** 2023 Opponent Preview : Minnesota (Game 1) **

Even going back to the Bo Pelini days with the “Peso” (which has many similarities to DC White’s 3-3-5), our defense would try to 2-gap and wait for the offense to commit a penalty, incomplete pass, etc., putting them behind the chains and getting them off schedule.


This is a quote from the above blog that I wanted to expand upon. The big similarity that jumps out to me is how the "Peso" in that defense was really more of an undersized linebacker but you had still 2 high safeties over the top. In White's scheme that guy is the Rover and he's also more of a box type player than a Cover Safety.

One big thing to put into context that makes Pelini's defense very different from White's is he always wanted to be in a 2 high safety look. As we've seen in the NFL the past 2 seasons, that makes you more susceptible to the run which is why you saw some 2 gap principles in his fronts to "gain a man". As SSO points out, that works when you got the talent. White is going to "gain a man" by bringing more looks and more pressure.

One of the things you'll notice as a core principle in White's defense is how that Rover gives him tremendous flexibility in his pre-snap looks. He's often a 7th box defender, allowing the 2 cover safeties to play 2 high but he can just as easily be a single Free Safety allowing a man blitz.

 
This is a quote from the above blog that I wanted to expand upon. The big similarity that jumps out to me is how the "Peso" in that defense was really more of an undersized linebacker but you had still 2 high safeties over the top. In White's scheme that guy is the Rover and he's also more of a box type player than a Cover Safety.

One big thing to put into context that makes Pelini's defense very different from White's is he always wanted to be in a 2 high safety look. As we've seen in the NFL the past 2 seasons, that makes you more susceptible to the run which is why you saw some 2 gap principles in his fronts to "gain a man". As SSO points out, that works when you got the talent. White is going to "gain a man" by bringing more looks and more pressure.

One of the things you'll notice as a core principle in White's defense is how that Rover gives him tremendous flexibility in his pre-snap looks. He's often a 7th box defender, allowing the 2 cover safeties to play 2 high but he can just as easily be a single Free Safety allowing a man blitz.
So, would this be the guy that you would hope would be covering TEs across the middle?

 
BigRedBuster said:
So, would this be the guy that you would hope would be covering TEs across the middle?


I assume you mean the Rover?

That would depend on a lot of things. In a 2 man under, the 2 high safeties would likely be the 2 Cover Safeties and then the Rover would have some sort of underneath responsibility, perhaps the Tight End. In a Cover 1, the Rover is usually more of a free Safety.

A big advantage of this defense is White can go into any coverage shell and not give much away. It also gives him a great deal of flexibility in terms of matchups. We can talk generalities about how White did things at Syracuse or even further up this coaching tree, but specifics will come down to personnel this year and playing to people's strengths and covering for their weaknesses.

 
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Kickoff Countdown: 59 Days, 10 hours, 50 minutes and 33 seconds to go !!!

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As a Gophers fan, Gosh I hate this old line.  Bernie Bierman won five national championships at Minnesota, and Murray Warmath won another.  Glen Mason turned around a losing program.  And Henry Williams won 136 games in 22 years, at a time when college teams regularly played fewer than 8 games a year.

PJ Fleck is having a decent run, you know, having taken over a team that was winning under the previous two head coaches, but winning more games in an era when they play 50% more games per season doesn't make him the best coach we ever had.

 
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Some rumblings about off-the-field stuff coming out of Minnesota soon, too? Could be nothing, I've only heard vague insinuations so far. Edit: I guess an admin on 247 posted something?

 
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