Gophers open as 4 point favorites vs. Maryland

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Maryland like Purdue, Nebraska, and soon to be Illinois, most likely has our Gophers circled as a must win game. We will get their best effort. My hope is our Gophers are at that next phase, which in this case is being able to win other teams Superbowls.
 

btowngopher said:
Who is that?
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Tayon Fleet-Davis is the best back. But Faamatua and Davis both get carries and are big backs (225 lbs). Maryland has used seven RBs already this year. They got a lot of bodies. One difference is that this year their QB isn’t running much. Unlike Nebraska, Maryland looks to be leaving that task to the RBs this year. 31D2CF29-3725-4146-BA18-940BFF79B9EF.png
 

MD will be a handful offensively. Week off will help them a ton. Glad the game is at home.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
They are the Nebraska the East Division. Capable of great offensive output; equally capable of offensive crash and burn. Maryland’s superstar WR, Demus,H was injured in the Ohio State game and is out for the year—which is a big loss for them. Nebraska has a better defense than Maryland. We should score if we used a balanced attack. Don’t get too predictable. Same game plan for MD as for NE on D: contain and fluster their QB. Good things will follow.
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Haven't seen Terrapins play yet. Is the QB as good a runner/scrambler as Martinez? Meaning do we need to keep him in front of our front four rushers or is he more susceptible to the blitz than Martinez?
 


Dakota2 said:
Haven't seen Terrapins play yet. Is the QB as good a runner/scrambler as Martinez? Meaning do we need to keep him in front of our front four rushers or is he more susceptible to the blitz than Martinez?
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He’s a good runner but Maryland (perhaps for fear of injury) doesn’t use him as another RB. Martinez has 435 yards rushing after subtracting his negative sack yardage. The Maryland QB has negative yardage for the year (i.e. losses on sacks outweigh his positive runs). He is very athletic, but Maryland doesn’t run QB options like Nebraska does. By “contain” their QB, I mean keep him from rolling out of the pocket to escape sacks. He throws very well on the run. He has thrown for more than twice the yardage Tanner has thrown for this year. We need to box him in and bring him to the ground. We have the guys to do it.
 
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Taulia burned us last year.

We need to do better.
Having just played Martinez should be good preparation for us.

Weird game last year. We were down 0-14.
Then 7-21

Then we scored 21 in the second quarter to go up 28-21 at the half.

We scored first drive in the 2nd half to go up 35-21, then Tressel Ball took over.
Got FG on the next drive while playing Tressel ball.

Tanner only through 2 more passes, completion for 0 yards to Bateman and completion of 12 yards, and a sack.

This is where Tressel Ball lost it for us.
 

I like the line. After a few weeks, when we were unsure of what team we had, I liked the underdog role, chip on the shoulder attitude. But remember that before the season started, Fleck was the most positive on the prospects of this year than we’ve seen before.

It is time for the staff and team to embrace that they control their destiny, and realize the “Do not be afraid to be a legend” mantra.
 



btowngopher said:
Does our defense look like they did last year?
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His comment that I was replying to was in reference to Robb Smith.

In 2020 we had mostly the same (entirely the same?) defensive staff as we do this year. I was only referring to the staff.

Of course it's valid and correct to point out that our defensive personnel in 2020 was a significant downgrade from 2019 and what we have this year.
 

Spread holding at +5 for Maryland.

ML down to -210 for Gophers.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I feel like we (the fan base) overestimate Maryland because they looked good putting points on us in some games where our defense really laid an egg (the Robb Smith experiment), but they really aren't good.
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Maryland has a 3-2 record against us since they joined the conference. That means that they are good enough to be concerned about and should never be underestimated.
 

cjbfbp said:
Maryland has a 3-2 record against us since they joined the conference. That means that they are good enough to be concerned about and should never be underestimated.
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Since joining the B1G, they have a 16-41 B1G record, winning less than 30% of their conference games. They are still a B1G team, and we showed against Bowling Green we aren't good enough to sleepwalk our way to a win against anyone, but they are a bad B1G team.
 



bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Since joining the B1G, they have a 16-41 B1G record, winning less than 30% of their conference games. They are still a B1G team, and we showed against Bowling Green we aren't good enough to sleepwalk our way to a win against anyone, but they are a bad B1G team.
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Yep, next 3 games (really next 6 but not getting too far ahead) are all very winnable games.....IF....we show up and play up to our capabilities. Unfortunately that has not been the case throughout the 2021 season but hopefully this group is getting it together and is ready to take off over the remainder of the season.

Take care of business against three below average Big Ten teams and then we can tee it up and see what happens over those last 3. Gophers are in a great position at the halfway point. Now just have to bring it home.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Since joining the B1G, they have a 16-41 B1G record, winning less than 30% of their conference games. They are still a B1G team, and we showed against Bowling Green we aren't good enough to sleepwalk our way to a win against anyone, but they are a bad B1G team.
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Their overall conference winning percentage isn't particularly relevant where we are concerned. They have a 60% winning percentage against us and a 75% winning percentage in the last four matchups. Purdue hasn't been very successful in the conference either in recent years but they've sure been successful against Iowa.
 

Face The Facts said:
Taulia burned us last year.

We need to do better.
Having just played Martinez should be good preparation for us.

Weird game last year. We were down 0-14.
Then 7-21

Then we scored 21 in the second quarter to go up 28-21 at the half.

We scored first drive in the 2nd half to go up 35-21, then Tressel Ball took over.
Got FG on the next drive while playing Tressel ball.

Tanner only through 2 more passes, completion for 0 yards to Bateman and completion of 12 yards, and a sack.

This is where Tressel Ball lost it for us.
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had gut feeling we were done after a late 3 and out and giving it right back to team that just scored, sadly my gut was right that day
 

cjbfbp said:
Maryland has a 3-2 record against us since they joined the conference. That means that they are good enough to be concerned about and should never be underestimated.
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Without question. They always seem to have better athletes, that's for sure, which seems to give the Gophers troubles. The Maryland game always makes me nervous.

Line has moved to Gophers (-5) in most places. Lots of faith in the Fightin' Flecks... Not sure I can put any money on that.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Line has moved to Gophers (-5) in most places. Lots of faith in the Fightin' Flecks... Not sure I can put any money on that.
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I knew we'd be favored by a bit in the game but I wish we were underdogs. We seem to play better when we are.
 

STPGopher said:
Maryland like Purdue, Nebraska, and soon to be Illinois, most likely has our Gophers circled as a must win game. We will get their best effort. My hope is our Gophers are at that next phase, which in this case is being able to win other teams Superbowls.
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We literally didn’t get Purdue or Nebraska’s best effort

so I get what you’re saying about Maryland but
 

Some guy said:
We literally didn’t get Purdue or Nebraska’s best effort

so I get what you’re saying about Maryland but
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Okay, to rephrase, I don't think we will catch a team flat/ or unmotivated for this game.
 




Face The Facts said:
Taulia burned us last year.

We need to do better.
Having just played Martinez should be good preparation for us.

Weird game last year. We were down 0-14.
Then 7-21

Then we scored 21 in the second quarter to go up 28-21 at the half.

We scored first drive in the 2nd half to go up 35-21, then Tressel Ball took over.
Got FG on the next drive while playing Tressel ball.

Tanner only through 2 more passes, completion for 0 yards to Bateman and completion of 12 yards, and a sack.

This is where Tressel Ball lost it for us.
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Against an explosive offense, that can erupt any time, it is a calculated risk to play Tressel Ball—letting the opposing offense hang around with a close score. PJ wins more than his share of one score games, which is good. But perhaps the reason we have so many one score games is because of how PJ likes to limit his offense (to minimize big mistakes and eat up clock) when it holds a lead in the second half.

One strategic thing: once you shut down your own offense to play Tressel Ball, it seems as though it can be difficult to simply re-start the offense if game conditions dictate. I personally prefer the “keep the pedal on the accelerator” strategy unless and until you have piled up an insurmountable lead—but I don’t have to answer to anyone if my strategy fails!
 
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MNVCGUY said:
Take care of business against three below average Big Ten teams and then we can tee it up and see what happens over those last 3.
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100% this.

And only one of them is an away game, which is against a team that has looked the worst it has been over the past four seasons.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
Against an explosive offense, that can erupt any time, it is a calculated risk to play Tressel Ball—letting the opposing offense hang around with a close score. PJ wins more than his share of one score games, which is good. But perhaps the reason we have so many one score games is because of how PJ likes to limit his offense (to minimize big mistakes and eat up clock) when it holds a lead in the second half.

One strategic thing: once you shut down your own offense to play Tressel Ball, it seems as though it can be difficult to simply re-start the offense if game conditions dictate. I personally prefer the “keep the pedal on the accelerator” strategy unless and until you have piled up an insurmountable lead—but I don’t have to a set to anyone if my strategy fails!
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While Tressel Ball certainly minimizes mistakes by the offense, it also minimizes risk of mistakes and breakdowns on the part of the defense. Tressel Ball celebrates limiting turnovers (except on downs).
 

Terps barely beat Illinois and we’re destroyed by Iowa and OSU. They are riddled with injuries. We should win this game comfortably if we play a decent game. It won’t take our best effort to win this one, but we have seen what a very poor effort can produce.
 

If the Nebraska game 1st half offense shows up, Gophers win by 3 touchdowns. If the Nebraska game 2nd half offense shows up, Gophers lose by 2 touchdowns.
 

btowngopher said:
Terps barely beat Illinois and we’re destroyed by Iowa and OSU. They are riddled with injuries. We should win this game comfortably if we play a decent game. It won’t take our best effort to win this one, but we have seen what a very poor effort can produce.
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I want to agree … but I think this Maryland team, even with its injury problem, would box Bowling Green’s ears. If Tagovailoa has a hot hand, our offense will have to put forth another balanced attack. We are winning now with complementary football. Both D and O must play well. And they are now. No need to regress.
 

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