Chip Scoggins: Gophers have few answers, and so does Coach Kill

[BleedGopher]

per Chip:

Jerry Kill was asked how he plans to fix his offense, and the Gophers coach rambled before mentioning that he should be fired if he can’t find a solution.

Kill was asked about his starting quarterback three times and he declined comment three times without mentioning his quarterback’s name.

Kill was asked about loud booing from fans and if he understood their frustration. Kill responded tersely by repeating that he probably should be fired, though he noted that he doesn’t have an athletic director who could fire him (hello, Beth Goetz), so he felt safe for the time being.

A school official then declined to make Mitch Leidner available for interviews, a rare occurrence for a starting quart, erback at any level of college football.

Oh, by the way, the Gophers won Saturday.

Are we having fun yet?

http://www.startribune.com/kill-crawls-into-a-shell-after-victory-that-felt-like-a-loss/328392041/

Go Gophers!!

 

[goldengophers]

Hmm beginning to wonder if indeed we will have a new starting QB next week....

 

[Spoofin]

Hmm beginning to wonder if indeed we will have a new starting QB next week....

I don't think we will have a new starting QB, but it is becoming clear to me Croft will play next week.

 

[1983]

Croft will not play and if he does, we give up this season. I wish Mitch could block to but its not his job. Our O line sucks big time and until we are healthy, we are in trouble.

 

[goldengophers]

Croft will not play and if he does, we give up this season. I wish Mitch could block to but its not his job. Our O line sucks big time and until we are healthy, we are in trouble.

Both interceptions were with plenty of time, he was not under significant duress today. It's amazing how a new and possibly more competent QB can make a line look a whole lot better. To act like Mitch isn't a very significant issue is fairly preposterous.

 

[DoubleAlum]

per Chip:

Jerry Kill was asked how he plans to fix his offense, and the Gophers coach rambled before mentioning that he should be fired if he can’t find a solution.

Kill was asked about his starting quarterback three times and he declined comment three times without mentioning his quarterback’s name.

Kill was asked about loud booing from fans and if he understood their frustration. Kill responded tersely by repeating that he probably should be fired, though he noted that he doesn’t have an athletic director who could fire him (hello, Beth Goetz), so he felt safe for the time being.

A school official then declined to make Mitch Leidner available for interviews, a rare occurrence for a starting quart, erback at any level of college football.

Oh, by the way, the Gophers won Saturday.

Are we having fun yet?

http://www.startribune.com/kill-crawls-into-a-shell-after-victory-that-felt-like-a-loss/328392041/

Go Gophers!!

I am impressed with and grateful for what Kill has done for the Gophers. But anyone with common sense would agree that Kill has lost his composure and is showing some chinks in his character. He's being hypocritical in how he expects his players to behave like men while he acts like a child. These moments provide valuable insights into the whole Jerry Kill, beyond the man who most of us have come to know and highly respect. You rarely see a great head coach speak or think this way. This side of his personality of course leaks into everything he does in life: no different than any other human. It affects how he coaches and the decisions he makes with personnel and how he regards certain players. We all have tendencies. Coach Kill has shown me a side of himself that I believes detracts from all his great qualities and gives me insight as to why our offense has not grown much the last 3 years. I for one think Kill deserves 10 full seasons. I don't think we can find a better staff. But I would counsel Kill to get some advice from other leaders on how he might tweak, refine and enhance his personality/character and decision making. It's never too late to grow as a person.

 

[station19]

I am impressed with and grateful for what Kill has done for the Gophers. But anyone with common sense would agree that Kill has lost his composure and is showing some chinks in his character. He's being hypocritical in how he expects his players to behave like men while he acts like a child. These moments provide valuable insights into the whole Jerry Kill, beyond the man who most of us have come to know and highly respect. You rarely see a great head coach speak or think this way. This side of his personality of course leaks into everything he does in life: no different than any other human. It affects how he coaches and the decisions he makes with personnel and how he regards certain players. We all have tendencies. Coach Kill has shown me a side of himself that I believes detracts from all his great qualities and gives me insight as to why our offense has not grown much the last 3 years. I for one think Kill deserves 10 full seasons. I don't think we can find a better staff. But I would counsel Kill to get some advice from other leaders on how he might tweak, refine and enhance his personality/character and decision making. It's never too late to grow as a person.

Either that or get a new(and better) O-line, new QB and new playbook.

 

[sonnygarcia]

Stubborn jerry. Like I said in previous post "he ain't gone change". No wonder we've been trotting out same stale offense for 5 years.

 

[DoubleAlum]

Either that or get a new(and better) O-line, new QB and new playbook.

Touché. But tough to do in a week. In the meantime, conduct yourself with the media like a strong leader. Inspire your kids, don't say you should be fired. Childish.

 

[killme]

Hey Bleed? Did you cut-and-paste this? If so, a professional writer actually wrote that with the typos? Was that a strib headline? Yikes. If so, it's almost as bad as the grammar, spelling, and other writing errors of many of the GH bashers. On a positive note, JK is miffed. That bodes well for us, bad for Ohio.

 

[tinyarch]

Did you ever see Bobby Knight give a press conference after his Hoosiers played a bad game? He didn't have a lot of patience for questions when all he wanted to do was go look at film and fix the problems with his team.

What I saw in Coach Kills response was a guy who will spend hours in the film room (probably much of Saturday night/Sunday morning) going over the problems and working to fix those problems. Talking about his quarterback without seeing all the film is counterproductive to his team and constant questions to that issue, simply left him being extremely sarcastic toward a group of people who wouldn't let it go until he could really evaluate the situation. Coach Kill was protecting Mitch Leidner from the media. The kid is taking a lot of blame as a young 20 year old. Coach Kill is just playing the dad figure in this situation and is trying to give Leidner some time to breathe.

There is so much more to life than football. The best thing for the entire team is to shut the media out of their minds, watch the film and build trust in each other.

All the folks who are whining about not being entertained are simply not people Coach Kill needs to waste his time on and that's how I took his post-game comments. He's going to focus on what he can control. Not on the media.

 

[Halsey Hall]

On a positive note, JK is miffed. That bodes well for us, bad for Ohio"


He was pissed last week too. Sure did hurt Kent

 

[hungan1]

I am impressed with and grateful for what Kill has done for the Gophers. But anyone with common sense would agree that Kill has lost his composure and is showing some chinks in his character. He's being hypocritical in how he expects his players to behave like men while he acts like a child. These moments provide valuable insights into the whole Jerry Kill, beyond the man who most of us have come to know and highly respect. You rarely see a great head coach speak or think this way. This side of his personality of course leaks into everything he does in life: no different than any other human. It affects how he coaches and the decisions he makes with personnel and how he regards certain players. We all have tendencies. Coach Kill has shown me a side of himself that I believes detracts from all his great qualities and gives me insight as to why our offense has not grown much the last 3 years. I for one think Kill deserves 10 full seasons. I don't think we can find a better staff. But I would counsel Kill to get some advice from other leaders on how he might tweak, refine and enhance his personality/character and decision making. It's never too late to grow as a person.

Now, we are psycho analyzing the head coach too. I'd be flustered if my offense played the way the Gophers did against KSU. The offensive performance was unacceptable, inexcusable, and he knows it. He ain't human if he doesn't react like that. I would not call that a character flaw. Just an angry frustrated coach.

It is very clear how badly they missed on the QB position in the early rebuilding process. Max Shortell, Dextor Foreman, Dimonic McKinzy, Philip Nelson.

The achilles heel for this season is injuries to the OL including two TEs out for the season which doesn't help . The Gophers already had twelve injuries after the first two games.

They will regroup next week, study films, and come up with a new battle plan. Nothing will surprise me now on offense. Drastic change is badly needed if they are to contend for the B1G West Title.

They played three games, and they eked out two victories with the help of a stellar defense.

Northwestern had the injury bug the last two years and appears to be on the rebound as one of the leaders going into conference play. Iowa is playing outstanding football.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

Coach needs to quit it with the "fire the coach schtick" and woe is me we only won the football game today mantra. Time to have a little thicker skin you have been here five years and nobody is publicly calling for the head coach or the staff to be replaced, not even privately in conversations. Gophers run offense has not looked like it's usual inspired self, no burst and not a lot of sustained drives or blocks.
People have reason to be concerned especially the coaches about the lack of offensive production, the number of sacks and turnovers that have happened on offense. Chances are if the team had been playing a better opponent, with the turnovers and offenses inability to sustain drives there was potential for the team to lose today's game. I'm curious why we haven't seen more two back sets, mis-direction plays off a fake from Mitch to the backs, or more pulling plays to the outside zone. The line hasn't changed that much are we really to slow and not strong enough to maintain blocks?
I get that the offense has injury's in the line and has had difficulty blocking people in pass protection, but that doesn't mean they haven't moved the ball, where they have really struggled is sustaining drives after getting a four yard gain or a five yard game, and then they stall out. This used to be there bread and butter type of things get four or five yards, pick up three and then get first downs on a two or three yard play. The QB has to quit believing he is going to be hit even when there isn't pressure in his face or on him, both of today's interceptions were poor choices where he was not under undo pressure and he heaved both throws into tight coverage where the guy was playing center field type defense. Clearly the offense can and needs to be doing more and having more success. Play like the last two weeks and it get's a lot more difficult to win the remaining games even the home games. Ohio is not a patsy they will give the Gophers a test and run a lot of plays similar to Northwestern. Gophers were favored by 24 points today, you would have to have your head in the sand or not be paying attention not to be worried. Even Alabama had QB struggles today but they had play-makers that overcame some of the mistakes he was making. Right now beyond KJ Maye and occasional Wolistarsky the Gophers are not showing much in the way of play-makers or explosive play. Need to find some people that can run with the ball in there hands and break some tackles. Running power plays and dives out of the I formation when your facing 9 up front isn't going to cut it. Mitch has to do a better job of checking out of those plays that have little chance to succeed. I like Smith but he hasn't been able to break tackles or power through some things he should be beating right now. Nothing is simple when your whiffing and missing blocks, but if you really are that weak in the line you better find a way to use some counter action or some cut back stuff that can get you more than 3 yards. I don't understand why Roderick t Williams isn't breaking tackles or playing with more enthusiasm he can help jump start things a little bit but knocking some D linebackers or safties on their butts. Gotta get Mitch and the line having some fun again, tired of reading about or hearing about bad play, football is supposed to be fun an fun to watch. Another step up in class with Ohio this week Gophers need to be better. Limegrover needs to get Webber working with the offensive line and get him the heck away from Mitch. Leidner never regressed like this until he showed up.

 

[GhostofBronko]

It is very clear how badly they missed on the QB position in the early rebuilding process. Max Shortell, Dextor Foreman, Dimonic McKinzy, Philip Nelson.

He didn't miss on Nelson, he chased him off in favor of Leidner. Genius.

 

[BarnBoy]

He didn't miss on Nelson, he chased him off in favor of Leidner. Genius.

Wow, the narrative on this one is changing by the day...

 

[BarnBurner]

Both interceptions were with plenty of time, he was not under significant duress today. It's amazing how a new and possibly more competent QB can make a line look a whole lot better. To act like Mitch isn't a very significant issue is fairly preposterous.

Totally agree.

Both balls under thrown by a mile. That is on Mitch.

 

[dpodoll68]

He didn't miss on Nelson, he chased him off in favor of Leidner. Genius.

Sure, I mean, look at how he walked in the door at East Carolina and started immediately. Clearly a guy who should still be starting here, right?

 

[dtrain19]

Honest question: What happened to ML and Gophers running the read option? Mostly power sets from under center. Defense didn't have to worry about the QB running. One time we did it was a 20 yard bootleg that was brought back because of holding. Any reason for this?

 

[goldengophers]

Honest question: What happened to ML and Gophers running the read option? Mostly power sets from under center. Defense didn't have to worry about the QB running. One time we did it was a 20 yard bootleg that was brought back because of holding. Any reason for this?

I believe it's been about fear of injury, ideally you play Leidner in a role similar to Tebow because it would play to his strengths, but Mitch has gotten nicked up in those situations in the past. This is why I think there needs to be a timeshare at QB at minimum, if Leidner is incapable as a pocket QB and cannot run the option it's time to work in Croft and see if he can grab the position. They need to see what they have in Croft this year and determine if he can start next, and possible some of this year, because another 1 3/4ths years of Leidner is not a solution.

 

[hungan1]

I believe it's been about fear of injury, ideally you play Leidner in a role similar to Tebow because it would play to his strengths, but Mitch has gotten nicked up in those situations in the past. This is why I think there needs to be a timeshare at QB at minimum, if Leidner is incapable as a pocket QB and cannot run the option it's time to work in Croft and see if he can grab the position. They need to see what they have in Croft this year and determine if he can start next, and possible some of this year, because another 1 3/4ths years of Leidner is not a solution.

You nailed it.

I had that sense too that they are afraid that Leidner will get hurt.

Will we see a Jordan Lynch-Chandler Harnish redux? At least a Gopher version of it? Maybe once in a while a two quarterback set in the backfield. It may not work all the time, but may be a nice wrinkle.

Two-Quarterback Set:
http://smartfootball.com/spread/louisiana-monroes-two-quarterback-zone-read-system#sthash.V1Wl7Q8e.dpbs

They need to find a way to loosen things up a little. Two QBs in the game at the same time maybe. Maybe put in Croft or someone that can utilize short to intermediate passing effectively to open up the field and re-establish the run. Even if to spare ML a few plays, and then he can go full throttle with the read option once in a while to keep defenses honest. Tebow has had a few concussions, and you don't want that with ML.

No one anticipated the mounting injuries to the OL and TEs. This is the price we pay for playing two mauler teams early in the season. Protection has been porous and out of sync with folks being shuffled around. Our run game stalled.

I am speculating. They will figure it out.

 

[rkhmncfo]

I am impressed with and grateful for what Kill has done for the Gophers. But anyone with common sense would agree that Kill has lost his composure and is showing some chinks in his character. He's being hypocritical in how he expects his players to behave like men while he acts like a child. These moments provide valuable insights into the whole Jerry Kill, beyond the man who most of us have come to know and highly respect. You rarely see a great head coach speak or think this way. This side of his personality of course leaks into everything he does in life: no different than any other human. It affects how he coaches and the decisions he makes with personnel and how he regards certain players. We all have tendencies. Coach Kill has shown me a side of himself that I believes detracts from all his great qualities and gives me insight as to why our offense has not grown much the last 3 years. I for one think Kill deserves 10 full seasons. I don't think we can find a better staff. But I would counsel Kill to get some advice from other leaders on how he might tweak, refine and enhance his personality/character and decision making. It's never too late to grow as a person.

I hear Tim Beckman is available to counsel Kill on how to put a positive spin on everything.

Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk

 

[MaxyJR1]

Croft warmed up and took snaps from Bobek on the sideline, but then on first down we took a 10 yard penalty, which moved us back inside the 20. I believe this ended the chance to put him in. Then it was to late to give a guy a chance clinging to a 3 point lead. He plays this week.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Spoofin]

He didn't miss on Nelson, he chased him off in favor of Leidner. Genius.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
PN9 basically said make me the starter or I'm leaving. Kill told him he would have to earn it and let him go. Let's not remember PN9 as some star QB either. Kill did what he should have done in that situation. I would think the events after that would only reinforce that Kill was right to let Phil go. "Chased him off the team in favor of Liedner". Total BS and 100% wrong. Good post tho [emoji57]

 

[Spoofin]

Croft warmed up and took snaps from Bobek on the sideline, but then on first down we took a 10 yard penalty, which moved us back inside the 20. I believe this ended the chance to put him in. Then it was to late to give a guy a chance clinging to a 3 point lead. He plays this week.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

It also came out that someone told Ryan Burns that Croft was likely to play yesterday. I am convinced he plays this week. I don't think he will start and I am not saying he will take over, but I think he will start getting some work, possibly provide a spark when needed, and the coaches will take it from there. Pretty sure the coaches see our offensive struggles as well and will do their best to fix. Something ha to change. SMU scored 36 on TCU. The problem has been here all year.

 

[dpodoll68]

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
PN9 basically said make me the starter or I'm leaving. Kill told him he would have to earn it and let him go. Let's not remember PN9 as some star QB either. Kill did what he should have done in that situation. I would think the events after that would only reinforce that Kill was right to let Phil go. "Chased him off the team in favor of Liedner". Total BS and 100% wrong. Good post tho [emoji57]

Passing Efficiency
Phillip Nelson, 2012 - 104.4
Phillip Nelson, 2013 - 119.0

Mitch Leidner, 2013 - 131.9
Mitch Leidner, 2014 - 123.8
Mitch Leidner, 2015 - 111.9

But "it can't get any worse", right? Our starting QB a mere 3 seasons ago was worse than our "worst QB ever" in the current season, but it can't possibly get any worse.

 

[station19]

If the O-line play does not improve, I don't think any QB change will make a difference. O-line was horrendous yesterday.

Our best hope for this season is to get our O-line healthy.

 

[Some guy]

per Chip:

Kill was asked about loud booing from fans and if he understood their frustration. Kill responded tersely by repeating that he probably should be fired, though he noted that he doesn’t have an athletic director who could fire him (hello, Beth Goetz), so he felt safe for the time being.

In my opinion someone from the administrative offices should probably tell Jerry to stop saying things like this. It makes the administration look bad. It is anything but a classy statement.

 

[killme]

Honest question: What happened to ML and Gophers running the read option? Mostly power sets from under center. Defense didn't have to worry about the QB running. One time we did it was a 20 yard bootleg that was brought back because of holding. Any reason for this?

Because holding is illegal and the officials ruled holding occurred.

 

[Some guy]

Passing Efficiency
Phillip Nelson, 2012 - 104.4
Phillip Nelson, 2013 - 119.0

Mitch Leidner, 2013 - 131.9
Mitch Leidner, 2014 - 123.8
Mitch Leidner, 2015 - 111.9

But "it can't get any worse", right? Our starting QB a mere 3 seasons ago was worse than our "worst QB ever" in the current season, but it can't possibly get any worse.

Ignoring Nelson completely since he is not on the team. Those ML efficiency ratings regressing are a bit concerning.