Interesting tweets...

[Some Day...Is Coming!]

A couple of interesting tweets:

Nate Sandell‏@NSandell

Just left the Gophers FB offices, Kill was very contemplative this morning. He openly took fault for Michigan loss, coaching mistakes

PiPress Gophers Now‏@GophersNow

Kill was pretty honest with his last recruiting class telling them that "if you're not thick skinned...then this is not the place."

I honestly think the fake field goal thing can be a result of trying too hard. I think Kill wants to do well so bad that he got ahead of himself. Wasn't able to stay patient. Everybody makes mistakes, it's going to happen. Compared to what this position warrants, I think Minnesota got a great coach! I find the "thick skinned" tweet interesting as well. Ya gotta love how honest Coach Kill is. It can't be easy trying to dig yourself out of the Tim Brewster hole, especially when you've got an ass clown media and the ingrained mentality that exists among the community regarding Gopher Football.

Per tweets from Scroggins and Sandell sounds like Kill admitted to some mistakes, and there's probably nobody that is harder on Kill, than himself.

Go Gophers!

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

He's right that his team is young. Look at Hope - fourth year and struggling.

 

[GopherFanatic19]

Who cares about the fake field goal! Hell Les Miles did it with the #5 team against the #1 team in the country!!! He took a chance and it did not work. I bet a ton that fake smile Mason and Timmy B wouldnt have done that, but I like Kill taking a chance wanting to win and give it his all. I support coach Kill and see a major improvement from last year and from game to game.

We have a good coach people, what do you expect us to be #1 in the country after the mason and brew years we have some catching up to do. Coach kill is doing a good job.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Who cares about the fake field goal! Hell Les Miles did it with the #5 team against the #1 team in the country!!! He took a chance and it did not work.

And it essentially cost him the game in the long run. He was 0-4 on risky calls and he lost the game for his team. If he would have played smart they are talking about knocking off the #1 team in the country today.

 

[calminnfan]

Kill was pretty honest with his last recruiting class telling them that "if you're not thick skinned...then this is not the place."

yeh...reality is...

 

[Dr.Don]

Kill was pretty honest with his last recruiting class telling them that "if you're not thick skinned...then this is not the place."

yeh...reality is...

Welcome to GopherHole and some of us old bastards who will give thin skinned pups crap, thread after thread after thread.

If ya don't believe me, ask Kujo:

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110325204258/villains/images/4/4d/Cujorabies.jpg

 

[GopherFanatic19]

And it essentially cost him the game in the long run. He was 0-4 on risky calls and he lost the game for his team. If he would have played smart they are talking about knocking off the #1 team in the country today.

Actually your wrong, that play did not make them lose the game. The D broke down with 2 minutes to go and Alabama put together some good plays. Also even if he didnt do the fake FG and the kicker made it, LSU still would have lost by 1 point. I like a coach who will go for it and give it his all instead of playing it safe 24/7.

 

[Iceland12]

A couple of interesting tweets:

Nate Sandell‏@NSandell

Just left the Gophers FB offices, Kill was very contemplative this morning. He openly took fault for Michigan loss, coaching mistakes

PiPress Gophers Now‏@GophersNow

Kill was pretty honest with his last recruiting class telling them that "if you're not thick skinned...then this is not the place."

I honestly think the fake field goal thing can be a result of trying too hard. I think Kill wants to do well so bad that he got ahead of himself. Wasn't able to stay patient. Everybody makes mistakes, it's going to happen. Compared to what this position warrants, I think Minnesota got a great coach! I find the "thick skinned" tweet interesting as well. Ya gotta love how honest Coach Kill is. It can't be easy trying to dig yourself out of the Tim Brewster hole, especially when you've got an ass clown media and the ingrained mentality that exists among the community regarding Gopher Football.

Per tweets from Scroggins and Sandell sounds like Kill admitted to some mistakes, and there's probably nobody that is harder on Kill, than himself.

Go Gophers!

Good to hear that but it would have served him a lot better if he would have said that after the game rather than trying to blame his kicker for not throwing a quicker and better pass. For a "stand-up" and "speak his mind coach" my only real problem with the guy is his tendency when things go bad is to always blame his players then to later say it could also be his fault.

Might work for him though. There's still a lot of fans who seem happiest when they can lay off any blames on Brewster. If the players were recruited by Brewster of COURSE it's their fault. Some NIU fans complained about the same thing but many here just chalked it up to sour grapes.

Hope it changes regardless. Now lets get though a week of "that was bad/no it wasn't" and get to the Illini game.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Actually your wrong, that play did not make them lose the game. The D broke down with 2 minutes to go and Alabama put together some good plays. Also even if he didnt do the fake FG and the kicker made it, LSU still would have lost by 1 point. I like a coach who will go for it and give it his all instead of playing it safe 24/7.

Alright, so you've explained one of his 4 blunders. Now how about the other 3?

There is no doubt that Les Miles's aggressive decisions (ALL OF WHICH FAILED) played an outcome in the game. Field position was lost along with momentum.

I disagree with your argument. There is a time and place to take risks, but one needs to take calculated risks. I would rather my coach put the outcome in the hands of the players and not try to be the hero with overly aggressive (some might say stupid) play calling.

 

[Gopherube]

And it essentially cost him the game in the long run. He was 0-4 on risky calls and he lost the game for his team. If he would have played smart they are talking about knocking off the #1 team in the country today.

I'm not sure what I'm missing but Michigan is the #7 ranked defensive team in the entire country. They scored 35 points. We were not going to out score them unless we took chances.
Anyway you cut it and rationalize and rationalize some more, it wasn't going to happen.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I'm not sure what I'm missing but Michigan is the #7 ranked defensive team in the entire country. They scored 35 points. We were not going to out score them unless we took chances.
Anyway you cut it and rationalize and rationalize some more, it wasn't going to happen.

I was talking about LSU vs. Alabama

 

[Gopherube]

I was talking about LSU vs. Alabama

My Bad!!
Am a little defensive today.
Am tired of all the p!ss!ng and moaning about Kill, team, coaching, yada yada! Sickening to say the least!t
Will try and read more careful next time.

 

[stevedave23]

"if you're not thick skinned...then this is not the place."

He's spot on. This is Minnesota where your division 1 football team is treated like every other pro team in town. Despite no conference championships in 45 years, no free agency, no trading, no reverse draft order and no scheduling dependant on how you finished the previous year you're still expected to turn things around in 2-3 years or else.

 

[GopherFBfan]

Who cares about the fake field goal! Hell Les Miles did it with the #5 team against the #1 team in the country!!! He took a chance and it did not work. I bet a ton that fake smile Mason and Timmy B wouldnt have done that, but I like Kill taking a chance wanting to win and give it his all. I support coach Kill and see a major improvement from last year and from game to game.

We have a good coach people, what do you expect us to be #1 in the country after the mason and brew years we have some catching up to do. Coach kill is doing a good job.

+1

 

[FiveStarFan]

A couple of interesting tweets:

Nate Sandell‏@NSandell

Just left the Gophers FB offices, Kill was very contemplative this morning. He openly took fault for Michigan loss, coaching mistakes

PiPress Gophers Now‏@GophersNow

Kill was pretty honest with his last recruiting class telling them that "if you're not thick skinned...then this is not the place."

I honestly think the fake field goal thing can be a result of trying too hard. I think Kill wants to do well so bad that he got ahead of himself. Wasn't able to stay patient. Everybody makes mistakes, it's going to happen. Compared to what this position warrants, I think Minnesota got a great coach! I find the "thick skinned" tweet interesting as well. Ya gotta love how honest Coach Kill is. It can't be easy trying to dig yourself out of the Tim Brewster hole, especially when you've got an ass clown media and the ingrained mentality that exists among the community regarding Gopher Football.

Per tweets from Scroggins and Sandell sounds like Kill admitted to some mistakes, and there's probably nobody that is harder on Kill, than himself.

Go Gophers!

Great post bud! I rarely post on GH anymore as I spend most of my time on GI but I still follow this board close and IMO this is one of the better posts I've read and took the words right out of my mouth. It's my belief that some of the "odd" decisions Kill has made this year are directly related to the media bashing and he and the staff just really want to please the masses sooner than they know they can so they try out of the box things. I trust this staff more than any football staff MN football staff I've been alive to see and yes the includes Vikings. Being honest with these kids is a big factor to most recruits because everyone else is just selling them what they want to hear.

Be patient, its not like the NFL where free agency and the draft helps with quick turnover. These kids are vastly undersized still for Big 10 ball. We are so much more competitive than we were last year. Next year you will be surprised how close we will be to some bigger upsets. Stay positive.

Go Gophers

 

[calminnfan]

Welcome to GopherHole and some of us old bastards who will give thin skinned pups crap, thread after thread after thread.

If ya don't believe me, ask Kujo:

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110325204258/villains/images/4/4d/Cujorabies.jpg

But really, isn't that the problem...some of us have all these years of frustration and most of these kids, especially from other states have probably only heard of MN through the start of their being recruited, yet we pile on all these years on them, ALL of whom were not around with MN tanked its program...yet we expect them to have thick skin to deal with all our gripes and complaints...,

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

I'm not sure what I'm missing but Michigan is the #7 ranked defensive team in the entire country. They scored 35 points. We were not going to out score them unless we took chances.
Anyway you cut it and rationalize and rationalize some more, it wasn't going to happen.

I am a fan of Kill, however, it was 14-7 when he attempted the fake FG. If we make that FG and nothing else changes, it is a 21-13 game with 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter. It would have given us our BEST chance of winning. It was a bad call.

 

[Formo]

Good to hear that but it would have served him a lot better if he would have said that after the game rather than trying to blame his kicker for not throwing a quicker and better pass. For a "stand-up" and "speak his mind coach" my only real problem with the guy is his tendency when things go bad is to always blame his players then to later say it could also be his fault.

Might work for him though. There's still a lot of fans who seem happiest when they can lay off any blames on Brewster. If the players were recruited by Brewster of COURSE it's their fault. Some NIU fans complained about the same thing but many here just chalked it up to sour grapes.

Hope it changes regardless. Now lets get though a week of "that was bad/no it wasn't" and get to the Illini game.

Never did he blame the kicker. Or the passer. He said it wasn't the best throw, and it didn't work. And guess what? He's right. It was a poor pass. Now, if he wants to take the blame for choosing the wrong kid to make that throw because the holder shouldn't be asked to make a play like that.. fine. But the throw WAS a piss poor one that forced Nelson to change his path to make the catch, thus giving the fast Michigan defense time to catch up.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Who cares about the fake field goal! Hell Les Miles did it with the #5 team against the #1 team in the country!!! He took a chance and it did not work. I bet a ton that fake smile Mason and Timmy B wouldnt have done that, but I like Kill taking a chance wanting to win and give it his all. I support coach Kill and see a major improvement from last year and from game to game.

We have a good coach people, what do you expect us to be #1 in the country after the mason and brew years we have some catching up to do. Coach kill is doing a good job.

We talk about everything Gopher football on this board. Why wouldn't people be talking about a controversial play call during a game under 48 hours ago. It was a big play and I believe it was a terrible call. That said, I still support Coach Kill. I don't expect us to be #1 in the country, I don't even expect Coach Kill not to make any big mistakes (like I think he did on Saturday). I support him and I think he'll turn it around. However, we can still call a bad call when we see one.

 

[Formo]

We talk about everything Gopher football on this board. Why wouldn't people be talking about a controversial play call during a game under 48 hours ago. It was a big play and I believe it was a terrible call. That said, I still support Coach Kill. I don't expect us to be #1 in the country, I don't even expect Coach Kill not to make any big mistakes (like I think he did on Saturday). I support him and I think he'll turn it around. However, we can still call a bad call when we see one.

Completely disagree on the bad call. At least, calling the fake FG as a bad call. It didn't work because it wasn't executed the way it was meant to. Therefore, there's not enough data to consider it a good or bad call. Besides, we got shellacked by this Michigan team only a year ago.. He understood that we needed to make something happen. This play call was an attempt at that. I wouldn't have been mad at a FG attempt, but I can't fault him for going for the fake, either.

 

[EG#9]

Good to hear that but it would have served him a lot better if he would have said that after the game rather than trying to blame his kicker for not throwing a quicker and better pass. For a "stand-up" and "speak his mind coach" my only real problem with the guy is his tendency when things go bad is to always blame his players then to later say it could also be his fault.

Might work for him though. There's still a lot of fans who seem happiest when they can lay off any blames on Brewster. If the players were recruited by Brewster of COURSE it's their fault. Some NIU fans complained about the same thing but many here just chalked it up to sour grapes.

Hope it changes regardless. Now lets get though a week of "that was bad/no it wasn't" and get to the Illini game.

I am not a big fan of the "+1" posts, but I agree with everything you said here. The problem with Brewster seems like one of personality which I don't "get". If he said that we had recruited like crap for four years prior to his arrival and that the roster was filled with walk-on quality talent, maybe he would have got a big extension after winning 3 conference games in year 2. Hopefully, Coach Kill turns it around and I am glad that he took some responsibility today.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Completely disagree on the bad call. At least, calling the fake FG as a bad call. It didn't work because it wasn't executed the way it was meant to. Therefore, there's not enough data to consider it a good or bad call. Besides, we got shellacked by this Michigan team only a year ago.. He understood that we needed to make something happen. This play call was an attempt at that. I wouldn't have been mad at a FG attempt, but I can't fault him for going for the fake, either.

It wasn't executed properly because Jerry asked the kicker to throw a strike to Nelson. Then he expected Nelson to outrun the defense, 17 yards down the field. You can argue about the decision all you want and never reach a conclusion, but to say that we can't judge it because it wasn't executed properly is ludicrous. It wasn't executed properly because Jerry had a kicker throwing the ball in a situation where the receiver, or quarterback in this situation, had to be led perfectly to open space for the play to even have a CHANCE to work. How many kickers do you know that can be counted on to execute a touch pass like that under pressure? Christian Ponder, an NFL QB, can't even make that throw in to open space consistently.

 

[Mulligan]

It wasn't executed properly because Jerry asked the kicker to throw a strike to Nelson. Then he expected Nelson to outrun the defense, 17 yards down the field. You can argue about the decision all you want and never reach a conclusion, but to say that we can't judge it because it wasn't executed properly is ludicrous. It wasn't executed properly because Jerry had a kicker throwing the ball in a situation where the receiver, or quarterback in this situation, had to be led perfectly to open space for the play to even have a CHANCE to work. How many kickers do you know that can be counted on to execute a touch pass like that under pressure? Christian Ponder, an NFL QB, can't even make that throw in to open space consistently.

Pretty sure this wasn't something Kill just thought up on the sideline like you sort of make it sound. They practiced this plenty and it was executed well enough so he figured they had a shot. They also studied how Michigan lined up on a field goal attempt at this range to figure they had a shot. This also shows not much faith in your field goal kicker though Kill would never say that. Sitting there, you could feel the game slipping away from us at that point. Kill has been doing this long enough so he has a pretty good handle on the psyche of his team. He also has a pretty good idea when the other team has superior talent. It was already apparent we couldn't punch it in from in close, and we were showing an inability to stop them on third down. If it had worked, the place would have gone nuts which would have been much more of a game changer than the 3 also very doubtful points. Were you there when the on-side kick against Iowa last year worked? Yes, it was a big gamble and, in retrospect, a bad, bad call. But folks who are jumping all over it are also ignoring some of the circumstances.

 

[lakesgopher]

Completely disagree on the bad call. At least, calling the fake FG as a bad call. It didn't work because it wasn't executed the way it was meant to. Therefore, there's not enough data to consider it a good or bad call. Besides, we got shellacked by this Michigan team only a year ago.. He understood that we needed to make something happen. This play call was an attempt at that. I wouldn't have been mad at a FG attempt, but I can't fault him for going for the fake, either.

It was a bad call. I don't know how anyone can defend it? If we go for it, fine leave the offense on the the field. The offense has the playmakers and the field goal team doesn't. Do we win either way? Probably not, but at least you aren't giving additional momentum to Michigan after a botched fake field goal attempt

 

[wait!what?]

Kil gave the kids three sets of downs to make a play. following that he went ahead and figured the kids are not going to make it happen to today so he added some ether to the carb. MN played ok but MI just had better athletes. kill wasn't outcoached. their quicks beat our quicks.

 

[lakesgopher]

Btw every coach on earth makes a bad decision from time to time, its ok to discuss it. Some people are so concerned with defending kills every move that they think the man can do no wrong, just like the haters think kill can't do anything right. Neither is the case, let him work and 2-3 yrs from now we will know whether kills plan worked or we will start over again

 

[MNVCGUY]

It was a bad call. I don't know how anyone can defend it? If we go for it, fine leave the offense on the the field. The offense has the playmakers and the field goal team doesn't. Do we win either way? Probably not, but at least you aren't giving additional momentum to Michigan after a botched fake field goal attempt

That was my take on it as well. If you want to go for the endzone in that situation great, go for it but leave your offense on the field to give yourself a chance to get the 17 yards needed for a first down. That fake field goal would have made a lot more sense if we only needed a couple yards, but 17? Even with flawless execuation I doubt Nelson is able to out run the entire Michigan defense to get to the endzone on that play. Very different to execute something like that in practice vs. a live game situation.

Plus as others mentioned you are asking a kicker to throw to a QB and then the QB has to run down the short side of the field for 17 yards....I don't care how good a runner Nelson is that play was doomed before the ball was snapped.

Got to take the points in that situation or if you are determined to go for the EZ at least use your offense to take a shot at it.

 

[tikited]

It wasn't executed properly because Jerry asked the kicker to throw a strike to Nelson. Then he expected Nelson to outrun the defense, 17 yards down the field. You can argue about the decision all you want and never reach a conclusion, but to say that we can't judge it because it wasn't executed properly is ludicrous. It wasn't executed properly because Jerry had a kicker throwing the ball in a situation where the receiver, or quarterback in this situation, had to be led perfectly to open space for the play to even have a CHANCE to work. How many kickers do you know that can be counted on to execute a touch pass like that under pressure? Christian Ponder, an NFL QB, can't even make that throw in to open space consistently.

Agree! I don't remember any of our trick plays coming close to working this year by the way.

 

[Catechol]

Pretty sure this wasn't something Kill just thought up on the sideline like you sort of make it sound. They practiced this plenty and it was executed well enough so he figured they had a shot. They also studied how Michigan lined up on a field goal attempt at this range to figure they had a shot. This also shows not much faith in your field goal kicker though Kill would never say that. Sitting there, you could feel the game slipping away from us at that point. Kill has been doing this long enough so he has a pretty good handle on the psyche of his team. He also has a pretty good idea when the other team has superior talent. It was already apparent we couldn't punch it in from in close, and we were showing an inability to stop them on third down. If it had worked, the place would have gone nuts which would have been much more of a game changer than the 3 also very doubtful points. Were you there when the on-side kick against Iowa last year worked? Yes, it was a big gamble and, in retrospect, a bad, bad call. But folks who are jumping all over it are also ignoring some of the circumstances.

Game slipping away? It was 14-7, Michigan went backwards on the previous drive, Gophers were getting average field position around the 50, and were actually moving the ball with more consistency than Michigan, minus their explosion plays.

I understand they have practiced the play before but that doesn't say much. Did they run the play without the scout defense knowing? Even then, it's not a context situation like in a game where they may be expecting a fake.

And furthermore, it was probably not designed to convert a 4th and 17. And I don't like how he blamed the holder, as if throwing in front of Nelson would have gotten TEN extra yards. If it were designed well it should have been for the receiver to start running immediately, and the holder to throw it to a spot 10+ yards downfield. But it was obvious Nelson was just supposed to catch it like a bubble screen and go. Finally, why the heck was it Nelson and not an actual receiver like Gray?! That makes it look like Kill was trying to force himself and Nelson into hero roles with that play.