Some thoughts about the game

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GophersInIowa

GophersInIowa

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Defense played great. After the first drive:
- Purdue was 1 of 14 on 3rd down conversions.
- averaged 9 yards a drive on their next 11 possessions
- forced 3 turnovers
- applied a ton of pressure on their QB, we've really struggled in this all year

Brooks is a stud, Smith is very good as well. The OL played it's best game of the year. Even on the pass plays, the QBs had lots of time to throw.

Not sure if it is Leidner or if the coaches tell him to do this, but I think he checks down way too quickly. He doesn't even give the guys downfield a chance. Obviously the passing game needs to get better.

Special teams played a lot better. Not sure if they made any changes on the punt return blocking but it was great to see some room to run for once.

I get it was Purdue, but still a good performance after last week. Remember Purdue lost by 3 at Michigan St. last week. Anything can happen any given week. Nebraska has to be down after another crushing loss. Lets kick them in the nuts from start to finish next weekend. Go Gophers!
 

I will also add that I thought Campbell played very well today.
 

Good summary, a couple things to add/agree with:
- Purdue is a solid offensive team, our D was outstanding
- Derek Burns tweeted that they did change PR blocking this week - it obviously worked pretty well
- I still haven't figured out how much to blame the QB vs the plays for the passing struggles. Mitch is really inconsistent, but he can make throws - it seems like we try to give him a ton of very easy/short throws, but he is consistent on those just like he's inconsistent downfield. So (IMO) can't hurt to open it up a bit more.
- That said, today reinforced the fact that good running playcalling and great OL play and get this offense off and running just fine
 

I agree that it was Purdue, but having a healthier Lauer back, Pirsig back at RT, and Moore at center gave this team some edge and confidence up front today. They were sealing blocks downfield all day.
 

In regards to Mitch checking down too quickly, I think the constant pass rush has taken a toll on him. He needs to do a better job of acknowledging when the blocking is good to hold off and look down field. I really hope the 2nd half brought his confidence back. That pass to Lingen was a beauty.
 


Mitch looked bad the majority of the game. Everything else looked very good. It was exciting watching Brook's style of running.
 

It's so important for us to 1. Establish a run game early and 2. Stick with the run game.

Purdue got tired and we had some very nice lanes to run though. Getting trucked by brooks had to be demoralizing.
 


41 points, but nothing in the 1st quarter again and only 10 in the first half. Against a better team, we get down in that 1st half, and the 2nd half looks very different as we have to throw. Our passing game is still a mess. During all those 1st half 3-and-outs, the announcers were even critical of the throws and decisions in the passing games and predicted we may see Croft soon. Running game was great which helps Mitch, but he still hasn't evolved as a passer. Same thrower as last year and just more exposed this year without Cobb and no O-line continuity.
 



Meet your Gophers. With 20 guys sitting out practice this week, 8 or 9 starters out, and the sting of an awful loss last week, we're back to who we are.

Best line of the broadcast was Bentley saying Kill told us what he was going to do, then went out and did it.

We were not productive in the first quarter, but sent a message that we’re going to hit you in the mouth. How many times in the last two years did we pound Cobb until the opposing defense finally buckled? Brooks is going to be a popular guy in tomorrow’s film session, with the way he punished would-be tacklers.

Defense clicked today and handed out a beating. That was a tough display and our backup Dbs can play (Murray’s not bad, either).

Mitch sure isn’t the prettiest QB, but I hope he doesn’t try to be. He can do enough to keep teams honest, as long as Limegrover continues to call games like he did today.

Great win. Nebraska is reeling. Hammer them, then take a week off and get some people healthy.

Fun game today!
 

Leidner started out really poor, but settled down on his last two throws after we established the running game. Hopefully our running was due to our OL turning a corner and not because Purdue is terrible.
 

gopher7 said:
Leidner started out really poor, but settled down on his last two throws after we established the running game. Hopefully our running was due to our OL turning a corner and not because Purdue is terrible.
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Probably a combo of the two. Coming into this game Purdue was 13th in the conference in run defense, giving up nearly 200 yards a game so clearly their run D leaves a lot to be desired. That being said the guys up front did a nice job opening running lanes and the backs (especially Brooks) ran really physical. Should be a good confidence booster for the line heading to the Nebraska game.
 

Good posts in this thread.

My two things I'm happiest with today:

- O-line play
- 3 INTs with one for 6. Those are such game changers.

Go Gophers!!
 



Ha! Our 41 points currently leads the B1G West after two games.

No, I'm not saying we have a dominant offense. Just thought it was amusing...
 

The throw-down of the Purdue db on Brooks' long td run was reminiscent of what Peterson did to a db in Cleveland in Minnesota's 2009 opener. Plus, he did something similar to the same db a little later. Ouch! The abuse he dished out seemed to fire up the Gophers on both side of the ball.
 

BleedGopher said:
Good posts in this thread.

My two things I'm happiest with today:

- O-line play
- 3 INTs with one for 6. Those are such game changers.

Go Gophers!!
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Me too! Plus the special team play was pretty damn good today. That's how we're going to win. Mitch is who he is at this stage. Can make some plays if given time, but he's still going to be cringe-worthy when he's pressured at all. Now I hope we kick the sh*t out of Nebraska for the third year in a row. What I remember about this games is how the Gophers dominated them physically.
 

Just what the doctor ordered

We needed a win badly and we got it. The fact that most everybody got to play today will help insure a great week of practice getting ready for Nebraska. We are one game out of first place
and if we can beat nebraska....I think there is a good chance we are tied for first place next week.

Really needed win. Brooks looks elite to me. He just needs more carries every week.

Mitch needs to be our quarterback. Our defense got confidence and was swarming and hitting. Myrick's interceptions were very fun! Be awesome if he can channel that speed into becoming a ball hawk each week. Richardson is amazing. Linebackers were real good too.

Gotta squash Nebraska.
 

We beat a team we were supposed to beat in style.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Mitch's two TD's were beauties, though he struggled first half as usual; Brooks' long run fantastic, as was his effort all afternoon; O-line blocking again; great turnovers from our outstanding defense; Croft's 34-yard zone read scamper very nice to see - hints of future good things from him. Still not sure the run-heavy approach will work against the big boys: Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin - maybe not even against Nebraska. We have to develop a better passing game to go with the run.
 


It's nice to see that are old friend Greg Hudson is still putting together Horse sh*t defenses.
 

I liked the play of the O-line all day, having Moore in there with Christensen back in and Lauer at LT and Pirsig at RT seemed to make a huge difference but the attitude that Moore brought and the sealing off on the backside he did all day, there are good things for that kid the rest of his career hopefully.
After the first series we seemed to start to exert the Gophers will, you could see with how hard that Brooks and Smith were running this game the Gophers intent was to pound the rock. Shannon Brooks did some things reminiscent of MBIII back in the day today. I thought Eric Murray played his best game as a Gopher and he seemed lights out on defense in shutting his side of the field down, I was super impressed with his play. #26 Campbell thought he had a heck of a game tackling and shutting down Knight after that first drive. Mitch is Mitch, were never going to be a top passing team with him but why bitch about it, the team won by 41 to 13 today and everyone was smiling and a lot of players got to play. Myricks pick to the house hopefully he get's a chance to run one of those back on a kick off but I was impressed with his aggressive play today to. All and all finally a fun game to watch and even though it was Purdue the Gophers played hard and kicked butt. Let's do the same next week to the Huskers. You can already tell this is going to be an exciting week and the fans are going to be pumped for next Saturdays game. Go Gophers!
 


GophersInIowa said:
Defense played great. After the first drive:
- Purdue was 1 of 14 on 3rd down conversions.
- averaged 9 yards a drive on their next 11 possessions
- forced 3 turnovers
- applied a ton of pressure on their QB, we've really struggled in this all year

Brooks is a stud, Smith is very good as well. The OL played it's best game of the year. Even on the pass plays, the QBs had lots of time to throw.

Not sure if it is Leidner or if the coaches tell him to do this, but I think he checks down way too quickly. He doesn't even give the guys downfield a chance. Obviously the passing game needs to get better.

Special teams played a lot better. Not sure if they made any changes on the punt return blocking but it was great to see some room to run for once.

I get it was Purdue, but still a good performance after last week. Remember Purdue lost by 3 at Michigan St. last week. Anything can happen any given week. Nebraska has to be down after another crushing loss. Lets kick them in the nuts from start to finish next weekend. Go Gophers!
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Good observations as always, GophersInIowa. Can I pick your brain over a few things?

1) Was holding Purdue to 13 points today more a result of a stifling, swarming defense or an incompetent Purdue offense?

2) How do you envision the coaches splitting carries between Brooks and Smith moving forward? Obviously Brooks looked very good today, but I think his stat line was aided by a few long runs and a mediocre Purdue run defense.

3) What are your thoughts on the Nebraska game next week?
 

My thoughts are still the same as they have been all year round. Use Drew Wolitarsky more in the passing game to have a more well rounded offense. Drew is our only true WR.
 

The real bright spots to me were the improved pass rush and offensive line play as well as the physical running of Shannon Brooks. The defense absolutely shut Purdue down after the first drive (though giving up first drive TD's is a recipe for disaster with this offense) and it was refreshing to see the Quarterback take hit after hit. I couldn't believe Purdue kept chucking the ball around in a 41-6, then 41-13 game with their QB getting hit like that when their backup is in poor health. Just run the ball and move on to the next opponent at some point.

The down side to me is that the offense (QB play and play calling specifically) was atrocious again in the first half and the Gophers again failed to complete a deep shot outside the numbers. The only attempt to stretch the D was the wheel route (?) to the fullback that hung in the air and got picked off.
 

EG#9 said:
The real bright spots to me were the improved pass rush and offensive line play as well as the physical running of Shannon Brooks. The defense absolutely shut Purdue down after the first drive (though giving up first drive TD's is a recipe for disaster with this offense) and it was refreshing to see the Quarterback take hit after hit. I couldn't believe Purdue kept chucking the ball around in a 41-6, then 41-13 game with their QB getting hit like that when their backup is in poor health. Just run the ball and move on to the next opponent at some point.

The down side to me is that the offense (QB play and play calling specifically) was atrocious again in the first half and the Gophers again failed to complete a deep shot outside the numbers. The only attempt to stretch the D was the wheel route (?) to the fullback that hung in the air and got picked off.
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Play calling was suspect in spots, but what really got me was Mitch's inability to see the field and hit the open guy. The interception is the glaring example, but there were others where we had open guys down field and Mitch is either not seeing them or scared to throw it. When the competition gets tougher we'll have to make those throws to keep/make the defense honest. It probably won't be very often our WR'S will be that open the rest of the year, but Mitch is gonna have to find them.
 

Happy to see some new guys get a shot. Participation below

Minnesota: 1H-Perra, Jacques, 1A-Croft, Demry, 1Z-Gant, Desmond, 3C-McKelvey, John, 3-Hardin, KiAnte, 8H-Johnson,Cavonte, 8-McGhee, D, 9A-Keith, Alex, 9-Carter, Eric, 13-Celestin, J, 14-Streveler,Chris, 15-Williams, E, 17-Huff, Jacob, 18-Santoso, Ryan, 20-Huff, Julian, 21-Holland, Melvin, 24-Smith, Rodney, 25-Jordahl, Payton, 32-Edwards,Berkley, 35-Williams, R., 36-Cashman, Blake, 37-Mortell, Peter, 43-Hartmann, Tyler, 45-Hart, Nick, 48-Weber, Blake, 50-Lynn, Jack, 52-Timms, Yoshoub, 56-Rallis, Nick, 60-Leidner, Matt, 63-Christenson,Jon, 68-Hayes, Isaac, 69-Carr, Justin, 70-Fahning, Chad, 77-Bush, Foster, 82-Wolitarsky,Drew, 88-Still, Rashad, 91-Kafo, Julien, 92-Ndondo-Lay, R.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I will also add that I thought Campbell played very well today.
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Gopher028 said:
You did?... Just watching the replay now, and the thing I notice the most, are his mis-reads and mis-tackles..
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You are both right. DC26 plays a high risk high reward style. He isn't as disciplined as some (me) would like, so he makes some big plays and misses some things that frustrate you as well. Raw talent he has in spades. He will need to clean it up some to play at the next level tho, IMO.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
It's so important for us to 1. Establish a run game early and 2. Stick with the run game.

Purdue got tired and we had some very nice lanes to run though. Getting trucked by brooks had to be demoralizing.
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We are a physical team who runs the ball. All the talk and time about balance or a passing game was a waste of time and talent. Our brand is based on just what we did at Purdue. There were times when going to West Lafayette was a horror show.
 

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