This is one of the dumbest threads of the year. None of the previous posters appear to have played football in their entire lives. What happened with the opening kickoff and during the first offensive series were not the result of the Gopher's overconfidence, lack of intensity and concentration, and not caring about their opponent starting the game with good field position.
Every player on the team has been graded and critiqued by Kill and his staff about everything they have done since the first day of practice including how they act on the sidelines. The coaching staff spent at least 16 hours a day since returning from USC looking at film and putting together a game plan for New Mexico State. Kill doesn't hesitate to get in the face of anyone who doesn't perform up to his expectations (including his coaches). The only people in Minnesota who were taking New Mexico State lightly were posters in GopherHole.
Just because someone disagrees with you is no reason to be insulting. So I'll try again, Numb Nuts. (Thanks, FOT) First of all, have played football and coached, albeit on a high school level. Totally irrelevant, other than to begin to show how silly your assumptions are. I doubt many players consciously ever think, "Ah, I'm going to take it easy today." I certainly don't think the Gophers did that Saturday. At the same time, there's a level of intensity and concentration that is needed before a player is playing at his peak. There's an energy that a fan in the stands can see. We didn't have it Saturday. It was evident right from the get go. They were beating us off the ball. Our backs never ran through anyone. We had some missed tackles because guys were a tad slow to get into position. There were dropped balls. On those short yardage plays that were so crucial, their defensive line was into our backfield instead of our offensive line pushing them back. We just sort of sat back and let them catch the ball. How many passes in a row did they complete to start the game? The FIRST PLAYS OF THE GAME DIDN'T CAUSE THAT LACK OF ENERGY. THEY SIMPLY DEMONSTRATED THAT THE NEED ENERGY WASN'T THERE! (I trust the capitalization will help with your lack of reading comprehension.)
What in the hell do you think Kill means when he says, "We want to play fast?" If and when he speaks this week, let's just see if the, "We weren't ready to play," line comes up before you start calling people dumb, Numb Nuts. That's what he's trying to build in these guys--the intensity you need. And it's a process. Do you really think that just because Kill has critiqued their sideline behavior and has yelled at them that everyone on the team now understands what it takes? You can't possibly have watched that game Saturday and not thought that we took New Mexico State lightly.
The Gophers are still in the early stages of becoming Kill's team. Some of them haven't bought in yet. There are others who have, but they still haven't realized how much more they're going to have to give. One positive that hopefully will come out of Saturday is that more of them will realize that they still have a lot more work to do and that if you're not 100% ready, we can lose to anyone. The danger is that there is a point when a team stops believing in what the coach is telling them. With the lack of success these guys have had, we can't afford many bad losses before some of them go, "Here we go again."
Just my analysis. Could be right. Could be wrong. But it certainly doesn't warrant your insults here or in the other thread, Numb Nuts.
