Why? (aka drunk and pissed)

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Why did we play prevent defense the entire first half. Haven’t seen that since Mason in critical Big Ten or bowl games. Reminded me of rushing two against Phil Rivers and NC State.
 

We played similar the last quarter or so against Penn State too.

I know this is simplifying things a lot, but it seems like when we came out aggressively (both on O and D) against Penn St and Iowa we were very successful. But when we tried to play it safe we got run over.
 

We played similar the last quarter or so against Penn State too.

I know this is simplifying things a lot, but it seems like when we came out aggressively (both on O and D) against Penn St and Iowa we were very successful. But when we tried to play it safe we got run over.

Missed tackles played a huge part in the defensive struggles of the first half. We missed a lot of tackles, in the second half we did a much much better job of wrapping up.
 

Both teams were consistently better on defense when they were being more aggressive. Against teams in this tier you have no chance of defense without pressure and the element of surprise. If you just keep rushing 4 and giving him all day he'll beat you all day.
 

I heard PJ say in two interviews this week that they key to winning was limiting Iowa's big plays. It's clear that PJ and Rossi felt Iowa wouldn't be able to consistently march the ball down and finish in the redzone, so they didn't mind giving up some soft yards so long as Iowa didn't beat them over the top. That clearly seemed to fail, but I don't blame them for planning that way given Iowa was next to last in YPC and redzone efficiency coming into the game. Plus, after what Ross has done for this team the past 12 games, I have a hard time questioning anything he does just yet...
 


WHY do we take the full 25 seconds between plays? One would think the plays you have, the more chances you have to score????
 

I heard PJ say in two interviews this week that they key to winning was limiting Iowa's big plays. It's clear that PJ and Rossi felt Iowa wouldn't be able to consistently march the ball down and finish in the redzone, so they didn't mind giving up some soft yards so long as Iowa didn't beat them over the top. That clearly seemed to fail, but I don't blame them for planning that way given Iowa was next to last in YPC and redzone efficiency coming into the game. Plus, after what Ross has done for this team the past 12 games, I have a hard time questioning anything he does just yet...

Good take, and Rossi’s adjustments at half time is usually seem to work. He clearly knows what he is doing but I think they (and myself) underestimated Iowa’s offense and had the wrong game plan the first half.


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WHY do we take the full 25 seconds between plays? One would think the plays you have, the more chances you have to score????

This has been my only real criticism of PJ and the offense going back to last year too. We take way too long and in pressure situations like yesterday, it can and did burn us. It puts unnecessary pressure on the QB and the entire offense, and leads to burning time outs that we need to conserve until later in the halves. I presume that Kirk is trying to read the defensive alignment and then call down a play which must be signaled in. I know that takes time but it is a horrible situation to be in when playing from behind and every second matters. The situation on the goal line was embarrassing and cost us much needed time in the end.


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We played similar the last quarter or so against Penn State too.

I know this is simplifying things a lot, but it seems like when we came out aggressively (both on O and D) against Penn St and Iowa we were very successful. But when we tried to play it safe we got run over.

I will only say what you probably know already. A blitz is a risky play call. Fans always remember a blitz when it gets to the QB and never remember a blitz when the play results in a TD for the offensive team. Nonetheless, I agree that we had to get after their QB more in the first half. Our four man pass rush has been very poor all season long and is this teams biggest weakness, hands down, precisely because it can not be fixed. So yes, we need to blitz more against good O lines.
 



WHY do we take the full 25 seconds between plays? One would think the plays you have, the more chances you have to score????

And the more time the other team has to score. My concern is only that we way too often do not get the play call in on time.
 

And the more time the other team has to score. My concern is only that we way too often do not get the play call in on time.

I’m with you here. Whether we agree or not, the plan is clearly to slow the game down. However, we seem to hurt ourselves with this approach an awful lot too. If we choose this approach it would be nice to see it executed a little more consistently. We may also want to be prepared to abandon it when the situation calls for it as well.


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In games where the other team has significant athletes on offense (PSU, Iowa, Wisc) an aggresive defensive gameplan is the only option. The Gophers don't have the athletes on defense to go man on man with no pressure, we figured that out after the first half yesterday.
 

Hers the difference.
Our last drive, Hawkeyes send pressure and sack Morgan twice.

I think we are all fairly certain we would have played prevent in the same situation.
 



Hers the difference.
Our last drive, Hawkeyes send pressure and sack Morgan twice.

I think we are all fairly certain we would have played prevent in the same situation.

Actually, Iowa only rushed four and left everyone else deep. They just beat our five offensive lineman. Epenesa is a total beast that a single O-lineman cannot cover. I wish the Gophs had a D lineman like him.
 




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