I think this game will be predictable.

[Governor Sibley]

It seems reasonable to assume that Syracuse is going to do absolutely everything in their power to establish a running game out of the gates. Rather than trying to blitz/pressure Paulus, I expect us to put 8 near the box and try to get them into third and long. If they score in the first quarter I'll be irritated.

I think we'll do much the same on offense, but with the hope of setting up a play-action game. I also expect us to try see if we can stretch the field early. If we can make that threat felt it will allow us to run the ball 35-40 times, which has to be game plan.

Not a scintillating prediction, but there it is.

 

[thailleagle]

If we can run for over 150 yds and Weber finds a legit#2 receiver I'll be happy as hell..........

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

I want to see us pound the rock as advertised. I hope we can establish a 60:40 run to pass ratio with this offense. Last year in the BT we managed 47:53 which rather surprised me as I felt we passed way more than that. Most good teams rely on the run and a solid D.

I will not be surprised to see the offense struggle at first. If so, I hope the D can contain Syracuse until we can get rolling.

 

[thailleagle]

We need to come out attacking aggressively like we did against Kansas.......

 

[Threefinesweethams]

The defensive front of Syracuse is probably the strength of their defense, for what that is worth. They are very concerned about their back seven. I would not be surprised or displeased if we used short- to mid-range passes early to set up the run in this game.

 

[KD6-3.7]

It seems reasonable to assume that Syracuse is going to do absolutely everything in their power to establish a running game out of the gates. Rather than trying to blitz/pressure Paulus, I expect us to put 8 near the box and try to get them into third and long. If they score in the first quarter I'll be irritated.

I think we'll do much the same on offense, but with the hope of setting up a play-action game. I also expect us to try see if we can stretch the field early. If we can make that threat felt it will allow us to run the ball 35-40 times, which has to be game plan.

Not a scintillating prediction, but there it is.

i agree about syracuse attempting to establish the rush early, but i think that the gophers are going to pass early and often. i don't think that they have any answer for weber to decker, and when they start doubling him is when the gophs will start pounding the ball.

i am very excited about this defense. i think that lawrence is going to get into the backfield on the passing downs, and the beef up the middle is going to force delone carter to bounce it outside. tray and marcus will have no problem in man coverage, and cooper and lawrence will shut down the edges.

the only thing i am worrying about is that horrid dome. i am not superstitious, but i sure hope the coaches have the guys ready to play in the dome against syracuse.

 

[Go Gophers Rah]

I was reminded in watching last night's games of how advanced defenses are over offenses during the early part of the season.

I really do not know enough about Marrone to predict what kind of offense he will run. If I were him, however, I would play us as similarly to the way Kansas played us (because they don't have the RBs or running QB's that Northwestern, Michigan or Iowa had). Kansas played a pretty dang vanilla game. I looked at Kansas' play-by-play record in the Insight Bowl and almost every 1st down play was a short, safe pass of 3-6 yards and almost every 2nd down was a run of 3-6 yards which left them in a position of either getting a first down or being in 3rd and very short (when they would burn us and throw a 40-yard pass).

I don't care if Paulus was the Gatorade flesh-eating-zombie-of-the-year 4 years ago in high school. This ain't high school and it is not 4 years ago. But I still thank that is what I would try to do. Use the short/safe passing game like a run and run at our ends and hope that on one of the short passing plays we are playing too close to the box and then wing it down to an undercovered receiver.

On defense, if I were Syracuse, I would try to contain (but not blitz) Weber, double cover Decker and hope that my strong safety and linebackers can sniff out a run and head it off at the line. Basically, what everyone tries to do against us.

The Syracuse fans seem to think Marrone is some kind of riverboat gambler type and will have us confused and on our heels. Its hard to say, because - to my knowledge - he didn't call the offensive plays at New Orleans.

I think the Syracuse fans are wrong. I think Marrone will run a pretty standard/conservative game plan with the exception of relying a little more on the short pass (West Coast Offense) because of the personnel they have.

In the end, I think we played our worst against those types of teams. That won't be the case on Saturday, though, because of the depth and experience we'll be bringing to the Carrier Dome.