Chip: After losing key defensive players, Sawvel's adjusted game plan a master stroke

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Chip:

The press conference was over and Tracy Claeys was headed back to the locker room to celebrate with his team.

I stopped him and asked about a rumor that his star tailback Rodney Smith was prepared to play defense Tuesday night in the Holiday Bowl, if needed, after suspensions from the sexual assault investigation left the Gophers extremely shorthanded in the secondary.

Tears filled Claeys' eyes and his voice trembled as he revealed that Smith approached him before the first bowl practice and offered to play defensive back. Smith even briefly ran onto the field at one point in the first half thinking his defensive package had been called.

I asked Claeys why he was so emotional.

More tears.

"Because we've got good kids," he said. "They're damn good kids."

http://www.startribune.com/after-lo...adjusted-game-plan-a-master-stroke/408474635/

Go Gophers!!
 

Rodney Smith just may have become my all time favorite Gopher player.
 

BleedGopher said:
per Chip:

The press conference was over and Tracy Claeys was headed back to the locker room to celebrate with his team.

I stopped him and asked about a rumor that his star tailback Rodney Smith was prepared to play defense Tuesday night in the Holiday Bowl, if needed, after suspensions from the sexual assault investigation left the Gophers extremely shorthanded in the secondary.

Tears filled Claeys' eyes and his voice trembled as he revealed that Smith approached him before the first bowl practice and offered to play defensive back. Smith even briefly ran onto the field at one point in the first half thinking his defensive package had been called.

I asked Claeys why he was so emotional.

More tears.

"Because we've got good kids," he said. "They're damn good kids."

http://www.startribune.com/after-lo...adjusted-game-plan-a-master-stroke/408474635/

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...
True that.
 


Great article by Chip - timely insight and captured the mood/significance.
 


Sawvel did an excellent job and the way he deployed the LBs broke his previous patterns and totally confused Falk. The key, at least to me, against an offense like WSU's is to force the QB to checkdown and keep checking down and Sawvel's out-of-the-box thinking accomplished that. There were times what the Gophers were doing reminded me of when St. Peter high school played the eleven guys standing up at the line of scrimmage defensive set. This set of young LBs could really be something before they are finished. Quick and assignment sure.
 

Brilliant.

I'm glad they didn't have to use Smith on defense but man that would have been sweet.
 

The craziest thing about last night was that for the majority of the night we didn't even have a great pass rush. Our coverage was just simply that good. The play with the interception Falk had all day to throw and couldn't find anyone.

I am 33 years old and been a Gopher fan my entire life. That was easily the best defensive game I have ever seen from the Gophers.
 

MNfootballfan said:
The craziest thing about last night was that for the majority of the night we didn't even have a great pass rush. Our coverage was just simply that good. The play with the interception Falk had all day to throw and couldn't find anyone.

I am 33 years old and been a Gopher fan my entire life. That was easily the best defensive game I have ever seen from the Gophers.
Click to expand...

We sent 3 guys more than we sent 4 or 5. Ok maybe that's an exaggeration but our game plan for most the night had nothing to do with pressuring falk, it was confusing him by dropping the line backers into coverage in different ways each down.
 



MNfootballfan said:
The craziest thing about last night was that for the majority of the night we didn't even have a great pass rush. Our coverage was just simply that good. The play with the interception Falk had all day to throw and couldn't find anyone.

I am 33 years old and been a Gopher fan my entire life. That was easily the best defensive game I have ever seen from the Gophers.
Click to expand...

I thought Sawvel called blitzes perfectly. My guess is a lot of people thought the Gophers were going to send the house consistently, but that doesn't work against the air raid because it will leave all the underneath stuff open if you don't get to the QB. Sawvel disguised his coverages extremely well.
 

bottlebass said:
We sent 3 guys more than we sent 4 or 5. Ok maybe that's an exaggeration but our game plan for most the night had nothing to do with pressuring falk, it was confusing him by dropping the line backers into coverage in different ways each down.
Click to expand...

Not an exaggeration. We sent 3 more than not.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Tell me again how terrible he is in the recruits living room and kids dont want to play for this guy. He loves every one of those kids and they feel that and love to play for him.
 

bottlebass said:
We sent 3 guys more than we sent 4 or 5. Ok maybe that's an exaggeration but our game plan for most the night had nothing to do with pressuring falk, it was confusing him by dropping the line backers into coverage in different ways each down.
Click to expand...

I totally get that, but I am saying it was crazy. 9 times out of 10 when you talk about slowing down a passing attack it is to get pressure on the QB and make him uncomfortable. They were able to do the opposite and it worked perfectly. Falk clearly became uncomfortable because there was DBs all over the field. I want to say on one 3rd down, we had Richardson, 4 LBs and 6 DBs... I didn't even know we had 6 DBs at the game! Obviously LBs were playing pass first but I was very impressed with how many TFLs and how tough we were against the rush.
 



The job done by the players and defensive coaching staff was nothing short of miraculous last night.
 


Cashman was unbelievable last night. Richardson was awesome.

In the end it came down to coaching and WSU just got out coached. They should have run much more, but were too stubborn to do so.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
The job done by the players and defensive coaching staff was nothing short of miraculous last night.
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+ 1. 100% from 11 guys every down... Great execution, even after Durr and Richardson were lost to injury... & man, the linebackers were unbelievable. I though Nick Rallis had a helluva game too.
 

MNfootballfan said:
The craziest thing about last night was that for the majority of the night we didn't even have a great pass rush. Our coverage was just simply that good. The play with the interception Falk had all day to throw and couldn't find anyone.

I am 33 years old and been a Gopher fan my entire life. That was easily the best defensive game I have ever seen from the Gophers.
Click to expand...

I actually felt like the D-Line did a great job of collapsing the pocket and making Falk uncomfortable, in fact I think this was probably the best the d-line as a whole has played all year. They owned the LOS (even when just rushing 3) and allowed the defense to drop more guys into coverage. This current group of young LBs lacks a little in size but they are extremely quick and seem to have really good instincts, could be a really fun group to watch as they develop.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Cashman was unbelievable last night. Richardson was awesome.

In the end it came down to coaching and WSU just got out coached. They should have run much more, but were too stubborn to do so.
Click to expand...

Totally agree on WSU needing to run more, really surprised that they didn't because they had some success in the second half when they did. Hope Richardson and Durr are ok (both seemed to have leg/knee issues). Everyone played great but I would add Myrick to the discussion of top players as well, I have not been sold on him in general but he had a great game last night against their top receiver.
 

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