Injury Update
- Thread starter o_h3
- Start date
This team has just been snake bitten on the injuries. Especially on defense. Even more especially on the thinnest defensive positions.
No doubt this is the most injuries we have had combined in several years at specific positions. LB was thin already, we lost Banderas, Rose Ivey, Young, Gifford and now Weber for at least one game during the course of the first 6 games.
What is even more scary is DL, lost VV, K Williams, Maurice, Gangwish, Freedom all for multiple games this season already.
Well at least we aren't alone. Bad year for injuries all over the country. Looks like Minn may be worse off than us:
The Big Ten is hurtin' for certain.
Last week, top Iowa defensive lineman Drew Ott tore the ACL in his right knee and is out the rest of the season.
The week before, Big Ten rushing leader Jordan Howard and his Indiana teammate, quarterback Nate Sudfeld, injured ankles and haven't played since.
Three weeks ago, Minnesota all-conference cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun went down with an injury to his right knee and is yet to return.
The injury list has been long across the nation, especially so in the Big Ten.
"You look across the landscape of college football, guys are dropping left and right, and it's a lot of different things, it's not one particular thing," Purdue coach Darrell Hazell said. "You are seeing ACLs, concussions, shoulders, ankles, all those things. I don't know if there is a magical formula to keep guys healthy other than you gotta watch the amount of reps that you give them."
While defending national champion Ohio State has not had any starters miss a game because of injury, Minnesota had eight out in last week's win over Purdue.
"I've never seen anything like it in my 32 years of coaching," Gophers coach Jerry Kill said. "Just one of those years. What do you do? Like I tell our guys, you can't get down. You just coach them. We're going to play with some young players probably, and that's part of it. They'll have to grow up, and we'll be better down the road for it."
Michigan State has lost three starters on offense and three on defense, and that was after a seventh starter, rising star linebacker Ed Davis, went out for the season when he hurt a knee in preseason practice.
Michigan's defense was without three starters last week, including its top defensive end, lost for the season. Its running backs have been hurt up all season, forcing it to use five running backs.
Nebraska's defense has started 20 different players and has had 19 man-games lost to injury by projected starters or top reserves. Maryland, Rutgers and Purdue also have had a bunch of key defensive players out.
Penn State top running backs Saquon Barkley and Akeel Lynch have missed the last two games, a top linebacker was lost in the opener and its secondary has had several starters in and out of the lineup.
Ott is the latest in a line of Iowa players who are hurt. The Hawkeyes also could be without a starting receiver, running back and two offensive linemen when they play at Northwestern on Saturday.
Northwestern, bitten hard by the injury bug last year, had cornerback Matthew Harris go out with broken bones in his face after he was hit in the head by a knee last week against Michigan, and receiver Austin Carr is among other Wildcats who have been banged up.
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said all but a few of the injuries have occurred in games, so it's not as if the practice regimen has been a cause.
"When you get limited numbers — last year we had close to 40 players out for our last couple weeks — that totally changes the way you can practice," Fitzgerald said. "You can't get reps from a full-speed standpoint. You have to practice smarter and have to try to find a way to get the guys to the race. It's tough to develop a team when you have to practice that way."
Illinois lost top running back Josh Ferguson to a shoulder injury Oct. 3, and wide receiver Geronimo Allison has gone through concussion protocol tests after getting hit hard last week against Iowa.
Wisconsin tailback Corey Clement had sports hernia surgery a month ago, and second team RB Tawain Deal is hurt now, along with the top two tight ends. The Badgers have played four different starting offensive lines due to several injuries. Center Dan Voltz, who has started 26 games over three seasons, injured an arm last week against Nebraska and is questionable this week for Purdue.
"I don't know how to explain the trend, if that's what it is," Badgers coach Paul Chryst said. "I've been around teams and years here where you see kind of the same injury popping up, and maybe it's something you're doing with the way you're training or practicing. But when it's kind of all over the place, it's a little bit harder to pinpoint."
The Big Ten is hurtin' for certain.
Last week, top Iowa defensive lineman Drew Ott tore the ACL in his right knee and is out the rest of the season.
The week before, Big Ten rushing leader Jordan Howard and his Indiana teammate, quarterback Nate Sudfeld, injured ankles and haven't played since.
Three weeks ago, Minnesota all-conference cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun went down with an injury to his right knee and is yet to return.
The injury list has been long across the nation, especially so in the Big Ten.
"You look across the landscape of college football, guys are dropping left and right, and it's a lot of different things, it's not one particular thing," Purdue coach Darrell Hazell said. "You are seeing ACLs, concussions, shoulders, ankles, all those things. I don't know if there is a magical formula to keep guys healthy other than you gotta watch the amount of reps that you give them."
While defending national champion Ohio State has not had any starters miss a game because of injury, Minnesota had eight out in last week's win over Purdue.
"I've never seen anything like it in my 32 years of coaching," Gophers coach Jerry Kill said. "Just one of those years. What do you do? Like I tell our guys, you can't get down. You just coach them. We're going to play with some young players probably, and that's part of it. They'll have to grow up, and we'll be better down the road for it."
Michigan State has lost three starters on offense and three on defense, and that was after a seventh starter, rising star linebacker Ed Davis, went out for the season when he hurt a knee in preseason practice.
Michigan's defense was without three starters last week, including its top defensive end, lost for the season. Its running backs have been hurt up all season, forcing it to use five running backs.
Nebraska's defense has started 20 different players and has had 19 man-games lost to injury by projected starters or top reserves. Maryland, Rutgers and Purdue also have had a bunch of key defensive players out.
Penn State top running backs Saquon Barkley and Akeel Lynch have missed the last two games, a top linebacker was lost in the opener and its secondary has had several starters in and out of the lineup.
Ott is the latest in a line of Iowa players who are hurt. The Hawkeyes also could be without a starting receiver, running back and two offensive linemen when they play at Northwestern on Saturday.
Northwestern, bitten hard by the injury bug last year, had cornerback Matthew Harris go out with broken bones in his face after he was hit in the head by a knee last week against Michigan, and receiver Austin Carr is among other Wildcats who have been banged up.
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said all but a few of the injuries have occurred in games, so it's not as if the practice regimen has been a cause.
"When you get limited numbers — last year we had close to 40 players out for our last couple weeks — that totally changes the way you can practice," Fitzgerald said. "You can't get reps from a full-speed standpoint. You have to practice smarter and have to try to find a way to get the guys to the race. It's tough to develop a team when you have to practice that way."
Illinois lost top running back Josh Ferguson to a shoulder injury Oct. 3, and wide receiver Geronimo Allison has gone through concussion protocol tests after getting hit hard last week against Iowa.
Wisconsin tailback Corey Clement had sports hernia surgery a month ago, and second team RB Tawain Deal is hurt now, along with the top two tight ends. The Badgers have played four different starting offensive lines due to several injuries. Center Dan Voltz, who has started 26 games over three seasons, injured an arm last week against Nebraska and is questionable this week for Purdue.
"I don't know how to explain the trend, if that's what it is," Badgers coach Paul Chryst said. "I've been around teams and years here where you see kind of the same injury popping up, and maybe it's something you're doing with the way you're training or practicing. But when it's kind of all over the place, it's a little bit harder to pinpoint."
I think they should stop making injury reports, to depressing. I think they should start making "healthy and will play" reports. It would be a lot more uplifting.
Holy cow...Minnesota had 8 starters out? Northwestern had 40 total players out the last few weeks? Whisky can barely field an offensive line and have a running back brought from the defense a couple weeks ago? We have had our share? It's crazy.
Are teams just being far more careful today and guys that used to play with injuries are now made to sit out?
Are teams just being far more careful today and guys that used to play with injuries are now made to sit out?
Coaches and programs must be much more protective of player health than what was seen in the past (& all parties involved could be ending their careers with one bad decision). However, don't think for a second that some players don't take advantage of this. We all know there isn't many others sports (Rugby??) that are as physically demanding as football...
GBR
GBR
It does seem excessive this year. Almost every cfb game you watch mentions injuries, whether the large number or the big names (UCLA). I think it's a combination of what is stated above regarding cautiousness & just the size and speed of the players (Fournette) today.
Bando, Newby and Young as starters right? If any of those 3 go down it's going to get scary.
Talan should have stuck around, would get a chance to prove that he is as good as he thinks he is.
As noted in one of the replies to this thread, injuries happen to every team. When we were big winners and suffered the terrible injury to Frazier and even had to start former db Matt Turman, no one cried about it because the coaches and players knew how to win even through adversity. These days, we only know how to lose and out come the excuses.
Way to reference a situation where our Oline was as good as we have ever seen... Put that line in front of today's offense and we are 6-0.
At least try to compare apples to apples...
we had 11 badasses on defense that held a top ten team in their own house to 6 pts.
Yeah it is apples and oranges. We used to be a fan base that didn't search for excuses if the team lost a game. But now we sound like every other losing program blaming every loss on bad luck.
Yes there are a lot of things we are saying are issues. We are no longer that team of the 90s you referenced earlier. As a result, the losses pile up, people try to understand why, and explanations are given. Talent, coaching, injuries, fill in the blank. Some call them excuses, but I call them explanations.
What else can we do? What do you recommend? I think, if you're honest with yourself, even when we lost in the 90s there were excuses. 96 ASU we lacked unity to start the year... Not everyone was behind frost. In big 12 championship lot of the guys had the flu... Whenever we played Miami in the 80s they were too fast... Our defense was plodding not and didn't match up. OU were a bunch of cheaters...
The only time we weren't making excuses was when we were winning all the time. We are a long ways removed from that...