Victory Is Mine

Follow up on Gang of Six talk

On the discussion part of that topic, the author comes in to describe how defense fits into his analysis:

As for your defense point--if you can actually call it a point--how do you not see that defense is VERY vital to my theory, mainly in the sense that this new level of offense is causing defenses incredible fits right now and will likely foment changes on that side of the ball to counter it. My point has also been that a good defense is irrelevant if it hasn't ever played a truly supercharged offense...to wit, see Oklahoma's great defense against USC last year. Are you telling me that when people recite to you the old cliche 'defense wins championships' that you then respond with 'well, what about offense and special teams?'....I doubt it.

So, taking from this: LSU must have won the title in 03 by not playing any supercharged offenses, so they must have just gotten away lucky, I guess. As you folks can guess, I disagree.

(I have to be careful about not lumping in the NFL with NCAA in my mindset here - I think we have to say it's clear that defense wins championships in the NFL, right? What with the Colts going down in flames every year, and the Chiefs too? And, despite Tom Brady's brilliance, the fact that the Pats essentially had 11 all-stars lining up on defense every snap?)

Meanwhile, exactly what competent defenses have the likes of Utah and Louisville gone up against in recent memory? And Boise State? Until the absolute romp over OU last year, what competent defense had USC played over the course of the prior two seasons? Louisville did give a good Miami team a run for its money last year, and should have won, but I don't think I can buy any of this theory - as eloquent as HP has presented it - until I see any of those Gang of Six teams go up against a solid D.

posted by Publius @ 6:00 PM