PJ FLeck has to quit p#ssy footing. It is not about team speed or talent. It is coaching and teaching defensive techniques. Robb's Smith system is horrible. They can't make adjustments in the second half because of lack of good sound fundamentals.
Teams with lest talented players can play better as a team because they play disciplined football and make the necessary adjustments and substitutions. They play solid team defense.
Like Ryan Burns has said, Robb Smith has to be questioned:
"I'm about the last Minnesota media member to come out and question Gopher defensive coordinator Robb Smith's hot seat, but I'm there now. It's extremely tiresome to watch ball carriers run free for will-breaking long touchdowns, but it continues to happen week after week in Big Ten play.
This defense has started nine plus upperclassmen for essentially the entire season. Upperclassmen such as Thomas Barber, Blake Cashman, Jacob Huff and Kamal Martin that we've seen play well, but they've absolutely regressed throughout Big Ten play for the second straight year. I'm not going to lump Carter Coughlin in with that group, as he continues to be a one man wrecking crew for this Gopher defensive line, as he's been all year with two more tackles for loss today.
The question that continues to rise to the top is why is this defense continuously out of their gaps, leading to missed tackles, and why can't this gap-schemed defense consistently figure out what gap they have. This defense doesn't have the excuse of starting nine underclassmen like the offense did today, and that's where Robb Smith comes in.
Why is his defense, week and week, being picked apart whether it's against the run or the pass?"
"My big takeaway is the "adjust on the run based on what they're doing", and where are these "adjustments"?
Minnesota's faced three Big Ten quarterbacks with athletic quarterbacks in Maryland, Nebraska and Illinois, and the results have somehow gotten worse in each successive week against these offenses.
Maryland: 315 total rushing yards, 432 total yards and 42 points.
Nebraska: 383 total rushing yards, 659 total yards and 53 points
Illinois: 430 total rushing yards, 646 total yards and 55 points."
"Illinois scored seven touchdowns on Saturday. The average length of those scores was 47.6 yards.
In their six Big Ten games, Minnesota's given up 31 touchdowns. The average length per score against this Gopher defense you ask? 34.74 yards.
Where is the progress? Especially following a performance this afternoon at Illinois where you gave up 333 yards on those seven scores, a new season-high in those big play yards on scores.
Whether it's defenders missing tackles at the line of scrimmage, at the second level or in the secondary, it's another game of missed tackles for this Gopher defense. They improved in that regard last week against Indiana, but then regressed once again on the road.
Fleck continues to take responsibility, and as he should. He's the head coach. But at what point does Fleck look at his defensive coordinator and what they're doing on that side of the ball and start to make changes.
I'm on the hill now that I don't believe that Smith's defensive scheme is going to work at Minnesota, but even if Fleck still believes the scheme will work once they get some athletes in, what is he going to do in these final three games?
You get a Purdue team that's been one big play after another, the Big Ten West leading Northwestern Wildcats and then you have to head to Madison where Minnesota hasn't won in a long time.
I get that the long-term play for Fleck is to recruit better athletes, which he's doing, but those players can't help until 2019 at the earliest.
Where have the adjustments been in Big Ten play, and how do Fleck and Smith make some in the final three games? That'll be arguably the biggest thing I'm monitoring in these final 2018 games.
It's time for Fleck to seriously take an extremely hard look at what Robb Smith is doing on defense, and why his defensive players aren't performing up to snuff."
