SIAP: Would you whether have a top high powered offense or defense?

U

uihawk82

Well-Known Member
This topic has probably been discussed over the years with Kirk's philosophy. The best answer of course is to have both.

But do you get more wins by having the high scoring offense that can run and pass at will, move the chains, score quick also, control the clock and field position? Or more wins by playing great defense and stifling opponents but not having total control of the ball?

I like to watch great defenses play and I think you can win big time games and records better by having a great defense along with an average to above average offense. I think having an average to poor defense with a high powered offense will win a lot of games but maybe not the big games. Seems that Bob Stoops best teams at OU were early on with balanced really good defenses and really good but not necessarily super high scoring offenses that tend to have troubles in big games late in the year in worse weather.
 
I would say defense because it tends to be more predictable. I don't know if anyone's ever made a serious study of this, but it seems to me it's more likely for a great offense to have an off day for no apparent reason than it is for a great defense to do the same.

I think the "off day" effect is more pronounced in basketball, but I think it's still a thing in football, too.

I think defense is a bit more effort-depemdent than is offense. A QB can come out with 100% effort but not be able to throw it in the ocean. Or an All Conference WR playing his ass off but not being able to catch a cold all of a sudden. I think there is more of that kind of chaos theory bad day stuff that can derail an offense.
 
I remember ISU, back in the days of Troy Davis where they could score almost at will. But good god, they had no defense to stop the opponent from ringing up more. Defense is the way to build a team and a program.
 
trj said:
Given that Iowa is a developmental program no matter what....the OP is basically asking the following question...do you want a boring 8-4 or an exciting 8-4?
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I enjoy the defense carrying our team because I love the way they play. If watching great defense is boring then put me in that category. I'm just not sure why great defense with a poor offense is considered boring. Would it be "exciting" football watching our defense get pasted up and down the field while our offense tried to match the opposition score for score?

I watched the Texas vs. Oklahoma game this year and I've seen a ton of Big 12 football. In my opinion those games are just as boring watching games in which the offense struggles. Not sure why one has to be considered boring (defense battles) and the other is exciting (no defense). IMO 8-4 is 8-4 regardless who's carrying the team. I just want to watch good football and wish we had a consistent offense, but I don't put that in the boring football category.
 
Luftgekuehlt67 said:
I would say defense because it tends to be more predictable. I don't know if anyone's ever made a serious study of this, but it seems to me it's more likely for a great offense to have an off day for no apparent reason than it is for a great defense to do the same.

I think the "off day" effect is more pronounced in basketball, but I think it's still a thing in football, too.

I think defense is a bit more effort-depemdent than is offense. A QB can come out with 100% effort but not be able to throw it in the ocean. Or an All Conference WR playing his ass off but not being able to catch a cold all of a sudden. I think there is more of that kind of chaos theory bad day stuff that can derail an offense.
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I think the offensive equivalent of a "bad day" occurs most often when a defense just has a bad tackling day be it taking bad angles, not wrapping up, diving at tacklers instead of driving through them, getting out of their gaps. Most times defenses are built to be able to cover up a mistake by one player on a play. But when they all have a bad tackling day (and Iowa's tackling was sort of off the 2nd half last game) at the same time a defense can get continually gashed.
 
uihawk82 said:
I think the offensive equivalent of a "bad day" occurs most often when a defense just has a bad tackling day be it taking bad angles, not wrapping up, diving at tacklers instead of driving through them, getting out of their gaps. Most times defenses are built to be able to cover up a mistake by one player on a play. But when they all have a bad tackling day (and Iowa's tackling was sort of off the 2nd half last game) at the same time a defense can get continually gashed.
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Yeah, Iowa's tackling was uncharacteristically bad in the NW game.
 
Fryowa said:
Defense wins championships.
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That is the long time saying and it is most often true. I imagine if one would do a rank ordering stats examination of NFL defensive and offensive rankings of both participants in all the super bowls one might find some very top defensive teams winning the games. Early Green Bay teams, Cowboys champs usually had great defenses, and of course many teams that win the super bowl have both top units.
 
Luftgekuehlt67 said:
Yeah, Iowa's tackling was uncharacteristically bad in the NW game.
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I talked to few friends who follow the hawks and we wondered about hawk defenders slipping just enough of the actual real grass field in Evanston. Perhaps the hawks not having long enough spikes.
 
uihawk82 said:
I talked to few friends who follow the hawks and we wondered about hawk defenders slipping just enough of the actual real grass field in Evanston. Perhaps the hawks not having long enough spikes.
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Yeah, I watched quite a bit of the game before I even noticed it was natural grass!

Kinda nice, a bit of a throwback. The modern fake grass seems to be really good stuff, but there's something kind of neat about seeing the game as it was meant to be.

Also made me wonder if NW perhaps sees some kind of competitive advantage to having real grass. Given that they play at a talent disadvantage most games, maybe they perceive some sort of benefit to slowing everybody up on real grass. I have to assume guys are just a bit slower on real grass than they are on the fake stuff.
 
offense

10 years ago I would have said defense, now I am saying offense. You gotta be able to score points. Rule changes and safety concerns has geared everything toward the offense.

Bob Sanders is one of my all-time favorite Hawks, but he couldn't play now. The big part of his game was physicality and intimidation...that style of play has been legislated out. Despite his straight line speed, in today's game, he would be just a dude who couldn't cover in space.

Bottom line, you are hamstrung on what you can do defensively, you can't afford your offense playing 2nd fiddle to your defense...at minimum they have to complement each other.
 
Fryowa said:
Defense wins championships.
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Not any more. Mr. Saban used to think this way, but the year we almost lost to Clempson and had to onside it to get an extra possession proved him wrong and now the defense is good but the caliber of talent on offense is ridiculous. You cannot stop offenses like the one LSU had with Burrow or the one Clempson had with DeShaun Watson. Your only hope is to get at least one stop, one turnover and pray like hell you don't turn it over and can score every time you have the pill. You need just a slightly competent defense and an unreal offense to win a title. Maybe UGA can break that trend this year, but it will be the exception and not the rule.
 
okeefe4prez said:
Not any more. Mr. Saban used to think this way, but the year we almost lost to Clempson and had to onside it to get an extra possession proved him wrong and now the defense is good but the caliber of talent on offense is ridiculous. You cannot stop offenses like the one LSU had with Burrow or the one Clempson had with DeShaun Watson. Your only hope is to get at least one stop, one turnover and pray like hell you don't turn it over and can score every time you have the pill. You need just a slightly competent defense and an unreal offense to win a title. Maybe UGA can break that trend this year, but it will be the exception and not the rule.
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My post was in jest because we typically have an elite defense that creates more turnovers than almost any other school in the last 10 years, but we don’t have any championships.
 
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