What is wrong with the Gophers defense?

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No pass rush right now. Nobody in the front 4 is getting any pressure in the middle or off the edge. Need more speed in the middle of the defense.
 

U2Gopher said:
In reality, this is an average defense at best that is going to get really exposed if the offense can’t sustain drives and keep them off the field.
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that's it. The Gophers "blueprint for success" is based on a ball-control offense that produces long, time-consuming scoring drives - tiring out the other team's defense and keeping the Gopher defense fresh.

in retrospect, after the Gophers lost 2 DE's to the NFL after last season, we might have been a little too optimistic about the returning players being able to fill those holes.
 


Exposed - not effective against the run and put pressure on secondary against the pass (especially the out routes). Then the killer was not picking up the running back swinging out of the backfield for huge pass plays. Illinois exposed them today
 



U2Gopher said:
In reality, this is an average defense at best that is going to get really exposed if the offense can’t sustain drives and keep them off the field.
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I still think it’s an above average defense. The issue today was they were not aggressive at all. The CBs were allowing easy releases, especially to the inside. Illinois was able to convert on a lot of just simple slants. Illinois’ secondary was aggressive.

Same with the blitz. We still got almost no pressure when blitzing, they did.

I didn’t understand the defensive game plan at all. Certainly didn’t make any adjustments which continues to be mind boggling.
 


When the safeties are making that many tackles on running plays it means the front 7 are losing.
Give credit fo Illinois for a great game plan and great execution.
Rossi’s game plan did not work and he didn’t adjust.
 

They got soft over the bye week and read too many newspaper clippings. Probably were still nursing hangovers from homecoming too.
 



Ummm. These aren’t the droids you are looking for. The biggest concern on the day is complete lack of receiver talent, followed by poor o-line protection.
 


Look who we have lost to in the last few years.

Our D is built to stop the new school offenses. Look what we have done to Maryland, Nebraska, etc.

Even this year, Purdue shifted to a running attack to beat us.

Our front 7 is built and game plans to stop the new stuff. Go full on rushing and short pass attack against us and we get steamrolled.
 

No pass rush. Can’t adequately defend a team that stresses you with talent at multiple points in the field. Can’t (or won’t) scheme to stop quick, short passes. Relies on the offense to hold ball for 35+ minutes to limit number of defensive plays. Can’t be on the field for 35-40 minutes defending a good offense. Doesn’t work.
 
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I thought Beanie Bishop had a few nice plays on third down to stop the IL receivers just shy of the sticks. Of course, I believe they converted on 4th down on both occasions.
 

We miss Gibbens a ton he flashed almost every game last year. I’m surprised Rush isn’t doing better I was hoping for potentially double digit sacks from him and he’s been silent since the caused fumble against MSU. Is 1 any good I can’t tell but don’t recall him making many plays? Right now in our front 7 we seem to lack dynamic playmakers.
 

We didn't play poorly on defense.

We lack a pass rusher.

Nubin is spectacular.

By design we are vulnerable to underneath passing. When a QB is super accurate, we are in trouble.
 

Sacks per game are down.
Tackles by LB's are down
Tackles by safeties are up

Tackles by DT's are up this year
DE's are down.

Truth is that Boye and Esezi are the difference. We're not getting an edge to force plays back to the LB's

Teams are running wider this year.
 
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