UCLA Football Preview: Minnesota's Pass Defense Is the Stingiest in the Big Ten
Meanwhile, the Gopher rushing defense is near the bottom of the conference.
Tomorrow’s game could be the one where the Bruin rushing attack finally gets going.
Why?
That’s because the Golden Gophers’ base defense is a 4-2-5 Nickel defense. The presence of that fifth defensive back, instead of a third linebacker could potentially give UCLA an opportunity to effectively run the ball.
Traditionally, teams will go to a nickel package on passing downs, adding a fifth defensive back to help with pass coverage. If the Gophers are going to run the Nickel as their base defense, it may make it easier for the Bruins to run the ball.
The fact that Minnesota rushing defense is ranked 66th of 133 teams in the nation shows that they are inherently, well, average at stopping the run. They are giving up an average of 137.2 yards per game on the ground and 4.09 yards per rush. That ranks the Golden Gophers as the fourth-worst rush defense in the Big Ten. Only Rutgers, Southern Cal, and Purdue allow more yards per game than Minnesota.
Conversely, the Gophers have the best passing defense in the conference. They are allowing only 114.0 yards per game through the air and they lead the conference with 10 interceptions.
Let’s look at Minnesota’s defensive starters.
Defensive Line
The sack leader for the Golden Gophers is redshirt senior Jah Joyner who will start at defensive end. Joyner is sixth on the team in tackles with 20 including 3.5 TFLs and 2.5 sacks. He has also broken up four passes, had six quarterback hurries and forced a fumble.
Danny Striggow will start as the other defensive end. He leads the defensive line with 27 tackles including 2 TFLs and 1.5 sacks. The redshirt senior has also had three QB hurries.
Redshirt junior Deven Eastern will be one of the starting defensive tackles. Through six games, Eastern has made 11 tackles including three TFLs and a sack. He’s also forced one fumble.
Who the other defensive tackle isn’t clear. For the first five games of the season, the starter was redshirt senior Jalen Logan-Redding, but he got banged up in the Michigan game. That resulted in Anthony Smith starting last week against Southern Cal, even though Logan-Redding did play some against the Trojans.
Logan-Redding is clearly the better option. He’s made 12 tackles this season including 1.5 TFLs while Smith has made just six tackles including a TFL and a sack. Logan-Redding also has three pass breakups and three QB hurries while Smith also has five QB hurries.
Linebackers
Minnesota’s linebackers are ranked one and two on the team in tackles. Redshirt senior Cody Lindenberg leads the team in tackles with 42 with 1.5 TFLs and a sack. He’s also broken up two passes and had two QB hurries.
Redshirt sophomore Maverick Baranowski is second on the team in tackles, but the reason he’s second instead of first is probably because he missed last week’s game due to a shoulder injury he suffered against Michigan. Baranowski has 36 tackles with 3.5 TFLs and half a sack to go along with a pass breakup and a QB hurry.
If Baranowski can’t go tomorrow, look for redshirt junior Devon Williams to start in his place. Starting in place of Baranowski last week, Williams made four tackles and intercepted a pass. This season, Williams has made 19 tackles including half a TFL.
Secondary
As I mentioned above, the Minnesota pass defense is the best in the Big Ten. That’s despite the fact that, in six games, there have been five different groups of starters in the secondary. That’s impressive.
The only guy who hasn’t missed a start this season is senior cornerback Ethan Robinson. He’s fifth on the team in tackles with 25 including three TFLs. He’s also tied for the team lead in interceptions with two. Robinson has also broken up two passes and recovered a fumble.
The other starting corner should be senior Justin Walley. He returned to the starting lineup last week after missing the Iowa and Michigan games with a knee injury. Walley has made 11 tackles this season. He’s also picked off a pass and broken up five more. If he can’t go, look for redshirt freshman Za'Quan Bryan to fill in. Bryan has made 15 tackles this season and broken up four passes.
Redshirt sophomore Aidan Gousby returned to the starting lineup at safety last week after missing the Iowa and Michigan games, just like Walley did. He had an upper body injury. Gousby has made nine tackles, intercepted a pass, and broken up another this season. The other starting safety should be redshirt sophomore Coleman Bryson. Bryson has started four of the Gophers’ six games this season. Redshirt freshman Kerry Brown has started two games in Bryson’s place and one game in Gousby’s place. Interestingly, Brown has contributed more to the Minnesota defense. He has 32 tackles including 1.5 TFLs along with two interceptions and a pass breakup while Bryson has made only 16 tackles and broken up one pass.
While he’s played in all six games, fifth-year senior Jack Henderson has started five of Minnesota’s six games as the team’s nickel back. He’s made 15 tackles this year including 2.5 TFLs and 1.5 sacks. Henderson also has an interception, a QB hurry and a fumble recovery.
Last week, Jai'Onte' McMillan started instead of Henderson and he stepped up, making eight tackles against the Trojans including half a TFL. He also had his first QB hurry of the season. So far, he’s played in five game this season. Prior to last week he had only made four tackles in four games.
Analysis
Despite the seeming revolving door in the secondary, Minnesota plays the best pass defense in the Big Ten, but the fourth-worst run defense. Hopefully, this inspires the Bruins this week to really focus on improving the running game, which has been sad all season.
I don’t expect to see much at all from UCLA in the passing game tomorrow, with the possible exception of what I suspect will be at least two interceptions if the coaching staff insists on throwing the ball a lot. The best option for the Bruins in the passing game will be to choose high percentage short passes, possibly to a running back coming out of the backfield if they do want to throw.
The bottom line here, though, is that if UCLA wants to come out of tomorrow’s game with their first Big Ten Conference win, they are going to have to be successful running the ball. There are just no two ways about it because the Golden Gophers have been so stingy against teams trying to move the ball through the air.
Go Bruins!
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I hope the Bruins return to the PAC 12.
Hopefully our coaches will be paying attention and run a lot or throw short passes over the middle. End arounds and screen are harder with 5 DBs...