Lack of football IQ and/or instinct?

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fatgopher

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When we're down 3 and it is 4th and 1 for USD, we need the ball back in the 4th QTR, and they've run the QB bootleg twice already for TD's and conversions...why in the @#$% are our DE's and OLB's getting sucked into the wash on a blast fake?!?! Garin and Rallis are NOT going to make a tackle in the 0 or 1 gap, so why get sucked in and be out of position? This is high school if not junior high stuff. We could also discuss how easily our corners were giving up basic slant routes most of the game.

I know it always comes down to W/L's, but my biggest disappointment in the Brewster era is not the records (Mason-esque), but rather the lack of discipline (penalties) and football IQ displayed on the field by our young men. Part coaching, part responsibility and preparation of a D-1 student athlete. Not impressed with either.
 

fatgopher said:
When we're down 3 and it is 4th and 1 for USD, we need the ball back in the 4th QTR, and they've run the QB bootleg twice already for TD's and conversions...why in the @#$% are our DE's and OLB's getting sucked into the wash on a blast fake?!?! Garin and Rallis are NOT going to make a tackle in the 0 or 1 gap, so why get sucked in and be out of position? This is high school if not junior high stuff. We could also discuss how easily our corners were giving up basic slant routes most of the game.

I know it always comes down to W/L's, but my biggest disappointment in the Brewster era is not the records (Mason-esque), but rather the lack of discipline (penalties) and football IQ displayed on the field by our young men. Part coaching, part responsibility and preparation of a D-1 student athlete. Not impressed with either.
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The blitz on third and 4 or 5 was worse.
 

The third time was the charm on the screen pass as well, with South Dakota's first two screens going for big yardage (and one TD). On the third one, they basically told Tinsley to "spy." They should have done the same thing on the 4th and 1 and had the two outside guys boxing the play. Maybe Warren still gets the first down, but they likely would have kept him out of the end zone.

South Dakota made good reads all day. There were a couple of times on slants that you could see Warren check-down at the line of scrimmage based on the Gophers' movement. That's normal. But often times, the defense adjusts again after the check-down. That never happened. I don't know if South Dakota did an excellent job scouting or if the Gophers' schemes are so elementary that they are easy to scout. Either way, it was very frustrating to watch.

I don't know what it is. The players, the coaching, or some combination, but defensive breakdowns have been more the rule than the exception going all the way back to Gutekunst.
 

I would put that 100% on the coaches though - I'm talking about a certain level of culpability that we have to put on the players. (RE: the blitzing)
 

fatgopher said:
When we're down 3 and it is 4th and 1 for USD, we need the ball back in the 4th QTR, and they've run the QB bootleg twice already for TD's and conversions...why in the @#$% are our DE's and OLB's getting sucked into the wash on a blast fake?!?! Garin and Rallis are NOT going to make a tackle in the 0 or 1 gap, so why get sucked in and be out of position? This is high school if not junior high stuff. We could also discuss how easily our corners were giving up basic slant routes most of the game.
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Amen. Add everything you said to the fact that SD hadn't been able to run the ball between the tackles all day. Why would they try again on 4th and 1.5? Have some football awareness for christ's sake.

This was the most frustrating play of the game IMHO.
 


You make mistakes out of desperation a lot of the time, because you're trying to cover for others' ineptitude. The 4th down bootleg for a TD is a perfect example of such a mistake.

If you go back and look at the play, Mike Rallis was the contain guy on the side of the eventual bootleg playing at WLB. The TE goes in motion toward the strong side, and Rallis, probably our best defensive player no doubt thinks to himself "I've got to get in there and do something to stop this play - I can't rely on my teammates to do the job."

So he decides (I'm sure on his own) to take a few steps toward the middle to get a head start when the ball is snapped. You can see him literally cheating toward the middle from his original spot. As a result, he was out of position and couldn't get to the QB on the bootleg.

This was a mistake that was caused when a good player felt he had to do something out of the ordinary to try to make a play because he didn't trust his teammates (I can't really blame him - why should he, BTW) to do it on their own.

The Gophers were literally in the almost exact same defensive setup on a similar 4th down goal-line play against Illinois in 2008. On that play, Rallis was again, the contain guy on the weak side. On a better defense back in 2008, he has no thought of trying to do too much. Instead, he keeps his assignment, doesn't cheat to try to stop the run, and is in perfect position to make the play when Juice Williams ran a bootleg to the same side of the field. While Rallis missed the tackle, he did trip Juice a bit and also forced him back to the middle of the field, where he was stopped short of the goal-line by Simoni Lawrence.

Two similar plays, two very different results because of players trying to do too much out of desperation.
 

josh087 said:
You make mistakes out of desperation a lot of the time, because you're trying to cover for others' ineptitude. The 4th down bootleg for a TD is a perfect example of such a mistake.

If you go back and look at the play, Mike Rallis was the contain guy on the side of the eventual bootleg playing at WLB. The TE goes in motion toward the strong side, and Rallis, probably our best defensive player no doubt thinks to himself "I've got to get in there and do something to stop this play - I can't rely on my teammates to do the job."

So he decides (I'm sure on his own) to take a few steps toward the middle to get a head start when the ball is snapped. You can see him literally cheating toward the middle from his original spot. As a result, he was out of position and couldn't get to the QB on the bootleg.

This was a mistake that was caused when a good player felt he had to do something out of the ordinary to try to make a play because he didn't trust his teammates (I can't really blame him - why should he, BTW) to do it on their own.

The Gophers were literally in the almost exact same defensive setup on a similar 4th down goal-line play against Illinois in 2008. On that play, Rallis was again, the contain guy on the weak side. On a better defense back in 2008, he has no thought of trying to do too much. Instead, he keeps his assignment, doesn't cheat to try to stop the run, and is in perfect position to make the play when Juice Williams ran a bootleg to the same side of the field. While Rallis missed the tackle, he did trip Juice a bit and also forced him back to the middle of the field, where he was stopped short of the goal-line by Simoni Lawrence.

Two similar plays, two very different results because of players trying to do too much out of desperation.
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Everything you said above could be eliminated with good coaching. Sayings like, "stick to your assignments" and "don't gamble" come to mind.

Instead I feel like Brewster encourages things like, "fly around out there" and "play your hearts out."
 

I disagree with you steve. There have been numerous reports talking about grading players on their assignment, alignment, and play making ability. There have been interviews from players talking about how the coach's want them to know their job so well they can just in a sense "fly around out there", however, it is my understanding that it is within the scheme that was called.
 

josh087 said:
You make mistakes out of desperation a lot of the time, because you're trying to cover for others' ineptitude. The 4th down bootleg for a TD is a perfect example of such a mistake.

If you go back and look at the play, Mike Rallis was the contain guy on the side of the eventual bootleg playing at WLB. The TE goes in motion toward the strong side, and Rallis, probably our best defensive player no doubt thinks to himself "I've got to get in there and do something to stop this play - I can't rely on my teammates to do the job."

So he decides (I'm sure on his own) to take a few steps toward the middle to get a head start when the ball is snapped. You can see him literally cheating toward the middle from his original spot. As a result, he was out of position and couldn't get to the QB on the bootleg.

This was a mistake that was caused when a good player felt he had to do something out of the ordinary to try to make a play because he didn't trust his teammates (I can't really blame him - why should he, BTW) to do it on their own.

The Gophers were literally in the almost exact same defensive setup on a similar 4th down goal-line play against Illinois in 2008. On that play, Rallis was again, the contain guy on the weak side. On a better defense back in 2008, he has no thought of trying to do too much. Instead, he keeps his assignment, doesn't cheat to try to stop the run, and is in perfect position to make the play when Juice Williams ran a bootleg to the same side of the field. While Rallis missed the tackle, he did trip Juice a bit and also forced him back to the middle of the field, where he was stopped short of the goal-line by Simoni Lawrence.

Two similar plays, two very different results because of players trying to do too much out of desperation.
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I question your logic because USD didn't run with great success between the tackles all day. Rallis can't stop a dive/ISO/blast from the OLB position on 4th and 1. And if Rallis can't have confidence in "the Smash Brothers" plugging up the middle gaps against an FCS school, then we should throw in the towel on the season now. Both Garin and Rallis were putting their noses where they don't belong and abandoned their responsibilities. More frustrating, they did it after the D was beat twice before on a QB bootleg.
 



fatgopher said:
I question your logic because USD didn't run with great success between the tackles all day. Rallis can't stop a dive/ISO/blast from the OLB position on 4th and 1. And if Rallis can't have confidence in "the Smash Brothers" plugging up the middle gaps against an FCS school, then we should throw in the towel on the season now. Both Garin and Rallis were putting their noses where they don't belong and abandoned their responsibilities. More frustrating, they did it after the D was beat twice before on a QB bootleg.
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I'm not saying he should have crashed toward the middle. Certainly they should have maintained their lanes. I'm just pointing out what I saw on two separate examples. There was no reason to do what he did - but he did it anyway. That's exactly my point. Trying to do way too much, even more than what is realistically possible. That's playing out of desperation.

Rallis wasn't thinking "Hmmm, they haven't run well in the tackles all day." He's thinking "we've got to get the ball back and somebody needs to do something because we can't stop these guys. I'd better do something different than what we normally do."
 

josh087 said:
I'm not saying he should have crashed toward the middle. Certainly they should have maintained their lanes. I'm just pointing out what I saw on two separate examples. There was no reason to do what he did - but he did it anyway. That's exactly my point. Trying to do way too much, even more than what is realistically possible. That's playing out of desperation.

Rallis wasn't thinking "Hmmm, they haven't run well in the tackles all day." He's thinking "we've got to get the ball back and somebody needs to do something because we can't stop these guys. I'd better do something different than what we normally do."
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This answers my question in the subject of the thread then - Rallis and Garin lack football IQ. If Rallis thought for one second that "somebody needs to do something" and he was going to be the guy to stuff the dive/blast hole from his OLB spot - he needs to come to grips with his physical limitations.

At the end of the day neither of us will know what was going through their heads before and during the play. My vote is for 'nothing' though.
 

I miss being able to rewatch the games. Maybe again some day.
 

fatgopher said:
This answers my question in the subject of the thread then - Rallis and Garin lack football IQ. If Rallis thought for one second that "somebody needs to do something" and he was going to be the guy to stuff the dive/blast hole from his OLB spot - he needs to come to grips with his physical limitations.

At the end of the day neither of us will know what was going through their heads before and during the play. My vote is for 'nothing' though.
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I'm betting it was not just that one play. I'm thinking that the USD coaches in the booth had been watching and knew that Gopher defenders were not maintaining their contain, so when the time came, they knew the bootleg was good for big yards. Now, the Gopher defensive coaches in the booth should have been noticing that their guys were not vigilent with their contain responsibilities.
 



denguegopher said:
I'm betting it was not just that one play. I'm thinking that the USD coaches in the booth had been watching and knew that Gopher defenders were not maintaining their contain, so when the time came, they knew the bootleg was good for big yards. Now, the Gopher defensive coaches in the booth should have been noticing that their guys were not vigilent with their contain responsibilities.
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Exactly.
 

If that is indeed the case, then if there is any chance of salvaging this season, it has to begin with discipline on defense. You have to trust your teammates, EVEN IF YOU CAN'T TRUST THEM because if you don't, the other team will take advantage of it, and you're going to get burned even worse. A football team runs like a machine. When parts of the machine are out of alignment, the machine breaks down.
 

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