Gophers football missed whopping 22 tackles in loss to North Carolina

BleedGopher

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Per Greder:

The Gophers defense did the math on missed tackles in the season-opener last week and it adds up to one big reason why they lost 19-17 loss to North Carolina. Minnesota’s defense missed 22 total tackles against the Tar Heels.


Go Gophers!!
 

I knew that we did not tackle well as another Gopherholer previously posted. I am familiar with norms for several stats, but could someone give me an idea of what is typical in a D1 game? I know that zero missed tackles would be preferred, but that's a tall order.
 

Serious question and maybe stupid, is this more typical when you have an attacking/blitzing style defense? I could logically see how there would be more opportunities for ball carriers to avoid/bounce off tackles if the defenders are shooting in at them like missiles compared to setting up for a form tackle.
 


We've got a pretty good list of things that contributed to this loss.

Two missed kicks in three attempts

6 penalties

muffed catch in the end zone

Offensive line wiffing and allowing 5 QB sacks

Only 79 rushing yards

And 22 missed tackles!

Actually kind of impressive that we were in it until the very end
 


We've got a pretty good list of things that contributed to this loss.

Two missed kicks in three attempts

6 penalties

muffed catch in the end zone

Offensive line wiffing and allowing 5 QB sacks

Only 79 rushing yards

And 22 missed tackles!

Actually kind of impressive that we were in it until the very end
Muffed catch in the end zone? That was a bad throw and if the defender turns around, it's a pick. It was thrown behind the defender so the receiver barely had a chance to even see the ball. He had almost zero chance at catching that ball!

He would have had to TwistHISMelon around the defender to pick up the ball...
 
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Muffed catch in the end zone? That was a bad throw and if the defender turns around, it's a pick. It was thrown behind the defender so the receiver barely had a chance to even see the ball. He had almost zero chance at catching that ball!

He would have had to TwistHisMelon around the defender to pick up the ball...
Not an ideal throw but it was definitely catchable.
 

We've got a pretty good list of things that contributed to this loss.

Two missed kicks in three attempts

6 penalties

muffed catch in the end zone

Offensive line wiffing and allowing 5 QB sacks

Only 79 rushing yards

And 22 missed tackles!

Actually kind of impressive that we were in it until the very end
Thanks Sunshine
 

I saw where Lindenberg missed 6 or 7. These numbers will improve. Can't get any worse!!
 



I knew that we did not tackle well as another Gopherholer previously posted. I am familiar with norms for several stats, but could someone give me an idea of what is typical in a D1 game? I know that zero missed tackles would be preferred, but that's a tall order.
Saw something on PFF from 2018 that said 15% of tackles are missed on average by one team per game.
NC ran 64 plays so having 22 missed tackles is way above that percent. Even if you account for having multiple misses on the same play.
 

Saw something on PFF from 2018 that said 15% of tackles are missed on average by one team per game.
NC ran 64 plays so having 22 missed tackles is way above that percent. Even if you account for having multiple misses on the same play.
Thanks. That's interesting. I wonder how many times we had more than one missed tackle on the same play.
 


Per Greder:

The Gophers defense did the math on missed tackles in the season-opener last week and it adds up to one big reason why they lost 19-17 loss to North Carolina. Minnesota’s defense missed 22 total tackles against the Tar Heels.


Go Gophers!!
How many touchdowns did they give up? How many points did they give up? They almost scored 7 themselves, 6 if you want to be nitpicky.
 



Per Greder:

The Gophers defense did the math on missed tackles in the season-opener last week and it adds up to one big reason why they lost 19-17 loss to North Carolina. Minnesota’s defense missed 22 total tackles against the Tar Heels.


Go Gophers!!
How many touchdowns did they give up? How many points did they give up? They almost scored 7 themselves, 6 if you want to be nitpicky.
 

We've got a pretty good list of things that contributed to this loss.

Two missed kicks in three attempts

6 penalties

muffed catch in the end zone

Offensive line wiffing and allowing 5 QB sacks

Only 79 rushing yards

And 22 missed tackles!

Actually kind of impressive that we were in it until the very end

That’s on Fleck. He told the guys to do those things. Sad, really.
 

Serious question and maybe stupid, is this more typical when you have an attacking/blitzing style defense? I could logically see how there would be more opportunities for ball carriers to avoid/bounce off tackles if the defenders are shooting in at them like missiles compared to setting up for a form tackle.
Yes it will be more common if you’re flying to the ball and reacting rather than slower there, collecting form. That said it should also come with more tfls, sacks and takeaways which honestly is more the way football is going now with all the calls and rules that favor the offense
 

I miss the days of Braelen Oliver and Thomas Barber. Not the biggest, most athletic guys in the world but they were heat-seeking missiles and you knew they were going to crack and meet ball carriers in the hole.

I'll cut Lindenberg some slack because it was his first game back in awhile but Baranowski doesn't impress me at all aside from his roster photo. Throw Williams out there next to Lindenberg and see how he does
 

The defense game up 252 yards, 3.9 yards per play, only one touchdown and 19 points against, and set up one of our touchdowns by spotting our offense the ball inside the 10. Yes, missed tackles are a problem, and I hope they clean that up so that we are even more effective going forward. But of the three phases, defense was the reason we were in the game, not the reason we lost it.
 

What has to be determined - were the missed tackles because or poor technique, lack of effort, poor schemes.
 

Elite running back. I doubt Cody forgot how to tackle. Not everyone can be a Winfield.

When Shannon Brooks was healthy he may have had twenty missed tackles in that Purdue game alone (slight exaggeration).
 

Serious question and maybe stupid, is this more typical when you have an attacking/blitzing style defense? I could logically see how there would be more opportunities for ball carriers to avoid/bounce off tackles if the defenders are shooting in at them like missiles compared to setting up for a form tackle.
Potentially. Blitzing is a gamble. When you blitz you have to do 1 of 2 things... get the sack or alter/rush the pass. When blitzing you are down a man in coverage so if you don't do 1 of 2 things you are essentially playing 11 vs 10.

Part of the missed tackle issue (not 22 missed tackles) was NC's running back is a stud. Part of it is that he is/was just better than whoever we had on defense.
 


Why would you publicize this stat unless it's PJ saying it's not my fault we lost.

It's hard to get kids to play fast and not worry about mistakes. We played fast...we got upfield ...that's good! Don't criticize guys for that.
Now, we need better awareness how to position/balance ourselves to make tackles from a new penetrating spot up field. Mental reactions need to be processed quicker. Because the ball carrier is on us quicker rather than waiting for him and then attacking. It's a new experience.
It's all a process. Way to go Gophers! We attacked great! Now, lets process better and make plays a greater percentage of the time for negative yardage. Awesome job! We can do better! We're going to be really good!

Not, hey, we missed 22 tackles. You guys tackle better and we win.
Eff you and they play slower making tackles for 5 and 8 yard gains. Happy coach? We didn't miss hardly any tackles.
 

Saw something on PFF from 2018 that said 15% of tackles are missed on average by one team per game.
NC ran 64 plays so having 22 missed tackles is way above that percent. Even if you account for having multiple misses on the same play.
I saw something similar from the same timeline and it stated that the average FBS team missed 41 tackles through 5 weeks.

So, yeah, let's hope this is a big outlier.
 

What has to be determined - were the missed tackles because or poor technique, lack of effort, poor schemes.
All of these are possible, but if its simply because the guy that they are trying to tackle is a better athlete (quicker/faster) this problem will not go away.
 




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