Defensive Struggles

[salzie]

He is a horrible qb when he had time in the pocket. His only value add is his legs. I really learned a lot listening to backseatsports breakdown on AM2 and when he struggles.

I don't entirely disagree..ok, I'll swap Martinez for plummer.

 

[noamfromm]

Morgan is easily the best, but not all QBs are tasked with doing the same thing.

IMO, guys like Mertz and Petras are just supposed to limit mistakes and allow their respective defenses win games.

Martinez is the only threat at Nebraska, so he has to play very well for them to have any chance.

Morgan's roll might change depending on Mo's situation.

Guys like Mertz i.e. the third best pro style qb in high class??

 

[jonnyganas]

You’ll notice that linebackers led us in sacks some of the Kill years, meaning they weren’t afraid to mix in blitzes, which Rossi seems reluctant to do, I think to his detriment. I get he’s afraid to get beat, but if you can’t cover for longer periods of time you’ll get beat anyway.

The secondary in the Kill years was really good under Sawvel. That made it easier to work in LB blitzes knowing guys like Calhoun and Murray could man up on receivers.

 

[laazrakit]

On a side note, it’s bonkers how long it’s been since the Gophs had an avg-above avg DE.

Wherefore art thou Willie Vandesteeg...

 

[Boomtime]

Iowa and Wisconsin will never be that great if that is all they want from their qbs.

That's their current situation. Both schools have had above average QBs in past seasons.

The overwhelming belief on this site is Gopher fans want Minnesota to emulate their success and consistency.

 

[builtbadgers]

That's their current situation. Both schools have had above average QBs in past seasons.

The overwhelming belief on this site is Gopher fans want Minnesota to emulate their success and consistency.

UW won Rose Bowls with average quarterbacks. Chryst has won a few west titles with average qb's. Ohio State is miles ahead in the conference in getting the best QB'S and the best skill players. This was the best chance to beat them. We were old,they are very young. Maybe we get a shot if we beat UW and Iowa.

 

[btowngopher]

That's their current situation. Both schools have had above average QBs in past seasons.

The overwhelming belief on this site is Gopher fans want Minnesota to emulate their success and consistency.

I don’t think they look bad because they are asked to do less. I think they are asked to do less because their coaches know they are limited in what they can do and don’t have great wrs either. Of course gopher fans want to get to that level, but I also assume gopher fans would like to get to another level after being at that level for over two decades like Iowa and Wisconsin have.

 

[btowngopher]

The secondary in the Kill years was really good under Sawvel. That made it easier to work in LB blitzes knowing guys like Calhoun and Murray could man up on receivers.

We’ve had good secondaries with Fleck too. Rushing 4 and getting zero pressure makes the dbs have to cover even longer.

 

[Boomtime]

I don’t think they look bad because they are asked to do less. I think they are asked to do less because their coaches know they are limited in what they can do and don’t have great wrs either. Of course gopher fans want to get to that level, but I also assume gopher fans would like to get to another level after being at that level for over two decades like Iowa and Wisconsin have.

Just looked...we haven't had FOUR consecutive winning seasons since 2002-2005. We're getting there, I think. But we're still third in the Wisky/Iowa/Minnesota pecking order.

We can make fun of Iowa and the Badgers all day long, but those two programs are still stronger than us.

I'm counting on a three way tie for the B1G west and Gophers win on some tiebreaker because I see Gophs beating Wisky, losing to Iowa...Wisconsin beating Iowa.

 

[Boomtime]

UW won Rose Bowls with average quarterbacks. Chryst has won a few west titles with average qb's. Ohio State is miles ahead in the conference in getting the best QB'S and the best skill players. This was the best chance to beat them. We were old,they are very young. Maybe we get a shot if we beat UW and Iowa.

I don't care how bad the Gophers defense sucks, after what I saw Saturday, Wisconsin isn't winning at the Bank.

 

[Gophergrandpa]

A confused secondary, which lacks coordination and communication, could lose us some games we really should win (Purdue, Maryland). And it might even accidentally make Mertz look great. No idea how to fix it; just know that it probably won’t be by “depth.” In retrospect, too bad we weren’t able to “portal” in a decent S to help out.

 

[Boomtime]

A confused secondary, which lacks coordination and communication, could lose us some games we really should win (Purdue, Maryland). And it might even accidentally make Mertz look great. No idea how to fix it; just know that it probably won’t be by “depth.” In retrospect, to bad we weren’t able to “portal” in a decent S to help out.

I just think this coaching staff has had too many misses on the defensive side of the ball.

It's not realistic to expect the offense to score 35+ every week to win. Especially when the weather turns crappy in November.

Having AWjr get drafted and a few others making a NFL roster was great, but that's happening far too infrequently.

The B1G teams with long term success have predominantly depended on a strong defense.

PJ Fleck needs to get to that point.

 

[Dakota2]

A confused secondary, which lacks coordination and communication, could lose us some games we really should win (Purdue, Maryland). And it might even accidentally make Mertz look great. No idea how to fix it; just know that it probably won’t be by “depth.” In retrospect, too bad we weren’t able to “portal” in a decent S to help out.

A confused secondary is a coaching issue. We expect that to be cleared up pronto. Howden's injury is something else again. If he's back soon that instantly improves the secondary.

Linebacking presents some interesting challenges. Oliver is recovered and looked good. He is quick enough and it would have been potentially game-changing if Rossi had blitzed him a couple of time Thursday night.

We do have the ability to mix it up at LB. Willis and Gordon are both much quicker than Gibbens and Sori-Marin. Not as big but both good tacklers (Willis had one of the best hits of the night on Stroud) as well as being much better in short coverage. Let's hope we see the quick and mobile LB package on a regular basis, along with the run-stuffing package.

 

[GoForGold]

You’ll notice that linebackers led us in sacks some of the Kill years, meaning they weren’t afraid to mix in blitzes, which Rossi seems reluctant to do, I think to his detriment. I get he’s afraid to get beat, but if you can’t cover for longer periods of time you’ll get beat anyway.

My thoughts too. The DBs got beat bad anyway. They might as well blitz when that type of thing is happening.

 

[Gophergrandpa]

A confused secondary is a coaching issue. We expect that to be cleared up pronto. Howden's injury is something else again. If he's back soon that instantly improves the secondary.

Linebacking presents some interesting challenges. Oliver is recovered and looked good. He is quick enough and it would have been potentially game-changing if Rossi had blitzed him a couple of time Thursday night.

We do have the ability to mix it up at LB. Willis and Gordon are both much quicker than Gibbens and Sori-Marin. Not as big but both good tacklers (Willis had one of the best hits of the night on Stroud) as well as being much better in short coverage. Let's hope we see the quick and mobile LB package on a regular basis, along with the run-stuffing package.

Yeah, against Ohio State it doesn’t matter which LB package you use because, as PJ days, they use the whole field every play. But against mere mortal teams, we might be able to use some LB rotations that could be better fit to the most likely play call. The Xs and Os are beyond my ken at this level, but you can see on the field that some rotations and novel LB combinations might increase our success marginally in the very important “ toss up” games.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

A confused secondary is a coaching issue. We expect that to be cleared up pronto. Howden's injury is something else again. If he's back soon that instantly improves the secondary.

Linebacking presents some interesting challenges. Oliver is recovered and looked good. He is quick enough and it would have been potentially game-changing if Rossi had blitzed him a couple of time Thursday night.

We do have the ability to mix it up at LB. Willis and Gordon are both much quicker than Gibbens and Sori-Marin. Not as big but both good tacklers (Willis had one of the best hits of the night on Stroud) as well as being much better in short coverage. Let's hope we see the quick and mobile LB package on a regular basis, along with the run-stuffing package.

All of this, Oliver, Willis, Gordon and Lindenberg all need to rotate in more. Have to keep the guys fresh and more athletes on the field in passing situations. I know they have to protect Oliver because he is coming off injury, but he looked fast, in position and when he is on the field he keeps everyone seemingly in the right position and people tend to stay in the correct gaps more.

 

[nsmike]

All of the comments about a confused secondary ignores the fact that Ryan Day and his Offensive Coordinator are two of the best offensive minds in college football. They were successful in confusing our secondary not all OCs are that good.

 

[kix4kix]

Relax, wasn't expecting Ravens D against a top 5 team in the nation

 

[FormerFatOL]

All of the comments about a confused secondary ignores the fact that Ryan Day and his Offensive Coordinator are two of the best offensive minds in college football. They were successful in confusing our secondary not all OCs are that good.

True. OSU put 639 yards vs Clemson last year and 513 vs Northwestern in the BG10 championship (yet somehow only scored 22 pts). Regardless, the Goph secondary and LBs often looked overmatched in space. Let's hope they can tighten that up.

 

[Pete smith]

A confused secondary, which lacks coordination and communication, could lose us some games we really should win (Purdue, Maryland). And it might even accidentally make Mertz look great. No idea how to fix it; just know that it probably won’t be by “depth.” In retrospect, too bad we weren’t able to “portal” in a decent S to help out.

Agree 1000%

 

[RememberMurray]

I just think this coaching staff has had too many misses on the defensive side of the ball.

It's not realistic to expect the offense to score 35+ every week to win. Especially when the weather turns crappy in November.

Having AWjr get drafted and a few others making a NFL roster was great, but that's happening far too infrequently.

The B1G teams with long term success have predominantly depended on a strong defense.

PJ Fleck needs to get to that point.

Look at the remaining teams on this season's schedule. I really don't think the Gophers will "have to score 35+ every week to win".
You mentioned the month of November; here are the opponents this coming November:

Nov. 6: ILLINOIS

Nov. 13: @ Iowa

Nov. 20: @ Indiana

Nov. 27: WISCONSIN

Do you see our defense giving up 34 points to any of those teams? I don't. I don't see any offensive juggernauts on that November schedule. Our defense has gotten absolutely shredded by posters on this board because they gave up 38 points to freaking Ohio State! Brother, ain't nobody on that schedule whose offense looks anything like Ohio State.

We'll be fine.

 

[Boomtime]

Look at the remaining teams on this season's schedule. I really don't think the Gophers will "have to score 35+ every week to win".
You mentioned the month of November; here are the opponents this coming November:

Nov. 6: ILLINOIS

Nov. 13: @ Iowa

Nov. 20: @ Indiana

Nov. 27: WISCONSIN

Do you see our defense giving up 34 points to any of those teams? I don't. I don't see any offensive juggernauts on that November schedule. Our defense has gotten absolutely shredded by posters on this board because they gave up 38 points to freaking Ohio State! Brother, ain't nobody on that schedule whose offense looks anything like Ohio State.

We'll be fine.

Pro tip... The other team's defense and special teams can also score points. The teams we play on November 13th and November 27th have defenses better than tOSU.

The problem on Thursday was how badly our kids were out of position on multiple occasions. I am sure I'm not the only person that noticed we had WAYYYYY too much movement with guys prior to the snap. That's coaching... pure and simple.

The posters here SHREDDING the defense are 100% correct.

 

[Gophergrandpa]

Pro tip... The other team's defense and special teams can also score points. The teams we play on November 13th and November 27th have defenses better than tOSU.

The problem on Thursday was how badly our kids were out of position on multiple occasions. I am sure I'm not the only person that noticed we had WAYYYYY too much movement with guys prior to the snap. That's coaching... pure and simple.

The posters here SHREDDING the defense are 100% correct.

On Saturday, Iowa scored 14 points on Indiana just off of pick sixes. Iowa’s incredible defense not only very rarely allows high scores, it also scores a lot of points itself. Gophers’ problem, in a sense, is that our offense is tasked with scoring virtually all our needed points. Our defense is still working on the basics of position responsibility and just trying to get stops; opportunistic plays like pick sixes seem on the other side of the rainbow. And we have simply stopped trying to even advance the ball much less score on kickoffs and punts (might be wise with our personnel). So, it is 100% on our offense to score all the needed points in each game. Thus, we need a high scoring offense.

 

[Gophergrandpa]

This was a second half meltdown on defense.

It looked like OSU noticed the things they could exploit in the first half, communicated it at halftime, and Stroud and the receivers easily executed it throughout the second half.

They noticed that Jordan Howden went out of the game with a concussion in the 2nd Quarter (after having made 4 solo tackles). That put Calvin Swenson, a walk-on back for his sixth year, in Howden’s safety spot. I really like Swenson; he’s a good spot player and generally decent in run defense. But he shouldn’t have been the guy to replace Howden, as our last line of defense, for the entire second half against OSU’s swarming, shock and awe WR corps. OSU went after him. The Gophers are a good team with lots of depth at key positions, but we are very thin at safety. Almost no depth. Might be PJ’s only recruiting “failure” to date, IMHO. If Howden is still out by the time we face the next aerial circus (Purdue), we could be in trouble.

 

[Taji34]

They noticed that Jordan Howden went out of the game with a concussion in the 2nd Quarter (after having made 4 solo tackles). That put Calvin Swenson, a walk-on back for his sixth year, in Howden’s safety spot. I really like Swenson; he’s a good spot player and generally decent in run defense. But he shouldn’t have been the guy to replace Howden, as our last line of defense, for the entire second half against OSU’s swarming, shock and awe WR corps. OSU went after him. The Gophers are a good team with lots of depth at key positions, but we are very thin at safety. Almost no depth. Might be PJ’s only recruiting “failure” to date, IMHO. If Howden is still out by the time we face the next aerial circus (Purdue), we could be in trouble.

I believe it was reported Howden was suited up at practice and participating so I think it's safe to assume he'll be back fast.

Plus I think it was unclear if Howden was a head or hip injury?

 

[RememberMurray]

On Saturday, Iowa scored 14 points on Indiana just off of pick sixes.

Uh huh.

Pro tip (to borrow a phrase from Boomtime):

Tanner Morgan > Michael Penix, Jr.

But, look; if some of the posters here want to wallow in anguish, then who am I to stand in their way?

 

[RememberMurray]

Pro tip... The other team's defense and special teams can also score points. The teams we play on November 13th and November 27th have defenses better than tOSU.

The problem on Thursday was how badly our kids were out of position on multiple occasions. I am sure I'm not the only person that noticed we had WAYYYYY too much movement with guys prior to the snap. That's coaching... pure and simple.

The posters here SHREDDING the defense are 100% correct.

We'll see.

 

[WorkingMyTailOff]

The first touchdown: 100% Nubin's poor, poor leverage/angle and whiff on the tackle attempt. Guy easily stiff armed him like he wasn't there.

To me that was Mafe’s bad. He deserted the edge to go after the QB who had handed off to the RB.

 

[btowngopher]

On Saturday, Iowa scored 14 points on Indiana just off of pick sixes. Iowa’s incredible defense not only very rarely allows high scores, it also scores a lot of points itself. Gophers’ problem, in a sense, is that our offense is tasked with scoring virtually all our needed points. Our defense is still working on the basics of position responsibility and just trying to get stops; opportunistic plays like pick sixes seem on the other side of the rainbow. And we have simply stopped trying to even advance the ball much less score on kickoffs and punts (might be wise with our personnel). So, it is 100% on our offense to score all the needed points in each game. Thus, we need a high scoring offense.

Most games Iowa isn’t scoring special team or defensive tds either. I do wonder if the reigns will be taken off of the return game or if they were playing it safe against OSU. I know in the punt return game they were super safe last year, but I don’t remember them fair catching every kick return.

 

[Boomtime]

Most games Iowa isn’t scoring special team or defensive tds either. I do wonder if the reigns will be taken off of the return game or if they were playing it safe against OSU. I know in the punt return game they were super safe last year, but I don’t remember them fair catching every kick return.

I don't know about every kickoff, either, but they did the "touchback" thing far more than any other college team I watched.

Just don't understand the logic when you're receiving the kick between the 10/15 yd line? Makes your team look "soft".

BTW: Watching the Indiana/Iowa game last weekend, I think they mentioned that Iowa led the nation in interceptions last season.