2 Good articles in the strib-Miller and Blount

[Ole]

These two clearly are spelling out our quagmire situation without the typical blinding rage we all seem to see everything through with regards to Brewster. Really good articles.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/g...cyaiUjc8LDyiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/104644864.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUjc8LDyiUiacyKUnciaec8O7EyUr

Frustrating weekend between the Gophs and the Twins. Hell, I'd say the gophers put up more of a fight than the twins did. Sad.

It's all coaching folks. My post on how to shut down the wisky ground game was unfortunately predictive. Our DE's and LB's could not get into the proper position to be effective. The Henderson pancake on the goal line was indicative of our gameplan, our defense had no idea how to stop that O. Our O was fine, not great, but we shot ourselves in the foot too many times with bad down and distance scenarios. No spice in the playcalling, no surprises, we tried to play a power running game straight up and we're just not good enough for that right now.

On the other hand, we're seeing some athletes emerge, Mcknight, Lair, Allen, Gray, Eskridge all made some very impressive plays. The problem: They will never fufill they're playing potential here, because none of them redshirted like they should have. Even Collado, Tinsley, Carter, Manuel, Vereen and Theret fall into this category.
Next season we will get a taste of what these guys can do under a new scheme and under a presumably better coaching staff. We'll be impressed, and most will be leaving soon after.

The argument cannot be made that Brewster survives into next season, there's no possible way to play it off that way. A change must be made, even if it means the next Pres/AD is stuck with an AD/football coach not of his choosing. I'll be back at the Bank loud and proud for PSU/OSU and Iowee. Hope you'll will join me and get this season over so we can find out who get's the chance to right the ship next year.

PS: Little bret buliemia, karma is a huge b^&*(, get ready for a whoopin by OSU and some sort of payback in the near future. That crap is bush league at best, and classless at worst.

 

[50PoundHead]

The Rachel Blount article is the best one I have read on the situation.

Ole, I agree with you 100% on the red-shirting issue. Having McKnight run a bunch of meaningless plays as a freshman was really short-sighted. Same goes with Eskridge and Lair.

My biggest beef with Brewster since the beginning is that he was too impatient (and lacked vision and an idea of what he actually wanted in a football program). I can understand that because Mason wasn't a total washout, Brewster believed he had to get to back to bowl games with relative dispatch compared to Ferentz and Alvarez when they took over Iowa and Wisconsin programs that were really in the depths. He'd have been better off going 1-11 two years in a row and getting a core of kids experience in order to be in a position to take a step forward in his third year, but instead, he chose to get on a hamster wheel where there's always going to be too many inexperienced kids on the field at once.

But the die is cast.

 

[Ole]

The Rachel Blount article is the best one I have read on the situation.

Ole, I agree with you 100% on the red-shirting issue. Having McKnight run a bunch of meaningless plays as a freshman was really short-sighted. Same goes with Eskridge and Lair.

My biggest beef with Brewster since the beginning is that he was too impatient (and lacked vision and an idea of what he actually wanted in a football program). I can understand that because Mason wasn't a total washout, Brewster believed he had to get to back to bowl games with relative dispatch compared to Ferentz and Alvarez when they took over Iowa and Wisconsin programs that were really in the depths. He'd have been better off going 1-11 two years in a row and getting a core of kids experience in order to be in a position to take a step forward in his third year, but instead, he chose to get on a hamster wheel where there's always going to be too many inexperienced kids on the field at once.

But the die is cast.

The impatience certainly has cost him now, add to that the JUCO heavy classes, and the lack of Oline/Dline recruiting, you could make a case that he should have used his very small honeymoon period to stack up these guys. Although I'm not sure going 1-11 two seasons in a row would have happened. Frustrating all around.
I'll say this: he swung for the fences and struck out. He definitely thought he could recruit enough talent to overcome these glaring weaknesses in the program, that's why he needed to win right away, to sell the recruits. He struck out. Rose bowl or bust and he busted, can't blame him for trying, but he's done now.

 

[MaxyJR1]

+1 He did not take advantage of the honeymoon. Should not have been bringing in JC bandaids.

 

[GophersInIowa]

The Rachel Blount article is the best one I have read on the situation.

Ole, I agree with you 100% on the red-shirting issue. Having McKnight run a bunch of meaningless plays as a freshman was really short-sighted. Same goes with Eskridge and Lair.

My biggest beef with Brewster since the beginning is that he was too impatient (and lacked vision and an idea of what he actually wanted in a football program). I can understand that because Mason wasn't a total washout, Brewster believed he had to get to back to bowl games with relative dispatch compared to Ferentz and Alvarez when they took over Iowa and Wisconsin programs that were really in the depths. He'd have been better off going 1-11 two years in a row and getting a core of kids experience in order to be in a position to take a step forward in his third year, but instead, he chose to get on a hamster wheel where there's always going to be too many inexperienced kids on the field at once.

But the die is cast.

I agree with most of what you said except for Eskridge. I don't think they had a choice but to play him. Bennett was out for the year. He was by far our best option.

 

[Swagger Wagon]

The JUCOs are supposed to be a temporary solution and we had a heavy dose (because it was sorely needed) right away and the guys we recruited behind them are still really young. The thought was to bring in JUCOs to start winning sooner because it is easier to recruit to a winning program.

The problem is that too many recruits didn't last at the U. Guys like Clint Thomas, Howell, Elizee, Vincent Hill, TimMcGee, Tramaine Brock, Combs, Dandridge, Maresh, Brod Smith, Whaley, K Lewis, Searcy, Campion, Lispcomb, Thornton and Tillman come to mind. These guys could have allowed players to redshirt and fill in for the JUCOs once they graduated.