Our defense came to play tonight and so did Logan I'm proud of the way our team played tonight and now all we have to do is keep this momentum for next week. I think we literally have the best Defense in the country, but is it me or Bonner is the weakest link on our defense? He can't seem to keep his hands off of the receivers if I was Exum I would think that he would be the one that needs to be replaced, but he doesn't play safety anymore. So hopefully he gets better in coverage as the season goes along.
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I heard one of the announcers, Palmer I think, said this. I think it is true so far. Our numbers are great and only gave up 129 rushing to GT (216 lower than their season ave, but they also had Duke and Elon in that total). Now we get to rest up a little. As the offense improves, I think the defense will be even better.
Here is the video you are referring to. Epic!
This is glorious. I regret that I only have one turkey leg to give you Dozer
HAHAHAHA.
But just another reason for me to hate Mel Gibson. Don't stab the horses, Mel.
LMAO! 02:00:
there are no words.....just take my damn turkey leg.
I don't know why, but I thought I'd just be looking at a clip of the game when I clicked on this......brilliant work sir!
Yeah, Bonner got wrecked time and time again on deep balls tonight. I was very happy to see him just keep running down the field and stay out of the way as Kendall made that pick. We'll see how our defensive coaches do with coaching him up or scheming around that particular weakness.
Bonner seems to struggle with turning and running with a receiver. Not sure why they keep lining him up in man when he's much better playing a deep zone where he can see the ball in the air.
In particular he never seems to play the ball. Once the receiver turns his head, you need to turn yours and play the ball. He didn't do that on the deep balls.
Yeah, his second PI call should've been an INT.
Kendall almost intercepted it anyway...or was that the first one.
Yeah but if Bonner just turns his head, the ball is in his lap.
Right. Sometimes he gets flat out beat, but when he's beat and the ball is underthrown, he never gets his head turned around. The PI in the end zone resembled, at first, Kyle's bat-down from the Alabama game, but then it became apparent that he interfered with it. As much as I love how our secondary it playing as a group, I can't help but think Exum returning to safety would make us truly dominant. Bonner did look good when he wasn't playing in coverage, though, it just took a real simple design to isolate him on a WR he couldn't cover.
Well he got burned on it when they hit that 40 yard pass to score a touchdown. He is getting burned on double moves.
He plays like he feels he needs to make contact with the receiver no matter what.
If he was playing the ball he would have had a pick in the endzone.
He was a solid playmaker last season- hopefully he will learn from this game.
GO HOKIES!
With the chances and blitzes fosters demands pfmhisnplayers, you have to be able to cover one on one and man coverage. It's a staple of our great defense.
Bonner had some rough match-ups last night, but he was also able make some key swats. I didn't hate the PI call late in the game. It looked like he was trying to limit the possible play. Unfortunately, the ball was severely underthrown and he probably should've gone for the pick. He'll shape up...I love our secondary.
Bonner had a rough night, but I think he'll be fine.
I'm glad he got the interference call in the open field; better than a huge completion
I'm glad college PI rules are less damaging than NFL PI rules. Only for Bonner's sake.
Jesse Palmer agrees
Yup, teams are going after him bc they can't throw on our cb's. The defense is getting better..I don't even count that one td drive. Lucky pass
Everyone knows the QB is picking on Bonner, so the DB's can play robber and cover up our perceived weakness. On that Pass Interference penalty we almost had a pick, and KF11 got that pick to seal the game robbing on Bonner's coverage. Keep picking on Bonner and Foster will make them pay with robber coverage.
It wasn't a robber coverage. Kendall Fuller and Bonner were in man but Kendall saw the ball hanging up in the air and went and made a play.
While I do think Bonner played bad tonight, I expect him to rebound nicely against UNC.
I have to respectfully disagree. He made a few mistakes to be sure, but he also put himself in a position to make some big breakups tonight and forced a couple of would-be coverage sacks (that is if the D-line needed the extra time to get to Lee, of course, hehe). I also think the end zone PI seemed a little iffy, but hey, I'm not a Ref. Someone with more knowledge on this topic can certainly correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think I would call his play "poor" tonight.
The pass interference call in the end zone he could have under cut for a pick but at the same time he gives up leverage on his backside for an easy td so he attempts the pass break up.
The long completion was a result of never seeing the ball or qb and a lucky pass from lee that floated back inside with no help. While he didn't play great I think he played within buds gameplan
I really don't think Bonner played that badly. He had a couple crappy plays, but he was on an island against a receiver all night. Our secondary is amazing, top-to-bottom, so we ask a lot of it. Bonner might be the weakest link back there, but he's still a very good safety.
How much better would the d be if Van Dyke and Exum were 100% the entire season?
Buddy and I were texting this exact thing. How brutal would we be? I'd still go Exum at safety over Bonner. Jarrett, Fullers, Facyson, RVD, Edwards, Tyler, Hop, Maddy, Gayle, and Collins. That's 12 guys but it's cool, two of them are Fullers. Best secondary in college history.
This is awesome.
The way this D has been playing, I think that whole line-up has a shot making an NFL team. Not sure about Vandyke though, as he hasn't played enough to show off the potential; but Edwards had, he's looked real solid back there so far.
That would be beyond epic the way Ke Fuller and Facyson are playing. It's just hard to imagine our D being better...
Everyone has a bad night every once in a while. He's hot and cold. We've seen him make big plays. Honestly though, his second PI call was kinda tough to prevent. The receiver slowed up and Bonner ran him over trying to make a play on the ball.
there is a reason he was moved from CB to FS. Hes a decent safety, but when hes called on to do man coverage he is limited
How about LT playing through a strained abdomen? Obviously we don't know that Leal wouldn't have done better but still (jk, jk)
Seriously though, gutsy performance by Logan.
Heh.... gutsy, strained abdomen. Punny
That first PI call on Bonner was a mental lapse for sure. I'm not sure there was much he could do about the second one other than to get his head around faster. I think he will be fine in the long run. I used to say similar things about Cam. But he turned out okay.
On the second one, if he even looks for the ball, he catches it five yards up field from where he made contact with the receiver. Just too many times that they were eight to ten yards past him tonight. I am sure Torrian will get him straight but it was like watching the Redskins secondary when they threw at Bonner.
That secondary is making me the super sad right now...
DON'T RUIN MY HAPPINESS FROM THIS WIN!!!
The question is where do you work in Exum? Right now Bonner should be a little worried...
I would feel really bad for Exum, making him switch positions for the third time in three years, especially since last year was his breakout year at CB, but man it would be nice to roll him out at safety with Jarrett and have him, Jarrett, Fuller, and Fuller/Facyson as our secondary.
This. Nothing against Bonner but this would put our best players in our secondary all on the field at once.
Exum is a corner.
The switch last year was to create more depth. He knows the defense and could play safety. He has safety size. I would like to see him replace Bonner as well. Bonner gets beat more than, well almost as much as UVA does. He doesn't turn and fine the ball.
Move Kyle to safety and Exum to corner.
This is not an awful thought and something I hadn't thought of before.
Best corner duo in the country, bar none. And they're freshman.
I'm renewing my season tickets right now.
Heck yeah
GTs passing execution is so bad it creates those penalties. Both of those calls on Bonner were due to truly AWFUL passes from Lee. The ball in the end zone was a full second late. Not much you can do on the second one,it was under thrown by 10 yards.
By the way, every year we hear how improved the GT passing attack is and they annually play like this. So remarkably ineffective. I wouldn't be surprised to see GT cut ties with PJ this year, they aren't improving. it has to be frustrating to be a GT fan.
Said it before I'll say it again:
The triple option will never make you a dominant program. It's such a settling move by GT. Move on and get an actual offense. We own your ass!!!
top 5 defense for sure ... to this point.
Let's not forget about Facyson. The pick he had tonight was incredible. He got an amazing break on that ball and to be able to get his hands under the ball from that angle was just a thing of beauty. IMO it was at a crucial point too, GT was at our 29 on their second possession so it was highly probable that they would have gotten points early to give them confidence going ahead.
GT had 129 rushing yards.
'nuff said.
DB U strikes again
If I remember correctly, Exum is meeting with Dr. Andrews today right?
I believe we are still averaging 3 turnovers a game. That was a big difference tonight. Our team played a near perfect game as I've seen. PI calls are part of the game and Bonner played hard and didn't let it affect him. He came up with a big pass breakup late in the game that was critical. Logan played his best game since the 2011 season.
Bonner is a safety, so that means he is in man coverage, close to the line of scrimmage to stop the run. I can't complain with his performance. In my opinion, the first PI on bonner was crappy, he had his arm on him but I don't think he was interfering and the second was just an underthrown ball. I do think Bonner is prone to falling for double moves, but last night he was close to the line of scrimmage so much.
Looking at the first PI call, it was very much a ref's call kind of PI. His left hand hit the shoulder of the WR first, but he didn't grab him, turn him, or push him in any way. If the Kyle Fuller leaping over the WR to knock down a pass in the EZ isn't a PI, that shouldn't have been one either. But, again, it was enough for the ref to throw the flag.
The second PI, Bonner could have made that a complete no call by turning his head to look for the ball. The WR slowed down and he didn't...but, like others have said...I'd prefer the 15 yards to a catch if that ball had been placed in a better spot.
I agree with both these comments. I just wanted to point out that it wasn't like Bonner was playing 12-15 yards deep...he was close to the line almost the entire game and in single coverage. There are very few safeties who do well in those situations
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't see Kyle have contact with the receiver. Definitely saw Bonner jossling with the receiver before the ball got there.
The WR had gotten behind Bonner on the play so he had to go full speed to try to catch up and stay with the WR. When you've got your back turned and you're sprinting full speed to catch up to a guy it's going to be extremely difficult to determine their movements, slow down (or in this case basically come to an immediate stop), get your head around, and find the ball all in an instant. If Lee puts that ball on the money the only chance Bonner has to prevent a touchdown is to be right on him for a pass deflection, pass interference, or tackle after the catch. I'm pretty certain our corners are taught to get on the WR's hip and run with them, which works well for covering accurate throws, but it can lead to some issues when the ball is underthrown by 10 yards. Unfortunately Cincy benefited in extremely similar circumstances last year when an inaccurate throw led to the game winning TD. It's insanely frustrating but it does happen and is certainly not exclusive to Bonner.
Remember last year? Many of the comments being posted about Bonner were being posted about Exum last year. He was targeted and couldn't stop anyone without a pass interference call. But, he certainly got coached up and became a shutdown cover man. Time to coach up Bonner.
You make an excellent point.
Couldn't of have said it better myself. Torrian and Bud will fix em up.
If anyone can find an updated standing on national defensive categories please post it...my search came up dry. I think its possible we could become #1 in rushing and possibly total defense very soon.
They won't update until after this weekend.
We gave up more total yards than our average in total and rushing, but when you consider the opponent it was incredible.
Just compiled a spreadsheet using stats on the interwebs and I'll keep updating it as the weeks go by. We are currently:
-20th in nation in scoring defense - 15.8 points/game (bama game really hurt us here)
-6th in nation in passing defense - 138.2 yards/game
-23rd in nation in rushing defense - 103 yards/game
*Edit - 5th in nation in total defense - 241.2 yards/game
-1st in nation in sacks - 17 total, 3.4/game (tied with maryland)
-1st in nation in interceptions - 11 total, 2.2/game
Obviously, things will change after Saturday's games since we already played but either way it's looking good. As teams jump into their conference schedules and start playing more competitive games, the defenses in front of us will show their true colors and slip as we continue to get better. I love our defense so much.
Just out of curiosity, do total defense too. Curious how we stack up there at about 241.2 yds/game
5th (2541.2 yards/game) GO HOKIES!
Which teams are in front of us in Total D (and have they played Bama yet)?
Michigan State- Western Michigan, USF, Youngstown State, ND
Florida- Toledo, Miami, Tennessee
Louisiville- Ohio, Eastern Kentucky, Kentucky, FIU
USC- Hawaii, Washington State, BC, Utah State
Including FCS teams we're giving up 241 ypg after last night.
http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/22/p1
Hope this is a typo.
I've always used Yahoo! stats - http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/stats
Turkey leg for the edit to add Total D. To me, that's what matters most. That and scoring defense. It's great to be at the top of the others, but I prefer to see us giving up fewer yards total than anyone else. Shows for an overall balance on the defense.
When you compile the stat for scoring defense, do you include scores only against the defense or do you include special teams and INT6?
Shouldn't that stat only be scores against the D?
Otherwise, it's name should be total scoring against team, not D.
Unfortunately, all points scored against the team or tallied into scoring defense. Just how the NCAA does stats.
Screw the NCAA. Just another example of how they can't do anything correctly.
I just realized the site I used for the national stats ranking doesn't include games against non FBS teams. So they don't include the game against the catamounts, which pretty much messes up the rankings I have above. If you take out that game, then our rankings are as follows (straight from the site):
-28th in nation in scoring defense - 19 points/game (bama game really hurt us here)
-13th in nation in passing defense - 160 yards/game
-20th in nation in rushing defense - 101 yards/game
-8th in nation in total defense - 261 yards/game
-1st in nation in sacks - 17 total, 3.4/game (tied with maryland)
-1st in nation in interceptions - 11 total, 2.2/game
Does anybody know if that's how the top defense and offense stats are ranked at the end of the year, to only include games with FBS schools?
The main stats include all opponents, not just FBS schools.
Just an FYI, but I think the following site is a little more user friendly. But, whatever you prefer...
http://www.cfbstats.com/2013/leader/national/team/defense/split01/catego...
Much more user friendly, thanks
A couple of things, do you mind starting a new topic solely for defensive statistical discussion? Maybe throw some graphs up or something fancy. That way we can just look at a topic and not have to sift through this one for the stats.
And where do we rank ppg if you take out the Bama game, out of curiousity?
Great work, thanks!
I wouldn't remove the Bama game, just remove the ST touchdowns and the pick 6. So Bama only scored 14 points on our defense instead of 35.
That would put us at 11.6 ppg allowed by the defense, good for 12th in the nation. Instead, we stand at 24th.
Turkey leg for you for doing what I was too lazy to do myself. Still not a bad place to be considering within these first 5 weeks, most teams have played all of their creampuffs that pad their stats while we've played Bama as well as the team who led the nation in passing last year (Marshall).
Yep, either way we're looking good in those standings. I am also really tired of the creampuff scheduling. Miami against Savannah State in an agreed-upon shortened 4th quarter? Boring as hell. Give me VT-Marshall over that any day of the year.
Bud Foster and Kyle Fuller talking right before the D took the field for the first time against GT.
At this point, Bonner is the glaring weakness on our defense. He somewhat reminds me of Exum at the beginning of last season, though, where he was getting fried in man coverage and constantly got called for PI. I'm hoping Bonner's season turns around like Exum's did...
One thing I noticed last night about our defensive line, other than Derrick Hopkins anchoring the defensive line, was how violently they shed blocks. Gayle, Nicholas, Wilson, Maddy, and even Hopkins were just being violent. To be able to do that after the triple overtime feat against Marshall in the rain, and to shut down the option is nothing short of miraculous.
Know what? After being so pessimistic all week about Virginia Tech's chance in this game, I am happy to eat the crow pie.
This is by far one of the best Tech defenses in a while.
I want to see the GIF where Foster was signalling a play where he was giving the "F" off hand signal and holding an index finger at the same time. I have an idea of what to use it for. Heh heh.
If you guys like stats like I do you should check out statmilk.com
Also, we haven't given up a score in the 4th quarter this year yet. A trend I'd love to see continue.
Maybe you should be the one to do the weekly stats that warthog mentioned above