It’s on. In case you missed it, I challenged Andrea Adelson the owner of ESPN’s Big East blog earlier this summer by proclaiming that Cincinnati’s defensive line would finish in the top half of the conference in the following categories: Tackles, TFL, Sacks, QB Hurries, and Forced Fumbles. The wager is that Bearcats Nation will participate in an exclusive Q&A with Andrea at the end of the season. This was spurred by her preseason rankings placing the Bearcats’ hogmollies on defense 7th in the Big East. I didn’t exactly take it personally but it definitely rubbed me the wrong way. Keep in mind, the Bearcats return all four of their starters along the line in Derek Wolfe, Dan Giordano, John Hughes, and Walter Stewart. The latter is even returning to his natural position full time after being such a menace last year in a hybrid OLB/DE role. Oh, and he’s packed on 15 lbs of muscle this offseason. Based on those facts, Walt should be a menace up front. For the other starters, 2011 will be the third season they have pretty much been playing next to each other. Oh, and Derek Wolfe is an NFL draft prospect.
To the backups, they are led by Brandon Mills. He’s being kept on a leash this season and placed in the game on special occasions like passing downs. He led the team in sacks last season with 6 but was eaten up by the run by being only 5’11” and roughly 250 lbs. By playing that ‘spark plug’ role, he becomes more dangerous and keeps offensive lineman guessing. The other backups include Monte Taylor a JUCO senior with a huge body for a defensive lineman who will also see opportunities on passing downs and Jordan Stepp who performed very well in 2010 ‘stepping’ in for starters Wolfe and Hughes. He’ll play a similar role in 2011 ensuring they 1st teamers stay healthy. Finally, Camaron Beard (who is a monster of a redshirt freshman), Rob Trigg, and Roney Lozano. All six of these players have the talent and, most importantly, the experience to step in for the starting four at any time and not miss a beat.
If you didn’t guess, I’m bullish on Cincinnati’s defensive line and flat out expect them to finish among the best units in the Big East. Let’s see how they did this week:
| Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hurries | FF | Avg. Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Florida | 53 | 15 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2.2 |
| Louisville | 49 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 3.4 |
| Cincinnati | 54 | 11.5 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3.6 |
| Pitt | 53 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 3.8 |
| UConn | 48 | 16 | 5.5 | 1 | 0 | 4.4 |
| Rutgers | 35 | 10.5 | 6.5 | 4 | 0 | 4.4 |
| Syracuse | 56 | 9.5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4.8 |
| West Virginia | 44 | 7.5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
So what does this tell you? Well a couple of things:
- West Virginia runs a 3-3-5 with three defensive lineman, so they will generally have less stats out of their lineman with a linebacker providing a fourth rusher. So when looking at D-Line stats they’ll probably fall in the lower half of the conference. Same for Pitt.
- Many teams played FCS schools this weekend and teams like Cincinnati pulled their starters early. Rutgers, despite probably pulling their starters early put up a ton of stats on the defensive line. Louisville’s game against Murray State was always in question and their starters played quite a bit. Ditto for UConn.
- Syracuse and South Florida’s defense played the entirety of their games. The Orange D-Line put up a ton of stats but it’s surprising the Bulls didn’t have more. Notre Dame did double them up on yardage, though.
Cincinnati slotted 6th just ahead of the two teams who play less defensive lineman than the rest of the conference. That sounds pretty bad but remember Stewart, Wolfe, Hughes, and Giordano didn’t play after the first half. The advantage of Cincinnati’s defensive line is that they rotate 8-9 players in at any given time. The unit might start off slow but they will start wearing down offensive lines as the games wear on. That’s when they will really start putting up the numbers worthy of a top-Big East unit. Finally, these rankings will reveal the true talent on each team’s defensive lines as the season progresses and prove that the Bearcats’ front four will be among the best in the conference.