Post Game Thread: Gophers Lose a Very Winnable Game at Cal

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btowngopher said:
The game played out as many predicted, sure our coaches weren’t brilliant, but ultimately our players made more mistakes and less plays than Cal’s.
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Yep. This is why I hate the grade the coaches thread because fans just shit on the coaching staff while putting none of it on the players.

Dropped passes, missed tackles (including on the one TD where multiple guys had a chance to stop the TE before he got into the EZ), turnovers and bonehaeded special teams decisions by one of our best player all played a huge role in why we lost.

Cal played clean....we didn't....in a toss up game on the road that is going to be the difference.

Sucks to lose a game that was very winnable if we had played well. Hopefully players/coaches learn from what went wrong in this one and use they bye week to fix it heading into conference play.
 

T4K said:
This is conventional thinking about Cal and probably a nice opportunity to recognize that early season college football in the NIL world is unpredictable.

Last night was the least expected game plan from a Cal team I’ve seen in 35 years. Our MO has been to look exactly like what your team was. Instead the new OC put the ball in the Frosh QBs hands and went all passing all game. Pre-season prognostications can’t account for that.

I feel your guys pain. When you play that style of football you have to be nearly perfect and error free. That’s really hard. That said, Fleck has won a LOT at Minnesota and that isn’t as easy to do as what it may seem like. You guys have a solid team and are going to win a lot of games this year. On the road at Whoregon and tOSU are likely L’s but everything else are potential wins. 9-3 is a very successful season.

Minnesota fans have been great. Cal fans will be rooting for you.
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Thank you for your analysis. I thought Harsin called a really good game for Cal. Your team played a clean game with no turnovers and your QB has tremendous athletic and passing skills. Good luck going forward.
 



btowngopher said:
We’ve tried bringing in a great recruiter for a HC in the past. I’m not sure a coach out there exists that will consistently out recruit OSU, Michigan, PSU, USC, Oregon, Nebraska, Washington or even UCLA.
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Is it too much to ask that we sometimes recruit better than Iowa? Wisconsin? Purdue?
 
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Yah-E said:
It’s great thing we have a By week before Rutgers.

Get Darius back and really prepare for conference play.

9-3 is still very plausible.
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We lost to a team that went 2-6 in a bad conference last year and we had trouble beating a MAC team.

Is 9-3 possible? Sure. 11-1 is possible.
Is it likely? Absolutely not
 

MZBKA1 said:
We lost to a team that went 2-6 in a bad conference last year and we had trouble beating a MAC team.

Is 9-3 possible? Sure. 11-1 is possible.
Is it likely? Absolutely not
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Hey, I’d also be very surprised if we finished 9-3 so.

One week at a time. Bye week is good because we need it to prepare for Rutgers. AK and Rutgers won’t be easy.
 

GopherGrit said:
I understand that. And I understand that this game was probably scheduled before the Big Ten expanded with western teams. (True?)

That said ... non-conference game ... tell them we won't sign unless we get to dictate the game time. If they refuse, then no deal!
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Who is "them" you are referring to?
 



Hi all! I'm a Cal fan and I come in peace. I've been reading the board over the last week to get a sense of how Minn fans were looking at this game and how you all saw Cal. I thought I'd share my perspective as someone who follows Cal football.

(And some caveats. I was at the game last night so I don't have all your player names from the broadcast. And my understanding of your team has just come from fan comments and highlights of this season and some highlights from last season as I wanted to develop a perspective on how this game might play out.)

Going into this game, I assumed it was going to be a low scoring affair. On the boards, I like to call this a "Wilcox special." Wilcox is a defensive coach who's best wins come out of low-scoring, defensive battle matchups. His biggest upsets during his time at Cal have looked like this (games under 20 points, possession battles, turnovers by defense, eke out a win). Seeing Minnesota's defensive stats from 2024 and knowing Cal's defensive DNA made this obvious. Online predictions had it 20-17 Minnesota.

I also felt this was going to be a close battle because of the matchup. Sagarin also had both teams ranked pretty closely.

The game felt like either team could win it. Through the 1st quarter, I felt good about Cal because JKS was producing offense and the Cal defense seemed to be limiting what the Gopher's were doing. But then you all came back to score and we didn't seem to have good answers. In the back of my mind, I was hoping that getting back our star linebacker (Cade Uluave, who was out for the 1st half due to a targeting penalty in our last game) would make a difference in the 2nd. Cal getting that field goal at the end of the half with little left is not common for Wilcox.

In the 3rd quarter, I had my head in my hands as you guys ran the ball and commanded the field. We seemed to have no answers. Our d-line seemed gassed and I kept hearing "Ijeboi for __ yards" by the announcer. You were grinding us down and I knew that it the rest of the game went like this, the game was yours.

In my head, there were a few key plays which seemed to change momentum and change the result of the game. The interception that stopped the drive at midfield when you guys had momentum and were driving down the field. And the fumbled punt return that gave us a turn over right in front of your end zone. The latter, happening late in the game, clearly pushed momentum in our direction and motivated the bears and deflated the Gophers.

I believe that if it weren't for a few of these key plays (and maybe if you had your starting RB), this game would've gone a different way.

Other thoughts:

Your QB has looked good this season but Cal has become "DBU" seemingly putting a defensive back in the NFL every year. Regardless, Lindsey seemed to do pretty well last night seemingly finding a good number of chunk plays and converting 3rd down after 3rd down. He impressed me against our passing defense.

You guys have a better DL and OL than us, pressuring our QB and running the ball at will. But I think our defensive front 7 performed better in the 2nd half to stop the Gophers when they couldn't in the first.

I think Cal and Wilcox were underestimated -- for good reason. In past years, this is a game that we would possibly by 3 or 7 points. But Harsin and staff (Rolovich as offensive analyst, new OL coach) have made a big difference in offense. Obviously, Sagapolutele is a difference maker.

Special teams. I'm used to always being afraid of our special teams so I feel your pain. Wilcox's special teams looks vastly better this year than in years passed. I'm used to us missing field goals.

X-factor. Cal had a lot of turnover on the coaching staff and players from 2024 so last season wasn't the best predictor of this season. Our fan base has been trying to learn what this team is and like many teams, the transfer portal means we're just not sure what we get from year to year.
 

MZBKA1 said:
We lost to a team that went 2-6 in a bad conference last year and we had trouble beating a MAC team.

Is 9-3 possible? Sure. 11-1 is possible.
Is it likely? Absolutely not
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I don't know how California Berkeley's season will go, but the team I/ we saw last night was very good. Last years team has no bearing this year/ season.

Yes we didn't play our best, but that is no reason to slight the Golden Bears.
 

I was there. We made a lot of plays on offense, actually. But the weird trick play (lateral to Koi for a downfield pass) killed a promising drive. As did an interception thrown into double coverage. As did conservative, slow-pace play calling when we were playing from behind. But the biggest issue IMHO was poor field position. We had to start deep in the hole much of the game. Our conservative style leaves no room for error when our drives require a dozen plays to get into the red zone. This looks like it could be another “no explosive plays against quality opponents” season. So, I expect to lose to tOSU and Oregon, and to lose at least two more toss up games. Go Gophers.
 
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calbear2000 said:
Hi all! I'm a Cal fan and I come in peace. I've been reading the board over the last week to get a sense of how Minn fans were looking at this game and how you all saw Cal. I thought I'd share my perspective as someone who follows Cal football.

(And some caveats. I was at the game last night so I don't have all your player names from the broadcast. And my understanding of your team has just come from fan comments and highlights of this season and some highlights from last season as I wanted to develop a perspective on how this game might play out.)

Going into this game, I assumed it was going to be a low scoring affair. On the boards, I like to call this a "Wilcox special." Wilcox is a defensive coach who's best wins come out of low-scoring, defensive battle matchups. His biggest upsets during his time at Cal have looked like this (games under 20 points, possession battles, turnovers by defense, eke out a win). Seeing Minnesota's defensive stats from 2024 and knowing Cal's defensive DNA made this obvious. Online predictions had it 20-17 Minnesota.

I also felt this was going to be a close battle because of the matchup. Sagarin also had both teams ranked pretty closely.

The game felt like either team could win it. Through the 1st quarter, I felt good about Cal because JKS was producing offense and the Cal defense seemed to be limiting what the Gopher's were doing. But then you all came back to score and we didn't seem to have good answers. In the back of my mind, I was hoping that getting back our star linebacker (Cade Uluave, who was out for the 1st half due to a targeting penalty in our last game) would make a difference in the 2nd. Cal getting that field goal at the end of the half with little left is not common for Wilcox.

In the 3rd quarter, I had my head in my hands as you guys ran the ball and commanded the field. We seemed to have no answers. Our d-line seemed gassed and I kept hearing "Ijeboi for __ yards" by the announcer. You were grinding us down and I knew that it the rest of the game went like this, the game was yours.

In my head, there were a few key plays which seemed to change momentum and change the result of the game. The interception that stopped the drive at midfield when you guys had momentum and were driving down the field. And the fumbled punt return that gave us a turn over right in front of your end zone. The latter, happening late in the game, clearly pushed momentum in our direction and motivated the bears and deflated the Gophers.

I believe that if it weren't for a few of these key plays (and maybe if you had your starting RB), this game would've gone a different way.

Other thoughts:

Your QB has looked good this season but Cal has become "DBU" seemingly putting a defensive back in the NFL every year. Regardless, Lindsey seemed to do pretty well last night seemingly finding a good number of chunk plays and converting 3rd down after 3rd down. He impressed me against our passing defense.

You guys have a better DL and OL than us, pressuring our QB and running the ball at will. But I think our defensive front 7 performed better in the 2nd half to stop the Gophers when they couldn't in the first.

I think Cal and Wilcox were underestimated -- for good reason. In past years, this is a game that we would possibly by 3 or 7 points. But Harsin and staff (Rolovich as offensive analyst, new OL coach) have made a big difference in offense. Obviously, Sagapolutele is a difference maker.

Special teams. I'm used to always being afraid of our special teams so I feel your pain. Wilcox's special teams looks vastly better this year than in years passed. I'm used to us missing field goals.

X-factor. Cal had a lot of turnover on the coaching staff and players from 2024 so last season wasn't the best predictor of this season. Our fan base has been trying to learn what this team is and like many teams, the transfer portal means we're just not sure what we get from year to year.
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Very fair and good analysis. The play in bold, hasn't really been talked about enough. Brookington needed to fight for that ball worst case he could have turned it into an incompletion. Best case he may have drawn interference. Much like one of the Cal. receivers did against (Gopher player)#24.
 




btowngopher said:
Some percentage of that is execution by the players. Yes they rushed three, but pretty sure they were still supposed to cover the wrs, it’s not like they dropped into a 30 yard umbrella, and yes the trick play didn’t work, but Koi didn’t have to take big loss on the play.
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Humans of roughly equal skill can't cover indefinitely. If you give an accurate QB 8sec to find someone (finally) coming open ... he will, every time
 





GopherGrit said:
Humans of roughly equal skill can't cover indefinitely. If you give an accurate QB 8sec to find someone (finally) coming open ... he will, every time
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Well in this case they didn’t cover for more than four seconds on either of the two big completions before the half.
 

PMWinSTP said:
These are selected years in advance, and the TV media contracts dictate almost all of the game times.
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I'm talking about at the time the contract is written and signed.

It could be that no TV partner would allow such a stipulation to be included into a game contract. Although we know that's not true because I believe there is one for the Michigan Ohio State game, for example, but maybe they would not allow it for Minnesota Cal
 

Meh! Never felt good the entire game watching. Cal played well we played ok to bad and we’re not good enough to do that and win. Bye week is coming at a good time. Normally I’d think it’s too early but a rest before B1G will get guys healthy, let the coaches work on some things and hopefully get the boat turned in the right direction.
 



Nice game recap. Clarification , MN has 8+/- DB’s in the NFL n I’m seeing 5 from CAL so we both have called ourselves DBU in the past few years. I put +/- based on injuries/ active rosters.
 

Disappointing loss that was there for the taking. No two ways about that. Not likely to be a “special” season for MN, but I still think it’s a 7 or 8 win team — and many people predicted and would’ve been OK with that outcome before the season given the amount of talent lost to the NFL and fact a RsFrosh would be starting at QB.
  1. I bet Cal wins 9 games or more mostly b/c of their schedule, but they look solid.
  2. No Taylor and almost no Turner really hurt a team that leans on the RBs. Davis and Ijeboi were great IMO, but they’re #s 3 and 4 for a reason.
  3. OL was pretty poor at the start but adjusted to the speed and physicality IMO. Like the Cal poster said on p. 2, the OL took over for a good portion of the 2nd half, but…
  4. WAY too many mistakes to win: penalties, missed FG, punt miscues, negative plays.
  5. Agree there were some head-scratching coaching moves, with rushing 3 at the end of the half near the top of the list followed by the Perich trick play when the OL was dominating. I expected the run on 3rd & 7 run and figured they wanted to grab 4 or 5 yards and go for it on 4th…but that’s just speculation. Can see how some would be ticked about that one too.
  6. Lindsey was mostly great, and we should all be excited for the future. NEED more WR talent. I’m very concerned by the dearth of explosive plays.
  7. Cal QB is very talented, clearly. But the lack of pass rush for much of the game was concerning, as were the frequent holes in the zone on the back end.
I think Minnesota will improve a lot over the next 4 weeks and Cal will by 8-1 or 9-0 heading to Louisville in a couple months.
 

Having been a HC for over 20 years, rushing 3 and dropping 8 just doesn’t work. Eventually the receivers will find the open space and settle down . 5 blocking 3 is a losing proposition for the defense. Plus I always found the defensive secondary to “think you got him in the zone, no I thought you had him” end result, no one had him.
 


MGGopher said:
Disappointing loss that was there for the taking. No two ways about that. Not likely to be a “special” season for MN, but I still think it’s a 7 or 8 win team — and many people predicted and would’ve been OK with that outcome before the season given the amount of talent lost to the NFL and fact a RsFrosh would be starting at QB.
  1. I bet Cal wins 9 games or more mostly b/c of their schedule, but they look solid.
  2. No Taylor and almost no Turner really hurt a team that leans on the RBs. Davis and Ijeboi were great IMO, but they’re #s 3 and 4 for a reason.
  3. OL was pretty poor at the start but adjusted to the speed and physicality IMO. Like the Cal poster said on p. 2, the OL took over for a good portion of the 2nd half, but…
  4. WAY too many mistakes to win: penalties, missed FG, punt miscues, negative plays.
  5. Agree there were some head-scratching coaching moves, with rushing 3 at the end of the half near the top of the list followed by the Perich trick play when the OL was dominating. I expected the run on 3rd & 7 run and figured they wanted to grab 4 or 5 yards and go for it on 4th…but that’s just speculation. Can see how some would be ticked about that one too.
  6. Lindsey was mostly great, and we should all be excited for the future. NEED more WR talent. I’m very concerned by the dearth of explosive plays.
  7. Cal QB is very talented, clearly. But the lack of pass rush for much of the game was concerning, as were the frequent holes in the zone on the back end.
I think Minnesota will improve a lot over the next 4 weeks and Cal will by 8-1 or 9-0 heading to Louisville in a couple months.
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Good writeup. One thing you didn't mention that was an issue last night was missed tackles. Team has done a good job of tackling in the first 2 games but there were a number of times where a missed tackle led to a first down or in the case of the throw to the TE a TD.

Just one of many things to focus on during the bye week. Hopefully the team gets pissed about this one and takes it out on Rutgers in a few weeks. We owe them some payback from last year.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Good writeup. One thing you didn't mention that was an issue last night was missed tackles. Team has done a good job of tackling in the first 2 games but there were a number of times where a missed tackle led to a first down or in the case of the throw to the TE a TD.

Just one of many things to focus on during the bye week. Hopefully the team gets pissed about this one and takes it out on Rutgers in a few weeks. We owe them some payback from last year.
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Ooof yes great point…I definitely forgot that and was frustrated by it last night. Just gotta hope it’s one of those early season things and not the D being too slow or tentative. Obviously Cal has way more dynamic athletes than Buffalo or NW St.
 

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