Historic total defense rankings - where do we stand

cajunjacket

cajunjacket

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I asked Bard for our defense rankings since 1993 and it gave the following:
1696348192065.png


Here's the same chart if you overlay the HC and look at the average.
1696349361747.png

I think lots of folks on here probably started following Tech during the PJ era and don't realize that our defenses were significantly better pre-PJ. We all remember the painful defenses of Wommack, etc., but we forgave PJ b/c he was an offensive genius (not an overstatement). Let's be clear. It's extremely unlikely we will find another PJ-like offensive mind in the next several decades. He is a rarity.

Gailey and O'Leary fielded superior defenses than the Johnson and post-Johnson era. Gailey and O'Leary had the same challenging recruiting conditions that Johnson, Collins, and Key are dealing with.

So where do we stand? What's our current total defense ranking? 115. There are only 15 defenses in CFB who are worse than us.

Consider this. The worst our defense has ever finished in the past 30 years is 112th, and that's after a full season and playing UGA. So 115th after playing SC State, Wake, BGSU is clearly the nadir in the past 30 decades, if not the history of the program.

Since our defense has reached its nadir and we're unlikely to find another CPJ offensive mastermind who can overcome such a poor defense, the #1 focus of our AD must be on re-establishing a quality defense. Middle of the pack is plenty. If we're going to splurge anywhere, it must be on a DC hire.

This post shouldn't be surprising for many of you who followed tech pre-Johnson. I'm just providing perspective for those who don't realize just how bad our current defense really is.
 
cajunjacket said:
I asked Bard for our defense rankings since 1993 and it gave the following:
1696348192065.png


Here's the same chart if you overlay the HC and look at the average.
1696349361747.png

I think lots of folks on here probably started following Tech during the PJ era and don't realize that our defenses were significantly better pre-PJ. We all remember the painful defenses of Wommack, etc., but we forgave PJ b/c he was an offensive genius (not an overstatement). Let's be clear. It's extremely unlikely we will find another PJ-like offensive mind in the next several decades. He is a rarity.

Gailey and O'Leary fielded superior defenses than the Johnson and post-Johnson era. Gailey and O'Leary had the same challenging recruiting conditions that Johnson, Collins, and Key are dealing with.

So where do we stand? What's our current total defense ranking? 115. There are only 15 defenses in CFB who are worse than us.

Consider this. The worst our defense has ever finished in the past 30 years is 112th, and that's after a full season and playing UGA. So 115th after playing SC State, Wake, BGSU is clearly the nadir in the past 30 decades, if not the history of the program.

Since our defense has reached its nadir and we're unlikely to find another CPJ offensive mastermind who can overcome such a poor defense, the #1 focus of our AD must be on re-establishing a quality defense. Middle of the pack is plenty. If we're going to splurge anywhere, it must be on a DC hire.

This post shouldn't be surprising for many of you who followed tech pre-Johnson. I'm just providing perspective for those who don't realize just how bad our current defense really is.
Click to expand...
leonardo-dicaprio-clapping.gif
 
Stop goofing off, ClubSeats, or you'll be counting patrons in a WalMart.
 
@cajunjacket Amazing how good our Chan defenses were with Tenuta. Flipped a switch overnight and went from absolutely awful offense to racking up the points AND keeping the ball away from the opposition, but ….

Our offense kept the ball for 20-25 of 60 mins under Chan, defense allowed probably 15-20 points per game. Our offense kept the ball 35-40 mins under Paul, defense allowed 2x as many points despite being on the field half as long.

Absolutely mind boggling the change in defenses. Roughly 4x as bad. It spanned across multiple coordinators also.

People blamed the 3O as if that’s what the team practiced against. Well, did we keep the same 3O practice squad when we threw out everything else Paul had in place?
 
Liberty said:
@cajunjacket Amazing how good our Chan defenses were with Tenuta. Flipped a switch overnight and went from absolutely awful offense to racking up the points AND keeping the ball away from the opposition, but ….

Our offense kept the ball for 20-25 of 60 mins under Chan, defense allowed probably 15-20 points per game. Our offense kept the ball 35-40 mins under Paul, defense allowed 2x as many points despite being on the field half as long.

Absolutely mind boggling the change in defenses. Roughly 4x as bad. It spanned across multiple coordinators also.

People blamed the 3O as if that’s what the team practiced against. Well, did we keep the same 3O practice squad when we threw out everything else Paul had in place?
Click to expand...

Chan played field position first and foremost. The offense was bad in part because it was protecting the defense and playing a field position game.

CPJ gambled a lot more. He also could end up taking fg shots where CCG had to punt because we didn’t move up the field enough. It would be interesting to see the starting field positions the defense faced between coaches.

I also believe that Tech doesn’t get enough athletes to shine on both sides of the ball. So you end up pulling the pure athletes to one side of the ball or the other.
 
WracerX said:
Chan played field position first and foremost. The offense was bad in part because it was protecting the defense and playing a field position game.

CPJ gambled a lot more. He also could end up taking fg shots where CCG had to punt because we didn’t move up the field enough. It would be interesting to see the starting field positions the defense faced between coaches.

I also believe that Tech doesn’t get enough athletes to shine on both sides of the ball. So you end up pulling the pure athletes to one side of the ball or the other.
Click to expand...
I hear you, but I think there are plenty of contrary examples. Chan had both Calvin Johnson and Tashard Choice on the same offense, with mediocre-at-best results. Inexcusable. On the flip side, our 2009 D had Derrick Morgan and Morgan Burnett, among others, and was not particularly good.

This was a common refrain during the CPJ era, but the reality was that most of our highest rated recruits played defense, especially later in his tenure. Guys like Tevin Washington, Robbie Godhigh, Clinton Lynch, and Zach Laskey racked up the points on offense while higher rated players consistently underachieved on defense.
 
cajunjacket said:
I asked Bard for our defense rankings since 1993 and it gave the following:
1696348192065.png


Here's the same chart if you overlay the HC and look at the average.
1696349361747.png

I think lots of folks on here probably started following Tech during the PJ era and don't realize that our defenses were significantly better pre-PJ. We all remember the painful defenses of Wommack, etc., but we forgave PJ b/c he was an offensive genius (not an overstatement). Let's be clear. It's extremely unlikely we will find another PJ-like offensive mind in the next several decades. He is a rarity.

Gailey and O'Leary fielded superior defenses than the Johnson and post-Johnson era. Gailey and O'Leary had the same challenging recruiting conditions that Johnson, Collins, and Key are dealing with.

So where do we stand? What's our current total defense ranking? 115. There are only 15 defenses in CFB who are worse than us.

Consider this. The worst our defense has ever finished in the past 30 years is 112th, and that's after a full season and playing UGA. So 115th after playing SC State, Wake, BGSU is clearly the nadir in the past 30 decades, if not the history of the program.

Since our defense has reached its nadir and we're unlikely to find another CPJ offensive mastermind who can overcome such a poor defense, the #1 focus of our AD must be on re-establishing a quality defense. Middle of the pack is plenty. If we're going to splurge anywhere, it must be on a DC hire.

This post shouldn't be surprising for many of you who followed tech pre-Johnson. I'm just providing perspective for those who don't realize just how bad our current defense really is.
Click to expand...
I really appreciate the stats, but I’ll offer a different take. It looks to me like our defenses have been consistently weak for as long as I’ve been alive. The few “good” years look like outliers. The most successful years of GT football that I’ve seen is when we had a dominant offense led by a good QB. 1998, 2000, 2009, 2014… all seem to fit that mold.

If we’re basing things on recent history, it looks like offense should be the focus, and recruiting/developing an elite QB should be priority 2, 2, and 3.
 
cajunjacket said:
I asked Bard for our defense rankings since 1993 and it gave the following:
1696348192065.png


Here's the same chart if you overlay the HC and look at the average.
1696349361747.png

I think lots of folks on here probably started following Tech during the PJ era and don't realize that our defenses were significantly better pre-PJ. We all remember the painful defenses of Wommack, etc., but we forgave PJ b/c he was an offensive genius (not an overstatement). Let's be clear. It's extremely unlikely we will find another PJ-like offensive mind in the next several decades. He is a rarity.

Gailey and O'Leary fielded superior defenses than the Johnson and post-Johnson era. Gailey and O'Leary had the same challenging recruiting conditions that Johnson, Collins, and Key are dealing with.

So where do we stand? What's our current total defense ranking? 115. There are only 15 defenses in CFB who are worse than us.

Consider this. The worst our defense has ever finished in the past 30 years is 112th, and that's after a full season and playing UGA. So 115th after playing SC State, Wake, BGSU is clearly the nadir in the past 30 decades, if not the history of the program.

Since our defense has reached its nadir and we're unlikely to find another CPJ offensive mastermind who can overcome such a poor defense, the #1 focus of our AD must be on re-establishing a quality defense. Middle of the pack is plenty. If we're going to splurge anywhere, it must be on a DC hire.

This post shouldn't be surprising for many of you who followed tech pre-Johnson. I'm just providing perspective for those who don't realize just how bad our current defense really is.
Click to expand...
No doubt dozens of FCS defenses better.
 
johncu said:
I hear you, but I think there are plenty of contrary examples. Chan had both Calvin Johnson and Tashard Choice on the same offense, with mediocre-at-best results. Inexcusable. On the flip side, our 2009 D had Derrick Morgan and Morgan Burnett, among others, and was not particularly good.

This was a common refrain during the CPJ era, but the reality was that most of our highest rated recruits played defense, especially later in his tenure. Guys like Tevin Washington, Robbie Godhigh, Clinton Lynch, and Zach Laskey racked up the points on offense while higher rated players consistently underachieved on defense.
Click to expand...

This for the 'O'. CCG never had a superstar at QB like Hamilton (or King). Had he one of those types of QBs with the weapons around him and the OL that was always solid, I suspect we could have averaged a few more wins per season and perhaps beaten UGAY during his 7 year tenure. Coaches and programs can live and die by a great QB. Before he left 'mediocrity' was the word he was most associated with, especially not being able to beat UGAY while he was there. Looking back despite his 0-7 record against them, history actually looks back at his regime as pretty decent just behind GOL.
 
johncu said:
I really appreciate the stats, but I’ll offer a different take. It looks to me like our defenses have been consistently weak for as long as I’ve been alive. The few “good” years look like outliers. The most successful years of GT football that I’ve seen is when we had a dominant offense led by a good QB. 1998, 2000, 2009, 2014… all seem to fit that mold.

If we’re basing things on recent history, it looks like offense should be the focus, and recruiting/developing an elite QB should be priority 2, 2, and 3.
Click to expand...
I can understand why we don't have a great or even good defense. A mid level ACC defense seems possible and really should be expected based on recruiting.
 
gt9589 said:
This for the 'O'. CCG never had a superstar at QB like Hamilton (or King). Had he one of those types of QBs with the weapons around him and the OL that was always solid, I suspect we could have averaged a few more wins per season and perhaps beaten UGAY during his 7 year tenure. Coaches and programs can live and die by a great QB. Before he left 'mediocrity' was the word he was most associated with, especially not being able to beat UGAY while he was there. Looking back despite his 0-7 record against them, history actually looks back at his regime as pretty decent just behind GOL.
Click to expand...

Gailey never created a dynamic QB. It just isn’t a position he was able to do effectively. He was get at creating RB, however.

I’ll take the highs and lows of a CPJ over a steady CCG even though their averages are the same.
 
I wouldn’t mind a Chanesque defense, but no way would I want to go back to the Chanesque O.
 
WracerX said:
Gailey never created a dynamic QB. It just isn’t a position he was able to do effectively. He was get at creating RB, however.

I’ll take the highs and lows of a CPJ over a steady CCG even though their averages are the same.
Click to expand...

Me too because CPJ beat UGAY at their house...twice.
 
WracerX said:
Chan played field position first and foremost. The offense was bad in part because it was protecting the defense and playing a field position game.

CPJ gambled a lot more. He also could end up taking fg shots where CCG had to punt because we didn’t move up the field enough. It would be interesting to see the starting field positions the defense faced between coaches.

I also believe that Tech doesn’t get enough athletes to shine on both sides of the ball. So you end up pulling the pure athletes to one side of the ball or the other.
Click to expand...
Truth. CCG believed that defense wins games. He put the lion’s share of athletes on his D. CPJ believed that offense wins games. He put the lion’s share of athletes on his O. Just differing philosophies, and both can be right.
 
WracerX said:
3-3 in their house. Wish he could have brought that home.
Click to expand...
Home games with UGAg in 2009, 2013, and 2015 were all darned close (as were 2008, 2010, 2014, and 2016 in the cesspool). All of those, I believe, were one-score games. That’s 7 of 11 years under CPJ. The man needs a statue.
 
We've got to find someone who can recruit good defensive lineman and linebackers. Boils down to that if you ask me. I'm continually disappointed by the numbers we recruit for those positions.
 
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