Gophers currently have the #1 pass defense in the nation

[Dakota2]

Athan Kaliakmanis and the 102nd ranked Rutgers passing offense vs the Gophers is going to be fun. The Gophers might play with 11 men in the box on every down.

Ten in the box and Koi floating a few yards back. Somebody has to catch what AK throws at the tight end.

 

[Panthadad2]

Gopher LBs simply couldn't fill gaps. They were being routinely shoved to the side. The guy had five yards before risk of being touched on some plays.

A linebacker is going to lose 90% of the time vs a clean block from a 300 lb pulling lineman hitting the hole. At least some of the struggles have to be scheme or defensive lineman not disrupting those blocks for the LBs.

 

[btowngopher]

Would be nice to think somebody has the power to tighten up the run defense with better LB performance. Truth is, nobody can. Our LBs are who they are and they are routinely being shoved out of gaps, leaving big running holes.

Cody is good-sized and strong, so this has been a great surprise to witness. Not sure if he's physically 100% or not but he's not playing as well as previous seasons.

Mav and Williams aren't big enough and just not strong enough to shed blockers.

Fleck did a good job in the portal but he clearly overlooked the need to shore up our LB corps.

They should’ve added a transfer LB the last two years.

 

[Gophergrandpa]

Would be nice to think somebody has the power to tighten up the run defense with better LB performance. Truth is, nobody can. Our LBs are who they are and they are routinely being shoved out of gaps, leaving big running holes.

Cody is good-sized and strong, so this has been a great surprise to witness. Not sure if he's physically 100% or not but he's not playing as well as previous seasons.

Mav and Williams aren't big enough and just not strong enough to shed blockers.

Fleck did a good job in the portal but he clearly overlooked the need to shore up our LB corps.

DL could do a better job of holding OL from getting to the second level, too, so our LBs can roam more freely. But from what I see at games, it seems as though our LBs, even when free, aren’t filling the right gaps, or are whiffing on tackles when in the right gaps. They are who they are, as you say, but I believe they (like any position group) could improve marginally each week thru better recognition and continued, focused coaching. Let’s hope! If our LB play could improve, this could be a very special defense. The DL is pretty good; the back end is really good.

 

[Bayfield Gopher]

I watched the USC replays and their OL rarely doubled on our DT's so our LB's were getting man handled by their OL. They used trap blocks with the backside tackle pulling which worked very well. My guess is that UCLA will do the same.

 

[TwistingMyMelon]

I think it's been a bit of a weird year as there are teams that are sitting at spots where they don't typically sit, especially rushing Defense. There are a few teams that are in our neighborhood below 50 in rushing that you might not expect:

View attachment 34029

Luckily for us, some of our future opponents like the Illini (61), Wisky (65) and Rut (84), Purdue (131 -OUCH) haven't been great Rushing Defenses either. However, it will be interesting to see how we attack UCLA this weekend and Maryland the next game. UCLA actually sits at 25th in rushing after playing some good teams, but the reverse is that they are 124th in Pass Def. The same goes for Maryland at 33rd Rush & 120th Pass Def. So, will PJ possibly still try to pound the rock or will he go the path of least resistance and give Max a shot at lighting them up?

Hopefully, he goes with the path of least resistance. It shouldn't take a lot of scoring to beat UCLA since they haven't reached 20 points so far in the season.

Speaking of Maryland, they are also the worst in the Big Ten in being penalized. That seems to be a perennial problem with them. Hopefully they continue that when we play them. Penalties certainly helped us against USC.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Comparing B1G Teams.

Offense:
We have PSU, Rutgers and WI who are top 1/2 of conference in Rushing
We have Maryland and & PSU who are top 1/2 in passing.
All four are top 1/2 overall.

Defense:
PSU is the only overall defense better than us on the schedule. Illinois is the only other to 1/2 defense left.
PSU, Illinois, Rutgers and WI are top 10 in pass defense.
PSU, UCLA and Maryland are top 10 in rush defense.

Gophers are:
#14 Offense and #11 Passing and #17 Rushing.
#2 Defense #15 against the rush and #1 against the pass.

Illinois, UCLA and Rutgers are all on the road unfortunately.

Gophers seem to be getting better every week on both sides of the ball.

 

[Gophergrandpa]

I watched the USC replays and their OL rarely doubled on our DT's so our LB's were getting man handled by their OL. They used trap blocks with the backside tackle pulling which worked very well. My guess is that UCLA will do the same.

Something for Hetherington to work on … we been gashed by the run a lot this year. Gotta key on the trap blockers … and DL need to earn double-teams to give the LBs a fair chance.

 

[TwistingMyMelon]

Gophers are:
#14 Offense and #11 Passing and #17 Rushing.
#2 Defense #15 against the rush and #1 against the pass.

#1 against the pass is a bit misleading (although we're close) because I don't think using average yards passing per game tells the whole story. Of the four power conference teams we faced, three didn't pass that much. North Carolina passed 23 times (most of them were by the starter who was hurt and replaced during the game), Iowa passed 19 times, and Michigan threw 18 passes. USC, on the other hand, threw 38 passes.

If you go by average passing yards per attempt, the Gophers are second in the league to Washington. Those are the only two teams in the conference who are giving up less than 5 yards per passing attempt.

 

[Gopherchase]

DL could do a better job of holding OL from getting to the second level, too, so our LBs can roam more freely. But from what I see at games, it seems as though our LBs, even when free, aren’t filling the right gaps, or are whiffing on tackles when in the right gaps. They are who they are, as you say, but I believe they (like any position group) could improve marginally each week thru better recognition and continued, focused coaching. Let’s hope! If our LB play could improve, this could be a very special defense. The DL is pretty good; the back end is really good.

I am absolutely gob smacked by how bad of tackler 45 has turned out to be. He’s our biggest disappointment by some stretch so far this year; whether he’s dinged a bit or not.

 

[mngg11]

Ten in the box and Koi floating a few yards back. Somebody has to catch what AK throws at the tight end.

Just stand 10 yards beyond the TE and it's a guaranteed pick right in the breadbasket

 

[MaxyJR1]

I am absolutely gob smacked by how bad of tackler 45 has turned out to be. He’s our biggest disappointment by some stretch so far this year; whether he’s dinged a bit or not.

He doesn't seem to be having the impact of Sori Marin or Gibbens IMO. However, he is the leading tackler and so is Baranowski. LB's should be your leading tacklers.

His tackles per game are up over 2022 and more than Sori-Marin from 2022. Last year our safeties were the top 3 tacklers.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Comparing B1G Teams.

Offense:
We have PSU, Rutgers and WI who are top 1/2 of conference in Rushing
We have Maryland and & PSU who are top 1/2 in passing.
All four are top 1/2 overall.

Defense:
PSU is the only overall defense better than us on the schedule. Illinois is the only other to 1/2 defense left.
PSU, Illinois, Rutgers and WI are top 10 in pass defense.
PSU, UCLA and Maryland are top 10 in rush defense.

Gophers are:
#14 Offense and #11 Passing and #17 Rushing.
#2 Defense #15 against the rush and #1 against the pass.

Illinois, UCLA and Rutgers are all on the road unfortunately.

Gophers seem to be getting better every week on both sides of the ball.

Had to remind myself you were still talking Big Ten and not National when I saw the #17 and #15 rankings. Still can't get used to the Big Ten being 18 teams now.

Conference stats are tricky still this early in the conference season because it will be very dependent on who you have played. Some teams have been tested, others have not. But I agree that we are definitely trending in the right direction on both sides of the ball. Hopefully that continues this weekend.

 

[Some guy]

For some extra context, here's where our past and future opponents currently rank for passing offense:

North Carolina: 50
Rhode Island: 76 (FCS ranking)
Nevada: 99
Iowa: 127
Michigan: 129
USC: 20

UCLA: 95
Maryland: 12
Illinois: 84
Rutgers: 102
Penn State: 57
Wisconsin: 78

Average opponent ranking for games played (excluding Rhode Island since they are FCS): 85
Average opponent ranking for future games: 71

So the second half of the schedule (as it stands right now) will be a slightly tougher challenge for our passing defense that the first half was.

Maryland being the toughest passing offense we're slated to face this year was a bit of a surprise to me.

The first half of the schedule is only rated lower than the back half because they already had to play the gophers…

 

[Gopherchase]

He doesn't seem to be having the impact of Sori Marin or Gibbens IMO. However, he is the leading tackler and so is Baranowski. LB's should be your leading tacklers.

His tackles per game are up over 2022 and more than Sori-Marin from 2022. Last year our safeties were the top 3 tacklers.

He’s on the field for every play that also contributes to his tackle numbers. He’s missed a ton I had him for close to ten just in the UNC game. The struggle is real also for 9.

 

[Taji34]

Something for Hetherington to work on … we been gashed by the run a lot this year. Gotta key on the trap blockers … and DL need to earn double-teams to give the LBs a fair chance.

Hetherman

 

[Gophergrandpa]

Anybody know how many missed tackles the Gophers had against USC?

 

[Dakota2]

A linebacker is going to lose 90% of the time vs a clean block from a 300 lb pulling lineman hitting the hole. At least some of the struggles have to be scheme or defensive lineman not disrupting those blocks for the LBs.

I will agree with you on scheme. On a lot of those blastouts it looks like the O lineman is left free to come up field and level the backer.

 

[RememberMurray]

In keeping with a tried and true Gopher Hole tradition, a thread which was started in celebration of the Gophers having the #1 pass defense in the nation has turned into an indictment of the Gopher run defense.

Minnesotans are beautiful.

 

[Gopherchase]

In keeping with a tried and true Gopher Hole tradition, a thread which was started in celebration of the Gophers having the #1 pass defense in the nation has turned into an indictment of the Gopher run defense.

Minnesotans are beautiful.

Well, dip shit, we wouldn’t have the number one rated pass defensive if our run defense wasn’t so leaky. That said, love our DBs. They play hard and in general are the best tacklers on the team.