Gophers defense this year

[GophersInIowa]

With the bowl games almost wrapped up, the Gophers this year held Wisconsin and Penn St. to their lowest offensive outputs of the season. For Michigan St., it was their second lowest overall and lowest in their last seven games. They have already held them to less points than Stanford is tonight. Michigan St. also has more offensive yards with several minutes left in the 3rd quarter against Stanford than they did overall against the Gophers.

I know we lost two of those games and every game is different but it is still shows how good our defense was down the stretch.

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

Last thing I want to do is be a downer but I'm not all that convinced the defense was THAT much better than last year. Bottom line, the Gophers dominated a number of games (MSU was one for sure) in Time of Possession. The offense took a huge step forward in this respect this year, even though the point total wasn't that much better.

Yards per play, the defense was actually worse than 2012, they were just on the field less. Limiting turnovers and limiting penalties, two categories the Gophers were VERY good at this year, made the defense look really good.

I expect this to be even better in 2014 (TOP and turnovers), which should make the defense that more stout.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Our defense was also on the field less because they stopped teams from going on long drives. Michigan St. had 12 drives against us and 13 against Stanford tonight. Not much of a difference. 9 of those 12 drives against us were 5 plays long or less. The longest drive was 8 plays. It wasn't just our ball control that limited their offense.

In the Wisconsin game, they dominated the time of possession against us and still only scored 20.

Hackenberg had one of his lowest yards per pass attempt numbers against our defense.

Yards per play don't tell the whole story but since you brought it up: Our defense gave up .4 yards a play less against the last four opponents compared to the first nine. The last four were all quality bowl eligible teams (Penn St. would be in a bowl if it weren't for the sanctions) while the first nine included our below average non conference opponents.

I agree the offense played a good part in the defenses' success, but they were still pretty dang good down the stretch. Giving up less than 14 points a game in the last four games against quality opponent is impressive no matter the other circumstances in my opinion.

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

They were definitely really good down the stretch, no doubt. Don't get me wrong, the defense is not bad by any stretch. I think well see improvement and more depth as we progress in the next year or two.

At any rate, I can't wait for next season already. The offense will take a big step forward, making the job of the defense that much easier. Here's hoping BBC comes back full strength/speed. Sme of the young D-Linemen are going to have to make some big strides over the next eight months. I think they will

 

[otisflowers]

With the bowl games almost wrapped up, the Gophers this year held Wisconsin and Penn St. to their lowest offensive outputs of the season. For Michigan St., it was their second lowest overall and lowest in their last seven games. They have already held them to less points than Stanford is tonight. Michigan St. also has more offensive yards with several minutes left in the 3rd quarter against Stanford than they did overall against the Gophers.
I know we lost two of those games and every game is different but it is still shows how good our defense was down the stretch.

it was zero degrees wind chill against Wisconsin. Do you think that affect scoring in that game?

 

[GophersInIowa]

it was zero degrees wind chill against Wisconsin. Do you think that affect scoring in that game?

I don't think it affected the outcome that much.

1. It wasn't excessively windy.
2. Their strength was running the ball. The running game usually isn't affected much by the cold.
3. Both teams played in the same conditions.

If it was snowing or raining, you'd maybe have a point. You can down play their performance in that game all you want, but I still think it was a very impressive game for our defense.

 

[corcoran1]

The defense was better because the LB and DE play was better. The DEs in particular still have a ways to go, but they were better. Wilson was a big addition.

 

[btowngopher]

I think Kill has already been putting out better more consistent defensive backfields than the two previous coaches.

 

[Gopher028]

Our defense was pretty good, especially down the stretch. Claeys had our defense well planned for the teams we were playing.
We lose a couple guys, 1 specifically that'll hurt us and 1 that'll help us. We'll miss Ra'shede Hageman's presence and abilities, but
we'll benefit from having a more talented OLB than Aaron Hill. Hill started based on experience, only. His ability showed too many
times with miss-reads, bad angles, badly missed tackles and being over matched. De'niro Laster and Jack Lynn will be HUGE improvements
and hopefully we can plug Hageman's spot with a couple guys that can motor up from, mean while..were returning a very talented secondary.

 

[WorkingMyTailOff]

I enjoyed watching the Gophers defense this season. I believe we saw them give up less big running plays than last year. There were also game where the other teams very good WRs (PSU, Nebraska, Wisconsins) were mostly shutdown.

How many elite athletes would it take to make the Gopher's defense as good as Michigan State's?