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Can Clawson Ever Have a Quality D?

thatguy2016 said:
guys getting banged up is exactly what I am worried about, because every single year we lose defensive players to injury and then the defensive performance suffers

pace of play doesn't help, of course, because quicker pace = more defensive plays = more opportunity for defensive injuries + more opportunity for lack of defensive depth to bite us

I do realize that the offense is going to play fast and that is just the way it is
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Feels like they haven't really gone breakneck fast this year. 3 and outs sure didn't give much break though.
 
WFU Lurker said:
Defense was the bright spot against Liberty. Offense just fucked them over again and again.

Did you watch the game?
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i'm shocked at the number of people throwing the defense under the bus. of course espn's recent article ranking the undefeated teams trashed the defense against liberty, i'd bet money whoever wrote that didn't watch the game. but supposed fans should have watched. wake grad buddy texted me late saturday night "if the defense didn't suck in the first half wake wins easily." i was like you clearly didn't watch the game, wth are you talking about.

liberty's first half possessions:
turnover on downs, missed fg, punt, interception, field goal, interception, interception, field goal

the offense after the first interception threw an INT on the very next play. on the second interception, the offense goes three plays -3 yards and the punt gets blocked for a safety.

wake's first four possessions in the second half:
punt, punt, turnover on downs, interception
 
WakeForest Fan said:
i'm shocked at the number of people throwing the defense under the bus. of course espn's recent article ranking the undefeated teams trashed the defense against liberty, i'd bet money whoever wrote that didn't watch the game. but supposed fans should have watched. wake grad buddy texted me late saturday night "if the defense didn't suck in the first half wake wins easily." i was like you clearly didn't watch the game, wth are you talking about.

liberty's first half possessions:
turnover on downs, missed fg, punt, interception, field goal, interception, interception, field goal

the offense after the first interception threw an INT on the very next play. on the second interception, the offense goes three plays -3 yards and the punt gets blocked for a safety.

wake's first four possessions in the second half:
punt, punt, turnover on downs, interception
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Yeah it is weird reading articles and posts like that. Either they didn't watch or have zero football knowledge.
 
Liberty gambled a lot and it paid off. The chuck and duck deep balls worked between the early PIs and the fluky catches. Going for it on fourth down worked 4 out of 5 times. Liberty's aggressiveness paid off until it didn't.
 
tigerswood said:
This game should have been 31-3 at half and a laugher that broke Liberty's spirits with just solid, if unspectacular, play from Sam and the OL. Only thing that concerned me in the 2nd half (and a bit against VMI) was tackling. Scheme seems much better.
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Agree. It was 10-0 early second quarter and wingfield had just picked off the liberty QB. I think if we mount a drive there at make it 17-0 that would’ve crushed their spirits. Instead, Sam gives the ball back immediately with that deflected pass resulting in a pick. The offense started the second half going 3 and out, 3 and out, 4 and out, and 2 and out (pick). Put the defense in some really difficult spots. I really thought the D played well overall, but of course if you’re one of these AP voters you just look at the score and assume it’s the same ole Wake. Good offense and a shit defense.
 
Bothroyd flipped sides of the field and just bull dozed the not great Liberty left tackle and mauled their QB for a sack. But then I guess they adjusted.

It is Liberty, our half-time mindset should be "up 20-8 WTF, should be 27-3, let's go score first, go for 2 and put this mostly out of reach." Instead, pound the RPO into the line, don't adjust, some bad throws...random injuries and the negative clouds rolled in...

CANNOT DO THAT this week or we will lose 48-7.
 
PhDeac said:
Liberty gambled a lot and it paid off. The chuck and duck deep balls worked between the early PIs and the fluky catches. Going for it on fourth down worked 4 out of 5 times. Liberty's aggressiveness paid off until it didn't.
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To some extent that is true, but 4 out of 5 times sounds like loaded dice. Overall the defense seems to improving, made some big plays and kept us in the game at times, but other times looked completely incompetent or failed to execute in big moments. Mustapha trying to intercept a pass in the endzone on fourth down instead of batting it down is a good example. You can call it fluky or a gamble that paid off but we contributed to the flukes. A better play on the ball and batting into stands would have prevented it.
 
our offense is so fast, i think our defense gets tired
 
Our D is atrocious AND the offense didn't help them in this last game. Clawson is on his third (maybe 4th) DC but the problems remain the same.
 
cheeseheads12 said:
Agree. It was 10-0 early second quarter and wingfield had just picked off the liberty QB. I think if we mount a drive there at make it 17-0 that would’ve crushed their spirits. Instead, Sam gives the ball back immediately with that deflected pass resulting in a pick. The offense started the second half going 3 and out, 3 and out, 4 and out, and 2 and out (pick). Put the defense in some really difficult spots. I really thought the D played well overall, but of course if you’re one of these AP voters you just look at the score and assume it’s the same ole Wake. Good offense and a shit defense.
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I think our defense played to a fuller of their potential than our offense. Giving up 80% on fourth down, a 17-0 run in the middle of the game, and a couple of huge plays is the reality and it wasn't great.

Both sides were meh--The defense has gotten better to at least be meh, and the offense was very off as we are used to much better than meh.

ETA: Special teams was meh to sub-meh. Our kickoffs are a huge liability.
 
Turd Ferguson said:
To some extent that is true, but 4 out of 5 times sounds like loaded dice. Overall the defense seems to improving, made some big plays and kept us in the game at times, but other times looked completely incompetent or failed to execute in big moments. Mustapha trying to intercept a pass in the endzone on fourth down instead of batting it down is a good example. You can call it fluky or a gamble that paid off but we contributed to the flukes. A better play on the ball and batting into stands would have prevented it.
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It looked like Mustapha jumped and barely got his hands on the ball. I'm not sure if he tries to "bat it down" it would have done anything other than tip it up in the air anyway. He may have miss timed the jump a bit.

Agree on the kick offs. The inability to find a kicker/punter that can kick it far enough for a touchback is kind of impressive. If VMI and Liberty can do it... The Murphy kid has been at Wake in a college weightlifting program for 4 or 5 years and he can't just trot out there and drill them through the back of the endzone once per week? Most decent high school soccer players could do that.
 
to be fair - this liberty game was a classic trap game

we've had Clemson circled in marker on the schedule as soon as the schedule was released
 
The D was not terrible in the Liberty game and anyone who thinks so did not watch the game. The special teams other than FG kicking was abysmal, though and they put the D is difficult spots multiple times. I was actually far more concerned about our special teams than the D.
 
Yeah I thought we dished out some quality D this weekend. Room for improvement, but the defense wasn't really responsible for more than 3 scores.
 
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