Defensive Struggles

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SonoranGopher1

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I didn’t see any elite plays on the defensive end today (don’t talk about the gimme pick) OSU Their QB is bottom half of talent in the BIG. Linebackers were terrible, short screens, 10 yard passes, and inside tackle rushes were wide open. No pressure on the QB. D Tackles need to be better this year because they were a non factor today.
 



3399 said:
Calvin Swenson got owned out there tonight. Does not have the speed to keep up with a quality receiver. Probably a great kid and a hard worker.
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Which begs the question as to why is he our top backup to Howden? Do we have no one else at safety who can compete at a big ten level?
 



Lack of pass rush was disappointing! But it's OSU!! It's still concerning when they go against wi and IA unless they show noticeable improvement.
 

Look at the OSU scoring plays…they scored 45 points and never were in the red zone - secondary was slow and confused - no pressure up front - gunna be a long year
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I mean, based on what I saw, I can't really be all that upset at the defense. Ohio State has...
1) ...one of the best OL in the country.
2) ...the best WR group in the country.
3) ...top young athletes all over the field.

It's tOSU. I mean, they routinely destroy their opponent in the BIG TEN championship, dump 40+ on top 10 opponents, average 41-53 points a game on offense every year, and they've lost 11 games total over the last 9 years. I'm expecting growth and better D the rest of the year. But in cases like tOSU, Alabama, Clemson, you're playing the best college football offenses on the planet.
 





We saw the best team X2 that we will see the rest of the way. The speed at virtually every position is incredible. Given that, we will get much better over the next few weeks.
 

I can't believe sorry-sori is still seeing the field. He is slow and didn't shed one block all night. He can't be our best option.

Transfer lb got manned up all night as well.

What is most disturbing to me is the complete breakdown of assignments all night. I understand they have elite athletes all over the field, but wow.
 



gopherjay said:
We saw the best team X2 that we will see the rest of the way. The speed at virtually every position is incredible. Given that, we will get much better over the next few weeks.
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Yeah always impressive when you see what those teams have for guys who can turn on the afterburners. Impressive in the "well damn" way, but impressive.
 

Our linebackers are a general weakness against any competition, but we knew that coming into the season. But the DLine play was abysmal and worse than expected. OSU or not you have to generate more QB pressure than that. Really bad. I’m hopeful some things click and the DLine is able to dial it up as we move further into the season.

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

The defense will look different when we start playing non Ohio St teams but I can't imagine they will ever look good.
 

kisarazu said:
I mean, based on what I saw, I can't really be all that upset at the defense. Ohio State has...
1) ...one of the best OL in the country.
2) ...the best WR group in the country.
3) ...top young athletes all over the field.

It's tOSU. I mean, they routinely destroy their opponent in the BIG TEN championship, dump 40+ on top 10 opponents, average 41-53 points a game on offense every year, and they've lost 11 games total over the last 9 years. I'm expecting growth and better D the rest of the year. But in cases like tOSU, Alabama, Clemson, you're playing the best college football offenses on the planet.
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Yep although even PJ expected to be able to stop the run so obviously the D line has to play better. That happens and the rest looks better as well.
 

Sori-Marin always looks so bad to start the season, then seems to figure it out as the season progresses. His read on the first TD run was awful.

Most defenses are going to struggle against Ohio St this season, but Swenson and Harris can't keep up with that level of talent.

The most frustrating thing to me is Ohio St really kept it simple. They made mostly easy passes to their athletes in space and we couldn't stop it.
 

Losing Howden to injury might have been the biggest factor for the defense last night.
I'm not sure if Dixon is 100% and that's why it was Swenson.

Against most Big Ten teams a combo of Nubin and Swenson might be fine, but not against OSU.
 

CentralGopher said:
Yep although even PJ expected to be able to stop the run so obviously the D line has to play better. That happens and the rest looks better as well.
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I was more annoyed by big runs than passing plays. We don't match up with their Wrs.

Would like to defense to wi/ia level in my life
 

Face The Facts said:
Losing Howden to injury might have been the biggest factor for the defense last night.
I'm not sure if Dixon is 100% and that's why it was Swenson.

Against most Big Ten teams a combo of Nubin and Swenson might be fine, but not against OSU.
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Swenson cannot play against any quality B10 team if we want to cover any WRs with speed....Hopefully Howden is back in 15 days
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Sori-Marin always looks so bad to start the season, then seems to figure it out as the season progresses. His read on the first TD run was awful.

Most defenses are going to struggle against Ohio St this season, but Swenson and Harris can't keep up with that level of talent.

The most frustrating thing to me is Ohio St really kept it simple. They made mostly easy passes to their athletes in space and we couldn't stop it.
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When a season is only 12 games long, "the first part of the season" is rough thing to have as your weakness.
 

SonoranGopher1 said:
Their QB is bottom half of talent in the BIG.
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I don't know how you can say that. For a guy who never threw a pass in a college game before, I thought 13 of 22 for 294 yards with 4 touchdowns, 1 interception, and a 13.4 average per attempt was a pretty good start. Do you feel that the top half of the league QBs would throw for 400 + yards against us?
 

SonoranGopher1 said:
I didn’t see any elite plays on the defensive end today (don’t talk about the gimme pick) OSU Their QB is bottom half of talent in the BIG. Linebackers were terrible, short screens, 10 yard passes, and inside tackle rushes were wide open. No pressure on the QB. D Tackles need to be better this year because they were a non factor today.
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The only two QBs rated higher than Stroud in his class are starting at Alabama and Clemson this season.
 

I don't recall the ball being thrown Durr's way at all last night, guessing he was able to lock down his man most of the game. Not an easy task against the OSU receivers, nice job Coney.
 

Was thinking this morning that the last really good pass rusher we had was WVS so I looked it up cause I was sure I was forgetting someone. But what really struck me is that except for 2008, Brewster teams gave up more sacks than recorded. Except for the first year, Kill/Claeys completely reversed that. But under PJ, it's gone backwards. We've given up more sacks than we record (2017 was a push).

YearTeam LeaderTeam TotOpp Tot
2006VanDeSteeg102518
2007Mike Sherels2.51113
2008VanDeSteeg10.53430
2009DL Wilhite / Eric Small32240
2010Jewhan Edwards3917
2011Gary Tinsley41922
2012DL Wilhite8.52621
2013Theiren Cockran7.51817
2014Damien Wilson42419
2015De'Vondre Campbell42219
2016Blake Cashman7.53716
2017Carter Coughlin6.52323
2018Carter Coughlin9.52327
2019Sam Renner52830
2020Boye Mafe4.5813
 


What I was most disappointed about the defense last night was they looked confused, out of place and were breaking down at critical moments. There was a real lack of poise, and there was zero push up front. We should have seen more of Michah Dew-Treaadaway up front. Say what you want about him, he is hard to move off the block and takes up a double team every time. This isn't a knock on Pickney, I didn't notice him doing anything wrong, I just like Dew-Trreadaway experience and ability to keep the middle linebacker clean.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
Was thinking this morning that the last really good pass rusher we had was WVS so I looked it up cause I was sure I was forgetting someone. But what really struck me is that except for 2008, Brewster teams gave up more sacks than recorded. Except for the first year, Kill/Claeys completely reversed that. But under PJ, it's gone backwards. We've given up more sacks than we record (2017 was a push).

YearTeam LeaderTeam TotOpp Tot
2006VanDeSteeg102518
2007Mike Sherels2.51113
2008VanDeSteeg10.53430
2009DL Wilhite / Eric Small32240
2010Jewhan Edwards3917
2011Gary Tinsley41922
2012DL Wilhite8.52621
2013Theiren Cockran7.51817
2014Damien Wilson42419
2015De'Vondre Campbell42219
2016Blake Cashman7.53716
2017Carter Coughlin6.52323
2018Carter Coughlin9.52327
2019Sam Renner52830
2020Boye Mafe4.5813
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My impression is that PJ is more concerned with the D Lineman keeping their lanes, containment, and keeping the blockers off the (mediocre) linebackers with the pass rush happening only after that. IMO, if we had a set of all conference linebackers, the D Line pass rush would look different. On a side note, it's tough to sack mobile quarterbacks running the spread with a combo of a talented running backs and receivers.
 

On that touchdown on the bubble screen to Henderson the freshmen, he is explosive and has a great burst, by # 33 (looks like he will be great back), but that was a complete bust in coverage in the 4th quarter. We completely vacated the zone on that side of the field and they OSU caught us in it. This was not the play call and it seemed obvious we F'ed up. I don't understand why the safety and the linebackers all flowed the opposite way, you could see by the way the QB was moving with his hands, the motion, the play would be backside. This was not the play call or coaching, this was lack of discipline, free lancing, and not reading your keys on defense. Definitly hurt that Howden was hurt and not out their, to me he is one of the few leaders we have on defense that understands the game of football at a higher level.
 

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