re: The future is very bright but unfortunately the defense won’t be very good next year

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whichyalnoaboutseven

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You talking about CU buffs?

I don’t think we are a top15 team this fall. The defense didn’t add any talent that is a huge upgrade really at any position. Even if the players we have all play better and the new staff has a better plan, the defense still isn’t in the top 50. On offense we have a new starter who has shown he will make mistakes by airing it out when he shouldn’t. Add the fact that we have no known WR1 or solid WR2 with experience worries me even more. We have talent there no doubt but none have done it before. OL can be great but the running game hasn’t been great in years. So I just hope it gets better. I like the guys we have there but someone needs to step up. All very young.

9-3 seems like the target.

If the defense is average , we will have 1 loss max.

this plus also, our secondary will look 10x better if our d line is improved. I don't think ppl realize how much those go hand and hand.

The defense is a massive question mark. I hope that it cannot be worse than it was in '23.

The coaching is going to be so far superior next season on defense, that it can't be worse, even if we have less experience and talent.

Baker, Davis, Peoples, Raymond are a massive upgrade over the very junior and inexperienced staff last year (and just terrible - House).

The defense could easily make up a ton of ground statistically if the tackling was better (complete failure for Speights and Penn to get runners on the ground), if safeties fit runs correctly consistently, and if safeties tackled better after the catch instead of falling or chasing for yards and yards before pushing out of bounds.

We had so many pass plays given up that could have been only 6-8 yards but ended up 20 or over because we fielded a back 7 of turnstiles. Greg Brooks' diagnosis was massive as he was really good back there. There was not a body who could give us what he gave at even an average to slightly below average level.

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coaching and scheme matter. I watch lots of cfb teams with far less defensive talent play good sound defense during the season.

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It's a mixed bag.

Yeah, scheme can make up for lesser talent, but a lot of times that requires people to be in the scheme a few years.
I think that was some of House's problem- he's supposed to have a sound scheme, but we kept plugging in players every year. Not just new starters that worked their way up the depth chart, but portal guys coming in cold.
So last year, we had the worst case scenario:

Defensive backs not physically gifted enough to just run a simple man scheme and survive, but also not familiar enough with the more complex parts to hide their flaws and trick the offense.
Linebackers not gifted enough to just hang back and outrun the ball to the hole, but not comfortable enough in their reads to get to the likely holes before they open.

You kinda need one or the other to be ok, both together make an elite defense.

I think the defense might "look" different, but be a bit transitional next year. Take a lot of what House WANTED to do. I think that, because if you're bringing the same guys back, you want them to have an understanding of what's going on. I suspect Baker will simplify things and make it easier to grasp, and probably so will Raymond at the back end.

You seem to be overlooking the benefit of a year's experience, the desire to improve and overcome the embarrassment of last year's failures, and the benefit of spring and fall practices with competent, motivated coaches.

Colorado fan talking about failure?
Colorado with 7 straight losses to end the season! The new 4-8!