Yup. As much as we want to blame the Shapen and the offense… our defense could not get off the field during key downs. All of the games lost could have been won with a better defense yet everyone blames the offense.

Let's just hope for complementary football next year and top 20 O and D.

Easier to blame the offense because it has the most important position in the game. Defense wasn't great and offense wasn't great. Add the two together and we are lucky we have a chance for a winning record.

The defensive minded folks on this board will tell you the defense was bad because the offense didn't stay on the field long enough.

I agree with the defense criticism. We have a defensive coach, not an offensive coach. We expect the defense to be consistent and good every year. This year they were not which is why we looked terrible a few games, almost won a few games but found a way to lose, and played lights out a few games.

The QB play last year to this year was different. Last year 18 TD/7 INT. This year, 16 TD/10INT.

This year more yards passing. Last year more yards rushing.

I kept reading Aranda saying "leadership". I think this was the biggest item missing from the offense. I thought when they put it together at Tech we were headed in the right trajectory. What a major disappointment this season was, especially because I'm not seeing a quick turnaround.

Very few sacks from our D and soft coverage is a bad combination.

boognish_bear said:

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2022 out of 131 teams
Scoring Offense- ranked 32nd at 33.6 points per game
Scoring Defense- ranked 65th at 26.6 points per game

2021 out of 130 teams
Scoring Offense- ranked 40th at 31.6 points per game
Scoring Defense- ranked 10th at 18.3points per game

As frustrating as our offense was at times this year we actually improved in Scoring Offense stats over last year. It's our defense that really fell off the map…and you would assume with Aranda our D would be our calling card.

We had a big void on that side of the ball when Pitre and Bernard left. We got to find playmakers on that side of the ball.

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This speaks volumes to how ignorant some are on the boards

hodedofome said:

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The defensive minded folks on this board will tell you the defense was bad because the offense didn't stay on the field long enough.

I agree with the defense criticism. We have a defensive coach, not an offensive coach. We expect the defense to be consistent and good every year. This year they were not which is why we looked terrible a few games, almost won a few games but found a way to lose, and played lights out a few games.

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I know it wasn't true for every game, but there were several where our time of position was at least double the opponent. I don't think the bolded holds water (I don't believe you are saying that). The problem was we would move from 20 to 20 and then screw up....and most of those were runs.

It amuses me this thread hasn't received much traction.

Several of us have insisted our declining defense was a big problem. But we were ignored.

Now here are some facts in print.

Armchair quarterbacks love to critique the quarterback. Much easier to go after one player. We also have many fans whose nostalgia for 50+ points and 500+ yards of offense makes them focus on the offense ad nauseam.

3 of our nice wins were masked by clutch turnovers. People forget entering the 4th quarter against Tech it was still a ball game. You can't rely every game on 3-5 interceptions/fumbles.

Defense consistently had tackling issues, coverage issues, and pressure issues. Throw in special teams woes and that's a bad combo that's going to create trouble.

The coverage issues were expected with a young secondary but consistent poor tackling and mediocre defensive line play was not.

IowaBear said:

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2 things can be true at the same time, Shapen was really bad as was the defense. Take away the 2 cupcakes Albany and TX St and the scoring for the O takes a huge hit. Defense needs drastic improvements at all 3 levels

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Absolutely true. We should be watching and evaluating the transfer portal out of College Station IMO.

National defensive SP+ for defenses under Aranda over the past decade. A massive outlier. https://t.co/7dvGoHDdbY pic.twitter.com/ZTbXwgRO2V

— Travis Roeder (@Travis_Roeder) November 27, 2022

gobears20 said:

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National defensive SP+ for defenses under Aranda over the past decade. A massive outlier. https://t.co/7dvGoHDdbY pic.twitter.com/ZTbXwgRO2V

— Travis Roeder (@Travis_Roeder) November 27, 2022

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Aranda is not the DC....but he certainly has a lot of input on that side of the ball. This shows he clearly knows how to scheme for a top tier defense when he has the right weapons. We've got to get the weapons again....and that will fall on him.

DanaDane said:

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If you want to pull up the most embarrassing defensive stat, go get our percentage rate on 3rd down stops and where it ranks of the 131 teams.

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Across all the years I've watched BU football, this has been the case much more often than not, to the point that the more yardage our opponent needs for a 1st, the more likely they are to pick it up. Seems independent of who the defensive coaches are.

IowaBear said:

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2 things can be true at the same time, Shapen was really bad as was the defense. Take away the 2 cupcakes Albany and TX St and the scoring for the O takes a huge hit. Defense needs drastic improvements at all 3 levels

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Take away Texas Southern last year and that takes a lot of points from 2021, as well. And the difference between TX State this year and last is 13 points (~1 point per game). That gets you to only 1 point difference between 2021 and 2022, but 2022 is still slightly better. I agree with your last statement, but you could have left out the third sentence as that is a wash between last year and this year. A drastic improvement on defense would be the most impactful for next year. OL and receiver core has got to improve as much as the QB play, but it would help if when we had a lead in the fourth quarter, the defense could make just one stop when needed......given that they had multiple opportunities to do so.

Never forget - the staff recruits the team, trains and prepares the team, and manages the play calling (both offensive and defensive). Did the staff use the talent available effectively? Did the staff learn lessons that will be beneficial going forward?

canoso said:

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DanaDane said:

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If you want to pull up the most embarrassing defensive stat, go get our percentage rate on 3rd down stops and where it ranks of the 131 teams.

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Across all the years I've watched BU football, this has been the case much more often than not, to the point that the more yardage our opponent needs for a 1st, the more likely they are to pick it up. Seems independent of who the defensive coaches are.

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THIS ^^^^^^^^

hodedofome said:

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The defensive minded folks on this board will tell you the defense was bad because the offense didn't stay on the field long enough.

I agree with the defense criticism. We have a defensive coach, not an offensive coach. We expect the defense to be consistent and good every year. This year they were not which is why we looked terrible a few games, almost won a few games but found a way to lose, and played lights out a few games.

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Last year our Time of Possession on offense averaged 31 mins and 23 secs....this year we averaged 31 mins 30 secs. So our TOP was basically the same the last 2 years.

DanaDane said:

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If you want to pull up the most embarrassing defensive stat, go get our percentage rate on 3rd down stops and where it ranks of the 131 teams.

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Teams converted 3rd down against us 46% of the time which ranked us 120th. You are right....that's a killer when you can't consistently get teams off field.

Ironically...we ranked 20th in getting stop on 4th down somehow.