All Things Robb Smith Thread

John Galt

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He gets out coached in every B1G game. Iowa’s o-coordinator is abusing him. Time to make adjustments.
 

He gets out coached in every B1G game. Iowa’s o-coordinator is abusing him. Time to make adjustments.

If they play like garbage the rest of the year I might be up for it. They are very young and injured so I might give him another year. If year 3 is this bad then we need something to change.
 

Here it comes and the game isn't over.
 

If they play like garbage the rest of the year I might be up for it. They are very young and injured so I might give him another year. If year 3 is this bad then we need something to change.

They are not young on the front 7.
 



Inexcusable. Veteran defense playing without a clue.

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Robb Smith isn't the problem. The problem is years of inadequate recruiting on the defensive line. It's embarrassing how bad Claeys and Kill did there. And the youth in the secondary is going to get burned. A lot.
 

Robb Smith has talent and experience on d.

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Who could we get that's better is the real question. Is there a DC out there who would do a better job than Robb that would come here? Who would you pick?
 




Last 6 Big Ten games. We gave up:

48,42, 31, 39, 21, 33 (35.67 ppg) 1 win...54-21 over Nebby
 

Robb Smith isn't the problem. The problem is years of inadequate recruiting on the defensive line. It's embarrassing how bad Claeys and Kill did there. And the youth in the secondary is going to get burned. A lot.

I definitely bang the Kill/Claeys were bad recruiters drum as well but the scheme is the problem too. You need great athletes for what Smith’s implemented to work. Works with Schiano as he’s got the athletes in Columbus...Fleck’s got some talented kids coming in next year so we’ll see. I think we’ll see improvement as the year goes on but some interesting decisions for Fleck to make in the offseason from what we’ve seen so far.
 

I definitely bang the Kill/Claeys were bad recruiters drum as well but the scheme is the problem too. You need great athletes for what Smith’s implemented to work. Works with Schiano as he’s got the athletes in Columbus...Fleck’s got some talented kids coming in next year so we’ll see. I think we’ll see improvement as the year goes on but some interesting decisions for Fleck to make in the offseason from what we’ve seen so far.

Smith's track record as a DC is that the ppg gets worse every year. I've posted about it before; feel free to look it up. Maine 3 years, Arkansas 3 years...both schools got worse the longer he was there.
 



found it: posted last year a couple of times




Maybe this will make you feel better about the future.

He's been a DC 3 times: Maine 2006-08, Rutgers 2012, Arkansas 2014-16

Scoring Defense:
Maine ppg: '06=11.1 '07=20.7 '08=21.1 GOT WORSE every year

Arkansas ppg: '14= 19.2 (10/128) '15= 27.4 (68/128) '16= 31.1 (85/128) GOT WORSE every year

Now, there are other factors that go into scoring defense such as offensive turnovers in minus field position, lack of a decent O, strength of opposiiton etc. However, I think there is more than enough concern from the above stats, we have a legitimate reason to worry this could be as good as it gets with him!!!!!
 


Arkansas tried to warn us. Not only was Iowa converting on 3rd downs but many times the receivers were wide open.
 

Missed coverages, TEs, FBs and RBs lost in coverage, little to no adjustments, DBs playing 5-7 yards off the
ball like it's 4th and 11 instead of 4th and 2, miss-utilization of Cashman, this year and last, and the fact
the team decided not to bring back Sherels has hurt the pulse of this defense, greatly. That might be more
on Coyle than PJ.
 

Who could we get that's better is the real question. Is there a DC out there who would do a better job than Robb that would come here? Who would you pick?

Jay Sawvel looking for work..
 



I'm not an expert either, but Robb Smith's track record at Arkansas wasn't good either.

We will see.
Not changing coordinators during the year and PJ a couple weeks ago was a big fan of Robb Smith, so who knows.
 

To respond to many previous posts:

- who would we get to replace him? Also not in the camp that thinks he is that bad.
- front 7 may have some experience but lack depth. Carter not a natural DE. Dievers is a rush specialist and Iowa ran a back out for a pass right at him. Had it schemed well.
- DBs are young and even the vets minus AW aren’t the best crop we’ve had. Huff is a player but even with Claeys/Sawvel this isn’t a Murray/BBC/Travis/Johnson secondary. We were a bit spoiled with those guys.
- we are in year 1 with DL and DB coaches. Let give them time and recruiting. Nobody should be fired after year 2. We need consistency. Ferentz has been a time Iowa 20 years. Alvarez was at Wisconsin for about 20. Fitzgerald at NW for about 10. MN, Purdue, Nebraska.... coaching carousel
 
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I definitely bang the Kill/Claeys were bad recruiters drum as well but the scheme is the problem too. You need great athletes for what Smith’s implemented to work. Works with Schiano as he’s got the athletes in Columbus...Fleck’s got some talented kids coming in next year so we’ll see. I think we’ll see improvement as the year goes on but some interesting decisions for Fleck to make in the offseason from what we’ve seen so far.


Bang that drum pretty darn slowly GopherNuts. Big Ten wins and scores would say differently. The defense is being put in a bad spot in Big Ten games because the offense keeps the defense on the field entirely too much and gives up very poor field position with all the 3 and outs and turn overs. Gopher defense under Kill & TC & his STAFF did better than this staff has done so far. But don't worry, this coach and staff will be here until PJ starts firing some of his staff to save his own job. You will probably be begging for a change long before the plug will ever be pulled. We have what we have now and that is all we will have until we have a new Coyle , prexy and season ticket sales fall below 18,000. Fleck's staff has coached 11 Big Ten games and has a 2Win and 9 loss Big Ten record. So, bang your drum slowly GopherNuts. Whatca' smoking?
 
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Ryan Burns mentioned that Coughlin has 6 sacks on the year. No one else on the team (maybe it was d-line) has a single sack. The lack of pressure is a huge issue. CC is a great teammate as he continues to play out of position for us. In the second half, Iowa kept running at him and would pick up 6-8 yards every time. We switched CC out and put in Otomewo and Gibson, and Otomewo did a nice job containing the edge. Hopefully CC can move to LB next year when Cashman graduates and we can find 2 guys that can play DE in the B1G. There's really nothing there with regards to upperclassmen - we need some of the young guys to emerge.


It also didn't help that we had to move Shenault to safety. The long TD in the 1st quarter where Smith was chasing the WR from behind appeared to be a busted coverage as Shenault was supposed to provide help over the top.
 

We’ve now given up 90 points in our first two B1G games. To Maryland and Iowa, neither of which have great offenses. I realize there are some limitations on the defense, but it’s a bad start.
 



So, experts (cause I admit I am not), what is it about the present scheme that the Gophers have given up so many points? What does the present DC do differently that our previous DC didn't do?
 


Now's a great time to remind everyone that he's on $710,000 a year!
 




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