Iceland12
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- 3. Force Shortell out of the pocket
Make no mistake — Max Shortell is a different style quarterback from MarQueis Gray, who won’t be playing for Minnesota on Saturday due to an ankle injury. Shortell’s at his best when he’s able to stay in the pocket and look downfield, which is something opposing quarterbacks have been able to do against Iowa’s defense each of the last three weeks. If the Hawkeyes are going to rise to the occasion defensively Saturday afternoon, they have to be able to make Shortell move around and not let him be able to set his feet, otherwise he’s going to carve them apart. Force him to scramble and think on the fly, and Iowa might be able to force a couple of Gopher turnovers and win the bulk of the field position battles.
http://hawkeyedrive.com/2012/09/28/iowa-vs-minnesota-what-to-expect/
- Uh, iowa is FAVORED and we've had a couple of days of posts that have included many "experts" picking the Hawkeyes tomorrow. However, Iowa fans are playing the "no one believes in us" card. Shades of Number 1 Ranked Kentucky last March proclaiming the same thing!
IT'S NOT EASY FINDING SOMEONE THAT PICKS THE HAWKS TO WIN. Both ESPN Big Ten bloggers Brian Bennett and Adam Rittenberg predict Minnesota to win. Big Ten blogger Mark Hasty also takes Minnesota. Big Ten Network bloggers Brent Yarnia and Tom Dienhart are taking Minnesota too. But wait! There's one. Our own Cedar Rapids Gazette beat writer Marc Morehouse has Iowa 31, Minnesota 28.
http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/...agiarism-if-you-link-to-it-time-to-free-floyd
- Q&A Combo between Iowa and Minnesota bloggers on Black Heart Gold Pants, an Iowa Hawkeyes community
2) Along those same lines, what do we need to know about Max Shortell? He seems like a more prototypical dropback passer -- how accurate is that assessment? Who are his favorite targets?
Well first of all, Max Shortell is a ginger, and as we all know, gingers will steal your soul. (Ed. note: So, so true!) So not only do you have an AIRBHG stealing your running backs, now you have a ginger Minnesota Gopher QB stealing Floyd and your souls. You obviously have no chance.
Shortell is definitely a classic drop-back passer, and the offense has looked much different with him behind center than Gray. They maybe ran two QB runs with Shortell last game against Syracuse, whereas they'd call Gray's number almost every other play. Max can sling it, and he'll challenge the Hawkeye secondary.
His favorite targets are all from Minnesota (not sure if that's good or bad) and the best one thus far is an undersized whitey walk-on in AJ Barker (really not sure if that's a good thing either). A redshirt junior, he came into the season with zero catches, but through four games leads the team with 14 catches for 283 yards and four scores. The other top options thus far as a couple of sophomores in Devin Crawford-Tufts and another whitey in JUCO transfer Isaac Fruechte. Both are 6'2 and pretty quick. Slot receiver Marcus Jones is arguably the most dangerous receiver we have with the ball in his hands, it's just that they haven't thrown to him very much. Not sure what that's about.
3) The Minnesota defense has been one of the biggest surprises of the season so far. They appear to have an aggressive defensive line that's generating a good pass rush and a ball-hawking secondary. Where did this come from? How surprised are you to see Minnesota winning games with defense?
Is this what a defense is supposed to do? Generate pressure, force turnovers, and cause the opposition to...what's the word...punt? I think it's punt. Yeah, we're not used to this in Minnesota. Like, at all. Against a pretty good Syracuse offense last Saturday night, I started expecting the defense to get pressure, sack the QB and get the ball back. And you know what? Shockingly they did! They're not going to force five turnovers every week (to put that in perspective, the team intercepted a total of four passes all of last season), and the Gophers haven't exactly played a juggernaut schedule, but they've been better and better every week, and that has to mean something (at least that's what we tell ourselves).
DC Tracy Claeys has built a good defense wherever he's been with Coach Kill. Their last season at Northern Illinois Claeys' D was ranked 14th in the country. I know it's only a MAC school, but that still says something. This is shaping up to be the first good defensive line we've had in a long, long time as Jr DT Ra'Shede Hageman (3 sacks, 3.5 TFL and a forced fumble) is the first DT the Gophers have had since...well maybe ever who commands a double team. Senior DE DL Wilhite has been a force so far leading the team with 4.5 sacks and 5.5 TFL.
The secondary has been a real surprise as I thought this would be the worst position group on the team yet besides the d-line they've been arguably the best. Soph S Derrick Wells is a converted corner who out of nowhere is the team's leader in tackles (21), picks (2), and pass break ups (5), and senior corner Michael Carter picked a really good time to finally start playing like the four star recruit we recruited back in 2008. He was starting by the end of his freshman season in 2009, then got "Cosgroved" in 2010 (for the uninitiated that's the act of being "coached" by former defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove, who takes good players from the previous year and then turns them into total crap), took all of 2011 to recover from being Cosgroved as he barely played, and has this season morphed back into a good player with a pick and 5 pass break-ups thus far.
http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/...ogfrica-the-daily-gopher-talks-iowa-minnesota
Make no mistake — Max Shortell is a different style quarterback from MarQueis Gray, who won’t be playing for Minnesota on Saturday due to an ankle injury. Shortell’s at his best when he’s able to stay in the pocket and look downfield, which is something opposing quarterbacks have been able to do against Iowa’s defense each of the last three weeks. If the Hawkeyes are going to rise to the occasion defensively Saturday afternoon, they have to be able to make Shortell move around and not let him be able to set his feet, otherwise he’s going to carve them apart. Force him to scramble and think on the fly, and Iowa might be able to force a couple of Gopher turnovers and win the bulk of the field position battles.
http://hawkeyedrive.com/2012/09/28/iowa-vs-minnesota-what-to-expect/
- Uh, iowa is FAVORED and we've had a couple of days of posts that have included many "experts" picking the Hawkeyes tomorrow. However, Iowa fans are playing the "no one believes in us" card. Shades of Number 1 Ranked Kentucky last March proclaiming the same thing!
IT'S NOT EASY FINDING SOMEONE THAT PICKS THE HAWKS TO WIN. Both ESPN Big Ten bloggers Brian Bennett and Adam Rittenberg predict Minnesota to win. Big Ten blogger Mark Hasty also takes Minnesota. Big Ten Network bloggers Brent Yarnia and Tom Dienhart are taking Minnesota too. But wait! There's one. Our own Cedar Rapids Gazette beat writer Marc Morehouse has Iowa 31, Minnesota 28.
http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/...agiarism-if-you-link-to-it-time-to-free-floyd
- Q&A Combo between Iowa and Minnesota bloggers on Black Heart Gold Pants, an Iowa Hawkeyes community
2) Along those same lines, what do we need to know about Max Shortell? He seems like a more prototypical dropback passer -- how accurate is that assessment? Who are his favorite targets?
Well first of all, Max Shortell is a ginger, and as we all know, gingers will steal your soul. (Ed. note: So, so true!) So not only do you have an AIRBHG stealing your running backs, now you have a ginger Minnesota Gopher QB stealing Floyd and your souls. You obviously have no chance.
Shortell is definitely a classic drop-back passer, and the offense has looked much different with him behind center than Gray. They maybe ran two QB runs with Shortell last game against Syracuse, whereas they'd call Gray's number almost every other play. Max can sling it, and he'll challenge the Hawkeye secondary.
His favorite targets are all from Minnesota (not sure if that's good or bad) and the best one thus far is an undersized whitey walk-on in AJ Barker (really not sure if that's a good thing either). A redshirt junior, he came into the season with zero catches, but through four games leads the team with 14 catches for 283 yards and four scores. The other top options thus far as a couple of sophomores in Devin Crawford-Tufts and another whitey in JUCO transfer Isaac Fruechte. Both are 6'2 and pretty quick. Slot receiver Marcus Jones is arguably the most dangerous receiver we have with the ball in his hands, it's just that they haven't thrown to him very much. Not sure what that's about.
3) The Minnesota defense has been one of the biggest surprises of the season so far. They appear to have an aggressive defensive line that's generating a good pass rush and a ball-hawking secondary. Where did this come from? How surprised are you to see Minnesota winning games with defense?
Is this what a defense is supposed to do? Generate pressure, force turnovers, and cause the opposition to...what's the word...punt? I think it's punt. Yeah, we're not used to this in Minnesota. Like, at all. Against a pretty good Syracuse offense last Saturday night, I started expecting the defense to get pressure, sack the QB and get the ball back. And you know what? Shockingly they did! They're not going to force five turnovers every week (to put that in perspective, the team intercepted a total of four passes all of last season), and the Gophers haven't exactly played a juggernaut schedule, but they've been better and better every week, and that has to mean something (at least that's what we tell ourselves).
DC Tracy Claeys has built a good defense wherever he's been with Coach Kill. Their last season at Northern Illinois Claeys' D was ranked 14th in the country. I know it's only a MAC school, but that still says something. This is shaping up to be the first good defensive line we've had in a long, long time as Jr DT Ra'Shede Hageman (3 sacks, 3.5 TFL and a forced fumble) is the first DT the Gophers have had since...well maybe ever who commands a double team. Senior DE DL Wilhite has been a force so far leading the team with 4.5 sacks and 5.5 TFL.
The secondary has been a real surprise as I thought this would be the worst position group on the team yet besides the d-line they've been arguably the best. Soph S Derrick Wells is a converted corner who out of nowhere is the team's leader in tackles (21), picks (2), and pass break ups (5), and senior corner Michael Carter picked a really good time to finally start playing like the four star recruit we recruited back in 2008. He was starting by the end of his freshman season in 2009, then got "Cosgroved" in 2010 (for the uninitiated that's the act of being "coached" by former defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove, who takes good players from the previous year and then turns them into total crap), took all of 2011 to recover from being Cosgroved as he barely played, and has this season morphed back into a good player with a pick and 5 pass break-ups thus far.
http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/...ogfrica-the-daily-gopher-talks-iowa-minnesota
!
