Best Defense in the last 22 years?

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nemosgold

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I've had season tickets for 22 years, is this the best we've had in those years?

I can remember one year under David Gibbs that we were tough.

Hopefully we can replace those that graduate.
 

NO ... opponents in the 8 Big Ten games converted 3rd downs at a 54% clip ... that is atrocious. Mason had a few better defenses.
 

This years D would have been the best in 20 years if we still had Willie on our team. We sorely needed a pass rusher. Otherwise we were pretty solid.
 

Doogie said:
NO ... opponents in the 8 Big Ten games converted 3rd downs at a 54% clip ... that is atrocious. Mason had a few better defenses.
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Now specifics on Mason's outstanding defenses is something I might even pay to hear about.
 

Doogie said:
NO ... opponents in the 8 Big Ten games converted 3rd downs at a 54% clip ... that is atrocious. Mason had a few better defenses.
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Doogie if you read my posts, I'm on the fence with Brew and think he needs next year to prove what he can get done. I enjoy reading your posts for the most part support your arguments, belong to your twitter group but, man you must have had way too many of those loaded cherries. One statistic means nothing, the biggest stat is points given up per game, because ultimately at the end of the game the scoreboard means the most.
 



We gave up over 200 rushing yards yesterday, that is not good defense

We actually had a year once when had dam near a shut down defense for the gophers but i cant remember alot of the names. I know willie middlebrooks was on that team.

They would actually shut you down, but i cant remember the year.
 

1999 Defense was by far the best we've had in the past 40 years.

This year's defense blew it in the Cal game by giving up that 3rd and 22 and ever since then, they couldn't stop anybody on 3rd down. The run defense was also the worst I've seen since the Joe Salem era.
 

A closer look at defenses

I'm not sure what is the best way to look at which defense is the best. Stats can be very deceiving. If you have a ball control offense that eats junks of time then the defense is going to look pretty good on the stat line because the other team doesn't have the ball very much.

If you have an offense like the Gophers that has a ton of "three and outs" that puts a different spin on the defensive stats because they are on the field a lot more than most defenses. Maybe they need to take the average time the defense is on the field vs yards gained.

I must just be bored because I was up at 6:30 a.m while everyone else is sleeping off New Year's Eve. Here's hoping things fall better for the Gophers in 2010.
 



Moses87 said:
1999 Defense was by far the best we've had in the past 40 years.

This year's defense blew it in the Cal game by giving up that 3rd and 22 and ever since then, they couldn't stop anybody on 3rd down. The run defense was also the worst I've seen since the Joe Salem era.
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this run defense is not very good but it isnt even close to the worst run defense ever

hell......just 3 years ago some white fullback for NDSU ran for dam near 200 yards on us

how quickly people forget how bad it's been
 

Why even say that

Why even say something like " A white fullback." That's like the old notion that blacks can't be QBs. Why not start the new decade out with some enlightenment. I gt your point that the defense was really bad then but the point can be made without bringing up race.
 

MNSpaniel said:
Why even say something like " A white fullback." That's like the old notion that blacks can't be QBs. Why not start the new decade out with some enlightenment. I gt your point that the defense was really bad then but the point can be made without bringing up race.
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I would say something like a "lumbering fullback"....lol....that dude wasn't fast but I do remember him running free for 70 yards on a play or two.

This year's CAL and Wisconsin games really showed our vulnerability to the run as well...watching Wisconsin run at will on us was disheartening.
 

nemosgold said:
Doogie if you read my posts, I'm on the fence with Brew and think he needs next year to prove what he can get done. I enjoy reading your posts for the most part support your arguments, belong to your twitter group but, man you must have had way too many of those loaded cherries. One statistic means nothing, the biggest stat is points given up per game, because ultimately at the end of the game the scoreboard means the most.
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Thanks ... yes, points given up is the No. 1 statistic, and it's not close, but we have to look at other areas, don't we? How much time was the def. on the field preventing the off. from having a chance of scoring?
 



MNSpaniel said:
Why even say something like " A white fullback." That's like the old notion that blacks can't be QBs. Why not start the new decade out with some enlightenment. I gt your point that the defense was really bad then but the point can be made without bringing up race.
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name me your top NFL white running back?

whites pretty much cant play running back

hell.....give me your top white running back in the big 10
 

Doogie

Mason had one decent defense in the Tyrone Carter year. Other than that they were pathetic if you check the stats. I think maybe you are just remembering that one year. I agree our defense was better this year but not a lock it down type of defense at all. Even Iowa state was making too many third and long first downs.
 

Moses87 said:
1999 Defense was by far the best we've had in the past 40 years.

This year's defense blew it in the Cal game by giving up that 3rd and 22 and ever since then, they couldn't stop anybody on 3rd down. The run defense was also the worst I've seen since the Joe Salem era.
Click to expand...

I think that "poor" run defense would be attributable to the fact that our front 7 were highly overrated this year. Triplett, Campbell, Onuwachi, etc. were all seemingly good guys and nice players, but none of them were great, and failed to close the gaps quick enough most of the time. That was evidenced on quite a few games tonight.

Theoretically, with a nice infusion of athleticism coming from the underclassmen the next couple of years, our front 7 should improve. Maybe not by the beginning of next year, as all 7 starters will be new, but by the end of next year, they could be a strong group.
 

Doc1001 said:
Mason had one decent defense in the Tyrone Carter year. Other than that they were pathetic if you check the stats. I think maybe you are just remembering that one year. I agree our defense was better this year but not a lock it down type of defense at all. Even Iowa state was making too many third and long first downs.
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Doc -- Fair enough. I was just trying to remember off the top of my head, so I will trust you, that Mason had just the one good defense ... but did his other defenses differ noticeably from this year's D?
 

Doogie said:
Thanks ... yes, points given up is the No. 1 statistic, and it's not close, but we have to look at other areas, don't we? How much time was the def. on the field preventing the off. from having a chance of scoring?
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Or, how long was the offense on the field each game helping the defense from preventing the other team from scoring. Our opponents had the ball 31:05 to 28:55. I'm too lazy today to break it down by game.
 

Would be curious the breakdown on the eight Big Ten games.
 

Its not the stats

The only thing that counts is the scoreboard. Points allowed. It seems the coaching staff is taking a page from my high school Coach Jackson, who put the best players on defense and challenged them with all we need to do is shut them out and while you are out there get a safety.

But a defense that gives you opportunites, hold the opponents to 14 points is doing the job. The inablity to convert turnovers, scoring TD's is lacking.
 

The turning point came when they decided to get agressive on more than 1st and 2nd downs. The corners came up and challenged instead of playing off 10-12 yds. If you look at the Cal game, they were awesome on 1&2 downs then tried to play prevent on 3rd, and the only thing prevent does is prevent you from stopping the opponent. The picked it up good at SDSU and continued against Iowa and Iowa State. That means, I hope that Cosgrove and Lee began to get on the same page and get comfortable togather and more confident with the D. A good sign.
 

Personally....

I don't know that they keep such a stat (probably do but I'm too lazy to find it), but I would grade a defense by "Points Per Possession Allowed".

As was stated earlier, the Mason teams ground up so much clock that they limited opponents possessions, but those defenses could never hold a lead or keep opposing offenses off the scoreboard.

This year, Gopher opponents had an extremely inordinate amount of possessions due to the offense's inability to move the ball and sustain drives.

In my opinion, this year's defense was incredibly effective, couldn't have been a lot happier, particularly since SO many of the players coming into the year were relatively unproven. Who expected Campbell and Triplett to rank near the top of the conference in tackles?

All season long, I kept telling myself, this defense deserves so much better from it's teammates on the offensive side of the ball.
 

That Wacker assembled Defense of Masons early years was pretty damn good. I still like that one better. But our defense is pretty good this year. I wish we had one more year with this group.
 

Doogie said:
NO ... opponents in the 8 Big Ten games converted 3rd downs at a 54% clip ... that is atrocious. Mason had a few better defenses.
Click to expand...

i think its a tough comparison! both sides can argue different aspects. mason defenses may have looked a lot better due to how good we were at holding onto the ball and still losing comared to brew's defenses that cant score and our defens had to salvage the game as much as possible and were on the field non stop and losing
 

lakesgopher -- with your background and the intricacies of the game, I'll defer to you.
 

I would say from memory

that this years defense was better than all of Masons except for the one year. Most games during his tenure they were giving up 30 or 40 pts per game in the big ten---most of the time. They had a better offense but overall a much worse defense. You can check that stats on that.
 

MNSpaniel said:
Why even say something like " A white fullback." That's like the old notion that blacks can't be QBs. Why not start the new decade out with some enlightenment. I gt your point that the defense was really bad then but the point can be made without bringing up race.
Click to expand...

It is pretty embarrassing when some white kid can run all over you, it's funny when Toby Gerhart is running the football.
 

I'd take the 99 defense over this one. But this year's defense was solid, they just lacked that one guy on the D-line to really pressure the QB and make third and longs a feared play for the offense. Too often they were able to sit there and make a throw without heat. Like someone pointed out, if we still had a WVDS type, this defense would have been tough to move on cause I guarantee you that 54% drops under half conversions.
 

When we look at the last 20 years, last years defense is definetly number two behind the 99 teams defense. If our offense did their part last year our defensive stats would have been a lot better. The defense was on the field a huge amount of time Last year. The defense did not let us down. Yes they had some bad games but they were the main reason why we won. Last years defense was a lot better then people give them credit for. Cosgrove actually did a good job this year.
 

Goldteam said:
name me your top NFL white running back?

whites pretty much cant play running back

hell.....give me your top white running back in the big 10
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You are a Dips*@t!

For what it's worth, who finished number 2 in the Heisman this year?

Get a clue loser!
 

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