Hole Poll: What grade would you give Gophers coaches in win over West Virginia?

Hole Poll: What grade would you give Gophers coaches in win over West Virginia?

  • A

    Votes: 48 33.1%

  • B

    Votes: 80 55.2%

  • C

    Votes: 16 11.0%

  • D

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • F

    Votes: 1 0.7%
  • Total voters
    145
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Murray, your points about having a plan and doing just enough to win/beat an inferior team reminds me of a section of the documentary movie AlphaGo about the Go playing AI that defeated the best player in the world (Lee Sedol).
At one point the AI makes an inexplicable move. Inexplicable to every human watching. It stunned the world champ who just stared at the board for a while. The programming team, looking into all of the data passing through the system, finally figured out that the move gave it the highest win possibility increase at the time. It didn't care about a flashy win or making moves that other humans would make. It was going to grind its opponent into the ground as slowly as it needed to.

It's a great documentary and I recommend it if you like computers and games and AI.
Do a google search for "AlphaGo move 37" if you're curious about this particular moment.

Or here is the spot where Move 37 happens:
 

I wish there were a B- option.
I went with C. Could have gone B, but there were several times last night where I didn't expect anything great to happen, and it didn't.
I liked the defense. And, I liked that Tanner Morgan didn't frantically look over at the sideline as the play clock neared "0".
 

Vandy said:
Not going to enter a grade for the entire team.... Rossi and the defense get an A. The offensive line and running backs get an A.

Whoever was calling the plays and Morgan would kind of sully the overall team grade to a B- or C+. This game should have been over in the first 20 minutes.
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Agreed. Calling that fumble on the 5 and missed field goal were awful calls.
 


RememberMurray said:
Yep. Don't forget that terrible call where the receiver slipped and fell, causing an interception. I mean, what were they thinking there? Sheesh.
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Scrap those from the playbook for next year. Don’t really get how they will ever help.

But all jokes aside take away the missed FG and fumble and it’s at least 28 points on the board.
 


I don't know how people haven't voted this as an A. The gameplan was very sound and never put the outcome in doubt. The only glaring mistake I can think of is the timeout in the 3Q....but even that excuse is mitigated by the fact we were up 2 possessions. Newsflash: When up 2 possessions in the 2H the timeouts aren't as important. Not saying it wasn't a mistake, but it wasn't the disaster that people are making it out to be.

The Big Dan play, the fake conversion....these were clearly coach plans and they were executed perfectly.

Solid A grade.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Have to give an A as game was never in doubt, and the score would have been more lopsided without some bad execution, bad luck (MBS slip interception), and turnover trouble (Ky). Defense was dominant and disruptive, giving up what, a little over 200 yards and 6 points? The offense had an average output game but 249 yards rushing is pretty good; left some points on the field with the missed FG, fumble. It felt like the offense went into a pretty conservative shell (per M.O.) once it was established WVU could not consistently move the ball and that continued the entire second half. This wasn’t the offensive explosion we hoped to see, but the defensive demolition was pretty satisfying.
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Yup, this pretty much sums it up. The game script was a familiar one: do exactly what it takes to win -- and nothing more. Like many B1G games the O was varied until the staff perceived it didn't need to be. Once MN was up two scores and it was evident WV would have trouble consistently moving the ball the staff predictably went into ball control mode.

If there was ever any doubt as to who was pulling the strings on O this year between Sanford, Simon, and Fleck I think that was put to rest last night.
 


Went A
Bowl win, TD by Dan, 2 RB's over 125 yards, defense was outstanding, 5 sacks
 



GopherVictory said:
Murray, your points about having a plan and doing just enough to win/beat an inferior team reminds me of a section of the documentary movie AlphaGo about the Go playing AI that defeated the best player in the world (Lee Sedol).
At one point the AI makes an inexplicable move. Inexplicable to every human watching. It stunned the world champ who just stared at the board for a while. The programming team, looking into all of the data passing through the system, finally figured out that the move gave it the highest win possibility increase at the time. It didn't care about a flashy win or making moves that other humans would make. It was going to grind its opponent into the ground as slowly as it needed to.

It's a great documentary and I recommend it if you like computers and games and AI.
Do a google search for "AlphaGo move 37" if you're curious about this particular moment.

Or here is the spot where Move 37 happens:
Click to expand...
Comparatively speaking, the Gophers don't care as much how they win.

The Gophers' offense loved to slow-gound, tenderize, and soften up the opponents' defense with their behemoth Offensive Line.

The Mountaineer's defense became demoralized and very tired. They received a punishment all game long.

Daniel Fa'alele is a Gopher legend. It is apropos that he scored a touchdown in his final game as a Gopher. Fa'alele's last curtain-call to his college football career will be talked about in the college football world for generations.

The Gopher defense did their share of punishing and harassing the Mountaineers offense. Doege was harassed and was down on the turf on multiple occasions. The Gophers had the better defense.

Yes, it was a boring game, especially in the second half. Boring is good when you win and sucked the life out of your opponent.
 


Johnob2 said:
Can't blame the coaches for a missed FG, fumble or a receiver slipping on the Int. Scoreline didn't reflect the extent of our dominance in every facet of a well-executed game plan IMHO.
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Sure you can....people do it all the time... :)
 




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