Two things - Interior defensive line and opening up the offense

Donate To GopherHole
MNSpaniel

MNSpaniel

Active member
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
985
Reaction score
184
Points
43
The Iowa running back had giant holes to run through. I could see it at the stadium and it was more obvious when I got home and watched it again on DVR. Grandma could have had a good rushing day. They need to correct that. Maybe we don't have the big guns to hold our territory in there.

Then everyone in our area kept commenting that they seemed to be running five plays over and over again. No creativity at all. Then about half way through the third quarter they opened up the offense and gave Iowa some different looks. Made all the difference in the world. That was great to see and I hope they keep doing it.
 

MNSpaniel said:
Then everyone in our area kept commenting that they seemed to be running five plays over and over again. No creativity at all. Then about half way through the third quarter they opened up the offense and gave Iowa some different looks. Made all the difference in the world. That was great to see and I hope they keep doing it.
Click to expand...
From what I understand this is Kill's system. Keep things simple for the most part, have a few different sets from which you run pretty much the exact same play. Defense thinks you're doing something different but you aren't
 

Earlier in the year they ran some multiple back plays. I liked those because there was some deception involved with them. The defense didn't know who to key on. The plays they ran were successful and then we haven't seen them in the games that followed.
 

About our defensive line....I think this is largely due to the fact that we don't have the guns, as you alluded to. We are going to get pushed around a little bit. I thought the biggest issue with those long runs was actually our defensive backs having a tough time limiting those big runs to 12 or 10, and Coker would stiff arm or run through our DBacks and go for 20+.

As far as offense, I think it is one of those things where when things aren't working, it looks too simple and when things are working, you forget the simple plays that set it up.

In the 2nd half, we were really able to run the ball effectively right up the middle (the same play that i'm sure the people in your section hated). If you can run the ball up the middle, you can run play action pass and you can also use Gray on the outside effectively. If you can't run the ball effectively, the play action pass is worthless and the other team will be solely focusing on Gray. My point is that while Gray was effective and DCT had a couple really nice big plays, a lot of that wouldn't have been possible without us being able to run the ball 40 times and Bennett going over 100.
 

I agree that the run sets things up but they were not really trying anything else for the most part until the third quarter. Then they started rolling Gray out to give him the option to pass or run. If I saw things correctly .... earlier he was dropping straight back. The rollout was more effective IMO and that puts a lot of pressure on the defense. I may be wrong but that is what if looked like to me.
 


I don't know who was lined up against Iowa's left side, but they seemed to be getting steamrolled every now and then. Part of Kill's mission is "bigger, stronger, faster" and my guess is that's one place he's talking about when he says that.
 

The DL is pretty bare........just not much there. They really need a run stuffer that can at least stand the OL up and take on a double team.
 


Multi-back sets and misdirection you don't see much - but any system works if you have the personnel.
 



Watching the game yesterday, I think I got an idea of what Claeys is trying to do on defense. We need a few more bodies and more experience, but he looked to be calling a more aggressive game yesterday.
 

We had a big body leave the program this spring. Shortly after Kill arrived I remember someone posting on here that he tweeted "I'm Out Of Here." Can't recall who that was but he was maybe the run stuffer that we need. I'm sure someone will come up with his name quickly.
 


Thanks "50" ... At times I'm terrible about remembering names . Too bad he couldn't have bought into the program because I think he would have made a difference.
 



MNSpaniel said:
Thanks "50" ... At times I'm terrible about remembering names . Too bad he couldn't have bought into the program because I think he would have made a difference.
Click to expand...
Kill probably would have kicked him off anyway. Kid has a drug problem.
 

MNSpaniel said:
Thanks "50" ... At times I'm terrible about remembering names . Too bad he couldn't have bought into the program because I think he would have made a difference.
Click to expand...

If I recall correctly, he is kind of a head case.
 

The DL got beat up, to be sure, but I thought the linebackers were more to blame for those giant holes than the line was. Coker's big runs came exclusively on inside zone blocking. Essentially, the o-line moves about 45 degrees to one side, and the back looks for a cutback lane. Our linebackers almost always over-pursued to the strong side, taking themselves out of the play (without ever really being blocked) and leaving gigantic cutback lanes for Coker. In our backers are more disciplined and fill the gaps, rather than over-pursuing to the strong side, those big, gashing runs don't happen.
 

I believe Jewhan didn't take his finals, it was notihing to do with Kill (or Brewster or Horton) and everything to do with Jewhan. I believe this staff wants smaller, more active DT's than the previous staff who wanted some big bodies to clog the rush lanes. Jewhan Edwards had some good games and some bad games, but he was never in the type of condition to play a full game yet was out there due to necessity for too many snaps. That's not really a conditioning issue as much as a depth issue as 330lbers normally play limited snaps. This year I think we're undersized with Kirksey/Jacobs and Hageman will always struggle with the leverage game at his height trying to play DT. Our best year at DT in recent memory had Eric Small and Garrett Brown as starters with Kirksey/Edwards providing a very nice backup duo. In the very early Mason years we had a great penetrating walk on DT named John Schlecht who was paired with a run stuffer who was also pretty good.
 

Jewhan had a lot of issues. He never intended on coming back to school (regardless of who the coach was), doesn't make wise decisions with social media (facebook pictures of syrup and weed) and just had a bad attitude.

That said, as a football player, he would have helped our team quite a bit. I thought he was our best DL last year by a long shot, at 330, he was even our best pass rusher. The kid had borderline NFL ability, if he would have worked hard, so it's unfortunate for him that he never applied himself.

The kid had to go though, he had some serious problems. I will say, he does make up two of my favorite Gopher football memories in the recent years:
#1: Him dominating Ferentz Jr. last year
#2: Threatening to beat up WLA.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom