough.
- I'm also really liking what I see in backups Franke and Mulumba. Each have had their moments. Mulumba was great against CSU (our best lineman that day) and Franke has been tough the past couple of games plugging gaps and being really hard to block.
- Overall, not quite dominant here yet, but so much improved over last year that it has helped open up the LBs to make more plays. The rubber hits the road when we get to Pac 12 play. They will be tested in every way. Our depth will also be heavily put to the test.
4.) Overall, I really like what we're doing on defense. The Nebraska numbers were heavily inflated due to a poor 4th quarter where the offense sputtered and the D got tired in that tempo (not to mention the massive amounts of holding). Martinez proved to be a problem at QB and we still have a long ways to go against the running QBs. We'll see 2 of them in the next 2 games before getting a reprieve on the road against the 2 most talented teams in the league. The first 4 games will tell us all we need to know about the defense.
5.) The rest of the league.
- WSU. Surprising defense. Without Grinch, still very solid. Did not expect to see that.
- Cal. Another very solid defense. They haven't played anybody with a pulse on offense, but no one can deny their defensive improvement the past couple of years. They hit you now and are much tougher up front.
- Oregon State. Disaster on defense. We should score 50 against these guys.
- UW. Best defense in the league thus far. They are strong and that's not surprising. They have play makers at every level. Even with a couple of guys out, they are so stout and no team in the league has enough weapons offensively to scare them.
- Oregon. Leavitt has them playing well, but they aren't really great yet. Running defense seems stout, but passing defense giving up a little too much IMO. Considering they've played 3 home games against Bowling Green, SJSU, and Portland State, you would think they would be more stout against the pass.
- Stanford. Same as always. Very stout on defense and look to win low scoring games.
- USC. Still solid on defense, but offense is killing them and leaving that defense on the field for far too long. Need help with safeties in running game this year which has made them vulnerable to play action pass... something we haven't seen in the past. USC has played the toughest schedule so far, but is 1-2 with 1 very unimpressive win (where they ran it up in the 4th quarter). It seems the rest of their schedule is a break for them. I'm sure their fans are restless at this point though. Really bad game against Texas.
- UCLA. For a team that talented defensively, how could you let Fresno do that to you at home? I know they got blown out by OU, but still expected them to be more defensively. Offense isn't helping them but the defense suddenly looks bad. We need to put it to those guys early and often. Just go up and down the field on them and score TDs. They can't pass their way back into a game with what they have at QB. Speight might be back, but I don't think he can help this cause. Defense is right now, just bad... again!
- ASU. They have some stalwarts on defense... and in particular that DL. They have some big dudes up front that just shoot the gap and get through. SDSU ran away from all of that pressure and got 2nd level blocks. CU should look at that film and study it hard. ASU will get penetration on the DL, but they shoot the gaps so hard that they lose contain. You can get outside of them and get to their LB level and that's when their defense falls apart. Their LBs were not good against SDSU. It's a weakness we could exploit but don't have the depth SDSU has at RB so we'll need to use Montez. Their defense also wore down due to a poor ASU offense and we know that story (similar to us against NU but unfortunately for ASU, it was the 4th quarter and not the 2nd quarter). Probably still the best defense in the south overall due to their aggressive DL but not unbeatable.
- Zona. They have no defense. They have 3 guys who can play at a high level and 8 others who are just terrible. Their best defense is that high flying offense. If the offense is working, then they can work that D and try to get takeaways. If their offense is grounded, then this D will just give up yard after yard. Their DL is the Maginot line at best. Scary looking dudes that can't defend if their life depended on it.
- Utah. Yeah, they are still stout on defense. Chase Hansen looks like an All Conference LB. Their DBs are playing at a high level. They just aren't good enough to win them any games overall though because they lack team speed. As always, so strong in the trenches and they can bring 4 and deliver pressure, but you can beat them over the top.
Overall:
Defensively, CU is middle of the road right now in the league. We could move up to the top 4 if we can get more pressure on the QB and tackle better (no more whiffing). We also have to handle the mobile QB. We also need our safeties to come up with picks and for Worthington to be the enforcer back there again. We'll need our outside linebackers to get more pressure on the QB while maintaining gap integrity. The corner backs will get better. The DL will get better. The depth is starting to come together with so many guys playing in the first 3 games. We have a shot here but need a lot of work in the next couple of weeks. My fingers are crossed. A good defense could take this team a long ways.