Great comeback by defense!

Donate To GopherHole
Great Plains Gopher

Great Plains Gopher

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 12, 2008
Messages
6,333
Reaction score
847
Points
113
Syracuse 78 yards, no points second half. Orange probably better than we expected - may have winning season with Carter, Paulus, improved defense. Our offense sputtered, though, except for the last long drive - very gutty and impressive. Bennett hurt near the end. Hope Gray can play more in future games to provide a spark, if needed.
 


Decker with a great start to the season 9 catches for 184 yards. Now if we could just clone him and make about 21 more of him we would be set. Man "The Orange" sucks, we played horrible for a large portion of that game and still won on the road. I'll take it.
 

Yeah, the defense looked pretty steady in the second half...
 

Yes the defense did...but the truth is though it is a win, optimism is seriously dampened at this moment. Air Force will be a big game, but the Gophers have shown the preseason predictions of 9th in the big ten have some justification.
 


We'll see how the season progresses for Syracuse. I thought they played pretty darned well in the first half on both sides of the ball (after the initial butterflies wore off) but we did a great job at making changes at the half.

Remember, this season is all about finishing and I don't know if anyone would disagree that we finished well.

Rah.
 

I was thinking the same thing. We struggled in the first half but settled down and did what we needed on D.

Things to do:
1. Weber needs to look at other receivers - several open options passed up for forced incomplete to 7
2. Find a running game
3. NO PENALTIES - lack of discipline is very frustrating
 

Very true. Adjustments were made and the team, especially the defense, played better.

Weber was atrocious. I don't think he can play worse. I wonder if he lacks confidence in receivers other than Decker or if doesn't have confidence in them to bail him out.

I was a little nervous when Campbell and Tripplet let that guy slip free in OT, but Tripplet redeemed himself with that pick. At the end of the day its a "W" for our Gophers.
 

Syracuse is not good, Paulus is not good either, one lucky blown coverage and some screens and wobbly passes to the slant made him look decent, still, less then 200 yds passing he got exposed in the 2nd half.......

Our Defense stepped up, Our Offense is still one dimensional.......
 



I liked the effort and instensity of the defense

As much as they started to struggle in the first half, that had a lot to do with all of those
3 and out series the offense was having. Our O-line has to cut down on the penalties and all of the false starts. Weber stepped up and led the winning drive, he struggled today but he did what a veteran needs to do. We need to learn how to run the football and continue to win games. This team can get better but will need improvement from the offensive line to get better. They need to see if Whaley or Thomas # 20 can carry the mail, I will say it again I do not see what the coaches see in Eskeridge he is just not a Big 10 level back.
 

Totally agree about Eskeridge. Bennet is far and away the best back we have. He should be featured. On the final drive of regulation Green had three nice catches. Eithe he or Carpenter needs to step up and be the 2nd option. Did Carpenter even play today?
 

Weber looks like a different QB when he is under center compared to the shotgun. Thankfully he came on at the end but for much of the game I was actually longing for the spread. One thing I really liked (and has already been hammered on) is the D made adjustments and shut down the plays that were working for the Orange in the first half. Good coaching?

The "O" looks like it has a long way to go but just eliminating penalties will help a lot. Any time they didn't snap the ball in the first four seconds, I started to cringe, waiting for someone to jump. Hopefully Bennett's shoulder is just a stinger. If it is a break or serious injury, it is going to be a long year watching Eskridge run in place with his chin up in the air.
 

borninthebarn said:
I was thinking the same thing. We struggled in the first half but settled down and did what we needed on D.

Things to do:
1. Weber needs to look at other receivers - several open options passed up for forced incomplete to 7
2. Find a running game
3. NO PENALTIES - lack of discipline is very frustrating
Click to expand...

I agree...the trouble that I have is that these are EXACTLY the same issues that plagued the team last year. Different O and D coordinators, different schemes, same poor execution. I will give credit to the team for a good second half adjustment (something we are not used to seeing) and Weber finally used multiple receivers on the last drive in regulation and was effective.

I think we are just going to have to live with a below average running game. We just do not have the personnel to run over other teams. If Weber can be sharper throwing the ball, however, we can use the pass to stretch the defense and open some holes for the running game. If Weber does not improve on his play today, it is going to be a long season offensively. He had pretty decent protection most of the day.
 



A few thoughts on this thread:
1. O line penalties. Not worried yet. It was very loud in the C-dome and it was the first game. Let's see how they do next week.
2. Brown's idiotic late hit on Paulus converted their 3rd down play and gave them more momentum. It may have been a different 1st half if that didn't happen.
3. Agree about Eskridge.
4. Not sure any back should be 'featured' until the line can consistently open running lanes, even slivers would help.
5. Weber better throw at the open receiver instead of mainly Decker, or it's going to be a long, long season.
 

If Weber stops throwing at players feet I'll be happy.......
 

Green impressed the hell out of me on the last (4th Q) drive. Penalties are killer, Wills has a lot to prove to me. Bennett did great, hope the shoulder is only a minor kink. Absolutely great adjustments on D at the half. I feel Syracuse is better than we gave them credit for. Pending the results of the next few weeks, potentially a bowl team in a weak Big East.
 

Syracuse is not a good team. They brought out their wildcat formation at the end of the 1st quarter and we had trouble with it until the end of the half. We made adjustments and bottled them up. Any team playing them from here on will have game tapes. I can't see them getting more than 4 wins this year, but at least they have the future to look forward to for the first time in a while.

As for our offense, well...we're just not that good.
 

I agree about Eskridge for the most part, but man he laid a SICK stiff arm on some dude in the first half.
 

Jeshurun said:
I agree about Eskridge for the most part, but man he laid a SICK stiff arm on some dude in the first half.
Click to expand...

Eskridge has skills and potential, but he needs to hit holes quicker and get positive yards.
 

We still have to figure out how to get a pass rush. I am puzzled that we hardly blitzed at all against a guy who hadn't play QB in 4 years. If we do not get some pressure on the QB it will be a long season when we actually start playing QB's that can pick us apart with that type of time back there.
 

The one thing I would like to see for next week would be a few more turnovers. We dropped 4 potential INT's a couple of which, were right in our hands. I think the game would have been a little different if we could have capitalized on those.
 


I saw it differently

We did blitz alot. The problem was when we did, we would either 1. Show it so damn early, they would audible away, or 2. get in the backfield and miss terribly. We need to find somebody with that natural knack of timming and ability to fool the QB, and somebody who can close the deal and make the sack.
That being said, I was very happy to see a side of the ball, the "D", make the half time adjustments, and the 3 third and 4 quarter tweeks when Syracuse tried to adjust to our adjustments
 

The offensive line seemed to have trouble adjusting to, all the jumping around, that the Syracuse DL did. I think it was something that surprised them that they were not ready for. I hope it's only a problem in game preperation because you can bet we'll see a lof it. Wills seems to have problems with speed rushers. I hope it's only a temporary getting up to speed situation and not an all season problem. He may need some help from the TE or FB while he's transitioning.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom