What grade would you give Gophers D in big Northwestern win?

How would you grade the D?

  • A

    Votes: 8 6.7%

  • B

    Votes: 89 74.8%

  • C

    Votes: 21 17.6%

  • D

    Votes: 1 0.8%

  • F

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    119
Donate To GopherHole

A. B . NOt the best, but good enough. Way to go Claeys and company.
 

I think they earned a B..they did a good job of "bend but don't break". It would have been nice if we'd come up with a turnover in the game (other than an INT on a desperation heave).
 

I gave them a C. With C being average, they didn't dominate like they have played as good as they have in other games. They did however play good enough to win and C's get degrees!
 

I went with a B for the most part the D did a pretty good job even with Northwestern getting away with fairly obvious holding on almost every play.
 


eker0016 said:
It would have been nice if we'd come up with a turnover in the game (other than an INT on a desperation heave).
Click to expand...


Funny, because all throughout the fourth quarter i was thinking how we'd probably need to even out the turnover battle at some point, in order to win. Never suspected it might actually come on the very last play of the game.
 

One thing I never miss about smiling Glen, is the defensive collapses. This is the best Gopher secondary in twenty years.
 

Their quarterback had a nice day and hardly through a bad ball.

Our defensive backs kept at it and played more aggressive as the game tightened. I love that.

I wish we could've put a couple licks on their quarterback. He was pretty comfortable all day.
 

Hard for me. I said C. Gave up a few too many 3rd and longs for my liking, but overall, played good enough to win. Probably should've said a B.
 



Studwell55 said:
Their quarterback had a nice day and hardly through a bad ball.

Our defensive backs kept at it and played more aggressive as the game tightened. I love that.

I wish we could've put a couple licks on their quarterback. He was pretty comfortable all day.
Click to expand...

He really did throw the ball well today. Some of those balls were put in the only spot they could have been completed. Leidner did the same thing on a few of the throws. That long one to Maxx was perfect.

I voted C because we didn't recover the fumble earlier in the game. With this defense, it was an average performance.
 

B-

Towards the end of the game....the Wildcats were moving the ball at will. The defense stepped up at the crucial moments....but I have a few concerns.
 

Hard to give them lower than a B when they only have up 17 points. Too many third down conversions but overall played very solid and definitively gave us a chance to win the game....which we did
 




C. Holding them to a FG at the end of the half was huge but the 97 yard drive cannot happen in the fourth. Our linebackers were invisible today. Credit Fitz for a nice cut back run game that caught the LBs out of position all day.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
C. Holding them to a FG at the end of the half was huge but the 97 yard drive cannot happen in the fourth. Our linebackers were invisible today. Credit Fitz for a nice cut back run game that caught the LBs out of position all day.
Click to expand...

15 tackles for Damien Wilson.
 

I give em a B. They didn't bring their A game but they were effective when they needed to be.

Would have been an A if they were better on 3rd downs.
 

B although I'm tempted to give them an A. Giving up 4.68 yards per play is pretty damn good, right around our season average which was good for 2nd in the conference coming into today. For those giving a C, your expectations must be sky high for this defense right now.
 

Didn't see enough to give them a grade. Saw the last part of the 1st quarter and all of the 2nd. Northwestern had a good game plan. This Jackson kid is the real deal. They counter-punched our aggressiveness pretty effectively with screens and cutbacks.

I don't know what Mason was talking about, because Northwestern's offensive scheme was a lot different in the early going than it has been for the past few years. Maybe Northwestern went back to their touch-football crap in the 2nd half, but I think the key to beating Northwestern this year is making Siemian beat you. He's not that great and won't ever beat you with his legs (which Colter, Basanez, Persa, etc., all could).

Prater made an awesome catch to keep that one drive alive. You can see why Prater was highly-recruited out of high school. But--and this is regardless of what one poster wrote earlier in the season as to our man coverage technique being "the right way to teach it" and that looking back for the ball is not that important--our CBs play very tight, but they are having some trouble locating the throw, which was true on the pass to Prater. I'm not griping, because this is the best defensive backfield I've seen in my 50 years of watching Gopher football.

So, what I saw was pretty good. A few little breakdowns, but that had a lot more to do with Northwestern's gameplan (and Prater's great catch) than anything the guys were actually doing.
 

Scoreboard, ladies and gentlemen. The Gophers are now 17th Nationally in scoring defense yielding 18.7 points per game. In two Big 10 games they are averaging, 15.5 PGM. If we continue to yield less than 20 we are going to be in pretty good shape. Of course as Coach Jackson said to the defense at LTHS, defense all you need to do is shut them out, and get a safety.
 

They certainly didn't play their best, but if you take away that one scoring drive in the second half, they looked pretty good. A lot of third down conversions given up, and the 21 yard play on first and 20 drove me up the wall. If this is what our defense looks like when they are off their game, we will be just fine on that side of the ball.
 

It was good not great.
Gave up the short pass in the flats too much for 3 quarters. In fairness, Simeon was unconscious on third and fourth downs for most of the game.
 

They hung on. NW had only 40 more yds of offense until the 97 yd drive. We then returned the kick and they got the ball right back.
 

husker70 said:
The Gophers are now 17th Nationally in scoring defense yielding 18.7 points per game. In two Big 10 games they are averaging,
Click to expand...

I remember like 2 years ago watching a video or reading an article that talked about the goals Claeys set for defense. At the time they seemed very lofty and unrealistic. Does anyone remember any of those goals because they seem a lot more realistic now and I'm curious how many, if any, of them the defense has met.
 

I am actually more optimistic after the NW Game.
Defense didn't play its best game - and the Gophers won
Running game was not as productive - and the Gophers won
Gophers threw an interception - missed a chance to recover a fumble - and the Gophers won
Some calls did not go the Gophers' way - and the Gophers won
The team was challenged - and the Gophers won.

Before Kill, this is exactly the type of game the Gophs would have lost in the 4th qtr. Saturday, the Gophers found a way to win. (Having said that, I would prefer a 20 or 30-pt lead in the 4th qtr so I could relax a little bit.......)
 

I went with a B, but it was tough to come up with what I thought a fair grade was given that the "D" only gave up 17 points. When the team absolutely had to have a stop, the defense came through. That said, there were a lot of big moments in the game where the defense just needed to hold on a 3rd or 4th down and failed to do so, including on the 97 yard drive early in the game.

The highlight for me on defense today was some great closes by Campbell and Boddy-Calhoun to make tackles on receivers just short of the sticks. That's the type of tackle Gopher players have typically rarely made in my time as a fan.

Concerns: 1. Murray getting beat quite a bit, including on a deep ball that would have been a TD if the QB didn't badly overthrow it.
2. The inability to get pressure on the quarterback with just 4 rushers AND the inability of the blitz to actually get to the QB...I feel like they played with fire a bit sending so many guys, especially when they failed to get the QB on the ground. 3. The Gophers gave up a few too many yards on those inside runs.
 

Studwell55 said:
Their quarterback had a nice day and hardly through a bad ball.

Our defensive backs kept at it and played more aggressive as the game tightened. I love that.

I wish we could've put a couple licks on their quarterback. He was pretty comfortable all day.
Click to expand...

The D went threw a tough stretch there.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
I am actually more optimistic after the NW Game.
Defense didn't play its best game - and the Gophers won
Running game was not as productive - and the Gophers won
Gophers threw an interception - missed a chance to recover a fumble - and the Gophers won
Some calls did not go the Gophers' way - and the Gophers won
The team was challenged - and the Gophers won.

Before Kill, this is exactly the type of game the Gophs would have lost in the 4th qtr. Saturday, the Gophers found a way to win. (Having said that, I would prefer a 20 or 30-pt lead in the 4th qtr so I could relax a little bit.......)
Click to expand...

Your best post ever, IMO
 

I was very pleased with the number of times we tackled them one-yard short...and NW chose to punt. It says a lot about the defense up front and how teams respect us a whole lot more.
 

FSN chimes in:

Running defense: B-minus

The Gophers gave up 124 rushing yards Saturday to Northwestern, the third-most they've allowed this season after surrendering just 68 yards to San Jose State and 83 rushing yards against Michigan. The majority of the Wildcats' rushing yards came via freshman running back Justin Jackson, who had 106 yards on 23 carries (4.6 yards per carry). Jackson never truly broke free, though, for a big gain. His longest carry went for only 12 yards, but he had a few eight-yard runs in which he escaped traffic to pick up a few extra yards after the initial hit.

Outside of Jackson, though, Northwestern didn't do anything on the ground. Treyvon Green had just 16 yards on four carries, and Warren Long and Solomon Vault each had one carry for just five total yards.

Passing defense: B

Minnesota's secondary was tested plenty, as Northwestern quarterback Trevor Siemian attempted 50 passes in Saturday's game. He completed 32 for 269 yards and a touchdown, but the Gophers did sack him twice.

While Siemian had plenty of completions, not many of them went for big yards. His longest pass of the day was just 21 yards to running back Justin Jackson. The Wildcats used the short-yardage passes effectively, but Minnesota's defense did a good job of not allowing Northwestern to make any big plays through the air.

Cornerback Jalen Myrick made a nice play on a ball in the end zone, and fellow cornerback Eric Murray held his ground despite being thrown at often. Safety Damarius Travis had the Gophers' only interception, and it came on the last play of the game on a Hail Mary attempt by Siemian. While the Wildcats' passing game was mostly effective, it never truly hurt Minnesota.

http://www.foxsports.com/north/story/gophers-report-card-strong-return-after-bye-week-101214

Go Gophers!!
 

Whatever NW was doing from a run perspective, was very effective against our defense. Their Oline and backs played well and I was suprised they got away from running the ball on their last two drives. I am sure the Gophers will make adjustments :)
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom