After a closer look at the USD game

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

Okay, I know this is asking for a lot but I'm curious to know some of the more detailed opinions about the last two games from anybody who actually watched closely, things that jumped out to them. More specifically, I'm looking for something more than just, the team sucks, Brewster sucks, the DC sucks, the AD sucks, etc.

After re-watching the games, here are some of the things that stuck out to me:

> Simply put, some young inexperienced guys on defense making some brutal mistakes. Over-pursuit, biting on fakes, playing out of position, MISSED TACKLES.

The two that immediately stuck out to me as being the most glaringly disappointing were Matt Garin at DE and Christyn Lewis at DB. Garin has repeatedly failed to hold contain, in each of the last two weeks, allowing the QB to get out of the pocket and make big plays either on foot or through the air. Lewis has missed a boatload of tackles and almost more alarming it seems he's not that willing to lower his head and shoulders and deliver a blow. I know they are both young and inexperienced but those two have stuck out to me the most.

Ellestad's performance is completely unacceptable. Period. At a position I can speak to more intelligently than most, we're in trouble there. Confidence is everything to that position and he seems to have lost it. More significantly, it seems Brewster has lost confidence in him as well, which is really not good. The FG he missed on Saturday may have looked "long" (48 yds?) but with a breeze at his back, this was basically a 40-yd FG. Anything out to 40-42 yds, you really don't kick any differently than an XP and he's missed 3 FG's in two games around that distance, which could have changed the outcome of both games really.


In all honesty, you can say what you want about the opposition but Weber and the offense have looked really, really good in my opinion. Minimal penalties (unlike last year), numerous lengthy sustained drives, Weber looks comfortable in the pocket, his passes have been really accurate for the most part (outside of the first couple throws against MTSU), the play-calling seems to be spot-on (outside of Brew's 4th and 2 call Saturday). Plain and simple, very few mental mistakes, which is refreshing to see.


For anyone else who watched the games closely and made any mental notes of things they've seen that jumped out at them, I'd be curious to hear.

 

[Hindsight is 20/20]

Okay, I know this is asking for a lot but I'm curious to know some of the more detailed opinions about the last two games from anybody who actually watched closely, things that jumped out to them. More specifically, I'm looking for something more than just, the team sucks, Brewster sucks, the DC sucks, the AD sucks, etc.

After re-watching the games, here are some of the things that stuck out to me:

> Simply put, some young inexperienced guys on defense making some brutal mistakes. Over-pursuit, biting on fakes, playing out of position, MISSED TACKLES.

The two that immediately stuck out to me as being the most glaringly disappointing were Matt Garin at DE and Christyn Lewis at DB. Garin has repeatedly failed to hold contain, in each of the last two weeks, allowing the QB to get out of the pocket and make big plays either on foot or through the air. Lewis has missed a boatload of tackles and almost more alarming it seems he's not that willing to lower his head and shoulders and deliver a blow. I know they are both young and inexperienced but those two have stuck out to me the most.

Ellestad's performance is completely unacceptable. Period. At a position I can speak to more intelligently than most, we're in trouble there. Confidence is everything to that position and he seems to have lost it. More significantly, it seems Brewster has lost confidence in him as well, which is really not good. The FG he missed on Saturday may have looked "long" (48 yds?) but with a breeze at his back, this was basically a 40-yd FG. Anything out to 40-42 yds, you really don't kick any differently than an XP and he's missed 3 FG's in two games around that distance, which could have changed the outcome of both games really.


In all honesty, you can say what you want about the opposition but Weber and the offense have looked really, really good in my opinion. Minimal penalties (unlike last year), numerous lengthy sustained drives, Weber looks comfortable in the pocket, his passes have been really accurate for the most part (outside of the first couple throws against MTSU), the play-calling seems to be spot-on (outside of Brew's 4th and 2 call Saturday). Plain and simple, very few mental mistakes, which is refreshing to see.


For anyone else who watched the games closely and made any mental notes of things they've seen that jumped out at them, I'd be curious to hear.

"Okay, I know this is asking for a lot but I'm curious to know some of the more detailed opinions"

In a 40 yard dash between Garin and Wills the winner is a toss-up.

 

[Gopher Bandanna Guy]

I rewatched the game last night, before writing up my weekly 'What we learned' post on GEGH (see link in sig). I shared a number of the same observations, and one thing I noticed especially was that the corners played off the USD receivers big time, giving them huge cushions (7-10 yards), which often gave Dante Warren easy throws on comeback and quick slant routes. These were the plays that hurt us the most in my opinion, as they extended a number of those drives, which ultimately lead to scores. There was also massive confusion in the coverage over the deep middle of the field. Rallis was constantly dropping back on passing downs, but with no help behind him. I can only hope the return of Theret and Royston will fix things back there down the line. Otherwise, every team in the Big 10 will destroy us on deep routes up the seam.

Garin is definitely not containing the edge the way he needs too. And although Cosgrove over commited the defense on that 4th and short where Warren bootlegged out for a TD untouched, he's still gotta turn him in to the middle of the field. I wonder if Hageman will get a chance to get more reps this week.

I agree on offense, overall they've looked pretty good, and Weber is playing fairly well. The O-line gave him all the time he needed to find the receivers, and this week although he missed a few open guys (McKnight on the deep post, and MarQueis on the deep comeback), there were some bad drops as well. I would have liked to see us run our gameplan more similar to the MTSU game where we don't panic and keep running the ball to pay dividends in the 4th qtr, but the way the defense played, that might have made things worse.

 

[FireDaveLee]

I semi re-watched the game last night (meaning I fast forwarded a bunch because I didn't want my wife to find me in the basement with a noose around my neck with a fork about to be jammed into my eyes). The two most troubling parts that I would ask the coaches is "why did it appear so easy to complete slant passes by USD & why wasn't this taken away?" & "why weren't certain things addressed prior to the 4th down TD run?" They had to know that the QB keeping the ball was a very strong possibility.

I don't try to get too hung up on "Garin's not holding contain" & all simply because I don't know what the call was. Was it player error or coaching scheme error? Same thing with the DB's not being up enough. But the ease at which they could pitch & catch the slants and our inability to take that away as the game went on was really troubling.

 

[jmag21]

I semi re-watched the game last night (meaning I fast forwarded a bunch because I didn't want my wife to find me in the basement with a noose around my neck with a fork about to be jammed into my eyes). The two most troubling parts that I would ask the coaches is "why did it appear so easy to complete slant passes by USD & why wasn't this taken away?" & "why weren't certain things addressed prior to the 4th down TD run?" They had to know that the QB keeping the ball was a very strong possibility.

I don't try to get too hung up on "Garin's not holding contain" & all simply because I don't know what the call was. Was it player error or coaching scheme error? Same thing with the DB's not being up enough. But the ease at which they could pitch & catch the slants and our inability to take that away as the game went on was really troubling.

The slants were open all day. The third down conversion on the last drive was the worst example of this. You need your corners play tight man, or some sort of short zone to take away the short pass for a first down, and you let them have the deep ball. Instead, the defender was yards off the receiver who had the easiest catch and run for first down ever. That's scheme, in my opinion. It's up to the DC to make sure that his defenders understand that they need to take away the short pass. The complete lack of an adjustment was very troubling.

 

[holereader]

houw about playing at 3/4 speed

watch closely the trailing defenders - each of them to a man was running at 3/4 speed since the play did not come their way - specifically the 5th and 6th touchdows scored by SD - yeah it is all broken from the top down but the players have to play and from what I saw they did not - at least on defense

 

[Gopher024]

a) There were a couple times on offense where guys were wide open and didn't get looks from Weber (I thought he played well by the way). The one that stuck out the most to me was a pass to Lair in the Flats. Gray or McKnight was wide open running across the middle of the field with no one in sight. I also think a couple of the dropped passes were because of laziness where the receiver just assumed the catch. Eure's drop was a big play.

b) As previously noted, I don't understand why our corners need to play 10 or more yards off the ball. If we can't play a tight man on man against players of lesser athletic ability, what's our hope in the Big 10? There is no reason why our corners shouldn't have been able to play up, get a jam on the line of scrimmage and still be able to run with their receivers. I'd have to put that one on coaches for not adjusting.

 

[Unregistered User]

It did seem that Eskridge was running with a lot more purpose than the previous week. I deleted the game, so I can't go back to watch it. But that seemed a positive - albeit on the side of the ball I'm less worried about.

 

[fatgopher]

a) There were a couple times on offense where guys were wide open and didn't get looks from Weber (I thought he played well by the way). The one that stuck out the most to me was a pass to Lair in the Flats. Gray or McKnight was wide open running across the middle of the field with no one in sight.

If you're talking about the bootleg when we were driving towards the open end of the stadium in USD territory I know what you're talking about. Weber seemed preconditioned to hit Lair in the flats immediately. Part of the benefit of the bootleg is that it gives the QB additional time to scan 3 levels (normally) of routes while drifting away from DL pressure. Lair was 1st level, McKnight was coming across the field on a cross/post and was 3-4 steps ahead of his guy, but I didn't see a deep skinny post or any 3rd level route. Weber went to Lair way to quickly as he had minimal pressure in his face. Lair gained single digit yardage on the play when McKnight could have gained 20, or even a TD had Weber put the ball on the numbers in stride.

Not something the masses in the stands will notice regularly, but the Gophers need those types of big plays to keep drives going and/or to give our WR's chances to make plays.

 

[Gopher024]

If you're talking about the bootleg when we were driving towards the open end of the stadium in USD territory I know what you're talking about. Weber seemed preconditioned to hit Lair in the flats immediately. Part of the benefit of the bootleg is that it gives the QB additional time to scan 3 levels (normally) of routes while drifting away from DL pressure. Lair was 1st level, McKnight was coming across the field on a cross/post and was 3-4 steps ahead of his guy, but I didn't see a deep skinny post or any 3rd level route. Weber went to Lair way to quickly as he had minimal pressure in his face. Lair gained single digit yardage on the play when McKnight could have gained 20, or even a TD had Weber put the ball on the numbers in stride.

Not something the masses in the stands will notice regularly, but the Gophers need those types of big plays to keep drives going and/or to give our WR's chances to make plays.

I think that's the play, but I'm pretty sure there wasn't even anyone with 3-4 steps of him. At least it didn't look like it when I watched it on tv. I was a little buzzed during the game so I don't really remember it in live action. That's why I always tape the game as well.

 

[Monty519]

Weber did have some misses (that post route to McKnight early on could have been huge for opening things up), but he definitely played solidly throwing the ball. Those two turnovers were just so crucial though, mainly cause both came when we were driving and had some good offensive momentum. It would have been good to go into halftime 21-17, instead. The receivers pretty much ran open all game long, so it's not a surprise he put some numbers up. I don't know what it is though, but he just always takes time to warm up in a game, like his arm isn't ready for action until midway through the 2nd quarter, or even 2nd half. We can't afford these kinds of lackluster offensive starts with the defense struggling like they are, the offense needs to come out of the gates and make moves in the passing game immediately.

Also, I don't like to pile on players, but that Eure drop in the end zone was so big. That's a big time game momentum swing, especially since we ended up with zero on that drive, coming off the INT by Carter. That would have been the lead right there, and who knows where it goes after that point. Overall though, I thought the offense did pretty well, just need to capitalize more in the 1st half on some open shots, they should have had at least 24 points in the 1st half.

Defensively, just amazing how many missed tackles and busted coverages there were, looked like some terrible coaching IMO. I mean, on that last slant USD converted the basically end the game, why not press? It makes no sense, since if they gave up the 1st, it was over anyway, who cares if they got by you deep? Get physical and don't allow them to just walk 4 yards and complete an easy conversion to end the game. Just made zero sense. The safeties just seemed to be out of place often. And then on the 4th down Warren TD, I was sitting up there thinking "Just don't let him bootleg it again", and boom. Gotta stay focused, I don't know who's responsibility it was to stay out and spy the QB, but someone's gotta be out there.

 

[littlebigboy]

Gopher024, If you go back and look at the film, you will see the reason that recievers are wide open and don't get the ball . Watch Weber, he eyeballs or locks on the receiver he wants to hit, HE DOES NOT LOOK AT THE FIELD, unless his first look is covered. That is why he needs alot of time from the O-Line. By the time he figures out that the 1st is covered he has used up the time that most QB's need. The last part of last yr. the line gave Weber sufficient time, but he still got sacked. He has not learned that in 4+ yrs. and probably will not be able to do it. What you see is what we will have to live with, because they will not change unless he gets hurt. He will be adequate.

 

[Max Power]

I recorded it an re-watched it. It mostly comes down the the defensive backfield being f*cking brutal and the DE's (or whoever had contain) not doing their job.

 

[GoGophers2005]

1. Corners played exactly how they should have....the problem was our LBs did a horrible job dropping into passing lanes.
2. Do you know how to beat our defense? Run a no huddle. I don't think our defense, mostly our d. line, was set on any play. It was the same story last week against MTSU. Why is it our WHOLE defense has to stare over to the sideline to pick up the play from our coordinator? I don't see any other team waste time like that....hence why we are never set at the snap.
3. Eskridge sux. Anyone can see there is a huge gap between Bennett and Deleon. No reason there was big spells for Duane last week. And why no Kirkwood?
4. Please please please get more motion into our pre snap offense. We need to be freezing LBers much more than what we are doing. They are in the backfield too quick because they could care less if Weber playactions. Pro)ably the worst play action QB of all time.

 

[GoGophers2005]

1. Corners played exactly how they should have....the problem was our LBs did a horrible job dropping into passing lanes.
2. Do you know how to beat our defense? Run a no huddle. I don't think our defense, mostly our d. line, was set on any play. It was the same story last week against MTSU. Why is it our WHOLE defense has to stare over to the sideline to pick up the play from our coordinator? I don't see any other team waste time like that....hence why we are never set at the snap.
3. Eskridge sux. Anyone can see there is a huge gap between Bennett and Deleon. No reason there was big spells for Duane last week. And why no Kirkwood?
4. Please please please get more motion into our pre snap offense. We need to be freezing LBers much more than what we are doing. They are in the backfield too quick because they could care less if Weber playactions. Pro)ably the worst play action QB of all time.

 

[GoldenRose]

It appears that Hageman is moving to DT for the time being: http://www.startribune.com/sports/g...EyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUgOy9cP3DieyckcUsI

Let's hope Garin, and the other DEs, have learned a thing or two about containment.

 

[Schnoodler]

The reason the D was looking to the side line was because there was no on field leader. all inexperienced guys. Theret and Royston are the solutions to that problem. They'd also help with some of the other stuff.

I was pretty impressed with the offense. They weren't as crisp as I'd like, but understandable. I'm hoping for more of the same this week.

I think our Dline was stellar excluding containment. I thought when the coyotes tried to run time off we crushed their control game. Didn't matter since we couldn't stop the deeper balls, but I'm thinking we're even stronger up the middle than we were last year. All in all, when you consider the return of Royston and Theret, and if you believe Carter's performance was an anomoly, we're just one DB away from not sucking. And I like the talent of the kids, just not the performance. Hopefully with more experience on the field we don't suck so badly. Mostly I'm worried about this team giving up before they patch this gaping hole.