A hypothetical on Northwestern...

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CP Gopher

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In 2008 we were 7-1 and tied with Northwestern late in the 4th quarter. We were on our heels, yet went for broke deep in our own territory. A pass deflected off Decker, was intercepted and returned for a touchdown in the closing seconds. Decker was injured on the play, and we staggered through the rest of the season without winning any more games.
I often wonder what the fate would have been had we decided to take a knee and regroup for overtime.
A win would have meant an 8-1 record with two of the remaining three games (Michigan and Iowa) at home.
Would Brewster still have his job had we won?
I think we would have finished a minumum of 9-3, possibly 10-2 and perhaps playing on New Year's Day.
People always bring up various catastrophies that have plagued this program over the years, yet this single play is very rarely mentioned.
Just some food for thought.
 

CP Gopher said:
In 2008 we were 7-1 and tied with Northwestern late in the 4th quarter. We were on our heels, yet went for broke deep in our own territory. A pass deflected off Decker, was intercepted and returned for a touchdown in the closing seconds. Decker was injured on the play, and we staggered through the rest of the season without winning any more games.
I often wonder what the fate would have been had we decided to take a knee and regroup for overtime.
A win would have meant an 8-1 record with two of the remaining three games (Michigan and Iowa) at home.
Would Brewster still have his job had we won?
I think we would have finished a minumum of 9-3, possibly 10-2 and perhaps playing on New Year's Day.
People always bring up various catastrophies that have plagued this program over the years, yet this single play is very rarely mentioned.
Just some food for thought.
Click to expand...

What if Joel Monroe hits a 20 yard field goal to put the Gophers up by 3 late in the third quarter?

What if Brew played for overtime even after a couple of attempts to go for it? 50 seconds left at 14 yard line. 3rd and 10 and Weber gets a miracle completion to keep the drive alive at the 26. Weber gets tackled after a three yard gain and Brew is still going for a score and calls a timeout (26 seconds left). Next play, pick six.

Fast forward two weeks and the newly-neutered Brew has the Gophers in Madison up 21-7, at their own 21 yard line with 2:05 to play and two timeouts. Five running plays later, it's halftime. Eskridge even broke one for 13 yards to the 37, but nope, keep running the ball. The Badgers outscore the Gophers 28-3 in the 2nd half before a late garbage TD.
 

What if Napoleon Bonaparte had had a B-52 Bomber at Waterloo?

whatif.jpg
 






Maximus said:
Fast forward two weeks and the newly-neutered Brew has the Gophers in Madison up 21-7, at their own 21 yard line with 2:05 to play and two timeouts. Five running plays later, it's halftime. Eskridge even broke one for 13 yards to the 37, but nope, keep running the ball. The Badgers outscore the Gophers 28-3 in the 2nd half before a late garbage TD.
Click to expand...

+1

I still remember that. I remember two weeks earlier listening to the post game and Brewster was asked if he had second thoughts about being aggressive at the end of the Northwestern game and he said he didn't & being aggressive was their mentality. Then two weeks later, there was a GREAT chance to bury the Badgers at the end of the half and they let the Badgers get in the locker room.

I will correct you on one thing; it wasn't a late garbage TD by the Gophers. The score & 2pt conversion put them within 3 & they got the ball back with a fair amount (not a lot, but a fair amount) of time to tie it up or possibly win.

I try not to pile on Brewster because it does no good & am not as doom & gloom about when he was here, but he definitely had difficulty in knowing what his identity was as a head coach & a football program.
 

FireDaveLee said:
+1

I still remember that. I remember two weeks earlier listening to the post game and Brewster was asked if he had second thoughts about being aggressive at the end of the Northwestern game and he said he didn't & being aggressive was their mentality. Then two weeks later, there was a GREAT chance to bury the Badgers at the end of the half and they let the Badgers get in the locker room.

I try not to pile on Brewster because it does no good & am not as doom & gloom about when he was here, but he definitely had difficulty in knowing what his identity was as a head coach & a football program.
Click to expand...

I knew Brewster was a lot of things but I didn't know psychic was one of them :p
 



I meant two weeks earlier from the Wisconsin game, which was the immediate post game after the Northwestern loss.
 

FireDaveLee said:
I meant two weeks earlier from the Wisconsin game, which was the immediate post game after the Northwestern loss.
Click to expand...

oh gotcha. I knew what you meant either way so it wasn't a big deal at all. Just a little goodhearted fun.
 

The what if's this program could list are miles long in total.
BUT
It's a kinda fun exercise, one of the college football blogs out there does a what if segment that's pretty interesting, someone might know what I'm talking about.

here's my theory:
If we regroup as supposedly Ted Roof wanted, no pick six, no decker hurt, likely the upper hand in OT due to a really packed crowd. I think we have a better chance to win on a shortened field(Kafka killed us in that game with scrambles) I say we win, Decker doesn't get hurt.

8-1 with Michigan, Decker being out killed Weber in that game, i think we win a slopfest and go 9-1 into sconnie.

That sconnie game was crazy. The snow, the big halftime lead, freshmen mistakes killed us, Stoudemire muffing a punt if I recall, Kirksey with a key personal foul. Decker was our punt returner right? Rallis at safety and Tremaine Brock had that wisky running game stuffed and their QB wasn't built to throw. I say we win and go 10-1 with iowa coming to town.

Unfortunately I see us still losing to Iowa, the homer in me simply can't fathom Decker and momentum making a 55 point difference. We go 10-2. Still end up 3rd in the BIG, face georgia in the capitol one bowl, probably lose but who knows.

At this point you have to wonder how Brewster could have spun a 10 win season to recruits. Could he have found a handful of bigger impact guys from that 09' class?
I still think things got so ugly in Brewster's last season it wouldn't have mattered, see the gene chizik thread for evidence of what a flash in the pan great season means when you follow it up with crap.
 

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