Advantages of Cream Puff schedule going into MSU

[Otis]

1. We have run whatever plays we wanted to. - Gophers haven’t been forced to pass or reveal any sneaky underhanded deception plays of any kind. Michigan State only has film on our base offense and stuff from 2019.

2. Our defense is rested. - The Gopher defense is healthy and not beat up in the least. The starters just haven’t gotten much for reps and the backups have gotten an unusual amount of snaps. This should be evident early when coupled with MSU’s 1st units playing all of a hotly contested west coast game.

3. We have had extra time to work on some special plays and wrinkles for our first challenging contest. - Without having to prep as hard as always I bet they have a few tricks ready to go!

4. We are still under-rated. - Face it, we haven’t played anybody. Only true study of the Gopher performances can show we are improved over the last few years in our first three games. But to the trained Gopher eye there have been no final play interceptions or miracle catches to keep us unbeaten. Just a straight ass kicking execution of vanilla offense and defense. That’s just not how Minnesota football usually works.

Other advantages going into B1G play:

We have great game film to analyze for our next three opponents no matter what happens in the coming weeks. Look for KC and Rossi to have rock solid game plans as MSU, Purdue and Illinois have already poured out their kitchen sink of plays and schemes in fighting for victories. This fact alone makes me feel very confident when it comes to our staff!

I smell victory in East Lansing for the Gophers!

 

[jonnyganas]

I noticed they employed the 2 minute drill at the end of the first half, even though they were up 28 - 0. They clocked the ball twice and upped the tempo to create a scoring drive. You could sense that Kirk and PJ wanted to manufacture that pressure in a real-game scenario to give them some experience to apply in the conference season.

If they go into East Lansing and play the style of football we all know they are capable of and come out with a win, it may not get them ranked or national attention, but it will set them up for a successful season in the B1G.

 

[MNVCGUY]

We have great game film to analyze for our next three opponents no matter what happens in the coming weeks. Look for KC and Rossi to have rock solid game plans as MSU, Purdue and Illinois have already poured out their kitchen sink of plays and schemes in fighting for victories. This fact alone makes me feel very confident when it comes to our staff!

All good points but this last one might be the most important, especially heading into the MSU game. There are not a ton of secrets among teams with all the film that gets studied but we got a great look at MSU against Washington.

On the flip side they have film from 2019 and some pretty vanilla stuff from the first 3 weeks to really work from. Guarantee that KC has some wrinkles they haven't seen from us on film yet.

And one more note - the loss of CRAB sucks but it makes the job of the opposing defense even tougher in some ways because now they have to figure out who will be the go to guy in the passing game. From a matchup standpoint you can't key on a particular guy as easily.