Big picture; Good preparation for BT season

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

For the first time in recent memory, the Gophers will go into the BT season with a good idea of just what they have, how good they are, where they need to improve. And for once, they will enter the BT slate knowing they won't play a team that's markedly better than what they've already faced in Cal.

Sure, they've struggled at times in all 3 games so far but I think we'd all agree that's a lot better than coasting through cupcake city like years past.

Bottom line; this team will go as far as the Offensive Line takes them. So far, the O-Line has been an absolute embarassment, just pathetic. I can't believe a unit that returns so many players with experience can be so bad, at least thus far. Granted, these are Wills' first games against "real" competition and Carufel's first games in 2 years but still. It's horrendous.

The positive I took from today, outside of the defense playing pretty well again overall, was penalties. The offense took a penalty on each of the first two drives and I don't think the Gophers took another penalty until the closing minutes, only 3 overall. Massive improvement over the last two weeks. Hopefully it's a sign of things to come.

The good news is, there's room for improvement and winnable games on the schedule. 7-5 looks reasonable at this point.

 

[year of the gopher]

Agreed, I left the stadium today thinking that there is no team in the conference that we can't compete with, even given some of our deficiencies.

 

[frozengopher]

Thank you for being the first thread I've read since I got home from the game.

 

[PlayHosea]

You went toe to toe with a team that's probably going to be #6 in the nation (or higher) next week. You don't know what you're made of until you're tested. I trust the defensive front seven. Find a way for the offense to start eating clock and keep those guys a little fresher and the Gophers can win a few Big Ten games.

 

[Schnoodler]

We played like crap agains AF and 'cuse and now they're both looking pretty good. We beat them. We went toe to toe with Cal, and actually kind of out played them for the two middle quarters, and we weren't that sharps all around. I'm really starting to wonder if we might be a lot better than we think. If we can iron out the kinks just a little more we could be trouble for everyone who plays us.

Hopefully, there will be a payback in terms of a W later this year for the tougher sched.

 

[GopherHomer]

I mean, there's a good chance that Cal is the best team we play all year. You can make an argument for OSU and PSU, and we have them on the road so I have no delusions of sweeping, but Cal will probably be playing the Big10 champ in the Rose Bowl this year (I don't really keep up with the BCS championship rotation so I'm assuming it's a normal year for the Rose Bowl). Given the how the Big10 has fared in the Rose Bowl recently, we should be very proud of our team...still pissed we lost, though. Imagine if Cal didn't have that false start penalty...I swear we win the game if we stop them on that drive.

 

[gold04]

Great Post

I agree. I think this non conference schedule will help prepare us for the Big Ten. We are definetly not wonder how we'll respond in the Big games.

 

[Governor Sibley]

I had fun watching the game yesterday, but I'm still not convinced it was a good use of our scheduling.

We are thin and short of talented players. And while it may feel nice to give Cal a bloody nose, we've also gotten three bloody noses before the conference season.

Let me put it like this: We can get our card punched only so many times before it starts to show.

 

[gold04]

Getting worn out is a good point Studwell, but hopefully our depth and confidence these games brought our team prevails. Our depth is good for a gopher team.

 

[doncorleone]

We are getting better every game. In years past, Cal would have rolled us. The players now know, that they don't have to fear anyone on their big ten schedule after Cal game. With our new scheduling strategy, we may not go undefeated before the BT season, but we will win more BT games.

Again, our D coordinators are making adjustments in game and those adjustments are working. I have never seen that in my years as a Gopher fan.