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

[Pompous Elitist]

Tyler thought we "escaped with the win" by virtue of the KR TD. What is rarely hackknowledged by many writers is that the gophers obviously went into conservative, protect the lead mode in the 4th qtr. Could we have moved the ball through the air in the 4th qtr? Evidence says probably. We never needed to find out though. Other than that little bit a good article.

 

[EE_Gopher]

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!!

Scoring defense: A-

17 points to me is still on the edge of an A-game!

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

That was the best game that I've seen Simeon play. He actually played better than his stats would indicate.

He made a lot of good throws against really good coverage. We didn't give him many "gimmes". Even when they seemed to be going at Murray a bit, Murray wasn't playing bad. He was making good throws and the receivers were making plays. If Simeon just had an "average" day, our defense looks even better. It can be difficult to rate a defense against an offense that is playing well.

I will give us a B+. I would have liked our DL to play a bit better against the run. The passing game. . . Nwestern was just on. I can't begrudge our DBs for their coverage. We were in decent coverage and we tackled great.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Your best post ever, IMO

So, my previous 1,237 posts were all a warm-up?

 

[Killjoy]

So, my previous 1,237 posts were all a warm-up?

How about just calling them practice posts? I have lived and have also spent a lot of time in Norway. I always chuckled when the Norwegians didn't do well in cross country ski races they would say it was because they used the wrong wax. Since you are Norwegian maybe you can just say that you had the wrong wax for your first 1,237 posts.

 

[Dr.Don]

How about just calling them practice posts? I have lived and have also spent a lot of time in Norway. I always chuckled when the Norwegians didn't do well in cross country ski races they would say it was because they used the wrong wax. Since you are Norwegian maybe you can just say that you had the wrong wax for your first 1,237 posts.

Us Norwegians don't need no damned wax!!!

 

[gopherdudepart2]

Good hard fought win by the Gophers. At times, Northwestern outplayed the Gophers and Simeon was just in a zone on Saturday, but the Gophers executed in enough areas and won the day on the special teams side of the football. In this game special teams made a difference in the outcome of the game. I gave the game a good solid B to B+, they held Northwestern to 17 points which is nothing to sneeze at.