Danny Collins

[Gopherchase]

Who are you hearing this from and why do you believe them? The defense doesn’t seem that complex at all just fundamentally and conceptually bad. DC is clearly in over his head— getting your back blown out by Oregon and Ohio state is one thing, but 525 yards to Northwestern and 456 yards to Purdue (at home)?

When they got rid of Smith back in the day, that was the issue or a big issue that they cited when he laughed and things were simplified. It got way better. I don’t know if it’s the same issue here I think it’s more of this guy just way in over his head

 

[Swaggerson]

Do defenders wrap their arms around the runner any more? Noticed that gopher linebackers and safeties throw their shoulder in but seldom wrap on the tackle.

 

[Stuff]

Do defenders wrap their arms around the runner any more? Noticed that gopher linebackers and safeties throw their shoulder in but seldom wrap on the tackle.

I brought this up in the in game thread yesterday when Koi just dove in head down and head first into the running backs thighs but did not wrap up. I was told by a Gopherholer this was a good way to tackle. Obviously it isn't great being head parallel to the ground and he got hurt on the play but was able to return.

 

[Word]

Do defenders wrap their arms around the runner any more? Noticed that gopher linebackers and safeties throw their shoulder in but seldom wrap on the tackle.

They don't even do that in the NFL any more.

 

[Catechol]

Do defenders wrap their arms around the runner any more? Noticed that gopher linebackers and safeties throw their shoulder in but seldom wrap on the tackle.

#6 Fitzgerald on Northwestern (no relation to former coach) is probably the best tackler in the Big Ten.

 

[gophmeister]

It’s like a Scooby Do episode when they unmask the villain.

 

[Stuff]

They don't even do that in the NFL any more.

Blake Cashman Tackles

I can't post the video here due to NFL copyright, but every tackle Cashman makes in his highlight video he wraps up the runner.

 

[Gopherchase]

Blake Cashman Tackles

I can't post the video here due to NFL copyright, but every tackle Cashman makes in his highlight video he wraps up the runner.

He is a good tackler. Always has been. Your timing isn’t great as he got trucked badly on the goal line today barely a speed bump on the way to a TD.

 

[WorkingMyTailOff]

Fact that our zone drops are so bad that we have to play man, thats the problem

Tackling has been horrible as well.

 

[WHB Brewer]

PJ is blinded by his nepotism OC/DC hires. He has openly discussed his love for Collins being a loyal servant for so long. best we can hope is Smith gets booted at MSU and Rossi is willing to return

 

[The Deliberate Stranger]

With Smith it came down to his in ability to teach talented players what he wanted them to do. At the time Cashman, Barber, Martin, Coughlin, Winston De, Durr had all played alot of football and were all guys who did well under Claeys and Sawvel. When Smith had a healthy Winfield Jr, it covered up a lot of issues, the only game we lost with a healthy Winfield in those first two years was the Maryland game in 2017. Though I believe he left the Purdue game that year and the Maryland game the next year early on. Rossi came in, simplified the scheme and guys who had once been good were good again, then 2019 Winfield comes back and everyone else got a year older and had an off season in the system.
As far as Collins goes, he certainly has some blame in the construction of this roster, not all of it, but a piece of it. We certainly wiffed in the portal last off season and hs recruiting between 2021 and 2023 didn't bring much. Our corners are horrible and it affects what we can do, they can't play zone and we are fucked in man if we don't get home to the QB.
The question for Collins is do we suck at zone because he and the position coaches can't teach it or is it a talent problem? If it's a talent problem he will probably get a year to fix it, if it's a teaching problem than he's toast and should have been out the door yesterday. The one thing he has going for him is his former position is the most talented position on that side of the ball.
Wisconsin offense is cheeks, even in their win over Illinois it was just as much Illinois making dumb mistakes, they are a team we should break as long as we don't turn the ball over, the only thing I'll say about Stone he was an all ACC QB at SMU in 2023, he hadn't shown it at NW, but he at least had a track record of being good before, if Carter Smith and the Badgers puts up 400 plus yards on us, than it's going to make Flecks decision easier to move on. Wisconsin has a good defense that should keep the game interesting, but that offense has no business moving the ball up and down the field.

 

[Taji34]

I don't know if Winston DeLattiboudere has aspirations to be a defensive coordinator, but if we could snag him back from the Arizona Cardinals by offering a promotion to DC I think that could work well. AFAICT he has been climbing the ranks fast as a DL coach because he's been successful coaching that position, but he would be untested at DC so that would be a gamble.

 

[McGopherFan]

Smith is just a whisker less than a a full foot taller than Collins, but they certainly do seem like twin spirits.

Does Collins moonlight as a sheetrock installer?

 

[Word]

PJ is blinded by his nepotism OC/DC hires. He has openly discussed his love for Collins being a loyal servant for so long. best we can hope is Smith gets booted at MSU and Rossi is willing to return

A lot of coaches do that. Kill probably did it more than any coach we have had.

 

[Gophergrandpa]

I don’t know what the problem on defense is, but the NW QB went an astounding 15-15 in the 2nd half of the Gopher game. I was listening in the radio (driving home) so I couldn’t observe so-called “coverage,” but I can’t remember any QB, esp. a middling one, pulling that off on the Gophers. Sure our DBs make some mistakes, but we’ve got Koi, Kerry Brown, Gousby, and other out there. Some of this absurd futility has to be scheme. Too difficult to execute? If too complicated for FR and RS FR, then play more senior depth guys who at least understand the scheme. They can’t be any less effective. And if it is now suddenly impossible for the Gophers to cover receivers, then what the hell, bring the house and at least put some pressure on the QB. Maybe he’ll make some bad throws to his uncovered receivers.

 

[LeftofThaDial]

A lot of coaches do that. Kill probably did it more than any coach we have had.

Maybe my memory is poor, but weren’t a lot of Kills assistants coaches, guys that had been with him through multiple schools, and jumps up the ladder? I remember it being something I liked about his staff.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

Collins, isn't good, can blame talent, new players all you want. The play calls on defense just about all season have been crappy. This team struggled against Buffalo, that should have been telling. We have the wrong guy calling yhe plays. Took me awhile but I'm convinced the coordinator is an issue. Gophers need a change of coordinator on defense.

 

[Word]

Maybe my memory is poor, but weren’t a lot of Kills assistants coaches, guys that had been with him through multiple schools, and jumps up the ladder? I remember it being something I liked about his staff.

Sure but my point was he really stuck with "his" guys and didnt hire from outside.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Collins, isn't good, can blame talent, new players all you want. The play calls on defense just about all season have been crappy. This team struggled against Buffalo, that should have been telling. We have the wrong guy calling yhe plays. Took me awhile but I'm convinced the coordinator is an issue. Gophers need a change of coordinator on defense.

Rarely just coaching or just players. But unfortunately right now we have an inexperienced coordinator and are being forced to rely on young players at a number of key spots which is a bad combination.

I think Collins is really struggling on the game planning front which is contributing big time to the slow starts. Would love to see them bring in an experienced DC in the off season, bump Collins to a co-DC role in order to keep him on staff but not in the main chair.

The one saving grace in all this is the D has been significantly better at home then on the road this year. We average 14 points allowed in home games or if you toss out the 2 non-conf and just look at Big Ten we are still at just 18 points allowed in home games. Hopefully the D can pull it together for one strong showing against Wisconsin and then put a bigtime focus on improving that unit for next year.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

Would love to see them bring in an experienced DC in the off season, bump Collins to a co-DC role in order to keep him on staff but not in the main chair.

At this point in time, I'm not interested in doing something to keep him around like that. First, what new, outside DC would want the previous guy lingering around with "co" in this title? Secondly, even if he leaves, so what? I'm not convinced it was his coaching that got the secondary playing well, it was probably a lot of talent over the years plus a good DC that had them playing well.

If he leaves, he leaves. What's more important is making sure someone else has the job next year.

 

[MNVCGUY]

At this point in time, I'm not interested in doing something to keep him around like that. First, what new, outside DC would want the previous guy lingering around with "co" in this title? Secondly, even if he leaves, so what? I'm not convinced it was his coaching that got the secondary playing well, it was probably a lot of talent over the years plus a good DC that had them playing well.

If he leaves, he leaves. What's more important is making sure someone else has the job next year.

The mostly ceremonial title thing is done all the time these days in order to get more money for assistants.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

The mostly ceremonial title thing is done all the time these days in order to get more money for assistants.

You want him getting more money? For failing at his job and being demoted? He should be so lucky as to be able to go back to his old job with the salary it garnered.

That would be us being very nice to him.

 

[50PoundHead]

Haven't around much because as the saying goes, "If you don't have nothing nice to say, don't say anything." I don't like (but don't mind) getting our butts kicked by the big dogs, but we always seem to underperform against Northwestern and have blown so many big leads against them over the years. Personnel or schemes/strategy are likely both contributing to the problem we are having this season on the defensive side of the ball. I think it's solely about personnel on the offense.

My question is Collins won't be getting much sleep this week because while he's getting ready for Wisconsin, he's also probably tidying up his resume.

 

[USAF]

The mostly ceremonial title thing is done all the time these days in order to get more money for assistants.

Hahaha ha. Way to back up a bad post by digging yourself even deeperm

Give us some examples of guys getting fired for performance but keeping the ceremonial title to "get more money for assistants. "

Then, if that happened, tell us how the team benefitted from wasting the extra money you got on a guy you don't want in the job in the first place. Wouldn't you want to take that extra money and, I'm just spitballing here, spend it on a guy or guys you DO want?

 

[SeaBee_Gopher]

The offense did pretty good.
However they also played a part in losing.
Slow start yet again. Led to playing from behind. 2 of 8 3rd downs. Weak running game. Let a 15 point lead turn into a 7 point deficit with zero points in response.
The D was awful.
The O was pretty good. But not without lending a partial hand to the loss.

"Pretty good"? The offense after we went up 28-13 went missed 48-yard field goal, punt, touchdown, missed 40 yard field goal. So kicking sucked once again. That's special teams. The 40-yard field goal was mostly the result of us not having enough time at the end of the game because the defense was so bad. Northwestern had a 7-1/2 minute final drive. That's an excellent offensive performance against what most people consider to be a good Northwestern defense. Only USC (38) scored more against them this year. Even luck was on our side with the contested catches if you ask me. We had a 95th percentile outcome. The offense only punted one other time in the game, in the first quarter. Other than perfection, I'm not sure what you're looking for especially with the talent level on this team.

 

[MNVCGUY]

You want him getting more money? For failing at his job and being demoted? He should be so lucky as to be able to go back to his old job with the salary it garnered.

That would be us being very nice to him.

Where did I say he should get more money? He seems to be a well liked coach so if you can keep some staff continuity by keeping him on the staff while at the same time getting a more experienced DC in place it could be a win/win for everyone. Obviously the new DC would be the priority so that person would have to be on board with any sort of plan involving Collins.

 

[forever a gopher]

P4 QB performances against MN:
Player
Yards/game average (MN game removed)
Yards against MN
TD/INT (MN game removed)
TD/INT against MN
Completion % (MN game removed)
Completion % against MN

Bold = MN defense performed worse than average (opposing QB outperformed average)
No Bold = Opposing QB performed average
Red Bold = MN defense performed better than average (opposing QB played below average)

Stone (NU):
170 yds/game
305 yds vs. MN
11 td/9 int
2 td/0 int vs. MN
58% completion
83% vs. MN

Moore (OR):
214 yds/game
306 yds vs. MN
21 td/6 int
2 td/0 int vs. MN
71% completion
90% vs. MN

Milivojevic (MSU) only starting stats included:
191 yds/game
311 yds vs. MN
2 td/1 int
1 td/0 int vs. MN
61% completion
71% vs. MN

Gronowski (IA):
122 yds/game
135 yds vs. MN
6 td/6 int
1 td/0 int vs. MN
63% completion
63% vs. MN

Raiola (NE):
227 yds/game
177 yds vs. MN
18 td/6 int
0 td/0 int vs. MN
73% completion
68% vs. MN

Brown (PU):
171 yds/game
203 yds vs. MN
9 td/7 int
0 td/2 int vs. MN
61% completion
53% vs. MN

Sayin (OSU):
250 yds/game
326 yds vs. MN
24 td/4 int
3 td/0 int vs. MN
79% completion
85% vs. MN

Kaliakmanis (RU):
253 yds/game
249 yds vs. MN
15 td/6 int
2 td/1 int vs. MN
62% completion
62% vs. MN

JKS (Cal):
250 yds/game
279 yds vs. MN
10 td/9 int
3 td/0 int vs. MN
62% completion
63% vs. MN

There are 14 stat lines where the QB performed notably better than their yearly average against MN. 5 stat lines where the QB performed notably worse than their average (3 of those coming against Raiola). And 8 stats where the QB aligned with their yearly average.

Not quite as bad as I was expecting, but considering the defense has been a strength for a number of years, not a good trend.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Rarely just coaching or just players. But unfortunately right now we have an inexperienced coordinator and are being forced to rely on young players at a number of key spots which is a bad combination.

I think Collins is really struggling on the game planning front which is contributing big time to the slow starts. Would love to see them bring in an experienced DC in the off season, bump Collins to a co-DC role in order to keep him on staff but not in the main chair.

The one saving grace in all this is the D has been significantly better at home then on the road this year. We average 14 points allowed in home games or if you toss out the 2 non-conf and just look at Big Ten we are still at just 18 points allowed in home games. Hopefully the D can pull it together for one strong showing against Wisconsin and then put a bigtime focus on improving that unit for next year.

We have a staff salary pool of the most important revenue-producing team at or near the bottom of the Big Ten while the AD is in the top 1/3 of the Big Ten. Something is amiss there. Not that I’m paying attention.

If they remain on the cheaper side they’re going to need funds to recruit more proven coordinators from this level (or below). PJ has brought in some good coaches but they jump ship for various reasons among them significantly higher pay. Also some dogs or others that have consistently mediocre to abysmal unit recruiting and output over the years. We have no choice but to trust in PJ. Is there room in the budget or politically for a co-DC that has been a disaster?

 

[GopherTheJugular]

Where did I say he should get more money?

bump Collins to a co-DC role in order to keep him on staff but not in the main chair.

The mostly ceremonial title thing is done all the time these days in order to get more money for assistants.

 

[goonin_golden_gophers]

P4 QB performances against MN:
Player
Yards/game average (MN game removed)
Yards against MN
TD/INT (MN game removed)
TD/INT against MN
Completion % (MN game removed)
Completion % against MN

Bold = performed worse than average
No Bold = performed average
Red Bold = performed better than average

Stone (NU):
170 yds/game
305 yds vs. MN
11 td/9 int
2 td/0 int vs. MN
58% completion
83% vs. MN

Moore (OR):
214 yds/game
306 yds vs. MN
21 td/6 int
2 td/0 int vs. MN
71% completion
90% vs. MN

Milivojevic (MSU) only starting stats included:
191 yds/game
311 yds vs. MN
2 td/1 int
1 td/0 int vs. MN
61% completion
71% vs. MN

Gronowski (IA):
122 yds/game
135 yds vs. MN
6 td/6 int
1 td/0 int vs. MN
63% completion
63% vs. MN

Raiola (NE):
227 yds/game
177 yds vs. MN
18 td/6 int
0 td/0 int vs. MN
73% completion
68% vs. MN

Brown (PU):
171 yds/game
203 yds vs. MN
9 td/7 int
0 td/2 int vs. MN
61% completion
53% vs. MN

Sayin (OSU):
250 yds/game
326 yds vs. MN
24 td/4 int
3 td/0 int vs. MN
79% completion
85% vs. MN

Kaliakmanis (RU):
253 yds/game
249 yds vs. MN
15 td/6 int
2 td/1 int vs. MN
62% completion
62% vs. MN

JKS (Cal):
250 yds/game
279 yds vs. MN
10 td/9 int
3 td/0 int vs. MN
62% completion
63% vs. MN

There are 14 stat lines where the QB performed notably better than their yearly average against MN. 5 stat lines where the QB performed notably worse than their average (3 of those coming against Raiola). And 8 stats where the QB aligned with their yearly average.

Not quite as bad as I was expecting, but considering the defense has been a strength for a number of years, not a good trend.

now do this with total yards not just qb play.