BTI's Rants and Ramblings: Defensive Situational Breakdown (Central Michigan)

Every week, normally on Tuesdays, I will breakdown the defensive performance from the previous week based on down and distance.  You will see the same thing from the offense on Mondays.  The stats from the Central Michigan game: 1st Down Run: 15 rushes, 36 yards, 1 TD Pass: 5-9, 38 yards, 1 sack Recap: Incredibly good numbers here, holding CMU to just over 2 yards per carry on the ground and just over 4 yards per pass play.  The only touchdown was a 4-yard carry.  Getting a set of downs off on the right foot can really lead to advantageous defensive situations, which the Cats found themselves in all day Saturday. 2nd Down Run: 15 rushes, 61 yards Pass: 5-7, 33 yards Recap: Probably the most successful CMU situation but even still, not stellar numbers.  Cats defense stayed strong through, forcing 3rd downs on 17 of 22 opportunities.  The completion percentage would probably need to decline a little but otherwise, nothing too bad here. 3rd Down and Long (6 yards or more) Run: 2 rushes, 9 yards (converted 0 of 2) Pass: 5-7, 54 yards, 1 sack (converted 1 of 8) Recap: Going to be hard to recreate this numbers all season but holding CMU to just 1 out of 10 conversions is about as good as it gets.  What is very interesting is the Chippawas completed 5 passes on 3rd and long but only got the first down once.  Cats tackling was very good and they kept everything in front of them. 3rd Down and Short (5 yards or less) Run: 5 rushes, 29 yards (converted 4 of 5) Pass: 2-3, 12 yards (converted 1 of 3) Recap: Always a tough spot for the defense and you'd like to see the Cats make a couple more big stops here but pass defense was solid.  This has never been a strong suit for a Mark Stoops defense but nonetheless it didn't matter a whole lot against CMU.  Might matter more this Saturday.