3 defensive players drafted yet our D was the worst in the AAC. It takes a special kind of DC to manage that. Lesson learded for a head coach, never take the recommendation of the DC you just beat out for head coach.
The surprising part is that all Cincinnati has had drafted was one 7th round pick the last two years. TumorVille was even a worse recruiter for Cincinnati than he was a head coach.
We also played no one in those first 8 games and the defense wasn’t good in those games either. Our defense was pretty awful last year start to finish.
If it were “average,” it was because we played no one. Besides that, we gave up 30 points a game those first 8 games which isn’t average in my book… especially playing that schedule.
There is no hate here. The defense was really bad last year.
One thing people need to remember when looking at players drafted, most aren’t drafted because of how good/great they are. They are drafted because of potential. (hence the measurables at combines breaking some careers) Oliver might have gone top 10 if he was eligible for the draft after his first season but Johnson was still a corner back in training last season. Even when the team was completely healthy, having 3 future draft picks doesn’t mean the whole defense should have been better.
Maybe it’s better to wait until after the 2020 and 2021 drafts to see how talented the 2017 and 2018 teams were. Not including Johnson, 6 defenders have now been drafted from our 2016 defense. Our run defense was ranked 4th but our passing efficiency defense was ranked 48th and our red zone defense was ranked 93rd. Considering over half of our defense had NFL caliber talent, was our 2016 defense as good as people seem to be fondly remembering?
Because of our offensive pace of play opposing offenses got 25% more possessions per game. That is why total points or yards is a completely useless stat.
Several of us pointed that out and broke down the stats last year.
We were also the ones that warned everyone that the bowl game was going to be bad because of injuries and no one listened.
Yet the majority lambasted me for saying we shouldn’t burn a redshirt just for that game. Burning a redshirt in hopes the team loses by 20 instead of 40 doesn’t seem like their point. I’m pretty sure they thought starting him was our only chance to win. (like we had any chance)
Oh I get Major’s motivation. The writing was on the wall. Even in his mind, he probably didn’t foresee being around for the kid’s senior season. I just didn’t get all the support for Applewhite’s decision from people that will be around for years to come. “He can just redshirt next season” ignores the fact that King has missed games due to different injuries 3 straight seasons.