A few Silver Linings to Take Away

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joekulas12

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Although the game was fairly gross, there were some positives that I wanted to take bring up to some of the angry hordes.

First off, we won. Let's be honest, if you thought the Gophers were going to win by three scores, you probably have not been following this team for most of Kill/Claeys regime. More so, I cannot recall a Gophers offense that looked crisp in the first game of the year, so the fact that the offense seemed to gradually improve as the game went on should be viewed as an overall positive.

On that note, the offense actually did improve in the second half. It may be hard to even think, but the offense did play better in the second half. Yes, they only scored 13 points to the 17 that were put up in the first half, but hear me out. They actually put two good drives together, and that goes along with the fact that they basically did not even have the ball in the third quarter due to the safety and dropped punt. Yeah, the offense undoubtedly will need to improve and become a little more versatile to contend in the West, but it was good to see that the unit improved throughout the game.

Enough about that offense, let's hear about the defense. Overall, the defense played decent, if you can bring yourself to forget how they defended the screen pass. Furthermore, if you think about the fact that they lost two of their three starting linebackers to targeting penalties, and also the upstart freshman Devers, and still played a fairly stout second half, I say that is a positive. Going back to Devers, that was nice to see. Now, I would be shocked if he finishes with more than 7-8 sacks this season, which would still be a great year, it was nice to see that D Line created pressure. Yes, the O St. o-line is not a strength, but still, it was good to see that the Gophers D Line dominated for the most part.

Lastly, special teams. Santoso was flawless as the punter, and Carpenter showed he can make a long kick.

I am not ready to buy my tickets to Pasadena yet, but I think there are some positives to take away from this game. Let me hear your thoughts.
 

Let's all just agree that the offense did not use a "Silver Linings" playbook last night!
 


My silver lining is that false starts, targeting, and bad snaps can fairly easily be corrected. Combine that with a bit more time to figure some things out on offense and this can still be a great year.

It was gross last night, but GH is always good for over-reaction - both ways.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

The defense gave up a lot of big plays -- mostly were on the screens, but not entirely. Now that that problem is apparent, I think they'll be able to fix some of that.

What I liked is that when a defensively player had a chance to make a tackle, he almost always made it. I think the defense is going to be very good.
 


It was odd hearing the announcers have such angst before Carpenter's field goal, wondering if the Gophers would dare try such a "long" kick. Um...it was 45 yards. I see field goals that long every Friday night down the street at the high school field.
 

Urbandale said:
It was odd hearing the announcers have such angst before Carpenter's field goal, wondering if the Gophers would dare try such a "long" kick. Um...it was 45 yards. I see field goals that long every Friday night down the street at the high school field.
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Which high school? I've never seen consistent 45 yard field goals in high school. At least not in Minnesota.
 

joekulas12 said:
Although the game was fairly gross, there were some positives that I wanted to take bring up to some of the angry hordes.

First off, we won. Let's be honest, if you thought the Gophers were going to win by three scores, you probably have not been following this team for most of Kill/Claeys regime. More so, I cannot recall a Gophers offense that looked crisp in the first game of the year, so the fact that the offense seemed to gradually improve as the game went on should be viewed as an overall positive.

On that note, the offense actually did improve in the second half. It may be hard to even think, but the offense did play better in the second half. Yes, they only scored 13 points to the 17 that were put up in the first half, but hear me out. They actually put two good drives together, and that goes along with the fact that they basically did not even have the ball in the third quarter due to the safety and dropped punt. Yeah, the offense undoubtedly will need to improve and become a little more versatile to contend in the West, but it was good to see that the unit improved throughout the game.

Enough about that offense, let's hear about the defense. Overall, the defense played decent, if you can bring yourself to forget how they defended the screen pass. Furthermore, if you think about the fact that they lost two of their three starting linebackers to targeting penalties, and also the upstart freshman Devers, and still played a fairly stout second half, I say that is a positive. Going back to Devers, that was nice to see. Now, I would be shocked if he finishes with more than 7-8 sacks this season, which would still be a great year, it was nice to see that D Line created pressure. Yes, the O St. o-line is not a strength, but still, it was good to see that the Gophers D Line dominated for the most part.

Lastly, special teams. Santoso was flawless as the punter, and Carpenter showed he can make a long kick.

I am not ready to buy my tickets to Pasadena yet, but I think there are some positives to take away from this game. Let me hear your thoughts.
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They need to score early...another scoreless 1st qtr. The safety and muffed punt were the two plays that got in the way of a three score Gophs win...so, yes we should have expected a comfortable win.
 

Silver Linings

1. We won. Beats the alternative
2. We have 1 game in next 23 days. A lot of time to get healthier, work on the stupid stuff and keep honing our playbook.
3. Few serious injuries in game one or camp.
4. Couple of FR looked real good.
5. We lost 3 starters and 1 key reserve during game off defense and still played decent.
 



I agree with GopherinPhilly 100%!!! Best post of the day!!! Go Gophers!!
 

Honestly every time the Gophers win a sloppy mistake laden game they get ripped to shreds by the fans and media in this town and I just don't get it, the Gophers needed a win and they got it. The Vikings win a game like that and they are praised for gutting it out and overcoming those mistakes, and the Vikings coaches get praised for how smart they are and what coaching acumen they have.

Gophers won the football game, with a first year head coach, brand new offensive coordinator, and offensive line coach and fill in linebackers coach, and a ton of new players playing in their first division one college football game. There had to be a ton of nerves and you could tell they were a little jacked up and a little dialed up and wound tight.
Let's have some perspective people, they the Gophers are all still learning how to win and play and compete with each other. I was quite pleased that the quarterback and the team competed hard and played to the whistle. Were there a lot of mistakes and was it a great well played game no, but we had the talent to overcome and the Gophers didn't fold up like a tent and quit.
I'm pretty happy that they were able to overcome the mistakes, all mental and fixable issues and that the aggressiveness can be coached into playing smarter.

Close losses don't get you any closer to good bowl games or success in the conference. Some of the bad screens and runs they caught the Gophers in a particular blitz or caught the defensive tackles slanting and sliding the opposite way. This happens in football, sometimes the other coaches catch on to what you are doing and they catch you in it. The team will play better, the coaches will do a better job of calling the right plays and preparing the players for more. This freshman class is what we have been told about them, now it is time for everyone else to step up there games and compete. Mitch had poise and didn't take any stupid sacks by holding the ball to long, and he showed some leadership on the field. These Gophers are going to be just fine because they will learn from their mistakes and improve. These guys are hungry to win and to have success. They are starved to win and want to win badly for themselves. Guys just need to slow down their roll, craziness and the procedural penalties and let the games come to them and play like they are coached to do. This team is going to win some games they are not supposed to. SKI-U-Mah and Go Gophers
 

Considering we were without Brooks and Lingen before the game, lost three players due to ejections as well as Still and Rallis to injuries, had countless mistakes and penalties, and had two big no calls go against us (Still PI and late hit on Leidner when he's sliding), I'd say we were lucky to come out with a W.

Silver Linings:
1.) Tyler Johnson (and the freshman in general) - he was great blocking downfield and ran good routes as far as I could tell. He should have been out there more IMO
2.) Rush D - stuffed them for the most part in the second half
3.) Leidner improved throughout the game. Maybe he should play a pick-up game outside the stadium before the game so he starts off the first quarter rolling...
4.) We have plenty of time before the next game to work on false starts and other mistakes.
 

joekulas12 said:
Although the game was fairly gross, there were some positives that I wanted to take bring up to some of the angry hordes.


Enough about that offense, let's hear about the defense. Overall, the defense played decent, if you can bring yourself to forget how they defended the screen pass.
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I don't know that the game was "gross." It was compelling because it was competitive even if it was riddled with errors.

I agree about the defense. I'd say they played much better than decent in the second half and what they did with their backs to the wall (after OSU went up 6) while missing multiple key players was admirable. At the beginning of the season, last year's defense was highly regarded but they had multiple rough games as the season progressed. Expectations for this one may be lower, but they might turn out to be better. The pressure on the OSU QB last night was very encouraging (I hope that has more to do with Minnesota's defense than OSU's offensive line) and the tackling was pretty good as usual.

On offense, I suspect that the uninspired play calling will improve with time. My biggest concern is whether the Gophers can assemble a reliable corps of receivers (I don't know how long Lingen will be out but he can't return soon enough) with at least one of them emerging as an occasional deep threat. I really wish that Donovan Jones didn't get himself kicked off the team two years ago. The offensive line did protect Leidner pretty well and they did fair enough at opening some holes for the runners.
 







I'd like to defend Mitch to a degree, the new offense requires the quarterback to read the defense, OSU runs a scheme that's difficult to read that Mitch had to prepare for with zero video. I think that the fact that he improved as the game went on shows a great deal of promise for the future. The Beavers have a new DC and a lot of new players so a slow start wasn't that surprising.
 

Defense and the kicking game saved the day - shades of Hayden Fry! All the hype about Leidner turned out to be just that - hype - though he tends to improve as the season goes on. But how many years has it been since the Gophers had a normal level B10 passing QB and a good-looking, diversified offense? This is the third coach in a row without one.
 

We won the turnover battle. That was very big in this game. Leidner took care of the ball and nobody put it on the ground other than the bad snaps.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
Defense and the kicking game saved the day - shades of Hayden Fry! All the hype about Leidner turned out to be just that - hype - though he tends to improve as the season goes on. But how many years has it been since the Gophers had a normal level B10 passing QB and a good-looking, diversified offense? This is the third coach in a row without one.
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Easy, big fella. talk like that will get you banned at best and digitally assaulted at worst. Yes, Leidner is not a well rounded qb but he has confidence.
 

Did you know Leidner ended up with the higher QBR than Garretson? And it wasn't even close.

Darell Garretson=61.8
Mitch Leidner=78.9
 

Uhm...we won the game against a very good coach that had 9 months to prepare, is in a complete rebuilding process and knows how we like to play...just like we had 9 months to prepare for TCU last year. Relax...we won we have 3 weeks and 2 games to get ready for Penn St
 

wait!what? said:
Easy, big fella. talk like that will get you banned at best and digitally assaulted at worst. Yes, Leidner is not a well rounded qb but he has confidence.
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You are a hoot. Butt hurt that you deservedly got sent to the cyber corner facing the wall are you?
 

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