Anyone still defending Cosgrove?

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FireCosgroveGuy

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Just curious. I'm not sure how anyone can. The pathetic 'play 10+ yards off the WRs' scheme gave Illinois an easy march down the field to open the game and was spotted immediately being abused with the same bubble screen that every other team has used to move the ball.

His defense stinks, and its not just certain players like Simmons.
 

I am starting to be convinced that our defensive backs are among the worst in the Big 10. Cosgrove will be OK once he gets some better players back there.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
I am starting to be convinced that our defensive backs are among the worst in the Big 10. Cosgrove will be OK once he gets some better players back there.
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No, he won't.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
I am starting to be convinced that our defensive backs are among the worst in the Big 10. Cosgrove will be OK once he gets some better players back there.
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His defenses worked back in the old days of the Big Ten where most of the teams were 3 yards and a cloud of dust. His defense against the pass is terrible. He was supposed to have spent that off year learning how to defend the pass/spread and it appears he did not. He had some good players at Nebraska and still underperformed.
 

All I know is that all day long I saw DB's NOT making plays when they were in position to do it. Some players are playmakers and some players are not. We don't have many playmakers in the defensive backfield.
 


Agree with UpNorth

I saw players in the right spot alot today, but then they were either trying to tackle high or playing Ole as the ball carrier went by.

I'm tired of Brewster and not playing Gray. A running back fumbles and he doesn't come back, but our Weber could throw 50 interceptions and he would stick with Weber.
 

GopherGod said:
His defenses worked back in the old days of the Big Ten where most of the teams were 3 yards and a cloud of dust. His defense against the pass is terrible. He was supposed to have spent that off year learning how to defend the pass/spread and it appears he did not. He had some good players at Nebraska and still underperformed.
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Yeah, despite today's result I believe in everyone on our coaching staff except Cosgrove. I just don't understand why he was hired when he showed such an alarming inability to adjust to the modern game while at Nebraska. Fisch is a young guy with a lot of innovative good ideas who sometimes gets too cute with his play calling (but still has tremendous upside and room to grow).
Cosgrove is a relic. He should be fired (I know there's been too much coaching turnover for the Gophers, but sometimes a move just has to be made).
 

i will sum it up

theret is the slowest safety in the big 10

sherels is a walk on who has no interest in tackling and just sort of stands out there

royston is bucky's leftovers

and simmons has regressed

these guys do not start for almost all of the big 10 teams

i am not that confident about next years group either
 

The other thing that worries me is his play calling after the failed onside kick attempt. There's about 3 minutes left--just enough time to get the ball back if your team is able to force a 3 and out. In that situation the opponent is guaranteed to run it 3 times in a row. Logically, this means everyone should crowd the box and there should be a massive blitz. You know what the offense is going to do and therefore make the adjustments to stop it. However, Cosgrove had the defense backfield over 10 yards off the ball! Worse yet the tackles and D-ends were spread apart like they were planning to rush the passer. Illinois ran it up the middle for 8 yards. They get the first down next play.

How could Cosgrove miss a call that easy?
 



GG was right about Cosgrove aand the run and the pass. We have a good run D on 1 & 2 downs, but the pass D is terrible, as is the pass rush. Cosgrove took the vaunted Neb. black shirts, and made them grey. He is in the process of doing that here also. I don't know if it is because of Cosgrove or Lee, but our D backs do not watch the QB or the ball and never break on the ball. On one post pattern the camera angle of the replay was from the end zine and Royston just stood and watched the rec. catch the ball and then tackled instead of breaking on the ball and maybe intercepted or at least broken up. They should watch Navy DB's, they shut down ND receivers pretty well. I don't like changing coordinators, but as I said when He was hired COSGROVE HAS TO GO AS COORD. Maybe keep him as a position coach, which he is not bad as, but a terrible coord.
 

littlebigboy said:
Cosgrove took the vaunted Neb. black shirts, and made them grey. He is in the process of doing that here also.
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What are you talking about?!! Our defense has always sucked, ever since Mason. We have never had a good d. Granted there seemed to be improvement under Roof, but remember how season ended last year? Our d did not seem to do to well down the stretch. The fact is we have defensive players who would be second stringers at best at OSU, PSU, etc. We need to get some players on defense before we start seeing improvement. Overall, I am not ready to throw Cosgrove under the bus.
 

We allowed 3rd and 11, 3rd and 13, and 3rd and 17 to be converted... that was just in the first half.

On one occassion, Theret blitzed from a MINIMUM of 15 yards back from the line of scrimmage...I am not sure he even crossed the line of scrimmage before the ball was delivered. Our 3rd down defense would have been even worse if not for a couple dropped passes by Illinois.

Kudos to Studwell he noticed before most of us that our CB's simply do not tackle. I thought the blitz at the goal line on 3rd down was atrocious, allowing a 1 on 1 fade to a potential first round draft pick was NOT a good idea.

I give Cosgrove/Lee very low marks for their performance today.
 

This loss was not the D's fault. The offense (Weber) had us out of the game right from the get go. We were lucky the O started to get going in the 2nd half and we could make a game of it. I don't blame Cosgrove one bit for this loss
 




Everyone has made some wonderful points but Cosgrove isn't going anywhere. The revolving door we've had at the Coordinator position will stop with Cos for a couple years unless he decides to move on (doubtful) or we promote someone from within and demote him (even less, as he'd probably leave in this scenario). And while I'm not jumping up and down with joy about this I'll be thankful to have some stability.
 

What Have They Done For Eachother Lately?

should be a separate thread.
 

I'm not qualified to comment on the quality of our players vs the game plan. I don't know if the DBacks are playing so far off the receivers because they lack skill or because Cosgrove is stupid. What I do know is that we sure tackled poorly. How many times did we hit the running back at the line or 2 yards from the line and then face 2nd and two. We were tackling with our arms and up high and getting carried forward 5-6 yards about half the time. It was depressing.
 

Why do we have such low expectations for the defense? We gave up 28 points at home today, that should not be considered acceptable. The defenses inability to get off the field on 3rd down, especially when Illinois had to go to their backup QB, was a huge key to this game. The Gophers were down 3 points at home in the 4th quarter needing a stop against a backup QB facing 3rd and 5. They give up an easy completion, miss a tackle, and allow the play to go for 40 plus.

As bad as Adam Weber was today, if the defense did not play poorly the Gophers would have won. It took poor performances on both sides of the ball to enable a loss today.
 

Look at the Gs BT D stats this year under Cos vs last year under Roof. Both in the bottom-feeding area. Both experienced coaches probably got/are getting the best results possible out of the talent and skill level currently available.

Nothing much will change in the D area until and unless the depth/talent levels improve materially...Roof knew that and Cos/Lee are confronted with that reality every week. Changing coaches yet again is unlikely to produce better results without better D playmakers.
 

NewEngland_Gold said:
Look at the Gs BT D stats this year under Cos vs last year under Roof. Both in the bottom-feeding area. Both experienced coaches probably got/are getting the best results possible out of the talent and skill level currently available.

Nothing much will change in the D area until and unless the depth/talent levels improve materially...Roof knew that and Cos/Lee are confronted with that reality every week. Changing coaches yet again is unlikely to produce better results without better D playmakers.
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the fact is Cosgrove has not been able to recruit elite talent for some time and whatever talent he does get he cannot maximize they're potential. His best years at Nebraska were with the previous regime's talent and it went down from there so if you are holding out for him bringing in better talent then good luck to you. Regardless the curent defensive staff at Nebraska was able to take the former Cosgrove defense and improved it over 100 spots in the national rankings in under two years over what Cosgrove could do so please don't insinuate that talent is the only problem. The guy cannot recruit anymore and cannot maximize his talent. If you don't choose to believe me, fine. However, both Barry Alvarez and Tom Osborne showed Cosgrove the door and I think that I will respect their opinion of his abilities especially in light of what I have seen of him.
 

Cosgrove and Davis are the only guys on your staff to have a Rose Bowl ring, and Coz has three. Coz is the only hope on your staff. He has to work with Lee, who is the worst coach in the Big Ten, IMO. Remember, the Badgers got rid of Lee, too. As a Badger fan, I can only hope you get rid of Coz and promote Lee - it means I will never have to worry about giving up the Axe again.
 

I wouldn't say I'm defending Cosgrove against every charge levelled on the thread, but players play and coaches coach and the players we have back there right now aren't all that good. Carter will be a step in the right direction and I think Theret would be at least average in the right scheme surrounded by the right guys. But we need more back there.

I do think, regardless of the two-dimensional statistical record, that the defense has played better this year. Too many breakdowns, most of them stemming from a lack of speed on the defensive side of the ball. But I have seen better play out of the unit. California would have put up 50+ on a Mason team.
 

Amen sugarriver.Coz is not the problem here.He has nothing to work with.
 

I think the defense has improved in every game. IMHO.

If we had great experienced talent I might be inclined to wonder about the coaching. But i don't believe we do. More likely this coach has this group playing above their talent level. That is good coaching.
 

Greetings from a Nebraska fan. A local radio station in town mentioned this board and this thread earlier today and I couldn't help but to stop by and check it out for myself. Let me just tell you, with Cosgrove as your D-coordinator, it will only get worse regardless whether he has his recruits or not. Well, good luck.
 

we have this topic posted on our husker board. we are all avid haters of cosgrove and it will not get better. either get rid of him now or prepare for long seasons.
 

FireCosgroveGuy said:
Just curious. I'm not sure how anyone can. The pathetic 'play 10+ yards off the WRs' scheme gave Illinois an easy march down the field to open the game and was spotted immediately being abused with the same bubble screen that every other team has used to move the ball.

His defense stinks, and its not just certain players like Simmons.
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Hey guys, Husker fan here. I registered because I just wanted to share some (probably not too comforting) news with you guys. First I want to say I feel for you guys, I don't know how Cosgrove has another job in college football. Anyway here's what I came here to post (forewarning, it may be a little long):

Back in 2004 when Cosgrove was hired I was initially pissed because Bo Pelini brought us from 55th ranked defense to the 11th defense in the country with the most forced turnovers in the country that year. The year after he does this Solich is fired and Callahan brings in Cosgrove. I had no idea who Cosgrove was, so I went over to Wisconsin's rivals.com message board to see if they were upset about him leaving (which would seem to be an indication that we picked up a good coach). All of the Wisconsin fans were extremely EXCITED! They hated him and thought he was a horrible defensive coordinator.

When I saw this I went and did some research, during Cosgrove's entire tenure at Wisconsin he had ONE top 25 defense (keep this in mind as I will bring it up later).

Now fast forward to the 2004 Nebraska season. Nebraska ends out of the top 25 in defense. Now let me remind you that this had all of the same players from the '03 defense that had more turnovers than any defense in Nebraska history (these players include first round draft pick Fabian Washington, 2nd round draft picks Josh and Daniel Bullock, and 2nd round draft pick Barrett Ruud)

Now lets look at Wisconsin's defense (that was ranked 43rd in 2003 under Cosgrove). Wisconsin's defense finished the 2004 season ranked 9th! One year removed from Cosgrove and they have a top 10 ranked defense (something Cosgrove NEVER did during his 9 yrs as Wisconsin Dcoord.). In fact in 2006 they had the FIFTH ranked total defense. So in 3 years under a new defensive coordinator Wisconsin had 2 top 10 defenses (something Cosgrove couldn't do once in his 9 years as the Wisconsin defensive coordinator)

Now lets look at 2007 (Cosgrove's last year at Nebraska). He statistically had the worst defense in Cornhusker history! We finished the season ranked 112th!

Now look at lasts years defense under Bo Pelini (1 year removed from Cosgrove). Pelini improved our defense from 112th to 55th. Now this 55th ranking is a little skewed because the big 12 had 5 offenses in the top 10 statistically. So if you look at big 12 rankings, Nebraska went from the worst big 12 defense (in 07 under Cosgrove) to 2nd best in the conference under Pelini (just 7 ypg more than Texas for the best defense in the conference).

Now look at this year, we currently have the 2nd best scoring defense in the country, and 11th best overall defense.

After looking at these stats I think you can come to your own conclusions. I'll just add some of my observations while Cosgrove was here as well. Our db's ALWAYS played 10+ yds off the ball. When we blitzed, we never disguised them. The linebackers, safeties, or whoever would always sprint right up to the line of scrimmage and wait for the Center to adjust blocking assignments. He also never made adjustments. It was almost guaranteed that whatever our defense was doing in the first half, they would come out doing the second half. We also didn't play "inspired" football, and I think this starts in practice. Under Pelini EVERY player has to sprint to the ball EVERY play before they blow the play dead during practice. He constantly preaches effort effort effort (something Cosgrove did not). You play how you practice. If you just go through the motions in practice, that's how you will play the game.

So%
 

Bugaha said:
Greetings from a Nebraska fan. A local radio station in town mentioned this board and this thread earlier today and I couldn't help but to stop by and check it out for myself. Let me just tell you, with Cosgrove as your D-coordinator, it will only get worse regardless whether he has his recruits or not. Well, good luck.
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What message board is this thread mentioned on?
 

I feel sorry for you guys having Cos and all...you need to really start pushing to get rid of him or you will go through what we did at Nebraska. If you go to huskerboard.com and go to the football section, and search for his name, you will see all that we had to go through with having him there...it was not fun. He was kind of like talking to Elmer Fudd when it came to explaining what he thought he was doing...and it never worked.
 


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