Post by BearDownMU on Oct 16, 2017 14:25:25 GMT -5
The home stretch for the Bears is pretty brutal. A probably will be ranked Furman team (in their building) this week that is easily the hottest team in the conference right now, ranked Samford at home, ranked WCU in the 'Whee, and then the #1 team in the NFL Development League to close out the schedule. While a 3-1 finish is everyone's hope, we are going to have the be very good and make very few mistakes down the stretch for this to happen.
As most of you know, I generally don't try to be overly critical on here, because I support the team and I really don't know that throwing grenades helps anyone. With all that being said, we've seen 7 games to this point and I do have some thoughts on the team so far..
Defense in general has been the shining light this season, in my opinion. We lead the league in scoring defense (17.6 PPG allowed). We allowed the fewest amount of TD's in the conference and the team we are tied with (Wofford) has played one less game than us. That's really good. We also lead the league in turnover margin at +7, and have 16 total takeaways. That's a big number. The next two closest teams in the conference have 12. Our red zone defense has also been pretty absurd. Opponents are scoring 65.0% of the time in the red zone (11 TD's and 2 FG's on 20 Red Zone trips). The league red zone scoring average is 86.8%.
If I could point to an "area of improvement" it's pass rush. Sack numbers aren't great, but we have only given up 3 passing TD's all season so far. I think we get pressure, but don't always get them down. But we've been good in coverage to this point. I'd like to see QB's on their back more. Granted, we've played Woffy and Citadel and Jacksonville (TO teams) but CIT threw it a lot, relatively speaking.
All in all, I think defense has been great. in contention for the best unit in the conference.
Thoughts?
As most of you know, I generally don't try to be overly critical on here, because I support the team and I really don't know that throwing grenades helps anyone. With all that being said, we've seen 7 games to this point and I do have some thoughts on the team so far..
Defense in general has been the shining light this season, in my opinion. We lead the league in scoring defense (17.6 PPG allowed). We allowed the fewest amount of TD's in the conference and the team we are tied with (Wofford) has played one less game than us. That's really good. We also lead the league in turnover margin at +7, and have 16 total takeaways. That's a big number. The next two closest teams in the conference have 12. Our red zone defense has also been pretty absurd. Opponents are scoring 65.0% of the time in the red zone (11 TD's and 2 FG's on 20 Red Zone trips). The league red zone scoring average is 86.8%.
If I could point to an "area of improvement" it's pass rush. Sack numbers aren't great, but we have only given up 3 passing TD's all season so far. I think we get pressure, but don't always get them down. But we've been good in coverage to this point. I'd like to see QB's on their back more. Granted, we've played Woffy and Citadel and Jacksonville (TO teams) but CIT threw it a lot, relatively speaking.
All in all, I think defense has been great. in contention for the best unit in the conference.
Thoughts?
