NCAA stats after four games

Gophers 76th in defense, which - believe it or not - is better than in recent years. 87th in offense, which is not so good.

I'm not surprised by the offensive numbers at all. I know many posters here refuse to believe it, but there was a reason Weber was playing last season, and that offense wasn't exactly explosive.

I am surprise our defense is not ranked worse. Wait until after Michigan, I have a feeling it will be a lot worse. The joy of being a Gopher football fanatic.

Yeah I fully expect Michigan to hang 40+ on us.

I disagree I think the gophers might surprise us this week!

acemac said:

I disagree I think the gophers might surprise us this week!

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I hope you are right, but Michigan is head and shoulders above ndsu. If we lose by less than 10 I will be very impressed.

I am hopeful that this team plays much better as a underdog. There were lots of glimmers of hope against USC and I think we all will be surprised at how the guys step it up on sat.

GO4INLALALAND said:

I hope you are right, but Michigan is head and shoulders above ndsu. If we lose by less than 10 I will be very impressed.

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I could get on board with losing by only 10

I'm not saying it means a lot based on our opponents (on the other hand, everyone has a pretty easy nonconference schedule these days), but here are some more in-depth stats:

Offense
Total Offense = 87
Pass Offense = 97
Rush Offense = 44
QB Rating = 102
Sacks Allowed = 89
3rd Down % = 86
Red Zone Offense = 44

Defense
Total Defense = 76
Pass Defense = 108
Rush Defense = 33
Sacks = 116 (tied for last place)
3rd Down % Allowed = 102
Red Zone Defense = 37

Special Teams
Punt Average (NYPP) = 8
Kick Returns (total yards) = 55
Punt Returns (total yards) = 85

Other
Turnover Margin = 78
Penalty Yds per Game = 44

Surprisingly, the only standout individuals are Punter Dan Orseske (sp?) and DB Kim Royston, who has the 12th most solo tackles (and 22nd most tackles overall) in college football and the most of any Big Ten Player (but he isn't in the top 100 in passes broken up/intercepted - which means he tackles his guy after letting him catch the ball).

What stands out to me as our greatest weaknesses are QB play, pass defense and 3rd down defense - if we could make some progress on those 3 things, I believe we'd look a whole lot better.

Sadly, the only stat that matters is 1-3.