I wasn't sure that I agreed about Jay Sawvel, but what you said about the bowl game reminded me of how freaking impressed I was with Minnesota's defense to shut down WSUs passing game.
I just looked up Minnesota's defensive
rankings this year:
Total Defense - 21
Scoring Defense - 21
Rushing Defense - 14
Passing Eff. Defense - 27
3rd Down Coversion % - 56
4th Down Conversion % - 49
Red Zone Defense - 109****
(looks worse than it is?)
**** Only allowed opponents into red zone 39 times. Most teams allowed 45 - 55.
**** Only allowed 10 Rushing TDs and 15 Passing TDs.
How is his recruiting? Eh,
not great from the looks of it. He was at Minnesota since 2011 and only landed 3 stars... but it is Minnesota.
I would think Sawvel would seem likely with the info coming out about him in the last couple days.
Although his first year as Minnesota DC was relatively good, he lacks DC experience.
Aranda would be awesome, but wiki says he made like 1.3 millions a year at LSU... that kind of money is not gonna happen here... unless he is willing to take a pay cut to get away from Ed O. **crosses fingers**