safety play

[tampaboi07]

Whatever the reason, we were getting beat up on 3rd and longs

3rd Down Conversions:

37% for the season.

Last 6 games:

Cincy 21%

Pitt 27%

'cuse 54%

'ville 20%

WVU 50%

ECU 20%

I don't have it broken down into long or short yardage.

you beat me to the punch.

[MikeG]

great teams have great safety play

conversely great safety play can make up for other short comings on d

are you saying that you feel the safety position is our weakest link on this defense? You may have a point with Burnett leaving. I don't see a drop off-- if anything we will improve as those younger guys are maturing and learning. We're pretty deep at that position but one could say we don't have a standout at the safety position I guess. We don't have a JR Reed or Anthony Henry back there (in terms of overall impact that is-- hjust yet).

I'm always interested to see what impact losing starting LBs will be. Yeah--- I realize we generally have reloaded very well at that position and I doubt we have trouble again since we picked up a strong transfer in McKenzie and we have a few other guys who have shown glimpses of great play. But USF has alway relied heavily on strong ply from the LB position-- so it is my biggest concern at this point heading into the new season.

Overall, our defense has been solid -- one of the true strengths of the team -- since inception. It is hard to argue otherwise-- save a handfu of years, like 2003 after we lost most of the starters to graduation and had numerous guys starting that were very green.