Defensive Reactions

I have read some of the comments left by people who responded to my article on what went wrong with our defense Saturday against Hawaii. I am sure I missed plenty with respect to what went wrong but at the same time I was a little confused by the fact that people are beginning to find faults with both McCauley and Andrews. I am sorry but I do not see any reason to blame these two for anything. That would be like blaming Norton for the loss against Hawaii because he threw the interception for a touchdown. You would be ignoring the 225 yard passing and three touchdowns by only paying attention to his one bad throw. McCauley has been beaten in the last few games on deep plays. He has been having problems in coverage the last few weeks but do you really feel this is his fault? Do you really believe McCauley is to blame at the end of the day? I want everyone who comes on here to go back and watch the three big plays he has been beaten by in the past three weeks. If you pay attention the Colorado State game should have been offensive pass interference as the receiver threw McCauley down and somehow the referee missed this penalty. Go back to this past Saturday and watch the Hawaii game over again. Don't just sit and view the game, watch it in detail. If you notice our defensive scheme was absolute crap. McCauley had to cover two receivers on countless plays. If one person comes on this blog and says they can cover two Hawaii receivers at the same time they are liars. Andrews at the same time was forced to cover a wide receiver far too many times for a Linebacker. I am really surprised that most fans did not notice this during the game. I counted three toucdown passes to wide receivers who were being covered by Linebackers. If you want to place blame for this do not put it on McCauley, Jenkins, Simmons, Shirley, Mays, Andrews, or McCauley. You put the blame where it all begins and that is with Dan Brown.

Hawaii predominantly runs routes of eight to ten yards. If you know they are going to do this there is only one way to stop a run and shoot or spread offense. You tell your corners to absolutely explode on the receiver when the plays begins. You are allowed to chuck the receiver within five yards so you do it. When Hawaii is running patterns all over the field with four to five receivers why do you not blitz? By blitzing Linebackers you cause the RB to stay back and block taking him out of the play. I just wonder if our coaches even watched prior games with respect to Hawaii. Last weekend Nevada was outmatched on defense but kept the game close by blitzing and forcing Brennan to throw the ball before he wanted to. Brennan had to roll out countless times against Nevada to get away from the pressure and when you roll out you are taking away one side of the field for the offense. I sit here and I am not even upset with our defense on the whole, I knew Hawaii would score plenty of points. I am upset with the fact that the coaches for Fresno State did not adjust to what Hawaii was doing on offense. The Dogs did not try anything different and have done the same thing all year. They can hold a team to third and long and then give up a first down because the QB has absolutely no pressure to deal with.

We are going through hard times right now and I have to say it is getting tough to endure all of this. But the faults and blames should start with those at the top. The coaches are the ones who have to get the team prepared to play and it is obvious they are not doing the job right now. Our offense is going to turn around if Hill decides to play Norton and let these other young men have a chance to shine. It's time to fix the defense and the Dogs need to start this offseason by saying goodbye to Dan Brown.

LSU Game Note - Coach Hill has named Sean Norton the starter for the game against LSU and rightfully so. Norton played outstanding against Hawaii and gives us a glimmer of hope on offense against a fast and tenacious LSU defense.