Did Dasher's absence matter?

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Breakin' The Plane

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Serious question, slight bias. How much of a difference would Dwight Dasher have made? The gameplan was obvious, dominate upfront, drain the clock. I'm not sure that Dasher would have made a difference. Kilgore was fine, but the offense won this game. The defense still has some growing up to do, but I think the base is there.
 

Yes. How much? Who knows. Recall when Kafka came in as a back-up for NW and diced us to bits.
 

Of course it did, but considering how we held the ball for like 45 minutes, it's hard to know how much more he could have done. Kilgore made some really nice throws, especially in that 2nd quarter.
 

I know, but how much did MTSU's offense effect the outcome? The gameplan took the wind out of their sails. The Gopher D had little to do with the outcome.
 

Who knows? It was a lucky break but not our fault he borrowed money for gambling.

If Dasher makes first downs the time of possession evens out a bit.

Dominaitng fourth quarter
 


I do not want to think about it.
 

MTSU fan here.

I'm pretty sure that even if Dasher played that you guys would have won; Dasher doesn't play defense and would have not done anything to stop the running game that Minnesota so easily ran.
 


Yes. If he plays, MTSU is more likely to score. If MTSU scores more, Weber has to throw more (Then it could go one of two ways).
 



Hard to say. Kilgore threw the ball pretty well. I'm not sure Dasher does any better.
 

It's hard to really say. I suppose there is a good chance that MTSU would have been better but who knows? Kilgore was pretty good tonight and he certainly wasn't the reason that they lost. He made a couple really nice throws (the TD in particular) that i'm not sure Dasher makes. The "what if" game is kind of pointless. What if Ellestad makes the 1st FG to go ahead 17-0, is it ever a close game?
 

look at his stats for last year. He had a huge game against Southern Mississippi. Against Maryland and Clemson not so much.
 

How much of a difference would Dwight Dasher have made?

About the same as having Dwight Eisenhower.

Prove me wrong.
 



We had players suspended for this game too. If we want to spend time speculating about what would be if Dasher was playing, then we might as well ask what would be different if our players were playing too. I don't recall last year people giving us credit for Decker being injured.
 

True, and if you think about the discombobulation in the 2nd Q on D, I have a hard time believing it would have happened with a healthy Royston and Theret on the field.

I'm not sure it's even a game with those two guys playing.
 


Schnoodler said:
True, and if you think about the discombobulation in the 2nd Q on D, I have a hard time believing it would have happened with a healthy Royston and Theret on the field.

I'm not sure it's even a game with those two guys playing.
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Winner for the point you made. Extra winner for using "discombobulation". :p
 

I doubt it. I think you could replace a couple of the great throws Kilgore made with a couple nice runs by Dasher and at the end of the day the result is probably the same.
 

Dasher probably would have rushed more...and the kid can find the smallest hole to run through. Kilgore was alright...not NEAR as good as Dasher. I agree with other MT fans though, our defense was good 1st half and absolutely sucked the 2nd. 99 1/2 yards to a Minnesota TD and our defense couldn't stop one part of that??? Yea...pretty awful.
 

dance4raiders said:
Dasher probably would have rushed more...and the kid can find the smallest hole to run through. Kilgore was alright...not NEAR as good as Dasher. I agree with other MT fans though, our defense was good 1st half and absolutely sucked the 2nd. 99 1/2 yards to a Minnesota TD and our defense couldn't stop one part of that??? Yea...pretty awful.
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Your defense sucked the whole game except for a ~5 minute stretch of the 2nd quarter. Dasher might have helped you if he could transform into D-lineman weighing more than 240 lbs or a linebacker who tackled with more than his arms.
 

Schnoodler said:
True, and if you think about the discombobulation in the 2nd Q on D, I have a hard time believing it would have happened with a healthy Royston and Theret on the field.

I'm not sure it's even a game with those two guys playing.
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This. MTSU fans kept saying how Kilgore was a better passer and what killed us (outside of doing a poor job filling cutback lanes and tackling) was poor safety play. Kilgore made a few passes that Lewis was a step off of and we were also fairly confused out there so we can guess that we'd have been more stable and would've tightened up some of those gaps. Its reasonable to guess that Dasher wouldn't have been able to make some of those passes.
 

oleboy41 said:
This. MTSU fans kept saying how Kilgore was a better passer and what killed us (outside of doing a poor job filling cutback lanes and tackling) was poor safety play. Kilgore made a few passes that Lewis was a step off of and we were also fairly confused out there so we can guess that we'd have been more stable and would've tightened up some of those gaps. Its reasonable to guess that Dasher wouldn't have been able to make some of those passes.
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I actually thought Kilgore was very accurate. He was laying it in right between zones and threaded it quite a few times. Didn't really make any dumb decisions either; we definitely could have used Kim and Kyle last night to take away some of their big passing plays.
 

Brewster is becoming a lot more like Mason. Running the ball has become our greatest priority. Maybe we should have kept Mase? Maybe not! I'm still not sure Brewster is the answer but I think after this year we will probably know.
 

If MTSU had lined up Dasher at LB, and if Dasher could tackle, then yes - he might have made a difference. Otherwise, no.
 

I know this has built up after 40 years of watching the Gophers get stung. But, our fan base is so conditioned to seeing the worst possible situations come up in games - we can't even enjoy a fun victory without looking for ways that we COULD have lost. What if MTSU had the '85 Bears defense? I'm SURE the Gophers would have lost.

NICE WIN.

NEXT UP...
 


MTSU is a very good team with or without Dasher. They are are Southern Football team with Southern talent and Southern mentality. They are going to go on and have another great season.

The Gophers are finally on the rise. First time since Holtz was here but that obviously didn't last. This D is going to be very good. The O is greatly improved. Too bad most of their fans are Minnesotans. "Nice" but 100% negative. Next time we need a Southern bred and born Football coach. There will be a next time. I hope it is years away.
 

gold04 said:
Brewster is becoming a lot more like Mason. Running the ball has become our greatest priority. Maybe we should have kept Mase? Maybe not! I'm still not sure Brewster is the answer but I think after this year we will probably know.
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Awesome thought. We sure didn't need to go out and get talent for the defense.:confused:
 

Tee09 said:
Your defense sucked the whole game except for a ~5 minute stretch of the 2nd quarter. Dasher might have helped you if he could transform into D-lineman weighing more than 240 lbs or a linebacker who tackled with more than his arms.
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I think Dasher would have helped because he would have kept our offense out on the field longer. Kilgore was alright. Yea he made some good passes and ran the ball a little bit, but he just couldn't get us anywhere.
 

dance4raiders said:
I think Dasher would have helped because he would have kept our offense out on the field longer. Kilgore was alright. Yea he made some good passes and ran the ball a little bit, but he just couldn't get us anywhere.
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Point taken. Part of me would have preferred to play Dasher, as from what I hear, he's not as accurate throwing the ball as Kilgore. Our two green safeties who started last night are said to be better at run support/hitting than they are in coverage, and it was really noticeable that they were often a step late or out of position when Kilgore was shredding our zone coverages in the late 2nd quarter.

Then again, after watching our guys "tackle" last night, I'm glad Kilgore isn't as athletic a runner as Dasher. I hope you guys do well the rest of the year and take down GaTech. Good luck.
 

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