Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE
Over the last century, the game of football has become a progressively offensive game. In college football, this is more spread out than at the pro level. There are many college teams that score a lot and gain a lot of yards through the air and many that do the same, but on the ground. And while everyone still sees defense as a necessity to the game, the majority of football fans (college or pro) don’t like seeing it on full display. For proof, look at the SEC‘s mixed reputation among college football fans for their defense & rushing philosophy despite all of their recent success, and look at how much more “fun and exciting and cool” the pro game looks now that quarterbacks are throwing fifty times a game. But defense does win games and this weekend in college football provided some proof of that.
The big upset this weekend saw the Stanford Cardinal knock off the second-ranked USC Trojans 21-14 and do it through a fantastic defensive performance. It wasn’t just about the Cardinal defense holding the Trojans to 14 points, but more about how they were able to keep them from scoring while the Cardinal offense had just as much trouble putting points on the board.
The Cardinal defense put Trojan quarterback Matt Barkley through probably his most frustrating game of football in his four years at the school. Barkley, a man who still may win the Heisman Trophy this year, could not get a thing going in the second half of this game to save his life. The Trojan running game was already neutralized thanks to early injuries to Silas Redd and Curtis McNeal. Add to that an inexperienced offensive line who played absolutely terribly during the second half, and it quickly became the Cardinal’s game to lose.
The Cardinal had their offensive force in this game with running back Stepfan Taylor going for over 150 yards. And Taylor’s most important work came as the offense’s workhorse after the Cardinal took the lead in the second half. But make no mistake, this upset was only possible because the Cardinal defense was able to get to the Trojan running backs and Barkley early enough to stop their offense from functioning accurately and consistently, and often enough after that to complete the upset.
The SEC featured two games this weekend where defense was responsible for the win, but not as visibly as it appeared.
The Alabama Crimson Tide rolled into Fayetteville, Arkansas and completely rolled over the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Tide’s 52-0 win certainly had plenty of offense on display from the Tide, but not right away.
For the first quarter of the game, it seemed legitimately close. Everyone knew that the Tide would eventually pull away, but the Razorbacks’ defense had done such a good stop of keeping the Tide at bay during the first quarter, that all it took was a momentum change to make this a real game. The Tide defense instead made two interceptions that both resulted in touchdowns for the Tide, and after that the rout was on.
Would things have been differently for the Razorbacks if Tyler Wilson had been playing at quarterback? Yes, they would’ve scored at least once. But that’s about it.
The Florida Gators‘ victory in Knoxville over the Tennessee Volunteers, on the other hand, was about defense coming to life at the end of the game.
This game was a good, close, offensive affair for the first half and into the second half with both teams putting points on the board and good play on the field. It was back-and-forth right up until this point with one team scoring and the other answering with a score of their own. But then, around the half way point of the third quarter, the Gators’ defense came to life and began to hold the Volunteers’ offense to nothing.
What this ended up doing was give the Gators’ offense more room to breathe and less need to play catch-up. For those who didn’t watch, the Gators ended up outscoring the Volunteers 27-6 in the second half with 24 unanswered points during the mentioned final quarter and a half.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, specifically their defense, made a big statement to the nation this past weekend with their 20-3 domination of the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing, Michigan.
Coming into the game, the main hype for the game was about two things: whether or not the 2-0 Fighting Irish were worth the hype they were getting, and how many yards Spartan running back Le’Veon Bell would put up. Well, Bell’s night was inconsequential to the outcome as he did next to nothing, gaining less than 80 yards for the night.
This game should act as a game that gets people to believe in the Fighting Irish this year. Yes, there are better teams than the Spartans left on the Fighting Irish schedule, and the same goes for the offense they faced from the Spartans. But the point is that the Fighting Irish put together a tremendous defensive performance, on the road, and ended with a three-score victory over a team that most believed were going to dominate them, their defense in particular. It’s worth at least some kudos to the Fighting Irish defense for their performance.
One thing that occurred this past weekend I’d like to mention, though it has to do with offense, was the return of receiver Sammy Watkins to the Clemson Tigers. Watkins had been under suspension for the first two games of the year, but was back on the field for the Tigers against the Furman Paladins this past Saturday. The Tigers won 41-7 while Watkins scored once on a 58-yard run (yes, on a run) and caught four passes for 52 yards.
The reason I mention this is that I have become something of a booster for the Tigers over the past year. Last season, the Tigers run to an ACC championship was one of my favorite stories of the college football season. The job that Tigers head coach Dabo Sweeney has done in turning this program around has been tremendous. And it just so happens that the two big components of that successful offense from last year are back this year: quarterback Tajh Boyd and Watkins.
Oh, and one other thing. On Saturday, the Penn St. Nittany Lions and head coach Bill O’Brien won their first game together, defeating the Navy Midshipmen 34-7. It’s just very fitting that the first win for the Nittany Lions without Joe Pa on the sidelines came in Happy Valley.
