Judd Zulgad: Saddest thing is Gophers prove they aren't that different after all

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Judd:

The most discouraging thing about the Gophers' 28-24 loss to a terrible Illinois team on Saturday wasn't that Mitch Leidner spent the afternoon having little idea where his passes were headed.

It wasn't that Illinois scored on two of its first three possessions against a Gophers defense that suddenly has issues with consistency. It wasn't that kicker Ryan Santoso missed a 40-yard field-goal attempt in the fourth quarter that would have given Minnesota a 27-21 lead.

It wasn't even the third-down fumble by David Cobb deep in Gophers territory that Illinois' V'Angelo Bentley recovered and took 12 yards for what proved to be the winning touchdown.

The most discouraging thing about what took place in Champaign, Ill., was that it gives long-suffering Minnesota sports fans the right to say this: "Yep, same old Gophers."

There seem to be two types of seasons for this program.

The first, and these aren't even painful anymore, is when the Gophers are awful and there's no hope from day one. This might not be fun, but when you have no expectations there is nothing to get upset about.

The second, and the type of season we are in now, is when the program gives you a reason for hope, only to provide some type of epic collapse at a key moment.

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/...ove_they_arent_that_different_after_all102514

Go Gophers!!
 

Unfortunately, this is all too accurate. And thousands of would-be fans just became ambivalent (again) to Gopher football.
 


Minnesotans truly suffer the worst sports writers in all of the United States. Every last one of them Is worse than useless. They constantly propagandize against the home teams if something goes wrong. The venom directed at X team is always the worst kind of bandwagoneering and feeds the lunatic fringe. It's small wonder so many fans are so depressed and self-hating.
 

No, the saddest thing is that the sportswriters in the Twin Cities have absolutely no clue about this program. It's obvious by the articles they write. Marcus Fuller is the only one that is legitimate in my opinion. Maybe Christenson, but the strib sucks so bad.
 


Eh... Say what you want this week Judd. I still don't like your shtick, but you're right.
 

afurry91 said:
Eh... Say what you want this week Judd. I still don't like your shtick, but you're right.
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Not even close to being right, Judd is an absolute fool.
Same old gophers? No. Not even close.
The same old gophers would have lost to Indiana last season, they would have peed down their leg when Gardner came in for Michigan and lost that game, they would have folded against NW after the refs gave the game away, and they also would have been pathetically beaten by a Purdue team that looked to be the worst B1G team ever last season.
None of those things happened, a bad loss is that, just a bad loss.
Heal, regroup, and beat the sh$t out of Iowa and nobody even remembers this loss in a year.
If there's one thing we should know by now it's that Kill is building a new gophers program with none of the trappings of traditional gopher losers, this loss just proves we're not there yet. Nothing more, nothing less.
 

Ole said:

Not even close to being right, Judd is an absolute fool.
Same old gophers? No. Not even close.
The same old gophers would have lost to Indiana last season, they would have peed down their leg when Gardner came in for Michigan and lost that game, they would have folded against NW after the refs gave the game away, and they also would have been pathetically beaten by a Purdue team that looked to be the worst B1G team ever last season.
None of those things happened, a bad loss is that, just a bad loss.
Heal, regroup, and beat the sh$t out of Iowa and nobody even remembers this loss in a year.
If there's one thing we should know by now it's that Kill is building a new gophers program with none of the trappings of traditional gopher losers, this loss just proves we're not there yet. Nothing more, nothing less.
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To be fair, both of our reactions are premature.

We don't have enough information to determine whether or not this is the same old Gophers. The same old Gophers would have lost to Illinois. However, the same old gophers also would have collapsed for the rest of the season.

The new and improved Gophers might just play some good football for a month, win a game at home against Iowa and maybe eek out an upset in the final three weeks or at least be competitive.

We don't know yet one way or the other. However, 6-6 would most certainly be the same old Gophers. Now, 7-5 and a bowl win to match 2013's win total? That's a Gopher team that can overcome some adversity and shows signs of life going into 2015.
 

This Gopher team has absolutely no relationship to the program under Mason and almost none to Brewster's. "Same old, same old" can't even apply if you want it to. To suggest otherwise is absurd. This isn't some tradition carried on year after year by the same folks. Let's free these current players and coaches from carrying the burden they have nothing to do with. Unless of course you just want to bring them down like Zulgad. The guy is so bummed out he's bringing his personal emotions into his writing. His articles only make it worse for the team and for landing future recruits reading this crap.
 




DoubleAlum said:
This Gopher team has absolutely no relationship to the program under Mason and almost none to Brewster's. "Same old, same old" can't even apply if you want it to. To suggest otherwise is absurd. This isn't some tradition carried on year after year by the same folks. Let's free these current players and coaches from carrying the burden they have nothing to do with. Unless of course you just want to bring them down like Zulgad. The guy is so bummed out he's bringing his personal emotions into his writing. His articles only make it worse for the team and for landing future recruits reading this crap.
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Honestly, you would have made this exact same post after Brewster lost to Northwestern at 7-1. So stop talking in absolutes. We have no idea how this team will respond.
 

Saddest thing is STRIB writers past/present prove they're the same old sh!t after all

...
 




DoubleAlum said:
His articles only make it worse for the team and for landing future recruits reading this crap.
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That's not what he's paid to do. He isn't a propaganda machine for the U, his job isn't to help the program land recruits.
 

Ski U Master said:
That's not what he's paid to do. He isn't a propaganda machine for the U, his job isn't to help the program land recruits.
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And I don't think he has much of an impact. Losing to Illinois hurts recruiting a lot more than Judd Zulgad complaining about losing to Illinois.
 

Ski U Master said:
That's not what he's paid to do. He isn't a propaganda machine for the U, his job isn't to help the program land recruits.
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What exactly IS he paid to do. I'm constantly amazed that people with little to no sports knowledge or passion get radio shows and columns in this town. He's not a propaganda machine for the U, but he's certainly not educated enough on college football to write anything about it.
 

Judd and Chip Scroggins wrote the same type of piece. Lumping this team and coaching staff in with previous teams is lazy in my opinion. This program has been improving every year with this staff, and to dismiss them because of this loss is over reacting and lazy.
 

One bad loss does not wipe out all of the improvements and milestones this coaching staff has achieved. I seem to remember only a week ago another thread listing all of these...
 

This article could have been written about Wisconsin the year we beat them before they went on to win the rose bowl.

It's a close loss to another big ten team on the road. Yes we are a better team, yes we will have a better season than Illinois this year, but they won. It doesn't end our season or redeem theirs, we are still looking at likely a .500 or better big ten season this year which is at least maintaining if not progressing on the growth of previous years.
 

Ole said:
What exactly IS he paid to do. I'm constantly amazed that people with little to no sports knowledge or passion get radio shows and columns in this town. He's not a propaganda machine for the U, but he's certainly not educated enough on college football to write anything about it.
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He's paid to give his opinion on all the sports in this town, of which Gopher football is a small piece. He's paid to generate hits, clicks, and ratings (on the radio) so the station can sell advertising.
 

Mackey just said Mitch Leidner is not an FBS quarterback. Says he is throwing blindfolded for 60 minutes and stated he is 116 out of 125 in completion percentage. Get out your pitchforks. It's Souhan 2.0.
 

afurry91 said:
Honestly, you would have made this exact same post after Brewster lost to Northwestern at 7-1. So stop talking in absolutes. We have no idea how this team will respond.
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I have no idea what you're talking about.
 

I'm confused.

We gave this game away on an awfully timed turnover and a few questionable play calls / decisions when we were in position to finish drives.

The same old Gophers I remember wouldn't have put us in position to lose on that fumble, because they would have let Illinois score at will down the stretch. As it's done time and time again, our D held strong and put us in position to win. We just need to finish consistently.

This hurt just like all those same old Gophers losses, but it wasn't the same at all.
 

fryguy22 said:
I'm confused.

We gave this game away on an awfully timed turnover and a few questionable play calls / decisions when we were in position to finish drives.

The same old Gophers I remember wouldn't have put us in position to lose on that fumble, because they would have let Illinois score at will down the stretch. As it's done time and time again, our D held strong and put us in position to win. We just need to finish consistently.

This hurt just like all those same old Gophers losses, but it wasn't the same at all.
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For me the "same old gophers" will be applied over the next few games. If we crap the bed on the last 4 games (0 wins) it will be SOG.
 

Ski U Master said:
For me the "same old gophers" will be applied over the next few games. If we crap the bed on the last 4 games (0 wins) it will be SOG.
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+1

The same old Gophers don't just lose one game to a terrible team. They follow it up by squandering more games that they should be competitive in (Iowa) and not showing up at all against the high-level competition. If we win a couple more, these aren't the same old Gophers. If we win one more, jury is still out. If we lose out, these are absolutely the same old Gophers.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
+1

The same old Gophers don't just lose one game to a terrible team. They follow it up by squandering more games that they should be competitive in (Iowa) and not showing up at all against the high-level competition. If we win a couple more, these aren't the same old Gophers. If we win one more, jury is still out. If we lose out, these are absolutely the same old Gophers.
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Winning 2 of last five games will keep Kill on par with Mason in having back to back 8+ win seasons. Kill would have done it in years 3 and 4 and Mason did it in years 6 and 7.

Mason followed up his first 8 win season in year three by going 6-6 in year 4. I know people don't like to compare the two, but Mason had this program at respectability and was here 10 years. He's the only comparison we have.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Winning 2 of last five games will keep Kill on par with Mason in having back to back 8+ win seasons. Kill would have done it in years 3 and 4 and Mason did it in years 6 and 7.

Mason followed up his first 8 win season in year three by going 6-6 in year 4. I know people don't like to compare the two, but Mason had this program at respectability and was here 10 years. He's the only comparison we have.
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Masons first 8 win season was a 9 win season.
Mason got fired.


Pretty early to judge. I was more excited about Mason in 2000 than I am about kill right now.
 

Ole said:
What exactly IS he paid to do. I'm constantly amazed that people with little to no sports knowledge or passion get radio shows and columns in this town. He's not a propaganda machine for the U, but he's certainly not educated enough on college football to write anything about it.
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Educated enough? It's not brain surgery or complex financial derivatives. How is he not educated enough to right an opinion piece on an amateur sporting event? Just because he doesn't share your world view (or, likely, your belief on what his ultimate objectives should be relative to recruiting...) doesn't mean he's any less or any more qualified than you would be.

This kind of thought process always makes me think of the petulant children that scream "I'M RIGHT AND YOU'RE WRONG" while sticking their tongues out and covering their ears.
 

fryguy22 said:
I'm confused.

We gave this game away on an awfully timed turnover and a few questionable play calls / decisions when we were in position to finish drives.

The same old Gophers I remember wouldn't have put us in position to lose on that fumble, because they would have let Illinois score at will down the stretch. As it's done time and time again, our D held strong and put us in position to win. We just need to finish consistently.

This hurt just like all those same old Gophers losses, but it wasn't the same at all.
Click to expand...

Then your memory isn't great, or you're not thinking back to far. The Gopher's seem to find excruciating ways to lose games when ever there is something on the line.
 

maroonedinCA said:
Educated enough? It's not brain surgery or complex financial derivatives. How is he not educated enough to right an opinion piece on an amateur sporting event?
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You mean we don't need an education to form an opinion, write? :D
 

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