Actual Football Talk??

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Schnoodler

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I found it very interesting that Brewster has decided to keep the seniors in the weight room during the first week of Bowl practice and go exclusively with the underclassmen for regular practice.

I have my own thoughts on this. Anybody else have any?
 

Schnood! What kind of B. S. is this? This board is not about football, it's about bitching about the coach, the AD, the players and/or the press. Please, Please cut out the useless football technical crap.
 

Excuse me, I should have said coaches (pl). My bad.
 

First of all, this "actual football talk" has no place on this gossip board. Knock it off.

I really like it, actually. It uses the practice sessions to actually focus on and teach the underclassmen. This is what Sid's always yapping about in how the extra practices can be valuable.
 

Schnoodler said:
I found it very interesting that Brewster has decided to keep the seniors in the weight room during the first week of Bowl practice and go exclusively with the underclassmen for regular practice.

I have my own thoughts on this. Anybody else have any?
Click to expand...


Here is what my thoughts are: Brew is teaching the underclassmen how to run the old Single Wing Offense, and the 10 man blitz defense.

Just watch.

BTW, Schnoods...what are your thoughts?
 


This will give the coaches a good look at what the team is gonna look like next year.
 

I wonder if other teams do this. Another thing that can come out of this is the underclassmen learning how to lead the team.
 

I find it a bit peculiar. I really hope they aren't planning on playing just the underclassmen. Is this a permanent thing or is it just for a couple of practices?
 

Its only for the first 5 practices. The seniors do come to practice just the last half or something like that.
 



Dr.Don said:
Here is what my thoughts are: Brew is teaching the underclassmen how to run the old Single Wing Offense, and the 10 man blitz defense.

Just watch.

BTW, Schnoods...what are your thoughts?
Click to expand...

I have more complete thoughts, and maybe later if nobody else has them I'll add more. Obviously this is the best strategy to prepare for next year.

It's been said that the greatest thing about a bowl game is the extra practices. But with what end in mind? I just wonder what this says about how important Brew thinks it is to win the bowl game compared with the opportunity to prepare for next year.
 

It's an interesting tactic. While it's nice to think about this game being the "first game of next season" that's not neccessarily fair to the seniors. This is their last shot and they've been through a whole heck of a lot during their time here.

I don't mind throwing in something new, and in the end, I guess it can't hurt. But we are one team and that can't be lost on anyone.

Go Gophers!!
 

They have a chance for a winning season. 7-6 is way better than 6-7. They really
need to get that accomplished for the seniors if they can.
 

Of course I have no way to know what the coaches are thinking, but as I've mentioned on this board before, during the season it was instructive to see so many young guys on the field at critical times rather than senior "starters."
 



I want to beat Iowa State. Does this move help us actually win the bowl game? I doubt it.
 

Why and to what end seems the more important point in this case than the "move" itself. Nothing to do but wait and see, unless someone comes up with some insider info.
 

gophergrad said:
I wonder if other teams do this. Another thing that can come out of this is the underclassmen learning how to lead the team.
Click to expand...

Was wondering the same thing. I can understand why he's doing though. Good way to see who steps up as a leader.
 

I am glad that Brewster is taking this appraoch. Winning a meaningless bowl game does nothing for the program for the long-term. The seniors are not going to be around next year and the underclassmen are the future of this program. I for one would rather see a good showing with the underclassmen mostly playing the bowl game rather than a good showing by having the seniors play the majority of the game.

I think Brewster's approach can give a good indication on where this team may be next year against a team that has similar talent. Might be able to tell if Brewster's recruiting is as good as some think it has been up to this point.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
I want to beat Iowa State. Does this move help us actually win the bowl game? I doubt it.
Click to expand...

It does if you think there is a substantial gap between how well-prepared the seniors are vs. the underclassmen.

The strange aspect of bowl game preparation is that there is 3x as much practice time and it is spread-out over 4x as much of the calendar.

The seniors shouldn't miss a beat because they will still have at least 2.5x as much practice going into this game.
 

Goldmember said:
It does if you think there is a substantial gap between how well-prepared the seniors are vs. the underclassmen.

The strange aspect of bowl game preparation is that there is 3x as much practice time and it is spread-out over 4x as much of the calendar.

The seniors shouldn't miss a beat because they will still have at least 2.5x as much practice going into this game.
Click to expand...

How did all the extra bowl game prep time work out for Minnesota last year?
 


I believe Goldmember is on target. More practice sessions equals more flexibility in preparation and most coaches (correct me if I'm wrong) will tell you they accomplish more when working with players of like abilities and developed skills. It's like five sessions of underclassman camp while the seniors spend constructive time in the gym. Could be other good reasons, too, but this seems like the most obvious.
 

I'm still waiting for your thoughts Schnoodler. Crazy idea here I can't imagine it being the only cause but with everything thats been going on here the last few days regarding his future hear with Minnesota maybe he felt by practicing this way he might be proving to the media, public, AD, potential recruits, that he is planning on being here for a while and completely committed to the program for the coming years. Just an idea. I'm not a football academic so this may be the wrong board for me, but it did seem that although the underclassmen have alot more raw talent than most seniors, that they are having a harder time picking up the new offense and the cerebral part of the game.
 


This is only a temporary situation to help the underclassmen become more acclimated to the system. The Seniors will get back into practice later and be ready for the bowl game.
 

The more I thought of it the less interesting it became to me. Most of the thoughts mentioned already seems to have covered most of what I was thinking. The one over riding thought about this that I had was that it seems to exemplify Brewsters "investment" type approach. The thinking that maybe you give up a little now for the sake of the overall program. I've always liked this about Brewster. Many coaches would sacrifice tomorrow for today. Instead he continually puts off the future, hopefully building a bigger and brighter one in exchange.

There is risk in his approach. The risk being that you won't appease the 'what have you done for me lately' crowd, and will be canned before his investment pays off. But in this move, I see little risk. Only upside. At first I thought possibly he was sacrificing preparation for the bowl game in the name of development. But now I see that it's just as likely to produce a better bowl performance as a poor one. There is only upside to this from my perspective. Plus it hardly impacts our problem area, the offense.
 

Makes coaching sense given the current realities.

Defense senior-laden and has been performing well, probably needs less work.

Offense younger, feeble point production and obviously needs a lot of intensive work.
 

Come down everyone

During the season because of limited practice reps usually only those players in the two deeps gets to practice the gophers offense and defense. The rest are on the scout team simulating that weeks opponent. Bowl practice allows the coaches time to re-evaluate those players, it also gives the starters a chance to heal sore muscles by not banging heads.
 

Bottom line again: You can't spend fifteen practice sessions preparing for one game. Well, you can, but it's a great way to come out flat as a pancake. Instead, use the sessions constructively to help individual / team progress, then install the game plan, do the work and head for Phoenix. All makes sense to me.
 

The first part of practice is usually individual work and teaching, I'm sure when team work O and D the whole team participates.
 

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