Penn State Football Minnesota thinks they are Linebacker-U
Written by Jeff Monday, 19 October 2009 12:00
Last Tuesday, Pioneer Press writer, Marcus Fuller writes that Gophers hope to show Penn State who really has the best linebackers in the Big Ten.
Lee Campbell and Simoni Lawrence, a couple of senior linebackers, drew attention to themselves at the University of Minnesota's football practice Tuesday, hopping around, bobbing their heads and shouting, "Linebacker U, Linebacker U, Linebacker U."Fuller goes on to write:
Because of injuries, Penn State's linebackers don't have outstanding numbers. All three of Minnesota's starters are in the top 10 for tackles in the Big Ten.In another article after Saturday’s game, Fuller writes:
Linebacker U: Minnesota's senior linebackers outplayed their Penn State counterparts on the stat sheet, but they struggled when the team needed them the most.Nittany Lounge’s PerspectiveCampbell (13 tackles) and Nate Triplett (10) both reached double figures in tackles for Minnesota. Lawrence, a former Penn State recruit, finished with a season-low four tackles. Penn State linebackers Bowman and Josh Hull led the team with eight and six tackles, respectively. Sean Lee returned from a knee injury to record two tackles.
Minnesota? Linebacker-U? I’m laughing my ass off.
With absolutely no respect, Mr. Fuller, you are statistically ignorant. The number of tackles registered by Minnesota's linebackers needs perspective. First, look at the score board. Penn State shutout Minnesota. The inverse: Minnesota LOST to Penn State by 20 points.
Second, linebackers stop the run. They plug the gaps. Minnesota allowed 177 yards rushing. Penn State allowed 37. In other words, Minnesota’s linebackers allowed almost 5 times as many yards rushing than Penn State.
The other major statistic to look at is time of possession. Penn State held Minnesota to 18 minutes in time of possession. This stat tells the real story. When the Penn State offense has the ball for 42 minutes it is obvious that Minnesota isn’t doing well on defense. Also inherent in this statistic is that Minnesota linebackers have more opportunities to make tackles. What doesn’t come through in tackling statistics is what happens when a linebacker doesn’t tackle – that is either a score or a DB is making the tackle.
Case in point and not mentioned in Fuller’s article are the three DBs in Minnesota’s Top-5 in tackles:
#1 LB Lee Campbell (13)
#2 S Kim Royston (11)
#3 LB Nate Triplett (10)
#4 CB Marcus Sherels (9)
#5 S Kyle Theret (6)
Contrast this to Penn State’s tackling statistics:
#1 LB Navarro Bowman (8)
#2 LB Josh Hull (6)
#3 CB A.J Wallace (4)
#4 DT Jared Odrick (4)
#5 DT Ollie Ogbu (3)
Yes, Lee Campbell and Nate Triplett had more tackles (23) than Penn State linebackers (14), and actually PSU’s Top-4 (22). It gets to the point that when linebackers have too many tackles they are not effective. Fewer tackles mean more 3-and-outs. On the flipside, there isn’t a statistic for missed tackles. Those kinds of things can be derived by looking at the totality of the stats. For instance, Minnesota had three defensive backs of their Top-5 tacklers make a total of 26 tackles. Penn State on the other hand had CB A.J. Wallace make four tackles.
While Penn State linebackers might be banged up they are deeper than any team in the nation. Compare the following national and Big Ten Conference Rankings:
| Penn State | Minnesota | |||||
| Nat'l Rank | Conf. Rank | Actual | Nat'l Rank | Conf. Rank | Actual | |
| Rush Defense | 6 | 1 | 75.43 | 87 | 10 | 164.71 |
| Pass Defense | 14 | 1 | 163.43 | 77 | 7 | 228.29 |
| Total Defense | 5 | 1 | 238.86 | 92 | 10 | 393.00 |
| Scoring Defense | 2 | 1 | 8.71 | 60 | 7 | 23.29 |
Additional perspective is provided by knowing that Kent State, Temple, Vanderbilt, Northern Illinois, La Tech, Southern Miss among others have better defenses than Minnesota.
So Mr. Fuller, don’t even try to make the argument that Minnesota is Linebacker-U. Minnesota doesn’t have the tradition. Minnesota doesn’t have the stats. Minnesota doesn’t have the coach. Minnesota doesn’t the quality players. In short, Penn State’s walk-ons are better than Minnesota’s linebackers.
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