Past Gopher Defensive Gems

Nomellini

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Did some digging today since some GH posters expressed some curiosity about past Gopher defensive performances that resembled what we saw today. Here are a few, though none were exactly recent.
1998- Michigan 15 Minnesota 10. Michigan has -23 rushing yards but Brady has enough passing yards to get a win.
1962 Bell & Eller lead Gophers to 5 shutouts and 3 were especially impressive.
Minnesota 21 Navy 0. Middies have -13 rushing yards and 53 total yards. A sophomore named Roger Staubach takes some lumps in a late appearance.
Minnesota 17 at Michigan 0. Wolverines have -46 rushing yards and 50 total yards.
Minnesota 28 at #7 Michigan State 7. Spartans have 86 total yards.
 

Did some digging today since some GH posters expressed some curiosity about past Gopher defensive performances that resembled what we saw today. Here are a few, though none were exactly recent.

1998- Michigan 15 Minnesota 10. Michigan has -23 rushing yards but Brady has enough passing yards to get a win.

1962 Bell & Eller lead Gophers to 5 shutouts and 3 were especially impressive.
Minnesota 21 Navy 0. Middies have -13 rushing yards and 53 total yards. A sophomore named Roger Staubach takes some lumps in a late appearance.
Minnesota 17 at Michigan 0. Wolverines have -46 rushing yards and 50 total yards.
Minnesota 28 at #7 Michigan State 7. Spartans have
Did some digging today since some GH posters expressed some curiosity about past Gopher defensive performances that resembled what we saw today. Here are a few, though none were exactly recent.
1998- Michigan 15 Minnesota 10. Michigan has -23 rushing yards but Brady has enough passing yards to get a win.
1962 Bell & Eller lead Gophers to 5 shutouts and 3 were especially impressive.
Minnesota 21 Navy 0. Middies have -13 rushing yards and 53 total yards. A sophomore named Roger Staubach takes some lumps in a late appearance.
Minnesota 17 at Michigan 0. Wolverines have -46 rushing yards and 50 total yards.
Minnesota 28 at #7 Michigan State 7. Spartans have 86 total yards.
Imagine the ‘63 Rose Bowl with the Minnesota defense against undefeated USC…
 

That 1998 Michigan game was outstanding game (at the Dome) - it was 10-10 late and Michigan got a late field goal. Mason then elected to take a safety rather than punting deep out of our end zone. Lloyd Carr was a d-bag after the game with his comments to the press. Ive hated him and Michigan ever since
 

First off, thanks to the OP for digging this up. Shows just how rare a performance like the one we saw on Saturday really is. And you would probably find similar results when looking at other teams as well. Even the great defensive teams rarely hold an opponent under 100 yards for the game.

The turnaround from the first 2 games to this one on defense is so dramatic I don't really know what to make of it. I mean we went from getting almost no pressure of any kind on the QB in the first two game to absolutely dominating the line of scrimmage and spending the entire game in the Colorado backfield. And we did it without sacrificing coverage as Fleck noted in the post game that we didn't blitz much and were getting great pressure by bringing 3 or 4 guys on most plays.

According to the stats posted on ESPN, Colorado only allowed 1 sack last week against A&M so it isn't like their O-Line was terrible either.

If what we saw yesterday is repeatable at all, look out, this is going to be a special year. And when I say repeatable I am not talking about pitching a shutout or holding teams under 100 yards, I just mean a strong defensive effort. Even really good defenses average over 200 yards a game given up. 63 is just insane.

The defense played really well in the first halves of both the Ohio State and Miami games but couldn't sustain it for the entire game. If they have figured out a way to do it....trying not to get too excited about what that could mean......
 

Did some digging today since some GH posters expressed some curiosity about past Gopher defensive performances that resembled what we saw today. Here are a few, though none were exactly recent.
1998- Michigan 15 Minnesota 10. Michigan has -23 rushing yards but Brady has enough passing yards to get a win.
1962 Bell & Eller lead Gophers to 5 shutouts and 3 were especially impressive.
Minnesota 21 Navy 0. Middies have -13 rushing yards and 53 total yards. A sophomore named Roger Staubach takes some lumps in a late appearance.
Minnesota 17 at Michigan 0. Wolverines have -46 rushing yards and 50 total yards.
Minnesota 28 at #7 Michigan State 7. Spartans have 86 total yards.
The 16-0 shocker over Michigan in '77 is particularly notable as the Wolverines were #1 in the polls at the time.
 


Did some digging today since some GH posters expressed some curiosity about past Gopher defensive performances that resembled what we saw today. Here are a few, though none were exactly recent.
1998- Michigan 15 Minnesota 10. Michigan has -23 rushing yards but Brady has enough passing yards to get a win.
1962 Bell & Eller lead Gophers to 5 shutouts and 3 were especially impressive.
Minnesota 21 Navy 0. Middies have -13 rushing yards and 53 total yards. A sophomore named Roger Staubach takes some lumps in a late appearance.
Minnesota 17 at Michigan 0. Wolverines have -46 rushing yards and 50 total yards.
Minnesota 28 at #7 Michigan State 7. Spartans have 86 total yards.
2016 Holiday Bowl where we held WSU to 12 points. WSU had averaged 40 points a game up to that point.
 

2016 Holiday Bowl where we held WSU to 12 points. WSU had averaged 40 points a game up to that point.

Not to mention the depleted defensive backfield due to the orgy allegations.
 

First off, thanks to the OP for digging this up. Shows just how rare a performance like the one we saw on Saturday really is. And you would probably find similar results when looking at other teams as well. Even the great defensive teams rarely hold an opponent under 100 yards for the game.

The turnaround from the first 2 games to this one on defense is so dramatic I don't really know what to make of it. I mean we went from getting almost no pressure of any kind on the QB in the first two game to absolutely dominating the line of scrimmage and spending the entire game in the Colorado backfield. And we did it without sacrificing coverage as Fleck noted in the post game that we didn't blitz much and were getting great pressure by bringing 3 or 4 guys on most plays.

According to the stats posted on ESPN, Colorado only allowed 1 sack last week against A&M so it isn't like their O-Line was terrible either.

If what we saw yesterday is repeatable at all, look out, this is going to be a special year. And when I say repeatable I am not talking about pitching a shutout or holding teams under 100 yards, I just mean a strong defensive effort. Even really good defenses average over 200 yards a game given up. 63 is just insane.

The defense played really well in the first halves of both the Ohio State and Miami games but couldn't sustain it for the entire game. If they have figured out a way to do it....trying not to get too excited about what that could mean......
I can tell you are a huge fan of the Gophers and really enjoy your posts. I think you and Great Plains Gopher are my two favorite posters on here.
 

The effort level and commitment to team defense was noticeable. It was outstanding. It's not like Colorado had a terrible O line either. Hopefully they can continue to scheme each opponent well. They did a few stunts and twist we had not seen before with the ends, pretty vanilla emphasis on the run previous games. The loss of Howden and Dixon during that OSU game changed that game. Nothing complicated, kept a spy in the middle. Good rotation up front too. Mafe and Rush and MJ Anderson had good games. # 9 Otemwo was strong against the run too. #56 Martin did a couple nice things, I thought the D tackles as a group had their best game. It was a lot of fun to watch.
 



2016 Holiday Bowl where we held WSU to 12 points. WSU had averaged 40 points a game up to that point.
That really was a gem, particularly given the side show that was going on around the team at the time.
 

Did some digging today since some GH posters expressed some curiosity about past Gopher defensive performances that resembled what we saw today. Here are a few, though none were exactly recent.
1998- Michigan 15 Minnesota 10. Michigan has -23 rushing yards but Brady has enough passing yards to get a win.
1962 Bell & Eller lead Gophers to 5 shutouts and 3 were especially impressive.
Minnesota 21 Navy 0. Middies have -13 rushing yards and 53 total yards. A sophomore named Roger Staubach takes some lumps in a late appearance.
Minnesota 17 at Michigan 0. Wolverines have -46 rushing yards and 50 total yards.
Minnesota 28 at #7 Michigan State 7. Spartans have 86 total yards.
The 1962 team was a defensive beast: five teams out of nine couldn't score on them; two others were held to 6 and 7 points. Wisconsin would have been held to 7, too, but for the worst call I've ever seen. The Badgers couldn't get a drive going all day, but in the final minutes of the 4th quarter, Gophers ahead 9-7 (should have been more, but a TD was disallowed for "helping the runner" - only time in my life I've seen that called) Badgers' QB Van der Kellen finally got a drive going via passing and got down to the Gopher 30 or so with a few minutes left. He dropped back to pass and was nailed by Bobby Bell, a consensus All-American. Bell had his right arm around Ron's waist and his left arm high in the air to get the ball. The pass sputtered up and never cleared the backfield - it was snatched by a Gopher lineman in the Wisconsin backfield - the Gophers were Big Ten champs, despite one loss to Northwestern and its young coach, Ara Parseghian. About two minutes left and Gophers could run out the clock. But an official named Jones (roasted in Sports Illustrated the next week - I still have the copy) called roughing the passer ("you roughed him all the way down"). This was so untrue - it was a clean tackle and a brilliant play, and Coach Warmath erupted from the bench and was called for unsportsmanlike conduct, adding 15 more yards and setting up the winning touchdown for Wisconsin, 14-9, and they went to the Rose Bowl, but they would have gone anyway even if losing the final game, because the Gophers couldn't repeat. Going into that game Gophers were 5th in the nation, Badgers third. After bowl standings, Badgers 2nd (they lost to national champ USC 42-37 in Rose Bowl), Gophers 10th, leading the nation in scoring defense, opponents averaged 6.8 pts per game.
 

That 1962 team was pretty amazing. The Northwestern and Purdue games stand out for me also. The Cats had a quarterback named Tom Myers and Parseghian's passing attack was state of the art for that time. The Gophers did't have a lot of speed on offense, outside of a kid named Jim Cairns, but they got a 50-yard touchdown run from Jay Sharpe, one of the first black running backs here, to tie it at 22-22 in the 3rd quarter. A shootout for those days! Myers answered with two more scoring drives, though, and so the Gophers fell, 34-22, to an "aerial circus". Minnesota gave up only 27 TOTAL points to their other 8 opponents combined!
The Purdue game was odd in that the Boilers had also come to Minnesota in each of the prior two years. Minnesota was down 6-0 in the 4th quarter, surrendering two field goals. The Gophers had a kid named Duane Blaska at quarterback. I think he was from Robbinsdsale. He only completed 71 passes all season, yet he broke the school record of 57 (held by Giel and NOT Stephens, surprisingly). Imagine that, 8 completions per game and you break the school record! He managed to get the Gophers down inside the Purdue 25-yard line with just 3 or 4 minutes left. He threw a pass to Ray Zitzloff between two defenders. It was perfect! He caught it at about the 5 and stepped in to score. I was only 12 years old but knew that this kind of offensive boldness was rare for us. A guy from North Dakota named Colin Versich nailed the PAT and the Gophers were ready to head for Madison and their date with heartbreak.
 

That 1962 team was pretty amazing. The Northwestern and Purdue games stand out for me also. The Cats had a quarterback named Tom Myers and Parseghian's passing attack was state of the art for that time. The Gophers did't have a lot of speed on offense, outside of a kid named Jim Cairns, but they got a 50-yard touchdown run from Jay Sharpe, one of the first black running backs here, to tie it at 22-22 in the 3rd quarter. A shootout for those days! Myers answered with two more scoring drives, though, and so the Gophers fell, 34-22, to an "aerial circus". Minnesota gave up only 27 TOTAL points to their other 8 opponents combined!
The Purdue game was odd in that the Boilers had also come to Minnesota in each of the prior two years. Minnesota was down 6-0 in the 4th quarter, surrendering two field goals. The Gophers had a kid named Duane Blaska at quarterback. I think he was from Robbinsdsale. He only completed 71 passes all season, yet he broke the school record of 57 (held by Giel and NOT Stephens, surprisingly). Imagine that, 8 completions per game and you break the school record! He managed to get the Gophers down inside the Purdue 25-yard line with just 3 or 4 minutes left. He threw a pass to Ray Zitzloff between two defenders. It was perfect! He caught it at about the 5 and stepped in to score. I was only 12 years old but knew that this kind of offensive boldness was rare for us. A guy from North Dakota named Colin Versich nailed the PAT and the Gophers were ready to head for Madison and their date with heartbreak.
I was sitting in the end zone and had a perfect view of the two defenders missing Blaska's touchdown pass. It almost seemed choreographed. Thanks for mentioning Jim Cairns, a great competitor. Who was the linebacker on that team who was outspoken about how good the Gopher defense was?
 



That 1962 team was pretty amazing. The Northwestern and Purdue games stand out for me also. The Cats had a quarterback named Tom Myers and Parseghian's passing attack was state of the art for that time. The Gophers did't have a lot of speed on offense, outside of a kid named Jim Cairns, but they got a 50-yard touchdown run from Jay Sharpe, one of the first black running backs here, to tie it at 22-22 in the 3rd quarter. A shootout for those days! Myers answered with two more scoring drives, though, and so the Gophers fell, 34-22, to an "aerial circus". Minnesota gave up only 27 TOTAL points to their other 8 opponents combined!
The Purdue game was odd in that the Boilers had also come to Minnesota in each of the prior two years. Minnesota was down 6-0 in the 4th quarter, surrendering two field goals. The Gophers had a kid named Duane Blaska at quarterback. I think he was from Robbinsdsale. He only completed 71 passes all season, yet he broke the school record of 57 (held by Giel and NOT Stephens, surprisingly). Imagine that, 8 completions per game and you break the school record! He managed to get the Gophers down inside the Purdue 25-yard line with just 3 or 4 minutes left. He threw a pass to Ray Zitzloff between two defenders. It was perfect! He caught it at about the 5 and stepped in to score. I was only 12 years old but knew that this kind of offensive boldness was rare for us. A guy from North Dakota named Colin Versich nailed the PAT and the Gophers were ready to head for Madison and their date with heartbreak.

I was sitting in the end zone and had a perfect view of the two defenders missing Blaska's touchdown pass. It almost seemed choreographed. Thanks for mentioning Jim Cairns, a great competitor. Who was the linebacker on that team who was outspoken about how good the Gopher defense was?
Blaska was, I believe, from Anoka.
Julian Hook?
 

This game is helping to convince me that our coaches can really coach. With players who are athletic, all they need is time and game film to maximize who they are. In the modern game people need to know their responsibilities and execute their coverages. In HS you can just be an athletic freak and when it is a pass you attach, when it is a run you attach and if you are a good enough athlete you make plays. In college you need to work as a line, doing stunts as a cooperative unit so gaps are covered. You could see it last year and the beginning of this year how they had talent, but were not playing consistent coverage. It seems like this game they figured a lot of things out. Don't think they changed a whole lot, but they just executed and played as a team a whole lot better.
 
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This game is helping to convince me that our coaches can really coach. With players who are athletic, all they need is time and game fill to maximize who they are. In the modern game people need to know their responsibilities and execute their coverages. In HS you can just be an athletic freak and when it is a pass you attach, when it is a run you attach and if you are a good enough athlete you make plays. In college you need to work as a line, doing stunts as a cooperative unit so gaps are covered. You could see it last year and the beginning of this year how they had talent, but were not playing consistent coverage. It seems like this game they figured a lot of things out. Don't think they changed a whole lot, but they just executed and played as a team a whole lot better.
The crazy thing about this past game was the drastic change from the previous 2 weeks. I mean usually you can see incremental improvement as the games go on but this was like a completely different defensive unit than the one that took the field in the second half again Miami the week before.

Didn't seem like they were doing anything risky or elaborate so hopefully what we saw against Colorado is repeatable going forward and we have witnessed the birth of a really solid defense. Pair that with an offense that can put up points and solid kickers (Trickett will be fine), and you have the formula for a great team.

Going to be interesting to see if this past game was the start of something special or a one time thing.
 

The game itself wasn't very fun for the Gophers on offense -- but I remember being very impressed with the game against Michigan State in '13 when we only allowed 14 points. For as much as we left them out to dry they played their asses off.
 

I might need to use the Fubo DVR of the game (before I cancel) and go back to see how the linebackers performed in space or what might have changed up. I don't recall seeing any break downs with an out-of-position LB chasing a much quicker receiver/RB.
 

Defensive games in recent memory:
2018 Purdue game
2016 Holiday Bowl
2021 Colorado
 

In terms of gems -- I'd be remiss in my duties by not calling to mind Michael Carter's immaculate series
 

Blaska was, I believe, from Anoka.
Julian Hook?
Thank you for the correction. Yes, Hook came to mind right away for me as well and then I saw his name at the bottom of your post. You would be fun to have a beer with so we could talk about other games we saw 60 years ago! I ran into Kyle Theret, of all people, at a bar in Jackson, Wyoming in the spring and did just that about his era (2007-2010) and had an alcohol-fueled blast. He is half owner of a western-hat company and is doing VERY well.
 



I think the 2012 game Vs. Syracuse should be mentioned, too. The Orange finished that year 8-5 with a bowl win and were led by Ryan Nassib who was an NFL prospect.

Syarcuse scored 41 points on that 10 win Northwestern team. They also scored 45 points on Louisville that finished the season 11-2 and ranked 13. Their 10 points against the Gophers were the fewest that whole season.
 




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