Our Defense gave up less than 24 points per game against a strong schedule and with an offense that couldn't pick up a first down 65% (rough guestimate)of the time nor could they avoid an inordinate amount of 3 and outs. Meaning our D was often tired and had little time in between series to discuss what the other team's offense was doing and allowing them to make the small adjustments that can make a huge difference. I think this is one of the reasons we were so badly outscored in the 2nd quarter.
Regardless of the poor offense, Cosgrove's unit this year manage to be effective and keep us in games, not just by coming up with big stops, but also by scoring their own points.
In short, I think his D did well considering the disadvantages our offense eneptitude oftened caused.
If our offense can improve enough to swing the T.O.P. into our favor, say 31-33 minutes for us and 29-27 for the other team I thik you wil see a noticeable improvement in the defensive rankings.
This could and should happen in a couple ways. The most obvious and the one that hurt us the most is the giving up 3rd and longs. If we see marginal improvement here it is a big difference in terms of TOP and field position. Both are very important.
The second way would be to have some semblance of a running game, eating up a little clock and giving our D some time on the sidelines. not to mention the freeing up the passing game. and hopefully scoring more points ourselves.
Finally is this will be our second year working in this defense, we have the talent, hopefully we develope the experience quickly and most important, hopefully we stay healthy.
I actually think our Defense improved as the year went on last year, and that is rare for anything Gopher football related. If it can pick up close to where it left off and improve at a similar rate as last year, which isn't asking much as it is no longer a new system (so we can skip that part of the learning curve) we'll be okay. If our new offense coordinator can figure out how to move the ball with some consistancy, I expect our D to move up from the low 60's to the mid 30's in the rankings.
Move the offense up from #100 to #50-#60 or so, and the defense from #60 to # 35 and you have a pretty good team. I won't make a prediction but that #100-O/#63-D team went 6 and 7 last year against a schedule that look just as tough if not tougher at this time a year ago. It will be interesting to see what will happen if we improve anywhere near what I think we will.
Go Gophs
