Gophers 10th in both offense and defense

In final Big Ten stats. Not so good. Wacker had a better offense.

The gopher D improved a boat load, but probably rightfully 10th still. They had a long way to go from worst in D1. The O, while we had high hopes got worse/younger on the OL and lost a second big reciever in wheels. We also took a temporary hit at RB. It seems to me though that we are improving next year in all the right ways. So, before others jump in here and start crying doom and gloom, we're still moving the right way. Although it may not feel like it after our drubbing last night.

Offense kept D from being better

If the offense could have stayed on the field more, the D would have had better stats. The D was more like 5th or 6th in the Big 10.

Great Plains Gopher said:

In final Big Ten stats. Not so good. Wacker had a better offense.

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I've been going to games since the 70's and this is the worst offense I can remember. I was really young in the 70's, so maybe there was a team that was lamer, but I doubt there was a worse coached offense team. The coaching is pathetic no matter how bad the O-Line is. Some decent individual players but no concept of how to adjust by 'Dumbar' and co.

Offense Stunk and coaching was an issue

No matter what the troubles with the OL and RB/WR injuries, the offense showed no consistent plan.

I totally understand poor execution because of the youth/inexperience, but we need to have a plan and then the back up plan when the opponent made their adjustments.

I just dont think that dunbar is a great coordinator when he doesn't have the talent. Hopefully next year we will have better experience and depth and a better plan to execute...hopefully!?!

WAGopher said:

If the offense could have stayed on the field more, the D would have had better stats. The D was more like 5th or 6th in the Big 10.

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Bingo! That is so true. Obviously a defense is going to look bad on paper when your on the field for 40 minutes a game. Our defense played well enough to win games this year.

Maybe I am being too kind to the defense since we rarely see one at Minnesota, but I feel like they deserved a fate far better than 10th in the conference.

For the vast majority of the year, this was the fastest, best tackling Gopher defense since Riley, Schlecht, and Carter were on the field. Willie V provided a number of timely sacks, Brown had some very nice plays against the run, both the corners could could cover and run, and Brock added to both the run and pass defense at safety. Simoni Lawrence and Lee Campbell both provided some huge plays at linebacker.

The offensive 3 and outs killed us. 5 straight to start the Michigan game if I remember right. Only Ohio State scored a ton on our defense until the final 2 weeks and in the Wisconsin game the Offense/Special Teams combined to fumble 3 times inside our own 15. The final game was one of the worst in the history of organized football, but the defense was good enough to win 10 of our 12 games (and we were never going to win at tOSU, so more like 10 of 11 games).

I forgot about the Illinois game where the Defense got torched late. BUT in that game they also forced some big turnovers and put up a defensive TD.

Willie VanDeSteeg will be missed, and we know how difficult it is to replace a pass rusher as we hadn't had one since Riley left. IF (BIG IF) someone can fill that role (Onwachi? Wilhite?), we should take another leap forward defensively next season. We add a JUCO CB to compete with Sherels/Simmons and hopefully moves Collado down the list. We add Maresh, Reeves, and Cooper to the linebacking corp. It would would be great if we could add a JUCO safety to the mix to start alongside Brock (Hopefully Anthony Leon). If not, having two experienced guys in Theret and Rallis competing for that spot is not the worst thing in the world.

Conference-only stats

If you just look at conference only stats, here is how we line up:

Things we were good at (top 4 in the conference):
#1 Sacks (3.125 per game)
#1 Red Zone Defense
#3 Kickoff Returns
#3 Kickoff Coverage
#4 Rurnover Margin

Things we were bad at (bottom 4 in the conference):
#11 Rushing Offense
#10 Scoring Offense
#10 First Downs
#10 Penalties
#10 Sacks Allowed
#9 Pass Defense
#9 Total Defense
#9 1st Downs Allowed
#9 3rd Down Conversions
#8 Scoring Defense
#8 Rushing Defense
#8 3rd Down % Allowed

I would say that defensively we are much better than those stats even suggest. Much of the passing D stats are because of our run stopping ability (except the QB scrambles - over committing WSLB??). And also because of TOP problems that developed as the year went on.

And then if you piece together the negative O stats it all goes back to the line and short yardage ineptitude. Even the penalties were mostly motion calls on the line. One glaring weakness exploited by teams that know how.