Thatās great. Now look at the previous 5 classes dude
Sticking with class rankings, and continuing to use 247, the 4 year averages:
Duke, Rank=56, 18-3 star
Charlotte, Rank=107, 9-3 star
Granted 2020 was an above average year for Charlotte. If that continues the 4 year average will move up, of course. Will that translate to winning? We shall see.
I think a greater measure of success is coaching, or the lack thereof. Case in point-Arkansas. Year after year half a dozen 4 stars and pretty poor results W/L. This year two things changed - A NFL QB 5th year transfer and decent (unheralded) coaches and Boom-winning in the SEC.
The MO of the Niners hasnāt changed with Healy, i.e. crapping the bed on the bigger stage.
I know this is beating a dead horse but does anyone remember what Glenn Spencer did with Lambertās guys on defense. That was a perfect example of taking less talented players and getting the most out of them. I know some like to say that was a fluke but I wish we had the chance to see what he could have done with the talent we have now.
āA Georgia native, Spencer spent one season at Charlotte (2018) where he revitalized the defense and saw the 49ers lead Conference USA in rushing defense and rank fourth in the FBS allowing just 88.5 yards per game on the ground. Charlotte also ranked third in C-USA and 14th nationally in total defense, allowing just 306.6 yards per game.ā
Rushing Defense. I miss that. No excuses about talent level. Just results.
Yeah, but USF is 1-5
Lambert finally ditched his buddies and hired good coordinators in his final season. Unfortunately, it was still too late for him. I hope Healy doesnāt make the same mistake.
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Some of us said Healy should make a play to keep Spencer as soon he was hired. Not only was Spencer a great DC,iirc, he also was essentially the interim coach between Lambert and Healy. Common sense says you werenāt going to find anyone to do a better job with our defense, realistically. In fairness, maybe Healy did try, but it doesnāt seem like he did.
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He was also the interim head coach for FAUās bowl win last season. So he has 1 more bowl win than anyone on our staff.
Seems like someone said Spencer was offered a position as co-defensive coordinator by Healy. Iām assuming the other would have been West. Not sure if that is true or just rumor.
The OC didnāt whiff air tackles to let their RB score almost untouched. Our players played like weak losers. Its on the dvr
Sure, we stopped the run, so teams passed the ball on us.
The best thing about Spencerās defense is that we slowed our offense down and learned to get a first down or two as kept them of the field.
We didnāt get to the Qb in ā18.
Now we canāt stop the run or the pass. I would take one of the two at this point. When teams are rushing against us like they are now they really donāt have to try to pass to beat us.
Iāve complained enough about the coaching. I will stop now & adjust my expectations.
The defensive scheme just isnāt working IMO. Last year I understood. New system without players to run it. Year 2 we should at least look like we know what we are doing, even if we still need some talent.
Our run defense shouldnāt be as bad as it is. Teams are averaging 5.9 yards per carry (which is 99th-103). Teams know this and are rushing the ball against us 56% of the time (which top 20 in the country).
Our passing defense is a mixed bag, weāre one of the worst teams in the country getting to the QB (2.82% of all passing plays) which is bottom 10. We are top 30 in opponents passing yards per game and top 45 in INTs. Weāre also bottom 30 in third down conversion percentage which is frustrating because Iād bet a large chunk of those third downs are 5 yards or more.
Bottom line, defense looks pretty bad at what weāre suppose to be good at. Iād imagine our philosophy is to create negative plays to force opposing teams in passing situations. Weāre not doing that consistently which allows teams to run it down our throat. The worst part is even when we do force third and longs, weāll give up it up anyways.
Doesnāt help that our offense looks a lot less explosive this year.
We have more overall talent and depth on the defensive side of the ball than ever and those stats are maybe comparable to our 1st year in FBS.
Seeing those stats just makes me more convinced that we need to scrap the 4-2-5 altogether and go with a more traditional defense.
I will agree with most of whatās been said. We have come along way under Healy and still have A LOT to improve on. The gap in talent even against a lower ACC team was significant. I donāt expect us to win these type games (thought we would lose by 14-17 Saturday). I do expect us to be more competitive.
We have to play well on special tams to have a chance against P5 programs and we failed miserably in that aspect. We also needed to get off to a good start that didnāt happen as well. Reynolds battled hard with little protection at times. I did think we played hard till the end so thereās that I guess.
Thereās still wins on the schedule and we have a good chance to bounce back Saturday. This is just a strange season with COVID and wondering if weāre going to play every week. I will agree that next year is a big year for Healy and even more so in year 4.
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The first quarter isnāt the disaster it is, and we donāt give up two blocked punts and we probably do keep it within 14-17. Felt like Duke had 4-5 possessions on our side of the 50.
We came out sloppy, we can afford to do that against UTEP, we canāt afford it against an ACC school.
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For those of you that do not live in the Triangle, feel damn lucky. The one time we play a game this season that was āsomewhatā televised, it has been replayed over and over and over and over again since Saturday. Fox Sports South has replayed our game everyday since the game and sometimes more than once per day. I wonder if this would had been the case if we would had won. Iām fortunately not a gluten for punishment, so I havenāt dared to watch it again, but that salt in the wound really sucks every time I scan by it.
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