3rd down defense
Finally, let’s take a look at how awful the Red Raiders were last year when it came to getting off the field on third down. That was a constant struggle under former defensive coordinator Keith Patterson whose propensity for bringing tons of pressure and leaving his defensive backs on islands on third down led to a maddening amount of third-down conversions against his defense.
In fact, last season, Tech ranked 116th overall and 8th in the conference in 3rd down defense by allowing teams to convert on 44.7% of their opportunities. That’s absolutely unacceptable.
A year ago, the Red Raider defense allowed 9 of 13 opponents to convert at least 40% of their third downs. That included letting Texas convert on 10 of 14 and TCU convert on 9 of 14 in the two worst losses of the year.
For what it’s worth, DeRuyter’s team last season at Oregon ranked worse than Tech in this category. Sitting at No. 118 in the nation, the Ducks gave up a first down on 46.0% of the third downs the opponent faced.
Of course, many coaches believe that the key to third-down defense is what happens on first and second down. Keeping the opponent in a third-and-long situation as often as possible is key to solid defense but there aren’t many stats related to first and second-down yards allowed meaning that those two defensive downs are often overlooked.
But even if a defense can put the opposing offense in third-and-long, the pass defense has to be solid, and that ties back into our look at yards allowed through the air, an area where Tech was awful last year and where DeRuyter’s 2021 defense was below average. So keep an eye on third-down defense this season because it is an area where Tech must improve.