Re-watched the game
- Thread starter NCHawkeye24
- Start date
It looked to me like we are flipping or quickly handing the ball off to Kaleb, and not running that slow developing stretch play. That gives Kaleb more time to set up blockers and do his thing. Did anyone else notice that or I am I just imagining it?
Looked to me like he was open in the slot at the beginning of plays. His db was over 10 years off the ball. If we would just snap and quick throw to him, he could have 5 yards before he even has to make a move.
First half O:
--Never once saw any "pulling" of OL. Second half we did it several times.
--Never saw a counter in the first half, but worked it to perfection in second.
--The bootleg -naked to Ostrenga to start second half had me believing almost instantly, "Hawks are going to win this"
First half D:
--We played no tight, press or man coverage on their receivers. Second half, I never saw Castro BEHIND a receiver, he was fronting almost exclusively.
--We got little pressure on Brosmer in First half, ran more stunts and sent LBs up the middle in second half.
--Pass D was vanilla in First half, so with time and little pressure, Brosmer was very comfortable. Second half we disguised coverages, played in front if receivers, and made Brosmer appear almost panicky.
--The three points above were made possible because staff and D players knew Minny wouldn't gash us on the ground.
First half D ... I think that part of the story in the first half was also that they wanted to only minimally show their hand defensively (so as to give future teams less film to learn from). The intention being that they wanted to dare Brosmer to beat them ... and it turns out that he's quite a capable dude. Once he was comfortable ... he could beat the vanilla-version of our D.
It's still worth remarking that the gophers still only put up 14 points in a half against the D playing vanilla-ball. I'm sure that on those 2 good drives by the Gophers that there were some plays that our guys would like back.
The bigger thing that surprised me was that our O went from looking like the worst side of themselves in the first half ... to looking like a completely different group in the 2nd half. I was NOT an optimistic fan after watching that first half.
Maybe Lester's press conference was all a big dodge. Maybe there weren't plays he wanted to run but was voted down. Instead, it was just BS to get OSU thinking/planning about stuff that doesn't exist. A little intrigue. A little misdirection. It's all on film. Let OSU try to figure out what the hell he was talking about. I wouldn't be above tossing that out there.
Lester didn't mention Wetjen in his interview, but his remarks about Brown may also apply. Brown is still adjusting to the offense and learning how to run the routes correctly. Lester said he needs to work on fundamentals, or as Kirk might say, he has things to clean up.
Agreed. Two observations to add:
--That "catch" by MN that was reviewed, but not overturned, was enough to change momentum to that point, and I think it stayed with the D
--The opening play to Ostrenga completely changes my outlook for the season, even if we lose more games. It proved to me that the staff and team are more on top of things than in the previous two or three seasons.
My impression after watching and re-watching and even re-re-watching Iowa/Minn was that Iowa’s defense really became sloppy tacklers in the 2ndQ and they decided to play pass defense as opposed to putting pressure on the QB during this time also.
The second half Iowa used its front 7 to make the QB move his feet and their tackling got much much better.
Good point on the tackling. Parker mentioned that yesterday. A lot of shoulder pad hits but not wrapping up, including on Minnesota’s second TD.
You shouldn’t rewatch the game three times Joel, once is enough. To rewatch the game twice, you need to get paid.
The fact that our run-game was able to gash the Gopher D so bad ... particularly given that the Gopher's have usually been pretty good at defending the run under Fleck and given that they totally shut us down last season ... that definitely lifted my spirits. Running for a ton against Illinois State and Troy really said nothing. Furthermore, as others pointed out - running for a lot against Iowa State wasn't the biggest deal either considering that they were pretty decimated at LB. However, the fact that Lester was still able to coordinate things such that the run-game continued to make strides ... even against a fairly competent B1G rival-defense ... the raised my eyebrows.
I cannot say that I disagree with Ferentz as it concerns our passing-game. However, I think that he was saying that as a challenge to the players ... and a reminder that we're still far from a finished product on O. However, in prior years ... we've seen how dangerous an Iowa squad can be in they continue to improve week-in and week-out.
I'm hopeful ...
