Trevorson and you going at it with Grossman throwing stuff is a clown show. Darth from your overall comments, it seems that u hate Prime (this year's CU team) want us to lose, as the great prophet predicting another losing season. I guess you sort of wish CU would roll back the clock to the Wing-T/Veer/Wishbone offense running that ball 35 times, with 40 mins offensive time of possession, such that the defense is statistically great . . . given the opposing offense runs limited plays?? If an O cuts down the time of possession (i.e. Iowa), I guess the is dominant? However, do you score enough to win?
If you look at CU's D based upon each quarter, the D has played many good/great quarters compared to a few bad ones. Then you throw in a DC 5 games into the season with a bunch of new guys and it is impressive, not depressive.
@buffaholic makes a very good comment boding well for CU's defense going forward. He mentions CU has played so many guys . . . both starters and reserves, aka transfers appear to have talent. A bunch of guys getting experience playing next to one another does help. Hopefully, they get past injuries and early coordination issues and the D only improves, with the O scoring more than enough points each game.
Yards, points, 1st downs, and pass/run efficiency are one defensive metric, but it really comes down to making key stops and keeping the team in each game. CU's D has done that. The progress is obvious, even if the "stats" do not necessarily show it. Anytime a team is doing D install, there will be blown assignments, coverages, etc... There have been but this year's D plays much more physical than year's past. Which D position group is deficient compared to the last 2 seasons?
Explain how is the D supposed to be statistically great given the high octane CU O? When our O hits we score, however the result is many short drives--whether they be a few plays & out, or a few plays then a TD/FG. Obviously, there will be yards and points given any D is on the field for prolonged periods. CU is not really running an O conductive to controlling time of possession and seeking to limit the # of plays, correct? However, the O is not really built that way, however has been more balanced the past 2 games. Is your expectation 44-6, 35-10, 16-3 each game?
In some games, the O has to out score teams (NDSU, Baylor) or may really outscore teams (UCF) and then statistically they are what they are. CSU was a lower scoring game with some better stats. kNU is the real stat outlier because of the O's pick 6, shanked punt then the fluke TD that could have been an INT. Statistically speaking the 2nd half of kNU is probably one of CU D's better halves, however wasn't that was due to kNU salting out the clock? The worst D was probably the 1st half v. NDSU and we are along ways past that. The D that really didn't matter that much was 3rd/4th Q v. UCF when they gave up tons of yards but only 7 points . . .
Is the sky really falling? What is your perfect equation? With what coach? What O and what D?