Minnesota Gophers defense among best in the nation

The Minnesota Gophers head into Big Ten conference play with a perfect three win record. This terrific start is directly correlated to their dominant efforts on the defensive end.

It has gone relatively unnoticed, with the shake-up in the quarterback position and other more pressing headlines. However, the Minnesota Gopher defense has quietly made its way into the upper echelon of college football defenses. Although much of Minnesota’s perfect start has been attributed to the terrific rushing attack, it seems that the defense is the key to the team’s current and future success.

The Gophers have yet to give up more than 14 points in a game and they are currently giving up a stingy eight points per game. That number is good for third best in the nation only behind fellow Big Ten adversary Penn State and Vanderbilt. As a team, they have only allowed three total touchdowns, all of them taking place in the first half. The Gophers have yet to give up any points in the second half of a game this season. That stat is incredibly impressive and shows that this Minnesota defense can play their best when the game is on the line.

What is most impressive about Minnesota’s defense is the front seven and its ability to stop the run. Throughout their first three games, they have only allowed 59 rush yards per game, good for fourth best in the country. In total, Gopher opponents have run 63 running plays only surrendering 177 total yards, that’s 2.8 yards per carry. An extremely stifling number for an impressive Minnesota run defense.

The secondary has also flexed its muscles. They have given up 180 yards through the air per game so far, tied for 39th in the nation. That may not be as eye-popping as their run stopping stats, but it still puts them in the top percentile of the 130 registered schools on ESPN’s stat page.

As we put these two numbers together, we’ll find that Minnesota gives up a total of 239 yards per game. That is tenth best in the nation, making the Gophers one of the ten best defensive schools so far, statistically speaking.

Minnesota has also been able to get timely takeaways, sometimes even leading to points on the scoreboard. Currently, they have six turnovers gained, tied for 27th best. As a benchmark, the top ranked team in this stat, Central Michigan, has 11 takeaways. So the Gophers are not too far behind in that regard. Minnesota has capitalized on their takeaways, just one example was Jacob Huff’s pick six this past Saturday.

Speaking of Huff, he has been just one of the individual stars for the Gophers so far. In fact, he was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the week for his performance on Saturday. He is the first Gopher to win the honor since Blake Cashman won it last season.

More from Sporting Sota

Aside from Huff, the Gophers have seen some stellar play from other sources. Junior defensive back Antonio Shenault leads the team in tackles with 22 of them. Other defensive stars so far have been Antoine Winfield Jr. who has 18 tackles and a sack and sophomore linebacker Thomas Barber with 16 tackles, and an interception. That is just naming a few of the defensive standouts so far, of course.

The Gophers will have a tougher defensive test on September 30th against Maryland. So far, Maryland has scored 51 and 63 points respectively. One of those wins was an extremely impressive one over the ranked Texas Longhorns. The Terrapins have racked up an average of 508 yards per game so far, that is 18th best in the country. Of those 508 yards, 315 of them have been on the ground per game. It will most certainly be quite a clash come September 30th at TCF Bank Stadium.

Next: Four things the Vikings learned in loss to Steelers

For now, however, the Gophers are sporting a very impressive defensive group, one of the best in the nation.

Home/Minnesota Golden Gophers