[BostonCard]

[quote author=Boston Card link=topic=15580.msg170271#msg170271 date=1473191199]

I mean, KSU isn't the most potent offense we will face all year, but eight sacks, two turnovers, and a safety is pretty darned good no matter who your opponent is.

The strength of KSU is the key question hanging over our evaluation of that first game.

On the one hand, the KSU offense was fairly poor last year and they lost most of their OL.
On the other hand, I thought the QB who was injured all of last year was at the least a lot better than the guy who did play last year (and threw a horrendous INT on his first pass against us).

The most curious thing about their players is that our KSU friends kept telling us about how great their JC transfer Pringle was going to be. He looked decidedly not great to me (1 catch, 3 so-so kick returns, one facemask-takedown-notPI vs Holder). However, they had a couple of frosh receivers who did impress; Zuber in particular but also their sophomore Heath made some nice catches.
[/quote]

Well, compared to their "not very good" last year:

Kansas State scored an average of 29.9 ppg last year; we held them to less than half of that.  They were shut out by Oklahoma and scored 9 points against Texas.  They scored at least 20 in all other games, so our game would have fallen in the top quartile of opponent scoring defense.

In 13 games, Kansas State gave up 35 sacks, or just under 3 sacks per game.  I don't have a game log, but 8 sacks would have been just over 1/5 of the total they gave up last year.  Certainly we got to the QB much more frequently than the average opponent last year.

In 13 games, Kansas State turned the ball over 19 times, or just under 1.5 times a game.  They turned it over three times twice, and had two turnovers on three occasions.  OUr two INT's would have been tied for second most among KState opponents last year.

In all of last year, Kansas State did not give up any safeties.  We got one.

Bottom line, although Kansas State was not very good offensively last year, our defensive performance would have ranked among the top three last year.  I agree that we don't have enough information to make a case for an elite defense.  But based on the Kansas State game, I think it is likely that our defense will be at least good.  I get that Kansas State doesn't have a super potent offense.  But even a weak offense usually can put together 20ish points.  By my count all but 7 Power5 teams averaged at least 20 ppg, and no team averaged fewer points scored than KState scored on Friday.

ADD: Last year, KState averaged 4.95 ypp; against us they averaged 4.59 ypp.

BC

[BostonCard]

[quote author=Boston Card link=topic=15580.msg170271#msg170271 date=1473191199]

I mean, KSU isn't the most potent offense we will face all year, but eight sacks, two turnovers, and a safety is pretty darned good no matter who your opponent is.

The strength of KSU is the key question hanging over our evaluation of that first game.

On the one hand, the KSU offense was fairly poor last year and they lost most of their OL.
On the other hand, I thought the QB who was injured all of last year was at the least a lot better than the guy who did play last year (and threw a horrendous INT on his first pass against us).

The most curious thing about their players is that our KSU friends kept telling us about how great their JC transfer Pringle was going to be. He looked decidedly not great to me (1 catch, 3 so-so kick returns, one facemask-takedown-notPI vs Holder). However, they had a couple of frosh receivers who did impress; Zuber in particular but also their sophomore Heath made some nice catches.
[/quote]

Well, compared to their "not very good" last year:

Kansas State scored an average of 29.9 ppg last year; we held them to less than half of that.  They were shut out by Oklahoma and scored 9 points against Texas.  They scored at least 20 in all other games, so our game would have fallen in the top quartile of opponent scoring defense.

In 13 games, Kansas State gave up 35 sacks, or just under 3 sacks per game.  I don't have a game log, but 8 sacks would have been just over 1/5 of the total they gave up last year.  Certainly we got to the QB much more frequently than the average opponent last year.

In 13 games, Kansas State turned the ball over 19 times, or just under 1.5 times a game.  They turned it over three times twice, and had two turnovers on three occasions.  OUr two INT's would have been tied for second most among KState opponents last year.

In all of last year, Kansas State did not give up any safeties.  We got one.

Bottom line, although Kansas State was not very good offensively last year, our defensive performance would have ranked among the top three last year.  I agree that we don't have enough information to make a case for an elite defense.  But based on the Kansas State game, I think it is likely that our defense will be at least good.  I get that Kansas State doesn't have a super potent offense.  But even a weak offense usually can put together 20ish points.  By my count all but 7 Power5 teams averaged at least 20 ppg, and no team averaged fewer points scored than KState scored on Friday.

ADD: Last year, KState averaged 4.95 ypp; against us they averaged 4.59 ypp.

BC