How would you grade the Gophers overall performance in the win over Eastern Michigan?

How would you grade the Gophers overall performance in the win over Eastern Michigan?

  • A

    Votes: 8 7.3%

  • B

    Votes: 71 64.5%

  • C

    Votes: 28 25.5%

  • D

    Votes: 3 2.7%

  • F

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    110
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How would you grade the Gophers overall performance in the win over Eastern Michigan?
 


  • Defense stellar again.
  • Running game found a lot more room than last week and Taylor looks like a star in the making.
  • Athan was fine when they let him cook. The arm is there, Jackson and Crooms are great.
  • Red zone offense was absolutely horrible and worries me.
  • Why was Redding returning kicks? Tyler and Crooms looked electric back there when given the chance.
 


C overall

Offense D (DT saved it from being a F)
Defense B
Special Teams B
 


Went with B because EMU is a real football program that is respectable at that level. If anything not sure about the end of the game...maybe Kramer could have had some snaps on the last series. Had Taylor not slipped and fell down for a loss, might have gotten the full points. Not complaining but it just had a weird vibe to it as literally my recollection was we were within the last minute of play.

On to North Carolina. Carry on.
 

2.5 out of π

Offense has potential but just… can’t quite help but miss opportunities, too often. Players gotta make their plays more than they are, and for the love of god hold onto the football.

Defense looks really good although I worry about teams who can run laterally and i feel like they overcommit at times to “tricky” plays.


Very hopeful, 2-0 they have themselves in a great position.
 

I want to go between C and B. Guess that’s a B- or C+
Liked the freshman back, as has been mentioned by about everyone in one thread or another. Also liked that they had Dragan kick it through the end zone tonight. What the heck they were thinking last week is beyond me.
 

A. The win wasn't perfect, but that's not what really matters to me here. What matters is that we got good practice in the run game and found our RB1 while also maintaining a dynamic and complimentary pass game. Special teams had flashes and is clearly figuring itself out, and the defense didn't allow a first down after halftime! EMU brought a good team and I'm more than happy with the result here going into the UNC game. The point of this game, at least to me, was to prepare for what we'll face in Chapel Hill, and I feel like that goal was met and exceeded.
 



I went B. In a game where we are favored by 20, I'd probably want to see us look unstoppable on both sides of the ball for 60 minutes (or at least 50ish). We weren't that. That said, we won by 19, didn't surrender a touchdown, and had a huge special teams play. I mentioned in a thread about the TCU Colorado game last week how offense seems affect people's perception more than defense. I feel like of our offensive and defensive performances were flip flopped last night, we probably win 42-14, and people would be a lot more bullish about the performance, even though I think it would reflect pretty similar overall team quality. A nice, solid, comfortable win in an out if conference game we were supposed to win. It's a B.
 

I went B

Defense gets an A - no real explanation needed, they were awesome
Offense gets a C - moved the ball at will for the most part but redzone struggles were a concern. Ball security issues were also troubling.
Special teams gets a B - a few coverage issues and some penalties but also blocked a punt, and Kesich is looking like a real weapon as a kicker.

If we punch in those early drives the game probably turns into a route. As it was, it was a solid performance where the game was never really in doubt even when the score was close. Things to work on as always but nice to be 2-0 heading to UNC next week that will be a tough test.
 

BilldGopher said:
Went with B because EMU is a real football program that is respectable at that level. If anything not sure about the end of the game...maybe Kramer could have had some snaps on the last series. Had Taylor not slipped and fell down for a loss, might have gotten the full points. Not complaining but it just had a weird vibe to it as literally my recollection was we were within the last minute of play.

On to North Carolina. Carry on.
Click to expand...
B. EMU was 9-4 in 2022 and has beaten plenty of P5 schools under their current coach, including Arizona State last year. They are not 70-0 fodder.

The Gophers possessed the ball for almost 40 minutes, had well over twice the yardage of EMU, and never punted. EMU had negative yards the whole second half. This game wasn't nearly as close as the score indicated.

But there weren't many big plays, turnovers, or other quick hits to run up the score. A little like the Colorado game in Boulder, 2021.

Essentially it was a textbook Fleck/Kill/Claeys era guarantee game in which the Gophers are more of a python than a cobra.
 

First half defense = B
Second half defense = A+

First half offense = C
Second half offense = B
 



BSF still criminally underutilized. I do not understand.
 

We knew EMU was a good MAC team and good MAC >/= an avg P5 team.

The defense had moments but those are issues that can be coached up. Otherwise they were pretty stellar. At one point late in the 2H EMU hadn’t had a single 1st down.

Going in the goal for offense was to establish the run. It took a bit of time but I’d say the OL started clicking and Tyler/Taylor looked good. I do really hope we can get better at the OG spots though. Overall it felt like another intentional non-con game where Fleck basically made it a 60 minute run game practice. Letting AK cook would’ve been cool but I don’t think that was ever in the game plan really.

I’ll let Burns hand special teams… i don’t know about injuries but it feels like we got a lot of good film/experience out of this game.

B
 

When you win you can’t get less than a B IMO. So I went B.
 

b. wasn't pretty in the first half but the second half was a breeze
 


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