Minnesota is the best Kickoff cover team in the nation

[die hard gopher]

An overlooked part of Minnesota's early success and interesting stat: Gophers opponents have started their possessions inside their own 25-yard line after a kickoff 17 times this season, the most in the nation. Thank kicker Chris Hawthorne and the coverage unit for that. By comparison, Michigan's opponents have started a drive after a kickoff inside their 25-yard line just five times this season(a team that has scored about the same amount of points as us in 4 games) that along with us being in the top 10 in fewest penalties committed in the nation and i believe top ten nationally in fewest turnovers committed will help us win a lot of games, beat teams that our more talented then we are that we are not suppose to beat, it really speaks to how good of a coaching staff we have and how disciplined of a team we have with doing the little things like this right.

 

[Threefinesweethams]

Agreed...SJSU started a number of drives inside their own 15 on Saturday due to excellent kick coverage.

 

[upnorthkid]

An overlooked part of Minnesota's early success and interesting stat: Gophers opponents have started their possessions inside their own 25-yard line after a kickoff 17 times this season, the most in the nation. Thank kicker Chris Hawthorne and the coverage unit for that. By comparison, Michigan's opponents have started a drive after a kickoff inside their 25-yard line just five times this season(a team that has scored about the same amount of points as us in 4 games) that along with us being in the top 10 in fewest penalties committed in the nation and i believe top ten nationally in fewest turnovers committed will help us win a lot of games, beat teams that our more talented then we are that we are not suppose to beat, it really speaks to how good of a coaching staff we have and how disciplined of a team we have with doing the little things like this right.

one thing i'll say about this. its something we never talk about, but is a huge facet in the W/L column at the end of the day. starting at the 20 vs the 30 means one less first down to get any type of pts which is huge, especially over the course of the game. let's give these boys some love for doing a job that never gets publicity anywhere. Nice work kick coverage team!

 

[thailleagle]

It'll be interesting to see where we are a month from now after facing a few teams with better athletes then our previous opponents. I think Farles is the best QB we'll see this year but I don't think our Run D has been tested just yet...

Iowa will tell us a lot... a close win will definitely prove that we might've played vanilla against our NC opponents...

 

[JoeDirt]

It'll be interesting to see where we are a month from now after facing a few teams with better athletes then our previous opponents. I think Farles is the best QB we'll see this year but I don't think our Run D has been tested just yet...

Iowa will tell us a lot... a close win will definitely prove that we might've played vanilla against our NC opponents...

And an butt whoopin' will definitely prove that!

 

[tikited]

I just re-watched the game and that was one of the things I noticed more so than in person. Awesome job.

 

[BarnBoy]

Penalties
Turnovers
Time of possession
Field position

Someone said it in another thread. We are turning into the Wisconsin Badgers Basketball team of football, and I love every minute of it.

Totally demoralizing and frustrating for opponents. Sometimes they are better/more skilled, but there is nothing they can do about it.

 

[die hard gopher]

Penalties
Turnovers
Time of possession
Field position

Someone said it in another thread. We are turning into the Wisconsin Badgers Basketball team of football, and I love every minute of it.

Totally demoralizing and frustrating for opponents. Sometimes they are better/more skilled, but there is nothing they can do about it.

and Wisconsin football, even though he is an idiot Bret Bielema's teams did commit the least amount of turnovers and penalties among any big ten teams, and they dominated time of possession as well, although i don't always get time of possession and the emphasis people put to it, why does it matter for how long or little a team has the ball per possession as long as they score at the end? if both teams get the same amount of possessions then why does it matter if one team uses up more clock on a possession then the other? if one team has had the ball for 40 minutes vs an opponents 20 minutes that just means they took up clock but they had the same amount of possession's and opportunities to score

 

[jaymil]

Antonio Johnson has really stood out to me on the kickoff coverage team. It seems like he is in on just about every tackle and is fearless out there. Grayson Levine has been solid too.

 

[t-docious]

awww i love when you do the details well. that's how I know we are turning this ship around.

 

[howeda7]

Penalties
Turnovers
Time of possession
Field position

Someone said it in another thread. We are turning into the Wisconsin Badgers Basketball team of football, and I love every minute of it.

Totally demoralizing and frustrating for opponents. Sometimes they are better/more skilled, but there is nothing they can do about it.

Too bad there's no free throws in football. We can't scare the refs into 10-15 extra points per game.

 

[Gopher Warrior]

Kick coverage:

Gophers had a good start last year as well:
In their 3 pre-conference FBS games, the opp's average return was only 14.5 yards in 2012.
This year, that figure is 17.7.

Through the first 7 games of last season, Minnesota was giving up only 14.3 to FBS opponents. If they get anywhere near that this season it would be amazing.
------------
Just looking at a few other numbers...
I think this year one item you want to pay attention to is tackles for losses. This year in FBS games, 5 more TFL than in the first 3 2012 FBS games for the defense.

Kickoffs.. 45% of Wettstein's kickoffs in the first 4 games of last year were touchbacks. This year CH is at 32.3%. However, CH has a better average kick at 63.1 vs. ~61.6 for JW a year ago (first 4).

-----------------
3rd down conversions vs FBS opponents... through first 3
2013.. 45.9% for, 31.6% against
2012.. 34.1%, 36.7%

...but, I think the Gophers have only had two 3rd downs (all 4 games) of 7 or more yards to go.
-----------------

Red zone performance by the offense.. vs first 3 FBS opp's. Wow.
2013 16 for 16. 12 touchdowns. 100% and 75%, respectively.
2012 10 for 14. 7 touchdowns. 71.4% and 50%, respectively.
---------
Rushing offense... Gophers have mauled smaller teams. What happens in conference play?

6.2 ypc, 12 TD's in 3 FBS games this year. ????? ypc vs. Big Ten is the question.
3.8 ypc, 3 TD's in last year's first 3 FBS games. Only 3.6 ypc vs. Big Ten in 2012.
------
Penalties through 3 FBS games
2013 - Gophers have been called for 3 less penalties than their opponents
2012 - same.
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Avg Attendance through first 3 games (includes 1 FCS opp)
2013 - 43,997
2012 - 47,583

Current year decrease: 3,586 per game, or 7.5%.
-------------
Time of possession.. through 4 games (includes 1 FCS)...
2013 - 32:55
2012 - 34:28

Disclaimer: late night back of the envelope calcs.. wasn't planning to do this, just got suddenly interested.

 

[Seany]

I can believe it. Our coverage teams have been swarmingly awesome, which makes Chris Hawthorne's weak leg actually a net plus for us, as thanks to that coverage our opponents are starting out in even worse field position than if he were driving the ball out of the end zone on every kick-off.

 

[Atl Gopher]

I just re-watched the game and that was one of the things I noticed more so than in person. Awesome job.

I re-watched it also. He took the blame for 2 missed PATs. The second one was a missed block as their guy went right between 2 blockers on the right side of our line untouched. They almost blocked another one later on. All in all I am happy with Hawthorne.

 

[jaymil]

I can believe it. Our coverage teams have been swarmingly awesome, which makes Chris Hawthorne's weak leg actually a net plus for us, as thanks to that coverage our opponents are starting out in even worse field position than if he were driving the ball out of the end zone on every kick-off.

Hawthorne can kick the ball deep. He has 10 touchbacks already this year. If you re-watch the game and watch him closely, you can tell he was trying to let up a little and make sure they had to return it. It was clear we were confident in our coverage team and didn't want to just give them the 25 every time.

 

[stocker08]

Yes. The coverage team has been excellent. Everybody seems to be sticking to their lanes, and they swarm when down the field. I also noticed this on Saturday. Bring on Iowa.