( 2 Votes )
Anyone who has followed YSU football in the past season and a half has seen an incredible high-powered offense and a not so stellar defense. Although our offense is averaging a conference best 36 points per game, our defense is averaging an ugly 28 points per game. For most football teams out there, 31-35 points should guarantee you a win, but not in Youngstown.
Week after week our offense is forced to go out their and put up a ton of points, only to have game after game go down to the wire. A lot of fans are talking about leadership, or lack there of, on the defensive side of the football. When you start all freshmen at LB and at CB, that is bound to happen. However, I think it is time for us to stop dividing the team into two, offense and defense. This group is a whole and they equally deserve the blame when we lose, and deserve all the fame when we win.
With that being said, I think it is about time that the offense take it upon themselves to be much more vocal on the sidelines towards our defense. The coaching staff can only fire up our defense so much. I believe if the defense was getting flak from our offense, that would push them a bit more out there. Some may argue that the offense should mind their own business, I disagree wholeheartedly. Week after week our offense has done the job, for the most part, and it is about time they are rewarded for it with a road win on Saturday in Carbondale vs. Southern Illinois.
If our offense starts getting in the face of our first team on defense, perhaps they will finally have the urgency to get the job done on defense. The effort we are getting on defense this year is simply not going to cut it in any way, shape, or form. For this program to ever get picked to play in the Division 1 FCS Playoffs, we will need a defense that isn't giving up 10-12 yards on every slant pattern over the middle, as we have now witnessed with Illinois State and South Dakota State in our past two home games.
Although youth is a major reason for our lack of success on defense, it should not be an excuse. If our coaching staff believes you should be starting over an upperclassmen, then it is apparent you have exhibited the skills to be a Division 1 defensive player. At this point, it is up to those eleven individuals to start showing it to a doubting fan base. And judging by some of the comments on the web the past few days, the fans are beginning to lose faith quickly.
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11 October 2011
Week after week our offense is forced to go out their and put up a ton of points, only to have game after game go down to the wire. A lot of fans are talking about leadership, or lack there of, on the defensive side of the football. When you start all freshmen at LB and at CB, that is bound to happen. However, I think it is time for us to stop dividing the team into two, offense and defense. This group is a whole and they equally deserve the blame when we lose, and deserve all the fame when we win.
With that being said, I think it is about time that the offense take it upon themselves to be much more vocal on the sidelines towards our defense. The coaching staff can only fire up our defense so much. I believe if the defense was getting flak from our offense, that would push them a bit more out there. Some may argue that the offense should mind their own business, I disagree wholeheartedly. Week after week our offense has done the job, for the most part, and it is about time they are rewarded for it with a road win on Saturday in Carbondale vs. Southern Illinois.
If our offense starts getting in the face of our first team on defense, perhaps they will finally have the urgency to get the job done on defense. The effort we are getting on defense this year is simply not going to cut it in any way, shape, or form. For this program to ever get picked to play in the Division 1 FCS Playoffs, we will need a defense that isn't giving up 10-12 yards on every slant pattern over the middle, as we have now witnessed with Illinois State and South Dakota State in our past two home games.
Although youth is a major reason for our lack of success on defense, it should not be an excuse. If our coaching staff believes you should be starting over an upperclassmen, then it is apparent you have exhibited the skills to be a Division 1 defensive player. At this point, it is up to those eleven individuals to start showing it to a doubting fan base. And judging by some of the comments on the web the past few days, the fans are beginning to lose faith quickly.