Is Our D Coaching Brutally Bad At Times?

[MNVCGUY]

Well, Purdue scored 23 in the first half vs Notre Dame, and 30 overall. They scored 27 against Illinois. They scored 20 vs MN. Plus, the MN D scored the game winning TD.

It’s crazy that over the last few years people worry about the D when the O has been much more of the problem.

This has definitely been overlooked to a degree. Purdue is a bad team but they are not necessarily a bad offensive team. They have put up points and yards in most of their games, there problem has been an inability to stop the other team from putting up more of both against them.

D has had their struggles and the play referenced at the start of the the thread where a wildcat QB manages to go straight up the middle for a TD is maddening. I don't understand why it seems so effective when teams bring in a running QB and yet somehow when that is the thing the defense should be most alert for the QB still manages to be successful running the ball. See it happen all over the country.

The one thing that does seem apparent over the past 2 Big Ten wins is that we are starting really slow on D which means that their lead up prep may be lacking some but their in game adjustments have been very effective. Rutgers and Purdue put up a combined 38 points in the first half and just 10 in the second half.

 

[GoldenMAV30266]

This defense is a frustrating work in progress, but it isn't a disaster. I truly hope when the transfer portal opens up after the season they hit defense HARD. They're gonna lose Smith, Eastern, Redding, Williams and a bunch more. If they don't bring in talent it could bet much worse before it gets better.

A bigger concern might actually be the offensive line and WRs. PJ's shift to a pass heavy attack is probably partially because Drake can sling it, but also partially because the OL cant run block for shit. IF he continues to be a pass happy coach, He needs WR's who can actually get open. Jalen Smith has shown flashes against lesser competition, Tracy has one more year. But after that, if they don't trust Lanier, Hayes, Coleman, Driver etc... they better hope Martino and Lyons are legit, or hit the portal HARD.

 

[tpbeight]

Doubt it. PJ is a loyal guy (see our god awful Special Teams guy he kept around forever). And the bigger issue this year isn't scheme. Its lack of talent.

Are we sure it's not scheme? I notice the Gophers playing way more coverage this year than the previous 2. I agree that our DL lacks talent. Smith is the only player we have up front. In order to get pressure, we have to blitz, but Collins doesn't seem to like the blitz as much as CH or JR. When we do blitz, i would rather see zone pressure vs. man pressure, but again, Collins seems to favor man pressures. I haven't enjoyed his game calling so far this year.

Watch J. Howard on the pass rush sometime. No moves, no separation from the OL. Yuck. Also, i expected more from Eastern & JLR. We are getting run on with ease.

DL is a huge recruiting need (among other things).

 

[Gopherchase]

Are we sure it's not scheme? I notice the Gophers playing way more coverage this year than the previous 2. I agree that our DL lacks talent. Smith is the only player we have up front. In order to get pressure, we have to blitz, but Collins doesn't seem to like the blitz as much as CH or JR. When we do blitz, i would rather see zone pressure vs. man pressure, but again, Collins seems to favor man pressures. I haven't enjoyed his game calling so far this year.

Watch J. Howard on the pass rush sometime. No moves, no separation from the OL. Yuck. Also, i expected more from Eastern & JLR. We are getting run on with ease.

DL is a huge recruiting need (among other things).

JLR has never been very good. The others have been big disappointments and I think we have some injuries that have flown under the radar affecting both talent and depth on the DL.

 

[btowngopher]

Has Carrier played much this season?

 

[MaxyJR1]

Nope. You can blame the coaches for both.
You call a game different based on the talent.

DC is calling a game like a guy who can stop the run by playing man to man with 5 guys not looking at the ball. And the 6 he is doing with aren’t good enough.
He is playing the game on paper instead of on the field.
Theoretically he is making great calls. But the theory is out the window if the guys can execute.

Better to shoot for a B+ and get a B+ than shoot for an A and get a D

This is hilarious! Not at you, but I was at the game and they completed a 15 yard pass against our zone and the guy in front of me yells to play Man 2 Man. I laughed because we play both and don't seem to be particularly great at either. We're not far off IMO as we had 3 picks on Saturday and dropped a number against Rutgers. I'd say that our LB's are the issue and our DT's. #16 & #97 also looked pretty banged up going on and off the field.

 

[Some guy]

This is hilarious! Not at you, but I was at the game and they completed a 15 yard pass against our zone and the guy in front of me yells to play Man 2 Man. I laughed because we play both and don't seem to be particularly great at either. We're not far off IMO as we had 3 picks on Saturday and dropped a number against Rutgers. I'd say that our LB's are the issue and our DT's. #16 & #97 also looked pretty banged up going on and off the field.

I think we have issues in both but the issues are 10-15 yard gains in zones and touchdowns with untouched guys in man

 

[Word]

I think they should play the young fella Karmo, dude is fast and athletic. Will he make mistakes due to being young? Yes. But he will make a lot of plays due to said athleticism and gain needed experience.

Karmo has played plenty but has also dealt with some injuries.

 

[caliGopher]

Is our defense ... bad?

I know the Purdue game gave up a ton of stats (except for points) but overall I thought our defense is roughly middle of the road.

2025 Big Ten Conference Team Defense | College Football at Sports-Reference.com

2025 Big Ten Conference Team Defense

www.sports-reference.com

from bigten.org (https://bigten.org/fb/stats/?category=team§ion=all&teamValue=all&split=conf&season=2025)

Bad? We won't know yet, but the numbers suggest we're not a great defense. We appear to be better against the run so far in conference, but I think that may be because we're worse against the pass this year.

Watching the team, this defense often looks confused and soft when playing teams that can play offense. We only looked that way last year in the first half against Michigan and the second half against Iowa. We've had 6 full quarters of bad defense already this year. We appear to be much more bend, bend some more, then a little more, but still doing ok on points.

Our numbers are a little skewed by tOSU, but we've also played two of the weaker teams in the conference on top of that. The problem is we don't play teams ranked below Purdue or Rutgers the rest of the way (at least so far).

defensive stat ranks

	All Games	Conf. Only	2024 (Conf. Only)
Yds/Game Allowed	9th	17th*	6th
PPG	11th	12th	7th
Rushing yds/game allowed	7th	4th	8th
Passing yds/game allowed	9th	12th	8th
Sacks	9th (tied with 2 teams)	6th (tied with 1 team)	9th (tied with 1 team
TFL	10th (tied with 1 team)	6th	9th (tied with 2 teams)
Passes Defensed	9th (tied with 1 team)	4th	1st
INT	5th (tied with 2 teams)	4th (tied with 2 teams)	3rd (tied with 1)
TDs	1st (tied with 2 teams)	1st (tied with 3 teams)	5th (tied with 6 teams)
Fumbles Forced	6th (tied with 2 teams)	6th (tied with 3 teams)	8th (tied with 4 teams)

*our numbers are skewed a bit as we've played two of the top three offenses so far (Rutgers and Purdue) in terms of yards allowed in Conf. Illinois has played 3 of the top 4 and it he only team behind us right now.