What I see as the biggest defensive problem

[Bamabuzzard]

Downs was pretty unimpressive in the Oregon game. He didn’t look anything like a top 10 pick in the 2026 draft, as he was talked about while at AL.

I haven't been keeping up so I didn't know what type of year he was having. I know in one of the early season games he had a pretty bad game.

@B1GTide What type of year is Downs having? It seems he's not having the impact many thought he would. But to be fair, I don't watch many tOSU games so I don't know.

 

[B1GTide]

I haven't been keeping up so I didn't know what type of year he was having. I know in one of the early season games he had a pretty bad game.

@B1GTide What type of year is Downs having? It seems he's not having the impact many thought he would. But to be fair, I don't watch many tOSU games so I don't know.

Downs is playing very well.

 

[dWarriors88]

Downs is playing very well.

I wish we still had him.

 

[Jack Bourbon]

Doubt we lose or come close to losing, at least thusfar, with Downs. C'est la vie.

 

[CrimsonTitles]

Doubt we lose or come close to losing, at least thusfar, with Downs. C'est la vie.

We beat Vandy with him for sure. I love Malachi, but he's a cover guy, and if we had a more physical safety, we beat Vandy no question.

 

[colbysullivan]

We beat Vandy with him for sure. I love Malachi, but he's a cover guy, and if we had a more physical safety, we beat Vandy no question.

Sorry, but this is absolutely lunacy. Caleb Downs doesn’t play DL or LB. Our secondary wasn’t the problem against Vandy.

 

[CrimsonTitles]

Sorry, but this is absolutely lunacy. Caleb Downs doesn’t play DL or LB. Our secondary wasn’t the problem against Vandy.

A physical safety would do wonders in run support. That's what we needed against Vandy. We stop one or two of those runs and we win

 

[colbysullivan]

A physical safety would do wonders in run support. That's what we needed against Vandy. We stop one or two of those runs and we win

We needed a DL that could plug gaps and LBs that could tackle. No single player in the secondary would have helped us win this game. If you want to make the argument that Downs might stop the TD pass on 4th and short, that‘s different.

 

[CrimsonTitles]

We needed a DL that could plug gaps and LBs that could tackle. No single player in the secondary would have helped us win this game. If you want to make the argument that Downs might stop the TD pass on 4th and short, that‘s different.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on that

 

[JDCrimson]

If you dont think you can teach and execute man assignment football in one week, the only thing left to do is play Vandy the same way USF played us manning every gap on every play we would have won going away.

We did not make Pavia get the ball out his hands and that was the mistake that we and Kentucky made.