[CTcard]

In three home games, our defense has allowed 7, 21, and 13 points, or an average of about 14 a game, to teams who have otherwise scored 14 (Northwestern), 34 (Oregon), and 34 (Washington) points per game.  In our three away games, we’ve given up 45, 45, and 28 points, or an average of 39, to teams who have scored 29 (USC), 45 (UCF) and 37 (OSU). And this cannot be explained by the quality of opponent.  Oregon State is the only road game we kept our opponent under their season average; we kept all three home opponents well under their season average.

Of course this list also means that we only allowed one team to score more than their season average against us.

The defense has generally altered good/horrendous in ways that I think are not so simple as collapsing late.
Against OSU, it was definitely collapse late.
Against UCF it gave up TDs on the first four drives and points on 6 of 7 in the first half. Then in the second half only a single TD.
Against UW they seemed to put up no resistance on drive #1, let UW cruise to our 8 on the third drive before eking out a stop, then not that much more.
Against U$C we made Slovis look like the second coming of ... I don't know - who's the best college QB ever? [Though he really might be very good. He only managed to play two games plus two complete passes before getting injured himself. He completed 78% of his passes overall with a PER of 169.]

My take is the defense currently is young, thin, and living on the edge. If they get some breaks, it rolls. If they lose some breaks, they collapse.

[CTcard]

In three home games, our defense has allowed 7, 21, and 13 points, or an average of about 14 a game, to teams who have otherwise scored 14 (Northwestern), 34 (Oregon), and 34 (Washington) points per game.  In our three away games, we’ve given up 45, 45, and 28 points, or an average of 39, to teams who have scored 29 (USC), 45 (UCF) and 37 (OSU). And this cannot be explained by the quality of opponent.  Oregon State is the only road game we kept our opponent under their season average; we kept all three home opponents well under their season average.

Of course this list also means that we only allowed one team to score more than their season average against us.

The defense has generally altered good/horrendous in ways that I think are not so simple as collapsing late.
Against OSU, it was definitely collapse late.
Against UCF it gave up TDs on the first four drives and points on 6 of 7 in the first half. Then in the second half only a single TD.
Against UW they seemed to put up no resistance on drive #1, let UW cruise to our 8 on the third drive before eking out a stop, then not that much more.
Against U$C we made Slovis look like the second coming of ... I don't know - who's the best college QB ever? [Though he really might be very good. He only managed to play two games plus two complete passes before getting injured himself. He completed 78% of his passes overall with a PER of 169.]

My take is the defense currently is young, thin, and living on the edge. If they get some breaks, it rolls. If they lose some breaks, they collapse.