Kill on reason for Gophers slow start: “I don’t know, there’s no excuses for it."

[BleedGopher]

Kill on reason for Gophers slow start: “I don’t know, there’s no excuses for it."

per Sid:

Gophers coach Jerry Kill was asked by reporters after the game about the slow start, when Illinois took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

“I don’t know, there’s no excuses for it,” Kill said. “I don’t know if the weather, I don’t know, I can’t answer that. We played hard, but just not with the amount of energy early that we’re accustomed to. Then in the second half we came out and did some things and so forth, but again, you turn the ball over, you lose field position. They did some things upfront and they played in areas — I’ll have to watch the film — up front better than we did. But you can’t turn over the ball. That’s the No. 1 thing.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/280429852.html

Go Gophers!!

 

[EG#9]

The thing is slow starts on offense are the norm, not the exception. I believe the score on the first drive of the Purdue game snapped some insane streak of failing to score on first drives in conference games. Of course, they scored in that game because they were set up on the 4 yard line after Ced's pick.

The defense did not play well in the first half, but going 3 and out on your first 2 possessions of offense (especially on the road) is not a recipe for success. The Gophers were able to overcome not scoring early at Michigan, but that's going to be the exception and not the rule.