Mid-season report cards

With half the season in the books, it's time to hand out some midterm grades. Sufficed to say, the perceived strengths and weaknesses of this Blue Raider team have turned out to be quite the opposite.

But how do the offense and defense stack up, grade wise, to start the year? The GoMiddle.com staff takes their turn at handing out marks.

OFFENSIVE GRADE: C-

I'm probably going to be a bit more generous than my counterparts with the offense, but it's still not a shining grade.

The Blue Raiders rank at or near the bottom of Conference USA in most major offensive categories. There is no excusing that.

That being said, the mounting injuries certainly haven't helped the cause. If you lose your two best weapons, and probably your best lineman, to significant injuries, you're going to have a bad time. Those are simple facts. Another fact, however, is that every single player behind those injured was recruited by this head coach and his staff. The level of dropoff should not be that significant.

Where I will give this staff credit is with their imagination. Whether it was transitioning the likes of Ty Lee or Joc Bruce into the backfield for a spark, or utilizing LB Tavares Thomas as a wildcat option in the redzone - the creativity of the offense has been fun to watch.

DEFENSIVE GRADE: B

What can you say about the job defensive coordinator Scott Shafer has done in immediately turning around a defense that was one of the worst in the country last year. The transformation has been amazing.

Not only that, but Shafer identified talent that hadn't been put on display much prior to his arrival, and turned those players into potential All Conference selections. At the very least, he's identified serviceable players and molded them into an asset of the scheme. To date, it's working.

The Blue Raiders rank in the top five of every major statistical category within Conference USA. On the national stage, the Blue Raiders rank 35th in rushing defense, 58th in scoring defense and 32nd in total defense. Far cries from a year ago.

It's safe to say that, without the defense, the wheels would have fallen off of this season by now.

OFFENSIVE GRADE: C-

Coming into the season I had sky high expectations for the MT offense. That was when the Raiders had Brent Stockstill and Richie James suiting up, though.

Those expectations have become obliterated with both of those guys out right now. With that being said, I’ll implement a slight grade curve since Tony Franklin does not have all his tools in the tool box.

QB John Urzua’s play has been spotty and he has more interceptions than touchdowns. A cardinal rule in football is don’t turn over the ball and MT has done that.

MT’s receivers haven’t been setting the world on fire either, though. Ty Lee has snagged an impressive 35 balls halfway through the season, but overall, MT has been lethargic when it comes to point production. To date, the Blue Raiders average 20 points a game and are 114th in the nation. There has been highs and lows so far. With the grading curve, I’d call the performance so far slightly below average.

DEFENSIVE GRADE: C

MT has made strides when compared to last year’s performance under coordinator Ty Nix.

New DC Scott Shafer’s scheme is better suited for the talent on the team and has certainly been more effective. Not to mention that players seem to be giving more effort out there.

I mentioned that the offense is 114th in scoring production. The defense is better when it comes to where they rank in points allowed. They give up 25.5 a game and are a respectable 58th in the country.

At times this defense is impressive, implementing a bend don’t break mentality. Sometimes this strategy has worked, other times it hasn't though as they indeed tend to break.

This defense has been Jekyll and Hyde. One week they bow up and the next the floodgates open for the opposing offense - and for that, they get a C grade from me.

OFFENSIVE GRADE : C

While the loss of quarterback Brent Stockstill and receiver Richie James can not be overlooked, the mediocre quarterback play of John Urzua (99-of-148 with five touchdowns to six interceptions) and an inconsistent offensive line have prevented the Blue Raider offense from taking flight.

The coaching staff, however, does deserve some credit for the out-of-the-box decision to use linebacker Tavares Thomas in the wildcat against Florida International.

Thomas showed power and athleticism on his way to three touchdowns and I expect to see more of him again this season. For their creativity, I'll give the offense a C.

DEFENSIVE GRADE: B-

Defensive coordinator Scott Shafer deserves a lot of credit for turning around the Blue Raider defense.

In six games, the Blue Raider defense has allowed an average of 25.5 points per game - down almost ten points from 34.4 points per game in 2016.

Unfortunately, an increase in offensive turnovers and an inconsistent offense in general have left his defense defending a short field in more often than not.

The defense, however, hasn't done the offense any confidence-boosting favors by generating turnovers themselves which could really aid the struggling offense by setting them up with a short field.

Still, there's plenty to celebrate with how far this unit has come.

OFFENSIVE GRADE: C-

The offense was going to be bad if you lost Brent Stockstill. You went into this season with fingers crossed, but the most feared thing happened.

Nobody could have predicted that the offensive line would start the year off as poor as they have been. As Casey likes to point out, they have been historically good.

With Stockstill down, the offense comes to a screeching halt. With backup QB John Urzua, it is literally a coin flip as to how he'll play on a weekly basis.

Couple that with the lack of a run game, despite having a backfield that is supposed to be loaded with talent, and you get a disaster on the offensive side. I give a C- for something that is so incredibly hard to look at at times.

DEFENSIVE GRADE: C+

The defense has been a nice surprise, actually.

You just knew it couldn't be worse than last season and you can clearly see some strides in the right direction with even some young players stepping up, which can bode well for the future.

The steps in the right direction and the young talent bring loads of optimism, a C+ is earned for now, which is honestly about as good as you could have hoped for after last season. Crazy to think that grade may be even better by the time the season ends.