Defensive Play Discussion

Man, we actually did a lot right on this play.  Two defenders there as the ball is caught.  Nelson even came within a few inches of knocking the ball out of the QBs hand before it gets anywhere.  Sometimes you're just unlucky.


 
Mavric said:
Man, we actually did a lot right on this play.  Two defenders there as the ball is caught.  Nelson even came within a few inches of knocking the ball out of the QBs hand before it gets anywhere.  Sometimes you're just unlucky.
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That was such a frustrating play.  If the defender coming from the left simply goes in front of the WR, he might even knock down the pass.  Instead, he takes out the would be tackler.

 
Mavric said:
Man, we actually did a lot right on this play.  Two defenders there as the ball is caught.  Nelson even came within a few inches of knocking the ball out of the QBs hand before it gets anywhere.  Sometimes you're just unlucky.
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If dismuke doesnt take ctb out, that might not even be a catch. The last replay they showed, iirc, during the game you can see ctb has his hand on the ball or about on the ball as bell starts to catch it. Was in a really good position to rip it out of bell's hands before he could secure the catch.

 
desertshox said:
If dismuke doesnt take ctb out, that might not even be a catch. The last replay they showed, iirc, during the game you can see ctb has his hand on the ball or about on the ball as bell starts to catch it. Was in a really good position to rip it out of bell's hands before he could secure the catch.
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That was such a fluke play. It was good to see NU respond and not let that sink them.

 
NU has forced 4 total three and outs the last 3 games combined

Illinois- 2

Iowa- 1

Minnesota- 1

Of the 2 in the Illinois game, the second one was Illinois’ last real “drive” of the game where they had backups in just running the ball trying to run the clock out. 

There’s definitely stuff I would try to change defensively- would love to play DB’s closer to the LOS and bring more pressure and be willing to play man coverage. But a lot of this is because we’re abysmal at third down defense- we can’t get teams off the field because the pass rush is non-existent. Until NU adds two strong pass rushers, we will be in this situation.

 
But I mean, the offense should be capable of scoring 30ish points against Minnesota, Iowa, Purdue, & Illinois. I can't ask our defense to win a bunch of games where we didn't even crack 24 points (Northwestern, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota).

Defense has gotten steadily better while special teams, the offensive line, and offensive execution have actually gone backwards from 2018. It's a really bad sign for Frost's coaching abilities.

 
Undone said:
But I mean, the offense should be capable of scoring 30ish points against Minnesota, Iowa, Purdue, & Illinois. I can't ask our defense to win a bunch of games where we didn't even crack 24 points (Northwestern, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota).

Defense has gotten steadily better while special teams, the offensive line, and offensive execution have actually gone backwards from 2018. It's a really bad sign for Frost's coaching abilities.
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Yeah I definitely am not pinning this loss on the defense. They did a lot of awesome things today- the CTB targeting added 4 points and were put in awful positions time and time again. Not in the fire Chin camp or any of that- just saying we need a pass rusher or two so so badly for things to really improve. It’s so killer 

 
seaofred92 said:
the CTB targeting added 4 points
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And this is a really great point - they would have probably only been at 21 if that hadn't happened. And then we missed a FG. So this game could have been even closer and we could have been driving down for a winning field goal.

 
Undone said:
And this is a really great point - they would have probably only been at 21 if that hadn't happened. And then we missed a FG. So this game could have been even closer and we could have been driving down for a winning field goal.
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When put in normal situations (which rarely happens)- NU’s D plays pretty well. The real issue is the offense routinely puts them in awful situations and short fields where its nearly impossible to not give up points. 

Minnesota scoring drives today: 

4 plays, 35 yards- Touchdown

9 plays, 36 yards- Field Goal

6 plays, 75 yards- Touchdown (this was the CTB targeting drive that would’ve been a FG attempt from 31 yards out into the wind)

9 plays, 39 yards- Touchdown

So not making excuses at all- but look at the situations. 3 of the 4 scoring drives for Minnesota were under 40 yards today, and one of the TD drives was extended because of a NU personal foul after getting the stop. This is why details matter. Combine that with 2 NU turnovers and a missed FG- you’re going to lose a majority of the time.

 
Defense is tough to play anymore given the rules. Overall, the defense has been decent. 
 

Agree with previous posters. We need a speed guy on the edge to combine with what we have inside, which is looking solid. 
 

I know Minny has 200 yards rushing today, but 3 runs accounted for more than half of that. 

 
The questions are

1. why get abused in the zone for so long, especially after playing man the majority of the Purdue game against FAR better WRs.  He did it against PSU as well again a team with FAR better WRs.  I'm sure the Cam ejection spooked him a little, but that WR crew had nothing that should scare you

2.  Why so many 1st and 2nd downs did he opt to only have two true DL in the game?  Again, you only had one thing to worry about today, Ibrehim.  Expecting Payne and Tannor to hold an edge is a big bite to chew,

3.  Against a group of OLinemen that have been thrown together pretty much due to opt outs and current Covid concerns, does one not get creative and aggressive with his rushes and blitz packages.

 
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