Is it hopeless, or can the season be salvaged?

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RememberMurray

RememberMurray

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— Can the defense improve, at least a little, yet this season?

— Will we get some key players back, and in time to make some impact?

— Is it possible that some of the newbies on defense will start to improve, with experience?

— Can the coaches regroup somehow, and pull a rabbit out of their hats?

Or... are we burnt toast?
 

I, for one, just want to beat uw in the standings and on the field going into every year. Neither are going to happen. So to answer your question, it depends on what you want. 5-4? Sure, dream big. Division title? Burnt toast.
 

We can still achieve some good stuff and win out against the West and we have a chance at redemption. I have zero confidence that will happen. I want to see the D improve like I know it can and I want to see the offense be more balanced like it should be given the talent that they have there. And oh, don’t run Mo that many damn times! Spread the ball around and please send Bateman deep.
 

Burnt toast. Hoping for 1 or 2 wins and regroup for next year. Need to bring in some JC talent to shore up the defense or next year won't be much better.
 

I said going in 5-3 or better is the standard for being a solid season.
We technically could still achieve that but I don’t see it.

hopefully we salvage 4-4 and then win the crossover
 


LesBolstad said:
Burnt toast. Hoping for 1 or 2 wins and regroup for next year. Need to bring in some JC talent to shore up the defense or next year won't be much better.
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Yeah, I can understand your position.

I am really dismayed watching this defense. It brings back painful memories of bad Gopher defenses from the pre-Kill times. No tackling, poor coverage, no pass rush. Ugh.

What the hell happened? Is it poor recruiting?
 


RememberMurray said:
Yeah, I can understand your position.

I am really dismayed watching this defense. It brings back painful memories of bad Gopher defenses from the pre-Kill times. No tackling, poor coverage, no pass rush. Ugh.

What the hell happened? Is it poor recruiting?
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You mean the post kill times? The worst defense in my memory was the defense that got Robb smith fired
 

Those are the million dollar questions, OP. Problem is nobody knows. The staff probably has an inkling about how much the defense can improve, but we have no clue. Is it scheme? Kids not playing to their potential? Missed plays/reads? Lack of athletes? Only time will tell.

I think we do know that there's no help on the way, save for Crawford at punter. Dunlap ain't coming back. Faalele is apparently not even with the team. Oliver is out for the year. Are there other impact players missing?

I'm cautiously optimistic and believe in this staff enough to think the team can win 4 games. That looks REALLY unlikely right now, but CFB is a weird sport in which things can turn around very quickly.
 



The only one I have little to no hope on, is "getting back" the key players who are out. No chance there.
Faalele, Dunlap, Oliver ... no someone said Teague (DL) opted out, and it looks like Axel Ruschmeyer hurt something, so who knows there.
 

MGGopher said:
Those are the million dollar questions, OP. Problem is nobody knows. The staff probably has an inkling about how much the defense can improve, but we have no clue. Is it scheme? Kids not playing to their potential? Missed plays/reads? Lack of athletes? Only time will tell.

I think we do know that there's no help on the way, save for Crawford at punter. Dunlap ain't coming back. Faalele is apparently not even with the team. Oliver is out for the year. Are there other impact players missing?

I'm cautiously optimistic and believe in this staff enough to think the team can win 4 games. That looks REALLY unlikely right now, but CFB is a weird sport in which things can turn around very quickly.
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Regarding the bolded: have these things been officially announced/confirmed?
 


To the OPs points about defense, I don't think we can really play much worse then we have to this point on Defense so chances are we will see improvement on that side of the ball moving forward. The young guys will get experience and I would bet the coaches will keep shuffling things around to find the best players at each spot. The big question is if we will improve enough on Defense to compete on a weekly basis. I am still hopeful that will happen.

In terms of getting players back, the kickers would seem like the one area where that will happen and that will be a good thing for the team. Might not move the needle a ton but having stability in the kicking game is a must right now.

Will be interesting to see how the rest of 2020 plays out for the U and the rest of the Big Tean.
 



RememberMurray said:
Regarding the bolded: have these things been officially announced/confirmed?
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I think they confirmed that Dunlap has an achilies injury so that would put him almost certainly out till 2021. Faalele seems to be out due to covid concerns so with no real prospect of covid going away anytime soon I can't imagine we will see him till 2021 at the earliest as well. And as for Oliver I don't know that Fleck has ever come out and said it but reports were ACL or something along those lines so like Dunlap pretty safe to say we won't have him back until 2021 either.
 

RememberMurray said:
Regarding the bolded: have these things been officially announced/confirmed?
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None have and none will be. Media have probably been instructed not to ask questions about injuries/opt-outs or they will revoke their media passes.
 

MplsGopher said:
None have and none will be. Media have probably been instructed not to ask questions about injuries/opt-outs or they will revoke their media passes.
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Where did you hear this? Crazy if true.
BTW, Faalele and Dunlap are 100% done for year.
 

"Probably" = wild guess by me.

But what else explains the lack of media making definitive statements this year about guys who won't play? STrib, etc. Completely dropped the ball.

Do I need to call out Meg Ryan by name, to get her to prod??
 

I think so. Hey, we've been in tough spots before.
2012, after starting 4-0 we lost three games, but still won two later to reach bowl eligibility for the first time in a few years.
2013. Again start 4-0 and then drop two games to open the conference. But then we won four straight.
2014. After a gut punch loss to Illinois we bounced back with a huge win over Iowa
We can go more recently with 2018, too. That season looked rough, but then we beat Purdue and went to Madison to take down the Badgers.
It's not over, there's a lot of football left to be played this season. Success is still on the table.
 

stating the obvious - the worst thing about this situation is that, after last year, a lot of people thought the program had truly "turned the corner" - that Fleck was the real deal and the program was poised for a new era where they would be relevant not just in the conference, but on a national level.

And now, after two games, that all looks like a fantasy.

We've gone from "a new era of Gopher Football" to "Same Old Gophers" in two weeks.

And that's what really stings - the notion that the program is right back to the Dark Ages where you might get a good year followed by a bad year. Any idea of conference titles or national prominence seems light-years away.

And BTW - it may be a saving grace that they aren't allowing fans at the games. If this was a normal year for attendance, the Gophers would be looking at more crowds in the 20,000 to 25,000 range the rest of the year. When the fans in the Twin Cities turn, they turn hard.

The Gophers had an opportunity to re-set the Twin Cities sports scene and take advantage of the Vikings' problems. Instead, they have given the fans no reason to believe in the program.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
stating the obvious - the worst thing about this situation is that, after last year, a lot of people thought the program had truly "turned the corner" - that Fleck was the real deal and the program was poised for a new era where they would be relevant not just in the conference, but on a national level.

And now, after two games, that all looks like a fantasy.

We've gone from "a new era of Gopher Football" to "Same Old Gophers" in two weeks.

And that's what really stings - the notion that the program is right back to the Dark Ages where you might get a good year followed by a bad year. Any idea of conference titles or national prominence seems light-years away.

And BTW - it may be a saving grace that they aren't allowing fans at the games. If this was a normal year for attendance, the Gophers would be looking at more crowds in the 20,000 to 25,000 range the rest of the year. When the fans in the Twin Cities turn, they turn hard.

The Gophers had an opportunity to re-set the Twin Cities sports scene and take advantage of the Vikings' problems. Instead, they have given the fans no reason to believe in the program.
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Can you spell out the criteria on what puts us in "a new era of Gopher Football" vs "Same Old Gophers".

Seems like a couple players not playing well defensively really turned our fate quickly and thus the whole program has gone back to zero in your eyes.
 

College football is clearly having a different season. Some players probably didn't work out as hard as they should due to the uncertainty of a season. Along the same lines, probably didn't pay attention to the playbook as much as they should.

The season doesn't mean much to me at this point. I'd rather it be a year of working with the younger players. When we do that, unfortunately the negative posts will really fly as mistakes will be made etc. This board is extremely quick to swear and get bent out of shape very quickly. Shows the maturity level of some.

I just want them to play hard, learn, and do the best we can. The record this year means nothing to me all the while hoping we can have a couple wins to avoid a goose egg.
 

Two games do not an 'era' make.

That being said, giving up almost 700 yards to Maryland is cause for concern, if not outright panic.
 

We still have Iowa and Wisconsin on the schedule.

And considering how we started 2019....it's still possible that things turn around.
 

stocker08 said:
We still have Iowa and Wisconsin on the schedule.

And considering how we started 2019....it's still possible that things turn around.
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At this point, if we could find some way to beat either Iowa or Wisconsin I'd be ecstatic.

Iowa looks beatable, but only if we can find a way to actually make a tackle now and then, generate an occasional pass rush and cover somebody once in a blue moon.

Wisconsin might be in worse shape than us, because with their COVID situation they might no be able to play a meaningful schedule.
 

RememberMurray said:
Two games do not an 'era' make.

That being said, giving up almost 700 yards to Maryland is cause for concern, if not outright panic.
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There's no way that it's not, sure.

But, who knows, maybe in a couple months we'll all be looking back on a record breaking season by Maryland and Taulia?
 

Some guy said:
You mean the post kill times? The worst defense in my memory was the defense that got Robb smith fired
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Actually, I'd say that defense and this one are tied so far.
 

Face The Facts said:
Can you spell out the criteria on what puts us in "a new era of Gopher Football" vs "Same Old Gophers".

Seems like a couple players not playing well defensively really turned our fate quickly and thus the whole program has gone back to zero in your eyes.
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I'm talking about the public image of the program.

Remember the public image of the program after the Bowl game over Auburn? That was "the new era of Gopher football."

Now, compare that to the public image of the program after the Maryland game. as in "Same Old Gophers."

that is what I mean - the public image of this program has taken a huge step backwards.

Now, if they can find a way to play better and win some games, maybe they can repair some of the damage.

But, the Twin Cities fan base is very fickle - they are bandwagon jumpers. And right now, a lot of people who jumped on the bandwagon last year are jumping off the bandwagon.
 

MplsGopher said:
But, who knows, maybe in a couple months we'll all be looking back on a record breaking season by Maryland and Taulia?
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Yes,Taulia could have a very good year when it's all said and done. They also have some real quality receivers. My concern is that one of the problems with this defense can't be cured completely by scheming: slowness of foot.
 

Their next two games at @Penn St and then home for Ohio State. So I think we'll find out how real Taulia is very quickly.
 


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