Analysis of the Enemy: Minnesota Golden Gophers

What: The Ohio State University Buckeyes @ Minnesota Golden Gophers

When: Saturday, October 30th; 8:00 p.m. EST.

Where: TCF Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Television: ABC or ESPN Regional

Weather Forecast: High- 50 degrees; Low- 38 degrees; 10% chance of precipitation

Minnesota's Record: 1-7

Head coach Tim Brewster was fired before the Penn State game last weekend, with offensive coordinator Jeff Horton serving as interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Brewster's firing was inevitable after his dismal performance (15-30 in four seasons) failed to match his hyperbolic promises. The team he leaves behind is 1-7 and winless in Big Ten play. Whomever is hired by Minnesota to be their next football coach will have low expectations to start with, at the least.

Minnesota's Chart (Through 7 Games)

Not surprisingly, a 1-7 record is indicative of poor offensive and defensive performance. The Golden Gopher offense has produced decent raw production, but that has come on the back of various non-BCS opponents. Once the numbers are adjusted for competition, the numbers are much less flattering. On the other hand, the Minnesota defensive numbers remain largely unchanged when adjusting for competition- they are just bad no matter how you look at it.

Offensive coordinator Jeff Horton runs a pro-style offense that fails to specialize in anything, mostly because of a porous offensive line that can neither run nor pass block. Along with Indiana's, they are probably the worst offensive line in the Big Ten. For the most part, the Golden Gopher offense is typical fare in terms of scheme, although I do want to highlight some interesting things they do with their wide receiver splits and alignment.

Stack (After Motion)

This formation and others like it are not atypical in the Minnesota offense. To ensure that their receivers get a clean release off the line of scrimmage (e.g. defeating press coverage) and to disguise their route stems (vertical portion of route), they use various types of stacks and bunches. Jeff Horton has spent time in the NFL as a quarterbacks coach, so it's not surprising to see an NFL approach to offense from him.

Senior quarterback Adam Weber is having his best season by passer rating (136), but his completion percentage is only 55.8%. Weber's career is not entirely forgetful, as he has thrown for over 10,000 yards in his four seasons at Minnesota, becoming only the 5th player in Big Ten history to reach that mark. With a better support system, Weber may very well have had a more remarkable legacy than the one he is left with. Not only has he dealt with a poor offensive line every year, but he's had three different offensive coordinators in four seasons, and halfway though his career, the Gophers altered course from a spread to a pro-style system.

(I'm still playing around with the best combination of information and presentation, so I'm trying out a combination of previous preview styles until I find "The One."Below is a new segment.)

Three Biggest Threats

1. Da'Jon McKnight- He's the Gopher's leading receiver with 36 receptions for 542 yards (15.06 YPC.) The closest thing to an explosive threat that the Gophers have, McKnight caught three touchdowns last weekend against Penn State.
2. Duane Bennett- While Bennett has exactly the same number of yards (444) as fellow tailback DeLeon Eskridge, his yards per rush number is about half a yard higher. Neither Gopher tailback is too frightening, but Bennett has produced more efficiently than Eskridge so far.
3. MarQueis Gray- Originally in the same class as Terrelle Pryor, a grades snafu kept him out of Minnesota in 2008 and delayed his eligibility a year. Now a true sophomore, Gray has worked in as a type of wild-card in the Minnesota offense, playing receiver and quarterback at different times.

Defense

The Minnesota defense has given up at least 28 points to each BCS conference team they've played, and that floor was set by the Purdue offense that Ohio State just blanked last Saturday. The Gophers run a 43 defense, mostly operating out of an "Under" front with some form of zone coverage behind it.

The Gophers showed a "1-deep" coverage pre-snap, but then shifted to Cover Two post-snap. Penn State has struggled running the ball this season, so the Gopher D attempted to confuse true freshman quarterback Rob Bolden with various coverage shifts instead of worrying about stopping the run- PSU averaged 4.8 yards a carry against them, which isn't terrible. I imagine we'll see something similar from a Minnesota team that has nothing to lose, so expect the Bucks to open up with the same gameplan that they used against Purdue.

Minnesota is one of the worst teams that I've ever seen on defense, and most of that is attributed to fundamental issues of tackling and gap control. They may not be very talented, but this lack of basic ability is most indicative of why Tim Brewster is no longer employed.

I expect Jeff Horton to pull every trick play he has in his offense-  there is just nothing to save it for any longer. An upset win over Ohio State is a powerful bulletpoint on a resume,and Horton will be needing one of those in a few weeks. Still, Ohio State is a much more talented team than Minnesota, and much better coached. Ohio State should dominate Minnesota in every facet of the game, regardless of any trickery that the Golden Gophers might attempt.