FSN: Gophers report card: Missed opportunity against Illini (Overall: F)

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Overall: F

The grades of each category don't add up to a failing grade, but this was absolutely a game the Gophers should have won -- and one that will likely haunt fans for years to come. Minnesota had a chance to go to 7-1 on the season but couldn't get past an Illinois team that entered Saturday 0-3 in the Big Ten. Even after taking a lead late in the fourth quarter, the Gophers couldn't hang on -- literally and figuratively. Cobb's fumble proved to be very costly as Minnesota never seemed to recover emotionally from it.

Now the Gophers enter the toughest part of their schedule after this week's bye with their final four games against Iowa, Ohio State, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Knowing what lies ahead makes the missed opportunity Saturday even more glaring.

http://www.foxsports.com/north/story/gophers-report-card-missed-opportunity-against-illini-102614

Go Gophers!!
 

An "F"? These people are nuts. So what grade would you give the Gophers if Illinois had shut them out 42-0? A "Z"?

The Gophers played average and Illinois played above average. The Gophers completed some deep passes, our defense pitched a shut out in the second half, and we fought back to take the lead at one point. That aint no "F". Maybe a "B-" or "C". I wonder if these FSN guys hold themselves to the same standards? Answer: "no way in he11".
 

DoubleAlum said:
An "F"? These people are nuts. So what grade would you give the Gophers if Illinois had shut them out 42-0? A "Z"?

The Gophers played average and Illinois played above average. The Gophers completed some deep passes, our defense pitched a shut out in the second half, and we fought back to take the lead at one point. That aint no "F". Maybe a "B-" or "C". I wonder if these FSN guys hold themselves to the same standards? Answer: "no way in he11".
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Are you crazy? You are advocating a "B-" or "C" for a loss to Illinois? The Gophers played average while failing to run successfully against an Illinois team giving up 400 yards a game on the ground? The Gophers played average while letting a slow backup QB tear them apart on read option plays?

This was the very definition of an "F" The Gophers lost to a team that is coached by a guy who is a dead man walking and this was his first home B1G win in his CAREER at Illinois.
 

DoubleAlum said:
An "F"? These people are nuts. So what grade would you give the Gophers if Illinois had shut them out 42-0? A "Z"?

The Gophers played average and Illinois played above average. The Gophers completed some deep passes, our defense pitched a shut out in the second half, and we fought back to take the lead at one point. That aint no "F". Maybe a "B-" or "C". I wonder if these FSN guys hold themselves to the same standards? Answer: "no way in he11".
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C? They lost to one of the worst "power 5" teams in the country, it was a failure. F is correct.
 

DoubleAlum said:
An "F"? These people are nuts. So what grade would you give the Gophers if Illinois had shut them out 42-0? A "Z"?

The Gophers played average and Illinois played above average. The Gophers completed some deep passes, our defense pitched a shut out in the second half, and we fought back to take the lead at one point. That aint no "F". Maybe a "B-" or "C". I wonder if these FSN guys hold themselves to the same standards? Answer: "no way in he11".
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Besides the lousy performance of the game itself, a win would have put us at 7-1, meaning we would be playing Iowa at home, for a chance at an 8-1 record for the first time since 1960. But I guess that is no big deal.
 


DoubleAlum said:
An "F"? These people are nuts. So what grade would you give the Gophers if Illinois had shut them out 42-0? A "Z"?

The Gophers played average and Illinois played above average. The Gophers completed some deep passes, our defense pitched a shut out in the second half, and we fought back to take the lead at one point. That aint no "F". Maybe a "B-" or "C". I wonder if these FSN guys hold themselves to the same standards? Answer: "no way in he11".
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Really dude? A C? These justifications are getting stupider by the hour. Now, we should be proud that we almost came back and won? Bye weeks suck.
 

People, take the blinders off. This game was a solid "F" I watched Illinois play 3-4 games this year. They're the worst team in both divisions, and it is not even close.
 

DoubleAlum said:
An "F"? These people are nuts. So what grade would you give the Gophers if Illinois had shut them out 42-0? A "Z"?
The Gophers played average and Illinois played above average. The Gophers completed some deep passes, our defense pitched a shut out in the second half, and we fought back to take the lead at one point. That aint no "F". Maybe a "B-" or "C". I wonder if these FSN guys hold themselves to the same standards? Answer: "no way in he11".
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For a lot of the classes that grade on the 90-80-70-60 scale, anything worse than a 60 is an F. The fact that a 55 would be much better than a 22 does not change the fact that a 55 is a failing grade. We could have certainly done much worse, but any loss to Illinois is an F. All the more so since our strength (running offense) was their weakness (running defense), and we still couldn't get it going against a team that everyone runs well against.

This is not the end of the world. We aren't a terrible team, our season isn't over, we aren't going to lose every game from here on out. However, that doesn't change the fact that we gave a crap effort and were poorly prepared for a team we are better than, and that is a frustrating thing for them to do to their fans.
 

afurry91 said:
Really dude? A C? These justifications are getting stupider by the hour. Now, we should be proud that we almost came back and won? Bye weeks suck.
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The first bye week wasn't so bad coming off the Michigan win but it sucks to go into one after such a crappy performance against a bad team as now there are 2 weeks to stew about it.
 



MNVCGUY said:
The first bye week wasn't so bad coming off the Michigan win but it sucks to go into one after such a crappy performance against a bad team as now there are 2 weeks to stew about it.
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I think this bye week will tell us a lot about this team's character. Losers would stew about it for 2 weeks and come out flat and disappointed against Iowa. Winners would have 2 weeks to get pissed (in the good way) about it, and take advantage of the extra time to prepare and question what they could have done better, and then come out playing their best football against Iowa. What we look like in the first half against Iowa should be telling. I am as upset as anyone else about Illinois, but I still like this team's general fight and attitude, so my bet is that they choose the latter.
 

DoubleAlum said:
An "F"? These people are nuts. So what grade would you give the Gophers if Illinois had shut them out 42-0? A "Z"?

The Gophers played average and Illinois played above average. The Gophers completed some deep passes, our defense pitched a shut out in the second half, and we fought back to take the lead at one point. That aint no "F". Maybe a "B-" or "C". I wonder if these FSN guys hold themselves to the same standards? Answer: "no way in he11".
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I agree with the C- given by another publication the other day. Illinois might be one of the lowest conference teams but they played better than usual against the Gophers and, as bad as people think Illinois is, they are now 4-4 and have as good of a shot at a bowl game as Northwestern and a better shot than Michigan, Purdue, or Indiana.

This was a just a strange game where numerous bad things (turnovers, missed field goal, bad coaching calls, penalties, play stopped on a fumble recovery that might have resulted in a touchdown) happened at critical times and wiped out an otherwise better-than-average yardage day (411 yards) for the offense and a fair overall game by the defense (actually a pretty good one after those first two Illinois drives). Despite all of those bad things, the Gophers still could have won if the offense had adjusted earlier instead of scoring only 3 points in the first half.

If last week's performance by the Gophers is an "F," then what is Maryland's 7-52 shellacking (175 yards gained vs. 527 given up) at the hands of Wisconsin? What about Michigan's 11-35 effort with 186 yards gained vs. 446 given up?
 

cjbfbp said:
If last week's performance by the Gophers is an "F," then what is Maryland's 7-52 shellacking (175 yards gained vs. 527 given up) at the hands of Wisconsin? What about Michigan's 11-35 effort with 186 yards gained vs. 446 given up?
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I would take 100 11-35 games against MSU over 1 loss to Illinois.
 




D

You can't get above a D when you lose to this IL team. Sorry.
 

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