[Goose]

It's near impossible to judge your team based on how it practices against itself. How can anyone make any real accurate judgments on the short yardage contest? Maybe the defense is told the play, to make it harder on the offense. Maybe play-action passing isn't allowed in such scenarios. Maybe the least talented ball carrier got the ball.  Was it first team OL vs. first team DL?

You are correct. It is next to impossible to judge your team based on how it practices against itself. Even if the defense isn't told the play, their total familiarity with the offense gives them lots of insights in what is coming.

One could just as easily raise concern if the defense didn't stop the offense.. How could the defense actually be improved if it can't beat a still in flux OL?

Very true. The concern is that with Shaw's teams prior to 2015, that was exactly what happened. In the spring games and in early practices, the OL seemed to do very well against the DL. We had limitations on the DL, in that we had a very few excellent players and the rest not so many and not so good. It turned out that this disparity was a pretty good prediction of the relative merits of the groups. From 2016 on, as I recall, it has been the opposite. The defense has looked better. Granted, we have had problems piecing together an OL for the spring, but that isn't a good thing. Now, it could be that this years DL is just really, really good. However, following the trend, it could be that we once again can't move anybody on offense. I would have liked to hear a report of the opposite case, all things considered.

[Goose]

It's near impossible to judge your team based on how it practices against itself. How can anyone make any real accurate judgments on the short yardage contest? Maybe the defense is told the play, to make it harder on the offense. Maybe play-action passing isn't allowed in such scenarios. Maybe the least talented ball carrier got the ball.  Was it first team OL vs. first team DL?

You are correct. It is next to impossible to judge your team based on how it practices against itself. Even if the defense isn't told the play, their total familiarity with the offense gives them lots of insights in what is coming.

One could just as easily raise concern if the defense didn't stop the offense.. How could the defense actually be improved if it can't beat a still in flux OL?

Very true. The concern is that with Shaw's teams prior to 2015, that was exactly what happened. In the spring games and in early practices, the OL seemed to do very well against the DL. We had limitations on the DL, in that we had a very few excellent players and the rest not so many and not so good. It turned out that this disparity was a pretty good prediction of the relative merits of the groups. From 2016 on, as I recall, it has been the opposite. The defense has looked better. Granted, we have had problems piecing together an OL for the spring, but that isn't a good thing. Now, it could be that this years DL is just really, really good. However, following the trend, it could be that we once again can't move anybody on offense. I would have liked to hear a report of the opposite case, all things considered.