All Things Robb Smith Thread

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GophersInIowa said:
Arkansas tried to warn us. Not only was Iowa converting on 3rd downs but many times the receivers were wide open.
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I do remember Arkansas posters thanking us for hiring him - but, ironically, Arkansas is worse without him and having a disastrous year to date.
 

MennoSota said:
So, experts (cause I admit I am not), what is it about the present scheme that the Gophers have given up so many points? What does the present DC do differently that our previous DC didn't do?
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His job, like most, has expectations for results. You cannot argue the results here. It's not just the number of points, it's really no sign of improvement from the veteran unit at almost every position. Next week, yikes. 40 on us by half. Book it.
 

1967 2.0 said:
His job, like most, has expectations for results. You cannot argue the results here. It's not just the number of points, it's really no sign of improvement from the veteran unit at almost every position. Next week, yikes. 40 on us by half. Book it.
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I'd expect as a bi-product of our defense, next week we will see the "Curl up into a ball" offense trying to eat at least 2-3 minutes with each offensive possession to shorten the game.
 

Face The Facts said:
I'd expect as a bi-product of our defense, next week we will see the "Curl up into a ball" offense trying to eat at least 2-3 minutes with each offensive possession to shorten the game.
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That worked for Jerry many for games...
 

MennoSota said:
So, experts (cause I admit I am not), what is it about the present scheme that the Gophers have given up so many points? What does the present DC do differently that our previous DC didn't do?
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I am by no means an expert. We seem to play a lot more soft zone, and in the past we played more man coverage. We have a non existent pass rush. A good quarterback can sit back all day and pick apart the zone. We also give a 5 yard cushion constantly. A few times I saw press coverage but it was mostly 5 yard cushion. If we had an average to above average defensive line the d as a whole would look a lot better.
 


I have my doubts on Smith as well. At least the run defense was solid this game and they made Stanley beat the Gophs via his arm on third down. Just wish they could have stopped both.

I feel like had they stacked the box vs Maryland the way Temple did that Maryland would have struggled beating Gophs with the pass.
 

WorkingMyTailOff said:
I have my doubts on Smith as well. At least the run defense was solid this game and they made Stanley beat the Gophs via his arm on third down. Just wish they could have stopped both.

I feel like had they stacked the box vs Maryland the way Temple did that Maryland would have struggled beating Gophs with the pass.
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Agreed. That was really perplexing to me. Yesterday's gameplan would've made the Maryland game much closer IMO. Playing off the WR's, LB's coming downhill, safety sneaking into the box. So many teams have done this to us over the years and forced the QB to win the game. Stanley obviously had a much better time of that than Kassim Hill would've.
 

There was a third down where I saw shades of the last staff: two down linemen, Devers and Otemweo (I think) at ends and they confused the blockers and Stanley well enough to foil their third down conversion. Can’t remember who did what but it was nice to see something other than the typical straight up line play.

I think Robb probably doesn’t have the dominant players he needs to run his defense. Will we ever have those? Who knows? In the mean time we play a lot of soft zone, can’t get pressure in under 2-3 seconds and give up easy short passes in lieu of them needing to run the ball. Coaches must think we can’t match up on the outside. The bigger concern last week was the total confusion on the motion and the poor discipline leading to huge gains.

So, there currently is a personnel issue and an apparent prep issue. The scheme...not ideal but maybe they just want to play bend not break (hasn’t worked thus far). They played better yesterday but still had some breakdowns. I remember being frustrated with Sawvel early on so will wait to see how they develop.
 

patrick08 said:
To respond to many previous posts:

- who would we get to replace him? Also not in the camp that thinks he is that bad.
- front 7 may have some experience but lack depth. Carter not a natural DE. Dievers is a rush specialist and Iowa ran a back out for a pass right at him. Had it schemed well.
- DBs are young and even the vets minus AW aren’t the best crop we’ve had. Huff is a player but even with Claeys/Sawvel this isn’t a Murray/BBC/Travis/Johnson secondary. We were a bit spoiled with those guys.
- we are in year 1 with DL and DB coaches. Let give them time and recruiting. Nobody should be fired after year 2. We need consistency. Ferentz has been a time Iowa 20 years. Alvarez was at Wisconsin for about 20. Fitzgerald at NW for about 10. MN, Purdue, Nebraska.... coaching carousel
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Agree with your last paragraph 100%, need to give it some more time. But by the same means we can't keep on giving excuses for everything. So square peg round hole with some of the defenders due to previous scheme? I get the thought about lack of upperclassman depth but I think transfers and graduation had a bigger impact rather than they couldn't recruit.
 



1967 2.0 said:
That worked for Jerry many for games...
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So what. Jerry hasn’t been the coach here for a while now. What he did or didn’t do is irrelevant.


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I don't think it's fair to burn Smith after today.
A) He ran a corner blitz for the first time since coming to Minnesota and it worked. He is evolving his defense.
B) Our run defense shutdown Iowa's run-game.
Points scored were a problem, but they were a problem because our offense and special teams put our defense in ****ty positions.

Our punting game was atrocious. Iowa started on the 50 like 3 times in the first half.
Our QBs were launching arm punts all game long and turning the ball over.
Including once on the first play of a drive.
Fleck decided to kick onside and give Iowa a final short-field at the end of the game, they promptly ran up the score.

I think you guys will remember that I hated the Robb Smith hire and started ripping him as soon as he got here.
Yesterday wasn't his fault. It was Fleck's fault. That was a special teams disaster.

It was definitely fair after Maryland, I don't understand that game at all, but yesterday was not his fault.
 

hello-world said:
I don't think it's fair to burn Smith after today.
A) He ran a corner blitz for the first time since coming to Minnesota and it worked. He is evolving his defense.
B) Our run defense shutdown Iowa's run-game.
Points scored were a problem, but they were a problem because our offense and special teams put our defense in ****ty positions.

Our punting game was atrocious. Iowa started on the 50 like 3 times in the first half.
Our QBs were launching arm punts all game long and turning the ball over.
Including once on the first play of a drive.
Fleck decided to kick onside and give Iowa a final short-field at the end of the game, they promptly ran up the score.

I think you guys will remember that I hated the Robb Smith hire and started ripping him as soon as he got here.
Yesterday wasn't his fault. It was Fleck's fault. That was a special teams disaster.

It was definitely fair after Maryland, I don't understand that game at all, but yesterday was not his fault.
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Good points. Not sure why the Gophers didn’t call a quick time out before the fake field goal?
The fake punt? Liked the aggressive attitude but did not like the play call at all.
I hope as the offense continues to improve the need to roll the dice on 4th down and more than 1 yard will decrease.
 

As I mentioning in a similar post. The Arkansas fans all felt that Smith schemes are based on what happens in the SEC with Alabama, LSU type defensive players. Guess what boys and girls, the Gophers (at least right now and apparently Arkansas) don’t have the type of defensive player. Coaching is changing your schemes to fit your players. Maybe this was why Bryce Paup - a highly regarded defensive coach left.
 



Pete smith said:
As I mentioning in a similar post. The Arkansas fans all felt that Smith schemes are based on what happens in the SEC with Alabama, LSU type defensive players. Guess what boys and girls, the Gophers (at least right now and apparently Arkansas) don’t have the type of defensive player. Coaching is changing your schemes to fit your players. Maybe this was why Bryce Paup - a highly regarded defensive coach left.
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I would have thought a highly regarded defensive coach would get a better gig than going back to UNI..
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
I would have thought a highly regarded defensive coach would get a better gig than going back to UNI..
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Actually he went back home to Cedar Falls. He never did move to the Twin Cities. Couldn’t handle Smith schemes is the word out of UNI as to the why he left the Gophers.
 

Pete smith said:
Actually he went back home to Cedar Falls. He never did move to the Twin Cities. Couldn’t handle Smith schemes is the word out of UNI as to the why he left the Gophers.
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The Gophers for one year is the best coaching job he's ever had. He couldn't land a NFL or another FBS job when he left, something that should be easy for a 'highly regarded defensive coach'.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
The Gophers for one year is the best coaching job he's ever had. He couldn't land a NFL or another FBS job when he left, something that should be easy for a 'highly regarded defensive coach'.
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You have absolutely no proof that he wasn’t offered a NFL job or a FBS job. None
 


Actually I do. And no, I won’t share it with you.
 

Pete smith said:
Actually I do. And no, I won’t share it with you.
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Good one...I'm sure you do...:rolleyes:

I mean why wouldn't you leave the Gophers at 220k per year and turn down NFL and FBS jobs to make ~60k a year in Cedar Falls???
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
Good one...I'm sure you do...:rolleyes:

I mean why wouldn't you leave the Gophers at 220k per year and turn down NFL and FBS jobs to make ~60k a year in Cedar Falls???
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There are a lot of reasons why he might do that, just because it’s not common doesn’t mean there’s not a reason, and a good one.




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Well Mike Stoops (OU) is available. Lol
 


scools12 said:
So what. Jerry hasn’t been the coach here for a while now. What he did or didn’t do is irrelevant.


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Sure, and if that is the new rule on posting then a large percentage of posts on Gopherhole are likewise irrelevant...
 

Pete smith said:
Actually he went back home to Cedar Falls. He never did move to the Twin Cities. Couldn’t handle Smith schemes is the word out of UNI as to the why he left the Gophers.
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Ok, I'm with you here on this. So when you say "couldn't handle Smith's schemes" what do you mean by that? Like they annoyed him or he couldn't grasp them intellectually? It's an interesting comment.

GWG, we will never know the truth...so not worth having a boxing match over it. I will say people move on for a variety of reasons and money is not always the key thing.
 

If he wasn’t a good coach why would PJ have hired him. More likely it was just a personality thing/ mutual parting of ways. I think PJ would be tough to work for. A veteran player like that isn’t hurting for money (most likely).
 

NotAFanOfBecky said:
Ok, I'm with you here on this. So when you say "couldn't handle Smith's schemes" what do you mean by that? Like they annoyed him or he couldn't grasp them intellectually? It's an interesting comment.

GWG, we will never know the truth...so not worth having a boxing match over it. I will say people move on for a variety of reasons and money is not always the key thing.
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There are fundamental defensive philosophies just like there are fundamental offensive philosophies. To put it plainly: perhaps one coach has a "contain" philosophy (DL/DE/LB turn everything in and contain their gaps); another coach may be a "spill"guy (DE/DL/LB force everything to bounce [run sideways] by turning their outside shoulders into blocks) and chasing it down with 2nd and 3rd level players.

It's a big difference in philosophy and when what you believe to be better isn't what's employed and the contrasting philosphy isn't working, it's not hard to see why it would be an issue.

FYI...there are other things with coverages, blitzes, stunts etc. that could go with this, but I wanted to simplify it.
 
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