Out of 123 teams, Lehigh was ranked 119th in total team defense, allowing 477.7 yards per game.
And the defensive numbers don't get much better the more you look.
Rushing defense, 117th. Passing yards allowed, 89th. Team sacks, 118th. Red zone defense, 103rd.
Total sacks in 12 games: 10, or 0.8 per game. Total interceptions in 12 games: 4, or 0.25 per game. Total takeaways: 13, or a little over 1 per game.
Though the final defensive numbers from 2017 are unable to be sugar-coated, nobody involved with Lehigh's defense is running away from the facts this spring. In fact, they feel they are better than this.
"When you hear so much about your defense not being good," defensive coordinator Craig Sutyak said this week, "you start to believe it, and I think our kids started to believe it too the last couple of years. But we're not going to beat ourselves. We're going to have faith in ourselves, faith in the guys next to us, and we're going to continue to grow as a unit."
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