Gopher Football
Game To Forget
| 2004 Statistics | ||||||
| Sacks | ||||||
| Darrell Reid (SR) | ||||||
| Anthony Montgomery (JR) | ||||||
| Mark Losli (JR) | ||||||
| Mario Reese (SO) | ||||||
| Eric Clark (SO) | ||||||
Michigan. For the second consecutive year, Minnesota came up just short in its quest to end its 18 year jinx against the Wolverines. Though both losses were heartbreaking, they occurred against a very different opponent. In 2003, Michigan featured two senior starters at quarterback and running back. This past year however, those two seniors were replaced with two true freshmen, Chad Henne and Mike Hart. Hart was making only his fourth career start, and Henne just his sixth. Minnesota’s defensive line on the other hand, had nearly 8 combined years of starting experience. It was for this reason that I thought Minnesota had a decent shot at the stopping the Wolverine offense this day (despite their great wide receivers), but, that didn’t happen. Michigan’s offensive line was able to blow large holes though the Gopher front four, paving the way to a career high 160 yards for Mike Hart. Chad Henne had an equally impressive game, throwing for 328 yards and 2 touchdowns. The best thing that could’ve happened in this game for Minnesota would’ve been the defensive line applying a lot of pressure on Henne. But as it was, the Gophers ended up with only one sack on Henne, and not very much other QB pressure to speak of.
Game To Remember
Alabama. In my preview for the Music City Bowl, I listed the Alabama Offensive line over the Minnesota Defensive line as the single biggest matchup edge for the Crimson Tide. Alabama was amongst the most experienced and talented offensive lines that Minnesota faced all year. As it turns out I couldn’t have been more wrong, as the Gopher defensive front dominated the Alabama offensive line. After the last game of the regular season versus Iowa, the coaching staff made a couple of personnel adjustments involving the Gopher defensive front. Whether it was a coincidence or not, the shakeup seemed to help. Darrell Reid played what may have been his best game as a Gopher in applying quarterback pressure all day, Mark Losli woke up and finished a a team leading 7 tackles, Anthony Montgomery showed flashes of what he is capable of, and even Keith Lipka got in the act with a fumble recovery for a touchdown. I still don’t know how they did it, but the defensive line and coaches deserve a ton of credit for dominating a matchup that on paper favored Alabama heavily.
Relative Strength
| 2005 Recruits | |||||
| Matt Stommes | 6’6 245 lbs | Richmond, MN | |||
| Ned Tavale | 6’2″ 305 lbs | St. Paul, MN | |||
Quickness. Like I mentioned in my linebacker recap, one area where you can’t deny the Gophers have improved is their ability to cover the field laterally. Mark Losli is a converted defensive end and has above average speed for a defensive tackle, Darrell Reid handled his transition to end nicely and was the Gophers best all around lineman this year, Anthony Montgomery is a former high school quarterback and has always been pretty athletic for his position, and Mario Reese, though undersized, brought some athleticism and quickness to the table. Now if we can add a little more toughness up the middle for next year, Minnesota should have a very good run stopping defensive line.
Relative Weakness
Pass rush. When you ask any Gopher football fan what the most frustrating aspect of the team is, many of them will say it is the lack of a pass rush that we possess. The one thing that did go right this year was moving Darrell Reid out to the end. The senior had the best year of his career and led Minnesota with 7.5 sacks and 17 tackles for loss. Unfortunately, Darrell’s effort was only good enough for honorable mention All-Big Ten, and kind of shows you just how desperate fans are for results here. After Reid’s 7.5 sacks, the next highest on the team was Montgomery & Losli with 3 apiece. Opposite Reid, the right defensive end combo of Reese & Eric Clark combined for just four sacks. Because of the lack of pressure generated by the front four, opposing teams are allowed to pick and choose what they want to do. On defense you want to disrupt the opposition and force kinks in their game plan, but outside of a couple games this year that just didn’t happen.
Looking Ahead
For about the third year in a row, Minnesota will bring back almost all of its defensive line. The only departure at this point is losing defensive end Darrell Reid to graduation. Replacing him will be tough and should lead to some interesting battles this spring and fall, as there is very little experience in this group. After becoming a starter for the final game of last season, Keith Lipka looks to be the only real favorite to start at one DE spot. Eric Clark has been moved to defensive tackle, but if he shows signs of improvement don’t be surprised if he moves back to end. Another personnel shakeup was moving offensive lineman Brian Moss to defensive end. Moss was listed at backup for the Music City Bowl and due to his experience could be considered likely to start. However, don’t be surprised if a freshman or two steps up and gives Lipka and Moss a run for their money. The tackle spot returns completely in tact. Anthony Montgomery and Mark Losli both return, as does top backup Neel Allen. One freshman to watch for this fall is Nhemi Theodore. The New Jersey native Theodore was one of the Gophers highest rated recruits in the class of 2004, and should be ready to contribute after redshirting this past year. Overall, I think next years line definitely has potential to be a good group. Depending on your outlook, returning 7 of your top 8 players is either a good or bad thing, but with the new coach I think it will be good. The Gophers will have as much experience on the line as they have had in a while, and with a young player or two stepping up I think the unit will be solid.
| Depth Chart Projection for 2005 | ||||||
| 1st String: | K. Lipka (SR) | A. Montgomery (SR) | M. Losli (SR) | B. Moss(JR) | ||
| 2nd String: | M. Buchanon (JR) | N. Allen (SO) | N. Theodore (FR) | P. McCarthy (JR) | ||
| 3nd String: | W. VanDesteeg (FR) | S. Hopkins (JR) | E. Clark (JR) | W. Brody (FR) | ||
Summary
Looking at the full season, the performance of this group was a mixed bag. It wasn’t bad enough where they just got whipped game in and game out, but it wasn’t good enough on a consistent basis to make the defense as a whole any better. There were flashes of pass rushing ability, and there were long droughts where they just couldn’t get to the quarterback at critical times. The run defense improved on plays to the outside, but regressed on stopping plays straight up the middle. Overall, I’d rank the line about 8th in the Big Ten. The single biggest disappointment is that the line really didn’t improve at all from 2003, and I think this is what ultimately led to the firing of Coach Sims. But like I mentioned above, a large majority of the two deep returns next year, so there always is the hope that the new coach, Carey Bailey, will strike a chord and turn the line around.
Season Grade: C
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