N. Suh not impressed by Cosgrove

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GopherGod

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Heisman finalist and Nagurski winner stated that had Cosgrove and Callahan been retained he would have transferred. I guess he didn't have much faith in him as a defensive coach either and his abilities to maximize the talent of the defense.

Suh took time out Tuesday night to appear on the “Sports Nightly” radio program. He said that at the end of the 2007 season he was leaning toward transferring to Oregon State.

Suh reconsidered when Bo and Carl Pelini were hired at Nebraska in December 2007. Suh liked what they had to say.

"Sports Nightly" host Lane Grindle asked Suh what he would've done had Nebraska retained Bill Callahan and Kevin Cosgrove after the 2007 season?

“I would probably be at Oregon State right now,” Suh said. "That was my plan."
 


I really can't complain with the job Cosgrove did this year. I thought the defense improved as the year went on and played their best football at the end of the year. Without the defense really stepping it up, we lose to SDSU and get embarrassed by Iowa. The real shame of the Iowa game is the defense really played a great game. They play like that the whole year with any kind of decent offense and we have a good shot at the Rose Bowl.
 

Well the question wasn't about Cosgrove only, so who knows if his response was more directed at Callahan, Cosgrove, or both equally.

The real question is: Who cares? Cosgrove is our d-coordinator whether you like it or not.
 

New Thread Idea: Should Brewster have Kept All of Mason's Offesnive Staff?
 


The defense has played well, in my mind. The stats do not completely bear it out, so it isn't conclusive by any means, but I'd stick with it.
 

if being middle of the pack of all of Division 1 football is good then maybe my standards are to high. The offense is terrible but the defense was still anywhere far from good, it was average at best imo
 

kleenex anyone

give me a break
 

GopherGod said:
if being middle of the pack of all of Division 1 football is good then maybe my standards are to high. The offense is terrible but the defense was still anywhere far from good, it was average at best imo
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Statistically it was average, but the results of the offense and defense are not entirely separate. The ineptitude of the offense put the defense on the field more often, and put them in poor field position. So while the statistics may show an "average" defense, I would argue that they played at a level that was above average, but not great.
 



Our D completely dominated Iowa in their own house, after that same offense went point for point in the horseshoe the week before. I am pretty damn impressed by Cosgrove. Our secondary is where a lot of the trouble occurred and we just don't have any talent back there.
 

i think our D was pretty good this year. they were forced to be on the field alot due to our offense. if we can get the running game going and the offense can stay on the field i would like to see where our D would rank. our D would also be alot more explosive/opportunistic due to not being wore out by the 4th quarter
 

I was quite disappointed in the hiring of Cosgrove last year. At this point, I was wrong. From whence we've come the defense is a spectacular improvement in three years under Brewster. Not only do we have better athletes, which is admittedly a big part, but our players seem to be in better position, they tackle better, they are more aggressive and by the end of the year were blitzing and trusting enough of the secondary to take chances getting to the QBack. In other words they seem to me to be better coached. Of all the problems we have our, defensive coaching isn't something very high on my worry list.
 

hyaluronic said:
Statistically it was average, but the results of the offense and defense are not entirely separate. The ineptitude of the offense put the defense on the field more often, and put them in poor field position. So while the statistics may show an "average" defense, I would argue that they played at a level that was above average, but not great.
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I just don't have a lot of faith that Cosgrove will ever be able to turn this unit into an elite defense regardless of the offense. He seems to hit a ceiling with his defenses. When I see the defensive coordinator that followed him at his last stop take many of his former players and several walk-ons as starters and turn them into the number 2 ranked scoring defense in the country with an offense just as bad as the gophers it doesn't give me much faith in his abilities.
 



You bring up a good point, but there are countless times that a coach does great one place, and sputters at the next, or sputters at one place and has success at the next. Whatever the underlying factors may be, just because Cosgrove did poorly at Nebraska does not mean he is a bad coach and won't have success here. In my mind, we have reason to be cautiously optimistic.
 

GopherGod said:
I just don't have a lot of faith that Cosgrove will ever be able to turn this unit into an elite defense regardless of the offense. He seems to hit a ceiling with his defenses. When I see the defensive coordinator that followed him at his last stop take many of his former players and several walk-ons as starters and turn them into the number 2 ranked scoring defense in the country with an offense just as bad as the gophers it doesn't give me much faith in his abilities.
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I really hope that you aren't going to make up your mind about Cosgrove based solely on the fact that Nebraska's defense was really good this season, and I really hope you didn't expect some shut down kind of defense from the Gophers this past season.

The Gopher defense this year was our strongest unit. They were constantly playing behind the eight ball with an offense that could never play a field position game nor a TOP type of game. Additionally, they had 1 less take away this season than last year. I hate to tell you, but Bill Billichek couldn't have gotten a whole lot more out of our defense this year.
 

GopherGod said:
I just don't have a lot of faith that Cosgrove will ever be able to turn this unit into an elite defense regardless of the offense. He seems to hit a ceiling with his defenses. When I see the defensive coordinator that followed him at his last stop take many of his former players and several walk-ons as starters and turn them into the number 2 ranked scoring defense in the country with an offense just as bad as the gophers it doesn't give me much faith in his abilities.
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So you are saying that Cosgrove is a good recruiter, but not a good game time DC?

Most ripped Cosgrove for his inability to recruit an Nebraska. What I am assuming are his recruits are doing well. Just a random thought. Maybe Cosgrove isn't as bad as many of us thought.

If we can get our offense moving again, Orseke keeps progressing, and the defense continues to improve (I expect a slight drop-off due to youth), this football team should be in very good shape.
 

Bottom line is, defense was NOT our problem, and we have been improving for total defense in the national rankings:

2006 - #113 (Lockwood)
2007 - #119 (Withers)
2008 - #73 (everyone was VERY happy with Ted Roof, and he was considered our best coach by many)
2009 - #62 with Cosgrove as Co-Coordinator

As far as getting to an elite program, I'm pretty happy with the progress we've made. Going from just about the worst defenses in the nation, to the middle of the pact is quite commendable. Also, being able to do that with a different coordinator 4 years in a row is even more impressive.

I'm a big Cosgrove fan, and will continue to be one unless he gives me reason not to. As for now, I think our D is going in the right direction.
 

It's quite obvious. The haters might want to shush for a while. maybe they'll get new ammo at the bowl or next year.
 

cosgrove did a pretty good job this year considering the amount of time the defense had to be on the field due to our completely hapless offense, particularly the last half of season. Imagine if we actually could score offensive points!? He also seemed to do better against pro style offenses vs. spreads in terms of yards allowed, points, etc..
 

GopherGod said:
“I would probably be at Oregon State right now,” Suh said. "That was my plan." [/B]
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Erasmus James seemed to do o.k. with Cosgrove. I once saw him knock two PSU quarterbacks out of the same game.

Tom Burke led the nation in sacks in a Cosgrove defense.
 

I almost transferred after my first year of college. I ended up going back my sophomore year, to boost my grades so I could chill with my friends at UTexas in the same program. However I ended up switching majors, I found a professor who I enjoyed working with, I ended up doing improv, and found a love for the theater.

Anybody know Suh's email so I can send him my story about almost transferring, but staying?
 

I get what you're saying GopherGod and I do like the Pelini's. I liked Bo as a darkhorse candidate here when Brewster got hired, but I think he'd be having some of the same problems Brewster is having.

As for Suh (who is one helluva player and seems like a great kid), is it me or does anyone else want these guys to just shut up when asked about former coaches?

I looked at the Nebraska defense and most of the guys on this year's awesome unit--including the entire front four--were recruited by Callahan's guys. I don't know how much Cosgrove had to do with that, but he likely contributed. There's no question that Pelini coached those guys up, but the raw material was there.

I liked what I saw of the Gopher defense. It would be great if it were a little more aggressive, but that might happen when there's more speed in the unit across the board. There were breakdowns, but I thought the team played with more focus as the season wore on and there were less missed assignments. The tackling still wasn't up to snuff in my book, but I'm old and they don't tackle like the did when I was a kid. Of course, helmets have faceguards now too.
 

could you please post a link gophergod. its not that i don't trust you, its just that i don't trust you.
 


I don't care what the statistics say or don't say. I only know what I see on the field. This is the best Gopher defense since the Tyrone Carter years. And it is going to be better next year.
 

After years of excruciatingly bad defense, I'm quite happy with this defense. If the offense improves to just be at least adequate consistently, this defense will look a whole lot better.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
I don't care what the statistics say or don't say. I only know what I see on the field. This is the best Gopher defense since the Tyrone Carter years. And it is going to be better next year.
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True and I liked Pelini also, but I wonder how many "boy, do they HATE Bo in the Athletics Department" posts have gotten if he was in Bierman! :eek::pig:

Anyway, the question shouldn't be "Why is the Nebraska Defense so great this year?" It should be "what the heck happened to the Big 12 OFFENSES?

Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Missouri except for Texas and Texas Tech didn't they all take a dive this year? Instead of 5 or 6 scoring bonanzas them seems to get 1 or 2 a piece if that. Take away games with Texas A&M and there were hardly any.

Can't blame Cosgrove for all of that.:blah:

Maybe QB play is that important?:confused:
 

RodentRampage said:
After years of excruciatingly bad defense, I'm quite happy with this defense. If the offense improves to just be at least adequate consistently, this defense will look a whole lot better.
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You are right. Look at the Illinois game where on paper we gave up a ton of points. That offense hung the defense out to dry the entire first half. They kept giving up the ball in our own territory and giving Illinois a short field. While the defense did not play very well at all in the first half, if the offense would have just moved the ball a little bit the defense could have gotten a break and it is a lot tougher to drive 80 yards for your points than it is 30-40 yards.

And just remember this -- you aren't giving up any defensive yardage when your offense has the ball!!
 

GopherLady said:
Bottom line is, defense was NOT our problem, and we have been improving for total defense in the national rankings:

2006 - #113 (Lockwood)
2007 - #119 (Withers)
2008 - #73 (everyone was VERY happy with Ted Roof, and he was considered our best coach by many)
2009 - #62 with Cosgrove as Co-Coordinator

As far as getting to an elite program, I'm pretty happy with the progress we've made. Going from just about the worst defenses in the nation, to the middle of the pact is quite commendable. Also, being able to do that with a different coordinator 4 years in a row is even more impressive.

I'm a big Cosgrove fan, and will continue to be one unless he gives me reason not to. As for now, I think our D is going in the right direction.
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Exactly, we've made a lot of progress on the defensive side. It's not hard to see that. Statistically, we were average compared to the rest of the country, but still much better than we've had in a long time. Keep getting better every year, that's all I can ask for.
 

monk10 said:
I almost transferred after my first year of college. I ended up going back my sophomore year, to boost my grades so I could chill with my friends at UTexas in the same program. However I ended up switching majors, I found a professor who I enjoyed working with, I ended up doing improv, and found a love for the theater.

Anybody know Suh's email so I can send him my story about almost transferring, but staying?
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monk, I'm quite disappointed in you. There were absolutely no dots in this post.

(...)
 

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