Grading the Coaching - week 1

[Gold Rush]

This was a tough game to prepare for as Syracuse was coming in with a new coach, new schemes and a new QB. I thought Brewster and staff did a good job getting ready for the game and the Gophers jumped to an early lead. It did not help that Weber looked pretty lousy for most of the game (before the last drive he was something like 13-34 for 171 yards and an interception.)
I was a little surprised he did not run the ball -- two years ago, Weber used to run about 15 times a game which although was way too much, was an effective play on occasion. Still, the Gophers came out ready for the game early and fired off a 14-3 lead.

Game Prep -- B+

Adjustments.......Syracuse ran two plays over and over again (the wildcat and the WR bubble screen) and the Gophers could not stop them early on. The second quarter saw the team reeling and nothing looked like it was being done to adjust to it.......Syracuse took full control of the game. At halftime, Cosgrove and staff did a great job coming up with the needed adjustments that took away both plays and the defense really stuffed Syracuse the rest of the way. Although I would give the defense an A+ for their halftime adjustments which helped win the game, maybe they could have been a little quicker on that in between series. I thought the offense did not really make any adustments at the half and it looked like the same offense. Maybe a series with Gray would have changed it up a bit, but sticking with Weber with the game on the line turned out to be the right call. I am going to split this grade......

Defensive adjustments........A- (maybe just a little quicker during the game, particularly the second quarter, but a very good job at the half)
Offensive adjustments........C+ (stuck with an ineffective offense far too long and the team went through a good chunk of the game not moving the ball at all. Playcalling down the stretch worked to perfection.

Motivation.......... I think Brewster does a good job at getting the players psched up to play and they fought hard all the way to the end. I do not think you can fault the players effort here.

Grade --- A

Stupid Mistakes/Penalties..........You certainly can't blame the coacing staff for all the players' mistakes, but a good part of the stupid mistakes which need to be corrected certainly can. I am very sick and tired of all the stupid penalties which have plagued this team for the last three years. Well coached teams never continue to make the same mistakes repeatedly and this is getting to be a concern. I know it's week one and you would hope that the team gets better as the season goes on, but this is starting to get to be a trademark. I especially hate the personal foul penalties, but all the holding and false start penalties have got to stop, too.........

Grade --- D

Clock management........Brewster still looks like a rookie coach, here. Getting Alford late off the field caused Ellestad to rush a FG attempt which he missed. That could have cost them the game and the team would have been better served with a time out to prevent that. We had to burn a couple timeouts where everything looked confused, that reminded me of the Jim Wacker days. Weber did a good job of working the clock in the last few minutes of the game.

Grade --- C


Coaching isn't just about recruiting, there needs to be an accountability for the mistakes and we really need to work on both execution as well as cutting down the stupid penalties. I STILL think the jury is out on Brewster as a coach, even after three years. I really wish he would have gotten a few years experience in the MAC or somewhere before he had to learn it on the fly here.
I am not particularly pleased with our "new look" offense, but hopefully that will improve. Our defense is showing signs of improvement though and that is encouraging. I think Cosgrove did a pretty good job and I am a lot more comfortable now with him than I was before the game.

Overall coaching Grade for week 1 --- 2.71 or B-

 

[frozengopher]

I would mix offensive game prep (C- IMO) with the penalties. I cringed every time Weber audibled to a different play when under center. I kept looking for Bunders, Alford, or Wills to pitter-patter before the snap.

Biggest laugh out loud quote by one of the blockhead announcers that reminded me of years of bonehead mistakes by countless Gophers coaches and players: "Tim Brewster just iced his own kicker." I love Brew, but that was just too good. The feeling of agony welling in my gut from that move was unreal.
Time management --- D

Other than being a little disappointed in the time it took to adjust to the bubble screens and that God awful wildcat hybrid they ran, I was more than thrilled with the defensive coaching and adjustments. We actually have an athletic defense that can defend and what appears to be a competent coordinator AT THE SAME TIME!

I can agree with all of your other assessments.

 

[Ski U Master]

I loved the adjustments at the half, I just wish they could've switched it up a little earlier in the 2nd quarter instead of waiting until the half. Everyone at Sally's couldn't believe the TO before the kick in OT, but I don't really think icing the kicker works very well anyway.

 

[Gold Rush]

Icing the kicker

I think Brewster was probably making sure he had the right personnel out there and did not want to botch up the kick attempt, especially after they looked pretty terrible on the earlier one where Ellestad had to run out there and make the kick with no preparation as the clock was going to zero.

I don't think it was a bad timeout in that situation and it ended up not hurting us.

 

[josh087]

Time Management

I have no problem with Brew calling the TO before the OT FG. As mentioned previously, this is the time you want to make sure everything is right.

Icing the kicker is WAY overrated. How many times have you actually seen it work - and is the percentage of times it does work statistically significantly higher than the percentage of FGs a kicker would miss anyway? A kicker is going to miss a FG at the end of the game a certain amount anyway regardless if a TO is used or not. Without spending millions on a research study I haven't seen a significant enough corellation between icing the kicker TOs and missed kicks to make me believe this was a negative decision.

Now - if you pull a Bret Bielema and use one when the other team is scrambling to put in their special teams, that's another story.

The one issue I had was Brew burning a TO in regulation after the 2nd and 10 run with about a minute to go inside the SU 10 yard line. And I'm not taking 2 days to realize this was a bad decision. The instant the TO was called I started screaming "why!!!!????"

The reasoning behind the timeout was a valid one - it was a critical 3rd down, and if the Gophers were able to call the right play and get a TD, they could have won the game. No problem there.

But why not burn off 30 seconds off the clock and then use the TO? That way, if SU got the ball back regardless if it was a tie game or with the Gophers leading - they would have had under 30 seconds left. Yes, it was possible to get a first down without scoring a TD, but even if this happened the clock would have stopped on the play. If they were smart, the Gophers could have called a 2nd play during the TO in case they got a first down and not a TD. Plus, they still had a TO left in their pocket. So they wouldn't have been limiting their chances of winning by letting the time run out before using the TO.

A coach needs to go through all of these scenarios at the end of the game. I may get ripped on this - but I actually liked coach Mason's TO and management strategies. It seems the only critisism was "why did _____ QB hike the ball with 7 seconds on the playclock instead of 1 second?"

Don't even get me started on Les Miles, the worst game manager in FBS.

This was a more serious error that unnecessarily gave SU the ball back with a minute to go in regulation versus 25 seconds. Not acceptable.

 

[thailleagle]

Brewster still has to learn how to properly use Timeouts & Challenges.......

 

[GopherHomer]

Does anybody still think that calling a time out "ices" a kicker. I would love to see some statistical analysis that showed kicking percentages from certain distances when a time out is called verses when one is not. I bet if the sample size is large enough, there is not statistical significance. This is just another example of rock head football people/announcers not being able to think for themselves, and simply doing what everyone else does. If I was a kicker who had a late game kick approaching, I'd be expecting/waiting to be "iced" and would probably be more psyched out if the opposing coach just let the play proceed.

 

[Gophers09]

I have no problem with Brew calling the TO before the OT FG. As mentioned previously, this is the time you want to make sure everything is right.

Icing the kicker is WAY overrated. How many times have you actually seen it work - and is the percentage of times it does work statistically significantly higher than the percentage of FGs a kicker would miss anyway? A kicker is going to miss a FG at the end of the game a certain amount anyway regardless if a TO is used or not. Without spending millions on a research study I haven't seen a significant enough corellation between icing the kicker TOs and missed kicks to make me believe this was a negative decision.

Now - if you pull a Bret Bielema and use one when the other team is scrambling to put in their special teams, that's another story.

The one issue I had was Brew burning a TO in regulation after the 2nd and 10 run with about a minute to go inside the SU 10 yard line. And I'm not taking 2 days to realize this was a bad decision. The instant the TO was called I started screaming "why!!!!????"

The reasoning behind the timeout was a valid one - it was a critical 3rd down, and if the Gophers were able to call the right play and get a TD, they could have won the game. No problem there.

But why not burn off 30 seconds off the clock and then use the TO? That way, if SU got the ball back regardless if it was a tie game or with the Gophers leading - they would have had under 30 seconds left. Yes, it was possible to get a first down without scoring a TD, but even if this happened the clock would have stopped on the play. If they were smart, the Gophers could have called a 2nd play during the TO in case they got a first down and not a TD. Plus, they still had a TO left in their pocket. So they wouldn't have been limiting their chances of winning by letting the time run out before using the TO.

A coach needs to go through all of these scenarios at the end of the game. I may get ripped on this - but I actually liked coach Mason's TO and management strategies. It seems the only critisism was "why did _____ QB hike the ball with 7 seconds on the playclock instead of 1 second?"

Don't even get me started on Les Miles, the worst game manager in FBS.

This was a more serious error that unnecessarily gave SU the ball back with a minute to go in regulation versus 25 seconds. Not acceptable.

Agree completely, the timeout at the end of regulation was a mistake.

 

[Gopher Nation]

I was most bothered by the play Fisch/Brewster came up with late in regulation on 3rd and 4. They call a timeout and then in a situation where there's still over a minute to play, and a 5-yard gain gives you first and goal inside the 10 where a TD wins it, they throw a fade pattern out of bounds to Decker in the corner from 15 yards out? Terrible play call. Could've cost us the game.

 

[MBAGuy]

I was most bothered by the play Fisch/Brewster came up with late in regulation on 3rd and 4. They call a timeout and then in a situation where there's still over a minute to play, and a 5-yard gain gives you first and goal inside the 10 where a TD wins it, they throw a fade pattern out of bounds to Decker in the corner from 15 yards out? Terrible play call. Could've cost us the game.

I thought that was a great call. With single coverage, a good pass gives us a touchdown nine of ten times. Was just a horrible pass.

I can understand getting on the staff for the lack of discipline and some unimaginative play calling, but to say this call is the one with which you are most bothered is pretty odd. How about the two consecutive plays on 3rd and 1 and 4th and 1 where we run right into their marquis defensive player, Jones? You're not more bothered by that than by the Gophers trying to lock the game up with a fade to our best WR in single coverage? Odd.

 

[Gopher Nation]

I thought that was a great call. With single coverage, a good pass gives us a touchdown nine of ten times. Was just a horrible pass.

I can understand getting on the staff for the lack of discipline and some unimaginative play calling, but to say this call is the one with which you are most bothered is pretty odd. How about the two consecutive plays on 3rd and 1 and 4th and 1 where we run right into their marquis defensive player, Jones? You're not more bothered by that than by the Gophers trying to lock the game up with a fade to our best WR in single coverage? Odd.

Well, I was bothered by those two calls too. But there wasn't as much at stake then. They called a timeout in order to come up with their single best play to win the game, and it was a fade pattern. Sure if the pass was there he might have caught it. But that's just it, how often does a fade pass end up in the right spot?

 

[year of the gopher]

Does anybody still think that calling a time out "ices" a kicker. I would love to see some statistical analysis that showed kicking percentages from certain distances when a time out is called verses when one is not. I bet if the sample size is large enough, there is not statistical significance. This is just another example of rock head football people/announcers not being able to think for themselves, and simply doing what everyone else does. If I was a kicker who had a late game kick approaching, I'd be expecting/waiting to be "iced" and would probably be more psyched out if the opposing coach just let the play proceed.

I wondered the same thing, so I googled it and came up with this:

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/5605/title/The_Iced_Foot_Effect

It appears it does have some effect on kickers, but not an overwhelming one.

 

[Go Gophers Rah]

How many professors grade their students after the first day of school?

For now I will say "incomplete."

Ask again when there is enough evidence to support any particular grade.

 

[Doc1001]

I agree with Gopher Nation

The fade pass in that situation---perhaps the most critical play of the game up to then---is a poor percentage call especially with only five yards needed. Thinking back to the Michigan game in 2003 they called the same stinking call and it failed and cost us the game. That play call should be extremely rare and certainly not in a do or die situation. That call angered me. Not again. You need a much higher percentage play in that situation not a sort of Hail Mary hope for the best call.

 

[jags1998]

The fade pass in that situation---perhaps the most critical play of the game up to then---is a poor percentage call especially with only five yards needed. Thinking back to the Michigan game in 2003 they called the same stinking call and it failed and cost us the game. That play call should be extremely rare and certainly not in a do or die situation. That call angered me. Not again. You need a much higher percentage play in that situation not a sort of Hail Mary hope for the best call.

While I wouldn't have chosen that play personally, having lived through said Michigan game, I actually didn't think it was that bad of a call. With Decker there 1-1, the chances of an INT are low since you know he'll do what it takes to make the catch or not allow a pick. And, he showed througout the game that he was pretty superior to anyone in the Cuse secondary. So, while I wish they had a great five yard gainer in their back pocket, I was OK with it. I like Decker 1 on 1.

 

[Gopher Nation]

Well, Decker would have been one-on-one on a slant or a curl route too.

 

[Rotundo]

I hope Brewster realizes his error on that third down timeout. I couldn't believe the way he handled that situation but when you hire a tight end coach as head coach you will have these types of issues for awhile. You can only hope that he is capable of learning.

 

[tikited]

Not happy at all with the coaching last Sat. Head-scratchers throughout the game. Good thing it is early.

 

[pharmacygopher]

Well, Decker would have been one-on-one on a slant or a curl route too.

The the percentages of throwing a pick and losing the game to up as well. Let your play maker make a play.

 

[WAGopher]

I also don't like the fade on a must score down. To me a fade falls into the trick play category simply because the ball is in the air much longer than any other pass option, and the longer the ball isn't in anyone's hands, the more likely the unexpected will happen. It's the same with all sports like fielding an infield hit before it takes another bounce or not hitting the cutoff man in baseball, lob passes in basketball and not keeping the puck on the stick in hockey.