The running theme for Washington State fans heading into the 2009 season is simple; “It can’t be any worse than it was last year.” Hopefully, and most likely, these fans are right.
Washington State finished 119th in the nation in scoring defense (giving up 43.8 per game), dead last in rushing defense (247.62 yards per game), and 109th in total defense (443.4 yards per game). Finishing tied for 91st in the nation with only 18 sacks on the season and 87th in tackles for loss with 63, the stats paint a picture of a defensive line that got pushed around just about every week.
The D-Line wasn’t the only unit at fault; the whole defense was just plain bad. But if Washington State hopes to improve on last years’ numbers, they are going to need the defensive line to at the very least do something to slow down opposing running backs every once in a while.
Coach Paul Wulff has set his final depth chart, and hopes that the experience gained last year and hard work this offseason will lead to a substantially more successful campaign in 2009.
Toby Turpin and Kevin Kooyman hope for better results in 2009
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Despite breaking in four new starters on the defensive line, the Arizona Wildcats defense preformed pretty admirably in 2008, finishing 33rd nationally in scoring defense, 39th in rushing defense, 23rd in passing defense, and 24th in total yardage defense (giving up 313 yards per game).
The Wildcats ended their decade-long postseason drought with a 31-21 win over BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl. Now they hope to build on last year’s success and move on to bigger and better things in 2009.
Losing Willie Tuitama is certainly a big blow to the offense, but bringing back a defensive line that gained valuable experience last season should make the defense even better this season. Despite the respectable overall defensive numbers, the Wildcats finished tied for 60th in the nation with 24 sacks and tied for 67th nationally with 69 tackles for loss.
The defensive line will have to do a better job getting to the quarterback and disrupting plays in the backfield this year if Arizona wants to crack into the Pac-10’s top tier.
Brooks Reed with a crushing tackle
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A proven recipe for success in the sport of football at any level goes as follows; wear down opposing defenses with a powerful running game, and shut down opposing offenses with a powerful defense.
Will this be the year that the Cal Bears finally translate this recipe into a win over USC and, more importantly, a Pac-10 title? To go with one of the best running backs in the country, Cal has a defense that is rock solid at all three levels; and no unit is much stronger than the defensive line.
Cal returns all three starters from last year’s defensive line, a unit which helped lead Cal to be the nation’s 23rd best scoring defense (19.9 PPG) and 26th best rushing defense (122.23 YPG), as well as being 19th in the nation with 90 tackles for loss and 13th in the nation with 35 sacks.
No reason the unit won’t be as good as they were last year, and a good chance that they will be even better.
Tyson Alualu celebrates a big play
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The ASU Sun Devils have good reason to be excited about their defense in 2009. A blazingly fast secondary and a strong linebacking core should make a lot of big plays all season. Those two units look good, but the real strength of this defense is the defensive line.
Last season the unit helped the defense put up some fairly respectable numbers in some key categories finishing 33rd nationally in rushing defense, 44th nationally in total defense, and 14th in the nation in tackles for loss per game (7.08).
With a solid core to compliment all-star Dexter Davis, Coach Erickson and his staff have a defensive line that should be even better in 2009.
Dexter Davis celebrates a big play
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Arizona State Sun Devils
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Corey Adams, Dean DeLeone, Defensive Line, Dexter Davis, Football, Jamaar Jarrett, Jamarr Robinson, James Brooks, Jonathan English, Lawrence Guy, Saia Falahola, William Sutton
Returning all four starters and virtually all of the main reserves from last year’s unit can be spun two different ways. The optimist will point out the importance of the experience gained and the likelihood of improvement this season. The pessimist, meanwhile, will argue that having the same names of one of the nation’s absolute worst defenses in 2008 doesn’t exactly bring confidence for 2009.
The optimism vs. pessimism theme has been consistent all offseason long when it comes to the Huskies. With Coach Sarkisian comes an excellent recruiting class, plenty of energy, and a winning attitude. With a winless season in 2008 with rare signs of hope comes the feeling that it will be a very long road back to bowl eligibility.
How this defensive unit plays will help determine whether the optimists or the pessimists are right about this season. The Huskies know what they have everywhere else on the defensive side of the ball; a strength in their linebackers and a weakness in their secondary.
If the D-Line does a better job stopping the run and applying pressure to the quarterback this year, it will allow the linebackers to be freed up to help out in pass coverage and be used in whatever creative packages that Defensive Coordinator Nick Holt and Coach Sarkisian come up with. If the line shows no improvement from last year, the linebackers will be stretched too thin and it will be another long season for the Huskies.
Time will soon tell which way that it goes.
Daniel Te'o-Nesheim looks to finish his UW career in style
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While the defense did rank 82nd overall in the nation last year when it came to scoring against, that really had a lot more to do with the defense spending so much time on the field because of the offense’s capability to score so quickly. Taking a closer look at the numbers, Oregon’s defense was pretty strong, and the defensive line was no exception.
The unit was responsible in helping lead the team to 38 sacks (2nd in the Pac-10, tied for 8th in the country), 104.5 tackles for loss (2nd Pac-10, tied 5th in country) and giving up only 3.09 yards per carry on the ground (2nd Pac-10, 12th in country). But just like the offensive line, it is hard to use last year’s success to gauge this year’s chances, as three starters are gone, including one of the Pac-10’s all-time greats.
The losses of Ra’Shon Harris (drafted 205th overall by the Steelers) and Cole Linehan (both 13-game starters) hurt bad, but losing Nick Reed is especially difficult. Reed received both All-Pac-10 and All-American honors in 2008 and his 13 sacks ranked 4th nationally. Over his career, Reed accumulated a school-record 29.5 sacks, which ranks 4th all-time in the Pac-10.
Replacing three high-level senior starters will not be easy, but it is essential to the Ducks’ success this year. Oregon’s offense has plenty of power and can shoot out with the best of them, but time of possession will be an even bigger issue this season if the defensive line isn’t up to speed.
Will Tukuafu in pursuit
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