Gophers #6 Nationally in Defense

fmlizard

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Through 3 weeks the Gophers have some nice national defensive ranks:

#6 in YPG Allowed - 256
#6 in Run YPG Allowed - 72
#7 in PPG Allowed - 9.0

Let's keep up the squeeze as the B1G season starts.
 

That has a lot to do with who we've played. Our defense looked solid against a decent Fresno team, but the other two teams were awful.

Maryland ran all over us last year. Let's see if we look better this year....
 

Maryland ran all over us last year.

Temple shut down the run and challenged the Terps to beat them over the top. Maryland's offense accounted for zero points. I'm interested to see what wrinkles Maryland will try to add this week to prevent the Gophers from stacking the box.
 

Senior safety Huff causing fumbles.
Senior corner Shenault making big pick.
Fifth year Senior Moore jamming up the middle.
Fifth year junior OJ Smith plugging up the middle.
Senior Cashman disrupting all over the field.
Fourth year junior DeLattiboudere playing a solid end.
Fourth year junior Renner rotating in nicely at DT.
Fourth year junior Silver rotating in nicely at DT.
Senior Ju Huff fits nicely in some packages at LB.
Junior Coughlin leading, disrupting at DE.
Junior Barber bringing the boom up the middle.
Junior Kamal Martin adds some size and speed.
Junior Devers rotating in quite a bit at DE.
Third year starter Winfield a leader.
Third year corner Thomas a returning starter.
Junior Durr has looked good.
Hoping we see fourth year junior Williamson.
Fourth year punter Herbers helped the defense big time.
True frosh Smith has been lights out.
Redshirt frosh Otomewo rotating in at DE.

Defense is a mature and experienced group. They have high expectations for their unit this year.
 

Senior safety Huff causing fumbles.
Senior corner Shenault making big pick.
Fifth year Senior Moore jamming up the middle.
Fifth year junior OJ Smith plugging up the middle.
Senior Cashman disrupting all over the field.
Fourth year junior DeLattiboudere playing a solid end.
Fourth year junior Renner rotating in nicely at DT.
Fourth year junior Silver rotating in nicely at DT.
Senior Ju Huff fits nicely in some packages at LB.
Junior Coughlin leading, disrupting at DE.
Junior Barber bringing the boom up the middle.
Junior Kamal Martin adds some size and speed.
Junior Devers rotating in quite a bit at DE.
Third year starter Winfield a leader.
Third year corner Thomas a returning starter.
Junior Durr has looked good.
Hoping we see fourth year junior Williamson.
Fourth year punter Herbers helped the defense big time.
True frosh Smith has been lights out.
Redshirt frosh Otomewo rotating in at DE.

Defense is a mature and experienced group. They have high expectations for their unit this year.

Very, very nice summary.
 


I would like this to remain a thing but I agree it is a bit of a product of our competition.

We also got lucky that IMO San Jose state got really weird about their play calling and did a poor job.

Not a knock against our defense, but I'm tempering expectations as competition gets stronger.
 

I would like this to remain a thing but I agree it is a bit of a product of our competition.

We also got lucky that IMO San Jose state got really weird about their play calling and did a poor job.

Not a knock against our defense, but I'm tempering expectations as competition gets stronger.

I would have to agree with you here. Next couple weeks will more or less show us where we are at for the most part.
 

It's better than being 6th last.

But yes, it's early yet.

Let's see where we rank after OSU.
 




It's better than being 6th last.

But yes, it's early yet.

Let's see where we rank after OSU.

Instead let's look after the Maryland game. Then again after Iowa. Then we can look after tOSU.
 

I feel like last year we dominated in non-conference before being exposed in conference (someone keep me honest...). I like that we've started strong but this week will be probably our biggest test to date and biggest marker to see if we've made the progress we hope we have.
 

I feel like last year we dominated in non-conference before being exposed in conference (someone keep me honest...). I like that we've started strong but this week will be probably our biggest test to date and biggest marker to see if we've made the progress we hope we have.

In the Mason era we often had INSANE stats coming out of non con, even on defense.... it never held up.
 

In the Mason era we often had INSANE stats coming out of non con, even on defense.... it never held up.

Looked it up to see - last year through three games, we ranked:

#10 in YPG Allowed - 239
#4 in Run YPG Allowed - 59
#3 in PPG Allowed - 8.0

We ended the season ranked 30th, 73rd and 36th respectively.
 
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That has a lot to do with who we've played. Our defense looked solid against a decent Fresno team, but the other two teams were awful.

Maryland ran all over us last year. Let's see if we look better this year....
What killed us against Maryland was losing Winfield. That and some WTH play calling on offense

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 

It's better than being 6th last.

But yes, it's early yet.

Let's see where we rank after OSU.

I'm going to wait until I am on my death bed and then look back at everything that has transpired. That way I won't ever need to talk about anything on a message board.
 


I feel like last year we dominated in non-conference before being exposed in conference (someone keep me honest...). I like that we've started strong but this week will be probably our biggest test to date and biggest marker to see if we've made the progress we hope we have.

You’re not wrong but the difference this year is we held a pretty good Fresno State team to 14 pts and 7 of those came off a short field.

Last year we played MTSU without their starting QB, a horrendous Oregon State squad, and mediocre at best Buffalo coming off a terrible season.

In addition, we lost some key cogs on defense going into the Big Ten schedule due to injuries, suspensions. The safeties, corner, Cashman, injured Celestin, etc.
 

What killed us against Maryland was losing Winfield. That and some WTH play calling on offense

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Mostly the latter. Plenty of opportunity to win that game. Time management as well, which allowed for the FG at the end of 2Q.
 

Yeah that game was 80% coaches, 20% player’s fault IMO. Wierd offensive scheme, pillow soft D vs a 4 th string QB. He had his best game of the season by far vs MN. A lost opportunity. I feel like PJ is fully engaged this year.
 

Senior safety Huff causing fumbles.
Senior corner Shenault making big pick.
Fifth year Senior Moore jamming up the middle.
Fifth year junior OJ Smith plugging up the middle.
Senior Cashman disrupting all over the field.
Fourth year junior DeLattiboudere playing a solid end.
Fourth year junior Renner rotating in nicely at DT.
Fourth year junior Silver rotating in nicely at DT.
Senior Ju Huff fits nicely in some packages at LB.
Junior Coughlin leading, disrupting at DE.
Junior Barber bringing the boom up the middle.
Junior Kamal Martin adds some size and speed.
Junior Devers rotating in quite a bit at DE.
Third year starter Winfield a leader.
Third year corner Thomas a returning starter.
Junior Durr has looked good.
Hoping we see fourth year junior Williamson.




These guys didn't have a great day yesterday.
 




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