Where Do We Go from Here

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If Mitch had hit ten more passes, no one would be complaining. We need a QB who can hit 60% or better consistently and we haven't had that much with either Weber or Mitch. Other teams seem to find these guys. Mitch was something like 113 of 119 QBs last year. Surely we can do better than that. Croft doesn't look like he could take the physical beating at his present weight and development and Perra has no experience. We should have gone after a capable JC QB for this year and next.
 

Where do we go from here...?

1. Hand the ball off to Rodney Smith at least 20 times per game.
2. Keep throwing to Wolitarsky and Eric Carter
3. Try some high percentage passes early in games to the RS WR (Holland, Gant, etc.), and also to the Fr. WR Still. It has to be difficult (albeit not an excuse) to go most of the game without a single target, and then have to try to make a play in the 3rd & 4th quarter. Holland's drop is inexcusable, but it was his ONLY target. Why not use those guys as the target on the WR screen, or perhaps a swing pass out of motion, and get them a touch or two early to build confidence...?
4. Try to convince Mitch to stop trying to finesse passes in to receivers. He often looks as if he's trying to place the ball, where he seems to actually decelerate his throwing motion into his release. On the final drive, however, he was having much more success just making strong throws. With that being said, there were some key drops in this game that weren't the fault of the QB - especially Holland's, and even Lingen (?) on what would have been a diving TD if it were caught.
5. Forget that the first half of this game even happened, be glad that we won the game, and focus on our next opponent.

Go Gophers!
 

We go forward. I hated watching that game....until we won. Fail forward.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
If Mitch had hit ten more passes, no one would be complaining. We need a QB who can hit 60% or better consistently and we haven't had that much with either Weber or Mitch. Other teams seem to find these guys. Mitch was something like 113 of 119 QBs last year. Surely we can do better than that. Croft doesn't look like he could take the physical beating at his present weight and development and Perra has no experience. We should have gone after a capable JC QB for this year and next.
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Today the receivers dropped 7-8 balls that hit them in the hands. I believe KJ Maye had 4 of them.
 

I wish Holland had made the catch on 3rd down...we need him to get in the rythym.
 


Like dbald said. It would be nice to get him and the other young receivers some early easy catches to get them into the game. Unfortunately it seems like those short throws are hardest for Mitch sometimes.
 

Kalipari says "succeed and proceed." Take the win, move on.

That being said, offensive creativity will help. Establish Smith, start incorporating some jet sweeps, open up play action.
 

After a garbage first half, Leidner put up good numbers. Ended up 23-45 233 yds 2TDs 0 INT. We also had a 100+ yd receiver(wolitarsky) and 100+ yd rusher (Smith). Those are good things to build off of.
 

The Gophers are a better team than CSU. They played poorly and escaped with a victory.

The Arkansas Razorbacks are a better team than Toledo. They played poorly and lost at home.

A win's a win.
 



Mulligan said:
How about everyone taking a deep breath until after the next 3 games. They have a chance to clean up the mess. Just because they didn't show the improvement you expected, it's still possible for them to figure this out.
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Look, if you wanna post sea shells and balloons all day every day that's cool. You are suggesting nothing but words of praise for three more games and then depending on your whims we might have your blessing to express an opinion? The thing that keeps a message board going is diverse opinions and honest thoughts. If you think the Gophers have played up to your expectations, that's your opinion. That's fine too, but if someone offers constructive criticism or their own observations and you happen to disagree...then don't make crap up and say they said something they did not say so you can make yourself out to be the only guy cheering online supporting the team.
I also believe Coach Kill will figure things out. I'd say history says he's pretty good at what he does. Coach Kill is also the person who said he was embarassed at half time. You can call it mess but nobody else is allowed to?
 


60's Guy said:
Well, the reason things become cliches is because they are repeatedly true. If you coached teams, you'd know first hand, this proves itself very consistently...and when it doesn't it's not a good omen.
If you don't think it's true and that teams improve consistently...you are saying you thought we played better today than Thursday vs TCU...or you are contradicting yourself.

Obviously, the goal is to get better every day. Lots of teams do not consistently improve...coaching, losses, injuries a lot of factors make this true. Welll coach teams improve throughout the season but it isn't typically consistent even then....yes, hopefully you are much better at the end but the route is not often just an upward graph.
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I will rewrite....... I think, in my view, the Gophers have shown consistent improvement from year to year and that their greatest improvements have been over time. Each game week is independent of another and presents opportunities to improve. It's not always greatest improvements from Game 1 to Game 2 that's all.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
If Mitch had hit ten more passes, no one would be complaining. We need a QB who can hit 60% or better consistently and we haven't had that much with either Weber or Mitch. Other teams seem to find these guys. Mitch was something like 113 of 119 QBs last year. Surely we can do better than that. Croft doesn't look like he could take the physical beating at his present weight and development and Perra has no experience. We should have gone after a capable JC QB for this year and next.
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Where are you getting this stat from? Leidner was 78th out of 123 in passing efficiency last year.
 



The first half was atrocious and painful to watch with miscues by several ML in particular.

They made adjustments and slugged out a win. A W will cure all whether we win by 1 or 40 just as long as we continue winning.

We move on to the next two games.

We hope the O-Line will gel and come back full strength after the next two games with the running & passing all sorted out. We need production by other WR other than KJ and Woli.
 


ncgo4 said:
We learned lots of things today but 2 of them are unmistakable. First, it is no longer possible for the coaching staff to believe that Mitch is capable of playing at the level needed by a B1G team hoping to win their division. Second, our game plan is inadequate to produce an adequate offense.

We have our 2 weakest opponents coming up which means we have the opportunity to install a new QB with new wrinkles in the O game plan without worry of dropping a game. Our defense can carry us through the next 2 weeks. Coach K needs to decide between Perra and Croft and get real darned busy.[/QUOTE

Install a new QB, new wrinkles? just go for a new coach and a new stadium too. new campus and new colors, new fight song while we are at it. we just had back to back 8 win seasons and played Jan 1 bowl game that impressed the bowl folks with our traveling fans. My god people, we just played #2 and a competent Colorado state team that was looking at the game as a program changer. typical Minnesota attitude....
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60's Guy said:
Look, if you wanna post sea shells and balloons all day every day that's cool. You are suggesting nothing but words of praise for three more games and then depending on your whims we might have your blessing to express an opinion? The thing that keeps a message board going is diverse opinions and honest thoughts. If you think the Gophers have played up to your expectations, that's your opinion. That's fine too, but if someone offers constructive criticism or their own observations and you happen to disagree...then don't make crap up and say they said something they did not say so you can make yourself out to be the only guy cheering online supporting the team.
I also believe Coach Kill will figure things out. I'd say history says he's pretty good at what he does. Coach Kill is also the person who said he was embarassed at half time. You can call it mess but nobody else is allowed to?
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Not sure if you have a problem with comprehension or exaggeration. Who in the hell is suggesting nothing but praise for the next three games? Doesn't even make sense. Calling it a mess--just not going into panic or throw in the towel or time for drastic changes mode. Do whatever the hell you want. If I don't like it, I might tell you or I might think you're all wrong but not bother.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Where are you getting this stat from? Leidner was 78th out of 123 in passing efficiency last year.
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I think he's talking about completion %. It's the stat people use when they want to rip Leidner because it's his worst one.
 

The bottom line for me is that this is still a team that needs production from the passing game. The running game and defense are solid enough. But just how far this team goes will come down to Leidner and guys like Wolitarsky, Maye, Still and company getting open and the QB hitting them with passes consistently. Right now, Mitch struggles with that and honestly has done so since he entered the program. Eventually, the passing game has to come around the start making more plays. It really is that simple imo. With the defense we have, they'll keep us in games. But at some point, they'll need help. Otherwise, they'll get worn down and things will get tougher down the line.
 

jaymil said:
I think he's talking about completion %. It's the stat people use when they want to rip Leidner because it's his worst one.
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Mitch had two passes that were so bad I don't think he could try to miss that badly again. When he is off he is really off. The rest of his game was fine. His stat's (for those who want Mitch benched) for the 1st two games are solid. No interceptions...none.
 

tikited said:
Mitch had two passes that were so bad I don't think he could try to miss that badly again. When he is off he is really off. The rest of his game was fine. His stat's (for those who want Mitch benched) for the 1st two games are solid. No interceptions...none.
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He makes some terrible throws and then some beautiful ones it seems every game. Very bi-polar in that regard. But no interceptions on 80 passes is nothing to sneeze at, it's a good sign.
 

We can win the west with Leidner playing as good or as bad, however you want to interpret it, as he did the last two games.
 

beatles said:
He makes some terrible throws and then some beautiful ones it seems every game. Very bi-polar in that regard. But no interceptions on 80 passes is nothing to sneeze at, it's a good sign.
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Agreed. Not only during each game, but throughout a season. There have been two games so far this season (the 1st two) against two very, very difficult opponents. You look at film of Iowa and Mizzou last year and you might think ML7 is ready for Sunday football. These two games shouldn't get everyone all flustered, they haven't even gotten to a manageable opponent that will allow us to work on any of our faults...both opponents have made us stick to what we're good at and hope for the best. This is our first "development" game this Saturday and it will be much needed for the boys.
 

'13Gopher said:
These two games shouldn't get everyone all flustered, they haven't even gotten to a manageable opponent that will allow us to work on any of our faults...both opponents have made us stick to what we're good at and hope for the best. This is our first "development" game this Saturday and it will be much needed for the boys.
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The voice of wisdom.
 

tikited said:
Mitch had two passes that were so bad I don't think he could try to miss that badly again. When he is off he is really off. The rest of his game was fine. His stat's (for those who want Mitch benched) for the 1st two games are solid. No interceptions...none.
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He hasn't thrown an INT since tOSU game last year.
 


Before this season is over, we will see Rodrick playing a big factor on offense. When the oline starts to gel, he will gain chunks while wearing down the defenses. Just my prediction.
 

WorkingMyTailOff said:
Before this season is over, we will see Rodrick playing a big factor on offense. When the oline starts to gel, he will gain chunks while wearing down the defenses. Just my prediction.
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I would have agreed with that based on how he ran last year. But the new lighter version doesn't seem to run to punish people and it could be just limited samples. But, 6 runs vs Colorado St for for 3.3 avg
and 9 runs for 3.6 avg vs TCU. He seems unlikely to break runs and they keep talking about Brooks...dunno. Want to believe you....
 

Yeah it's a limited number of carries, and his average isn't great now but it will improve. He was set for a big gainer on Sat, but there was an illegal motion called.
 

beatles said:
He makes some terrible throws and then some beautiful ones it seems every game. Very bi-polar in that regard. But no interceptions on 80 passes is nothing to sneeze at, it's a good sign.
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They are usually so far off nobody can catch em!
 

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