Just One Guy's Thoughts

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pregameatblarneys

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I hate when the Gophers lose. It sucks, especially when it occurs like this.

That being said, this season can be explained rationally.

Jerry Kill took over a dumpster fire of a team. Academic issues, legal issues, poorly coached players, etc. Given how bad MN had been prior to his arrival, it's amazing he reached an 8 win season as quickly as he did.

The players he was able to recruit had to be diamonds in the rough, as no self-respecting highly touted prospect would want to come here given the recent history. Jerry and his bunch coached them up (man I hate cliches but it's true) and overachieved. This is both good and bad. Good in the sense that his success attracted better recruits who are in their first year as Gophers, and bad in the sense that it raised expectations prior to when they should have been raised. This year expectations were obviously high, but we have a murder's row of a schedule (and some teams such and Iowa and Michigan are way better than anyone predicted), and injuries to our most experienced players have killed us on both sides of the ball. This is not to say that Kill and Co. can use this as an excuse- there have been some obvious questionable decisions throughout the season (here's looking at you Limey) that have definitely hurt. However, these cannot be overlooked and must be taken into account when viewing this season as a whole.

Now, going back to recruiting. I believe the eMpire part of the class are firmly committed, and there are some studs in there who will definitely help next year and in 2017. I worry about the Snelsons of the group who continue to hear from better teams and may have an itch to look elsewhere given how the season is going (hopefully they see that there is immediate playing time potential and stick with us). Looking ahead, on paper 2016 and 2017 are much easier schedules, especially the non-conference and cross over games. Realistically, I think 2017 is our best shot at a division title. The highly touted class will all have a year of experience, either practice or game, and those who are on the team now (Carter, Moore, Croft, etc) will also be older and wiser.

This year sucks, but for all intents and purposes Kill is ahead of schedule and the future looks pretty good. We can have nice things, but if we pull the trigger and Kill goes before he has a real chance to finish what he has been building, we're right back to square one. If, after 2017 we are not a 9 or 10 win team, then yes, he's had his chance and it's time for all parties to move on. Now is not the time to change, nor it is the time to jump off the bandwagon. The sellouts are great, the exposure is great, we're breaking ground on a state of the art facility, and our incoming class is currently ranked in the top 30 or so. Suffer through this season, as brighter days are (hopefully) ahead.

Go Gophers!
 

Well said! You are optimistic as am I. Ski-U-MAH!
 

I hope you're right. Today took a lot out of me. Most down I've been in a long time after a game.

I'm nowhere close to giving up or anything, and am still cautiously optimistic about the future. One year of struggles after four years of progress isn't going to make me throw in the towel.

Just a very tough day though.
 

This is spot on, IMO. I've been saying the same things for weeks, but I'm too lazy to ever type it into one post, lol. This year has been super disappointing. Today was horrible. I still believe the future is bright.
 

"Now is not the time for change...." Have there been a lot of its time for a change post? We seem to hear this after every loss but unless I've missed it I haven't seen a lot of time to fire Kill sentiment being floated.
 


4 years ago almost to the date we lost to Nebraska 41-14. In those 4 years since then we have won the Jug, Pig, and Bell. We beat Nebraska twice in a row. Went a January 1st bowl game and have a great recruiting class coming in the next couple of years. I know this loss sucks and this may be a tough season which sucks even more. I think we have a bright future with Jerry Kill as head coach. Just look what he has done in the 4 years, those are my thoughts.
 

Great post. I was really, really upset after NW! Not today. Today I'm only disappointed. Nebraska has better depth and a lot fewer injuries. Now we have two weeks to get healthy and incorporate some needed changes in our game plan.

We are going into the meat of the season and can still get bowl eligible, which is now our goal. Will be a very interesting month and a half.
 

I think taking too many reaches in recruiting is showing. Probably more so at wide receiver and defensive pass rushers than anywhere. This years class looks better and in general we are seeing improvement in talent. But we have few receivers who can make plays and no one who can rush the passer.
 

Actually a pretty good thread so far. On the one hand, Kill probably made some lemonade out of lemons the past couple of years and generated perhaps some unrealistic expectations. But on the other hand, this is year five and the days of moral victories are over and it is reasonable to expect a run at making the B1G title game every few years.

I'm really hoping this season is a blip on the radar and mostly good seasons lie ahead recognizing that we'll never win titles every year. Although this season is not officially over, it looks like it will be a forgettable one. Kill will get a pass this year but will have to produce big time in 2016 or 2017 or there will be talk of replacing those Jerrysota flags.
 



Disappointed mostly in the way we got manhandled both in the offensive and defensive lines. Very different from the last two years. Also, again no defensive turnovers. Reality is we got lucky last year with both the Michigan and Nebraska coaching problems. Based on the new facilities and the continued improvement in recruiting, I'm still optimistic that Kill will get it done.
 

Even though the program is improving, it doesn't mean you'll have a better squad each year. Too
many variables. Even week to week you never have the same team.

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, with all the injuries coupled with all the kids being tossed into the
fire, I would be happy if we can at least get to 6-6 and go to a bowl- any bowl. Then, we can go win that
one (finally) and get another winning season.

The bye week will be extremely helpful for this team. We will be a better team coming out of it than going in.
Nebby was playing with their backs to the wall, and they showed their best effort today. They played a great
game, and are much better than their record.

I think we can win a couple more. We do have the kind of team that can stun somebody as well. Its gonna
be an interesting season yet.

Who knows what kind of super awesome event may be right around the corner?
 

Mulligan said:
Disappointed mostly in the way we got manhandled both in the offensive and defensive lines. Very different from the last two years. Also, again no defensive turnovers. Reality is we got lucky last year with both the Michigan and Nebraska coaching problems. Based on the new facilities and the continued improvement in recruiting, I'm still optimistic that Kill will get it done.
Click to expand...

We have to get better up front. Leidner looked really good today, but the team could not balance it with any run and ball control. That will always come back to hurt our defense. We have to recruit better on both sides of the line. It's poor development if guys in your rotation are walk-ons. Gotta hit more on the scholarship players. Nebraska was absolutely fine with Leidner throwing for 300 yards today.
 

Nebraska was playing with a ton of confidence. That fumble and pickup by the Nebraska fullback and that 3 and 14 32 yard touchdown pass were two huge plays.
 



Mulligan said:
Disappointed mostly in the way we got manhandled both in the offensive and defensive lines. Very different from the last two years. Also, again no defensive turnovers. Reality is we got lucky last year with both the Michigan and Nebraska coaching problems. Based on the new facilities and the continued improvement in recruiting, I'm still optimistic that Kill will get it done.
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you nailed it. last two years we dominated them physically on both lines. today it was other way around. not sure we got lucky last year with nu coaching, i think pelini will end up winning more than riley wins there.
 

scools12 said:
"Now is not the time for change...." Have there been a lot of its time for a change post? We seem to hear this after every loss but unless I've missed it I haven't seen a lot of time to fire Kill sentiment being floated.
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That more preemptive than anything. After every bad loss there's always calls for Kill's job.
 


It just seems like we're always a year, two years or whatever away from taking that next step. People are tired of it, with ticket prices going up and up fans will be contemplating giving up their tickets. I know of 2 separate season holders who have had tickets for 30+ yrs who are seriously considering not renewing as am I.
 

Great post! I also think Kill played a very big part in the facilities project and wasn't able to commit as much as he would usually to other things in the off season and leading into fall camp. Again, great post!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Ahead of schedule? How? Because we won 8 games and lost bowl games the last two years? The Gophers will be lucky to win another game this year. The schedule is the same this year as it was last year. Yes Iowa, Northwestern, and Michigan have improved. Why shouldn't the same improvement be expected out of the Gophers?
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Ahead of schedule? How? Because we won 8 games and lost bowl games the last two years? The Gophers will be lucky to win another game this year. The schedule is the same this year as it was last year. Yes Iowa, Northwestern, and Michigan have improved. Why shouldn't the same improvement be expected out of the Gophers?
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+1
 

It takes elite tailbacks, with great vision, speed and strength and lean to run the smash mouth, power offensive sets the Gophers want to, and try to run. We have never had a great O-line that has dominated the line of scrimmage one that you could say yeah, our guys outplayed the defensive front. Same for the defense, we want fast lean guys that rely on speed not power to generate pressure, problem is you kind of need a combination of size and speed there and those are the most difficult and rare guys to find. You almost always have to find linebackers and long limbs guys and build them up. Gophers are an effort team, they play hard, this is a team that has to out hustle and strong assignment level football to win.
Gophers don't have that right now any elite tailbacks, they have a couple young guys that have shown flashes. Mitch played hard and well today but he is not good enough by himself, and quite frankly the Gophers do not have one game changer on either side of the ball that can dominate the other side. I was optimistic after how hard the team played against TCU, and you could tell the fight and the want to when the Gophers got the score to 16 today, the Gophers team still had fight. This team try's hard, but the Gophers just don't have enough talent right now to overcome mistakes and injury's . Defensive line play has not been that good since the TCU game and we are getting kicked in the gutt up front. Only one guy that is playing with any kind of effort or leverage where he demands a double team, the rest of the guys are playing fairly ordinary up front. We need a whole lot more effort out of our senior and junior defensive lineman if the Gophers have any hope of springing some more wins.
I hope they can salvage some health and find a way to improve otherwise this year is going to end up a real downer.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Ahead of schedule? How? Because we won 8 games and lost bowl games the last two years? The Gophers will be lucky to win another game this year. The schedule is the same this year as it was last year. Yes Iowa, Northwestern, and Michigan have improved. Why shouldn't the same improvement be expected out of the Gophers?
Click to expand...

Kill reminds fans of the guy that used to sell seed to grandpa and they would run into at Schmidt's meat market, other than that he's a decent at best head coach who has failed to meet the Glen Mason standard. The screws are turning further and further on Kill, we will see over the next 1-2 year whether he can elevate this program or is out the door.
 

Was expecting a GopherHole melt down following this game, but this thread has had a surprising amount of reasonable takes and reactions.

Yes, this loss is incredibly disappointing - especially given the way it played out. And yes, Kill made some questionable decisions.

But overall this program is in good shape and the future is bright.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Completely agree. I am a Minnesota sports fan born and raised. We are terrible losers and terrible winners which makes us...well, terrible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

pregameatblarneys said:
That more preemptive than anything. After every bad loss there's always calls for Kill's job.
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But there really haven't been any calls for Jerry's head even after the losses this year. And for good reason, you don't fire a guy for one down year. If this season continues on the path of not winning a lot of Big Ten games or maybe even falling short of a bowl game it still won't be enough to get Kill fired after this season.

The thing it will do is make his seat a little warmer next year and it will be on the staff to prove that this year was a fluke and not a sign that they have plateaued or that they overachieved and can't sustain the success of the past few years. In all likelihood there will be a new AD in charge next year so if the program has back to back down years the new AD may decide he/she would rather bring in their own guy to run the football program.

Of course there is still time to get this season back on track with a few wins. Just tough to predict many of them right now considering who is left on our schedule and the way they have been playing to this point in the season. Especially the three game stretch coming out of the bye week, right now that looks like a murderers row.
 

MNVCGUY said:
But there really haven't been any calls for Jerry's head even after the losses this year. And for good reason, you don't fire a guy for one down year. If this season continues on the path of not winning a lot of Big Ten games or maybe even falling short of a bowl game it still won't be enough to get Kill fired after this season.

The thing it will do is make his seat a little warmer next year and it will be on the staff to prove that this year was a fluke and not a sign that they have plateaued or that they overachieved and can't sustain the success of the past few years. In all likelihood there will be a new AD in charge next year so if the program has back to back down years the new AD may decide he/she would rather bring in their own guy to run the football program.

Of course there is still time to get this season back on track with a few wins. Just tough to predict many of them right now considering who is left on our schedule and the way they have been playing to this point in the season. Especially the three game stretch coming out of the bye week, right now that looks like a murderers row.
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Twitter was full of them today. I tried interacting with a few but all that resulted in was being told I "accept mediocrity" and I'm "part of the problem".

I just don't get some people. We can all be upset/agree/disappointed with this season but just because we don't all think Kill terrible or he should be fired right now doesn't mean we're okay with everything. Every year this program has taken a step in the right direction except this year. Many are willing to give him more time because he has previously shown progress. Some people seem to think that if you don't hate him or think he sucks, then you think he is a God. There can be a middle ground there.
 


Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
You should read the fb posts up right now. Total a$$hats on there.

https://www.facebook.com/GopherFootball?fref=nf
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Yup, Twitter, FB, and the casual fan on the street absolutely spew this crap. There's plenty of 'em here on GH too, but rather than come right out and say it (for fear of being ridiculed) they veil their beliefs by saying things like, "the staff is in over their heads," or "This shouldn't be happening in YEAR 5!!!" or "We get outcoached almost every week!"

Do I question the coaches on occasion? Absolutely. I thought it was stupid to kick a FG with 6 min left yesterday. I thought it was stupid to continue running into an 8 man wall against KSU. I couldn't believe they kept putting James out there to muff punts against CSU.

But the bottomline for me is that I believe the program IS moving forward. Each recruiting class has been better. Prior to this year, the results on the field were better each year. The facilities are coming. This year is a blip on the radar, in my mind. And yes -- it's due to injuries, which in turn have led to youth. That's not whining or excuse making...it's reality.
 

Blackhammer said:
I think taking too many reaches in recruiting is showing. Probably more so at wide receiver and defensive pass rushers than anywhere. This years class looks better and in general we are seeing improvement in talent. But we have few receivers who can make plays and no one who can rush the passer.
Click to expand...

True observations. When your recruiting is at the low end of the conference: 1) you don't have as many qualified choices at various positions; 2) the good choices you have take longer to develop; 3) you may tend to exhaust the ones you have; and 4) widespread injuries can be particularly ravaging to your chances of success.

We could never be Ohio State (probably not in my lifetime anyway), but their game last night provided a striking contrast. They now have three healthy high quality QBs (I'm not criticizing Leidner here). They can rotate them regularly to keep them fresh while using one of them (Braxton Miller) as an all around playmaker in various capacities.

The problem areas you mention were also problems last year. They just seem more acute this year and Maxx Williams was able to compensate for much of the overall weakness in the receiving corps. The one good thing is that more receivers are getting a chance to see what they can do this year and Grant appears to be making the most of his.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Some people seem to think that if you don't hate him or think he sucks, then you think he is a God. There can be a middle ground there.
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Pretty representative of the polarity of modern thinking in general. The same thing applies to all sorts of topics. If you haven't before, go visit a political web page sometime. Maybe modern thinking isn't much different than it was generations ago, but the internet gives us a far greater view of the lack of nuance in the average person's thoughts.
 

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