First, the good news. Every team in the Big XII north is extremely flawed in one way or another. Because of that, it is still within reach. Unfortunately, the bad news is that our flaw, combined with our schedule, now looks like too much to overcome. We knew going in that our defense would not be good enough to stop the elite offenses we would face. We found out yesterday that it’s not good enough to stop anyone. Many I spoke to yesterday spoke of our team being fortunate to hold onto a win, despite overlooking the Cyclones. But the reality is, that’s who we are. We didn’t overlook them one bit; we simply couldn’t stop what they were doing. Which is sad in more ways than I can count, considering my whiskey intake yesterday could have sedated a rhinocerous.

Defensively, our problems are many, but the biggest of which is that we don’t make plays. We have one playmaker on our entire defense, and he’s constantly spending his time making up for others’ mistakes rather than being able to make anything happen. Part of that is schematic, part is inexperience, but it’s mostly a result of personnel. Let’s work our way back, starting with the line.

Thought to be somewhat of a strength entering the season, DT has become a big concern. Blakesly’s body simply hasn’t held up and as a result, he’s regressed. Johnson still looks to be our best – he’s BY FAR our quickest, but he doesn’t command a double team and doesn’t hold his area well enough to collapse a pocket. Five weeks in and we still haven’t figured out how to defend either a called QB draw or a de facto one in which coverage is actually solid and the quarterback simply steps up through the middle, usually for nothing less than about seven yards. Dorsey and Greene have each had their moments, but as a whole, we’ve yet to see anyone do much of anything in pushing the pocket and yesterday they proved worthless in defending the run as well. At least before then, I thought we could stop the latter, but after watching ISU simply run dive plays for 200 yards I’m not sure we can stop anything.

The ends were thought to be a concern and after some early success, otherwise known as fool’s gold, we’re back at square one. To be fair, we didn’t have the full services of Laptad yesterday who is nursing an undisclosed injury. When he was out there, the difference was noticeable. As expected, he’s proven to be our only end capable of getting consistent pressure, and he’s also turned into our best against the run as well. Onyegbule has returned to earth, now that he’s going against semi-decent linemen and Wheeler is back to his old self, getting into the backfield consistently, but having no idea what to do once he gets there. Recall how many times he was near the ball, primarily Arnaud, yesterday and now consider how many tackles he registered: zero. Foster has been a nice surprise, but if he’s ever our second best, we’ve got a problem. To date, Quinton Woods has been non-existent and Dustin Spears broke his foot this week.

As much of a problem as our line is, the linebacking unit is still the biggest culprit and concern going forward. I was nearly positive we wouldn’t be able to cover the pass with these guys, and that has played out exactly as expected. There isn’t an offensive coordinator out there that isn’t going to center his game plan on attacking this unit. And until we can figure out how to punish that, anyone with a quarterback efficient and patient enough to complete short passes all game is going to have tremendous success against us. Considering Austen Arnaud just did it, I’m not sure there is a quarterback left on our schedule that doesn’t fit that bill (with the obvious best guesses being Hawkins and Gregory, and maybe Zac Lee).

Arist Wright is a stalky 5′8″ – he can’t cover a tight end or a wide receiver. He’s usually pretty good filling the hole, and even in rushing the passer (on the rare occasion we dial him up on a blitz), but ask him to play a drag route or a screen and he’s just not gonna get it done. Quite frankly, that was the case with all of them (Dudley, Tharp and Springer) up until yesterday, when they might as well have not been on the field. If you need any evidence of this, I suggest you look no further than the fact that each of our starting safeties had 14 tackles apiece, despite Iowa State not attempting to go down the field on a single play. And given that we couldn’t stop them within ten yards anyway, why would they have. If you can find me a bigger concern than our LBs, please keep it to yourself, because I’m not sure I can handle the horror.

Despite our putrid pass defense, the unit I’ve been most pleased with is our DBs. Stuckey continues to stand out as the only player on our defense that could start for a legitimate defense and that’s a result of both his ability and his effort. Every time someone gets into the open field, I don’t even bother to see who is giving chase, because I know it’s going to be Stuckey. It never fails. Thornton is what he is at the other safety spot. He’s semi-dependable in that he’s always going to be near the play, but he’s usually a step behind in coverage and he’s prone to over-running tackles in space. Ryan Murphy seems to have taken the nickel spot from Strozier, but I have yet to notice much of a difference in play and I think the same analysis as used with Thorntn mostly applies here.

At the corner spots, it’s more of the same. Daymond Patterson has the ability to be a fantastic corner. He’s got the hips to turn and run, the speed to make up for mistakes and the quickness to break on the ball. And yet we see almost none of this, as both he and Chris Harris seem plenty content to simply keep the play in front of them and make the tackle 8 yards down the field. And their play against the hot screen out wide was mostly non-existent. Smart Football recently put up a post with Nick Saban describing how he teaches pass coverage, and it’s nothing short of brilliant. Having not been in practice, I can’t say what we’re teaching, but if we’re using these same principles, it sure isn’t reflected on the field. We simply do not play the ball and it’s just unbearable. And if we’re not teaching this, I have to ask why, because it sure seems to be working for Saban and it doesn’t sound like rocket surgery.

On that note, we should discuss the coaching some as well. I’ve always been one to defend the Clint Bowen detractors. Did he make some mistakes a year ago? Sure. But we had also just lost an All-American corner and an All-league DT, which is a talent level we don’t just plug-in and replace at Kansas right now. And I think I remember something about playing against a few teams that passed the ball pretty well, contrary to the year prior. It’s no secret that to stop a spread offense, you have to be able to pressure the passer with as a few people as possible. Schematically, there’s only so much you can do in that regard and we just didn’t have the players. Here we sit a year later and the story is much the same. But that doesn’t excuse our lack of adjustments. Yesterday ISU came out and jumped on us early with a quick touchdown, then a drive down to about the ten (which ended in a botched FG), and another touchdown. After that, we took the lead, came out and stopped them cold on two straight drives to let us recover and enter the half with a semi-solid 20-12 lead. As fans, we felt like the team had come out a little sluggish, figured out how they were beating us, adjusted and things would be fine. And yet, when we came out for the second half, nothing had changed. Their first three drives out of the tunnel: 55 yards (FG), 76 yards (TD), 71 yards (TD). With a half to adjust, in the third quarter we allowed 18 points and 202 yards to Iowa Fucking State. Yes, it’s nice that we tightened up and forced a quick punt on their next possession (as we did against Southern Miss), but pardon my cautiousness, if I don’t think we’ll be able to just turn it on once the competition improves.

Offensively, we’re phenomenal. And we’ve yet to reach our full potential, especially in how limited things have been with Sharp on the sidelines. I still contend that Todd is getting used to us incorporating the pistol, but regardless, he has been and will be phenomenal, I predict. The two touchdowns he threw to Briscoe could not have been placed better. Ditto the first to Kerry Meier. The few balls that slipped out of his hand, especially the last, didn’t always come at the best time, but of our many worries, Todd and the receivers are not anywhere near the list. Kerry Meier: 16 for 142 and 2. Dez Briscoe: 12 for 186 and 2, not to mention an absolutely beautiful catch on that 46 yarder that gave us the lead for good. Also good to see us involving Biere more often, as he can be a very big asset to us (3-53) and as better defenses focus on Dez and Kerry, we’ll need more from Wilson and McDougald. Hopefully they’re up to the task.

Opurum has been even better than we could have reasonably expected. We need Sharp back, because Toebn isn’t going to break anything, but he runs hard, lets his blocks develop and almost always falls forward. And after struggling mightily in this area earlier, his pass protection was extremely solid yesterday. Helped out when guys got free, stopped blitzers in their tracks and ultimately, kept Todd sack free all day long. On that note, the offensive line deserves a ton of credit for yesterday’s win. A legitimate concern entering the year, and even as recently as the USM win, they dominated all game. We apparently still don’t trust them to fire off and get us a yard or two when we need it most, but in on-field performance, we have to be thrilled at this point.

The question is, how far can half a team take you? As of now, confidence in our defense is deservedly at an all-time low. Until proven differently, we have no reason to believe they’ll be able to stop anyone outside of Boulder and Manhattan. And after yesterday, it’s tough to say what we can even expect of them in those. Fortunately, our offense is about as good as they come. We don’t, and won’t, have an elite running game any time soon. But we’re certainly improved in that area from a year ago and that should continue as the year progresses. Combine that with what we know we’ll get out of Todd and his receivers and we know we have an offense that can score on anyone. It would be a damn shame to waste that, which I’m very afraid were about to do. Stay tuned.