Maybe They Will Turn it Around

[Iceland12]

Maybe because they've been much worse on Offense, but you've got to think that injuries are the major cause of the problems there. When Gray was healthy they stood a chance in every game. Max's inability to complete a Pass plus the O-Lines injuries doomed the Offense. Special Teams were even, maybe a shade better over the course of the year. The loss of Barker back there handling Punts may have made them seem a little worse. The big improvement this year has been on Defense. Very, very good against the Pass. The caveat there was in defending the Running Game. There they have looked as inept as the worst Wacker teams looked against the Pass. The lack of Offense left those guys on the field a long, long time. The proof there may be shown in the fact that only in the Nebraska and Iowa games were the Gophers out of it at Halftime. They were in every other game including Wisconsin and Michigan so maybe the Defense was better than they looked in the backend of the games against Michigan, Wisconsin and yes, even Purdue.

A big problem next year could be that some of their best Defenders may be gone. You'd like to think that with healing and the experience they got this year some of the back-ups have to come through.

Depth was their biggest problem. People who like to blame Brewster for everything forget that the collapse of his 7-1 team came about because of the flood of injuries that started in the Northwestern game. By the Wisconsin game their best receiver, leading tackler and who knows how many Linemen were gone. That culminated in that historically awful Iowa game. His lack of experience, assistant coaches carousel and constant philosophy changes doomed him. None of those apply to Kill. We didn't see that collapse this year. This year they just stopped moving the ball and scoring. That's an improvement in and of itself.

Depth has been a major problem for the Gophers since Gutey left though. Maybe help is on the way. Maybe they've got guys on Redshirt who will step right in. Maybe they've found some gems in recruiting. That would really be nice. A victory in the Bowl Game or even some semblance of an Offense would make a lot of us feel better when they ask for more money or how many Season Tickets we want to buy.

Hopefully they'll be better next year. The word "fan" is derived from "fanatic" anyway isn't it?

 

[Iceland12]

... A victory in the Bowl Game or even some semblance of an Offense would make a lot of us feel better when they ask for more money or how many Season Tickets we want to buy.

Hopefully they'll be better next year. The word "fan" is derived from "fanatic" anyway isn't it?

I hope Rittenberg is right in today's "What We Learned in the Big Ten"

5. Bowl practices will be crucial for Big Ten teams: We don't know the bowl matchups yet, but they will be daunting for the Big Ten, which will be without two of its best teams (Ohio State and Penn State) in the postseason. For the league to avoid another bad bowl performance, several teams must take significant steps during bowl practices. Michigan State has the defense and the running back (Le'Veon Bell) to win its bowl game, but it needs quarterback Andrew Maxwell and a young receiving corps to develop. Coach Mark Dantonio hinted this week that his offense needed an update to keep up with the times. Maybe that can start next month in earnest. Minnesota has to get healthy and re-establish its offensive identity behind true freshman quarterback Philip Nelson, who will benefit from the 15 practices...

Yeah, that would be REALLY nice.

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

This team basically overachieved, plain and simple.

6-6 was a miraculous outcome, given the circumstances. The win against Purdue was virtually a fluke; the Gophers exploited a few favorable matchups, jumped out ahead of Purdue, and Purdue was caught off guard and struggled. Almost exactly what happened for the Gophers against Iowa and Northwestern. They were fortunate to beat Syracuse, the defense played the best game they've played all year. Period.

I can't respect ANY opinion or analysis of the season/team that doesn't address in DETAIL the fact that much of the season was played with 19-20 year olds on the Offensive Line. It doesn't get any more simple than that. You CANNOT CANNOT CANNOT compete in a BCS conference (even in a down year) with that kind of youth and inexperience along the entire line. You can deal with it at a few skill positions and you can deal with it sprinkled throughout other units, perhaps even the O-Line, IF you have some 4th and 5th year players leading them along.

This sums it up pretty well: Next year the Gophers return their top 8-10 offensive linemen and they will STILL be relatively young across the line, for the position. Only Eddie O and Mottla would be seniors (I think?) and they may not be guaranteed to win starting jobs.

I think who the QB was this year was almost irrelevant; Gray won the easiest two games on the schedule, Shortell won a few that could have gone either way, and Nelson won two BT games (one of them on the road). It's hard to fault any of the QB's considering what was going on around them. Passes that went from completions to INT's, nobody making plays in the passing game, makes it tough for a QB to build some momentum.

I'm optimistic for next year. Lots of returning talent, essentially the entire starting Offense returns, and the defense returns a lot. If Kill hits a home run with a few JUCO defensive players, I think this team wins 8+ games. I'm excited to see the entire offensive line as a UNIT return next year, everyone of them 10-15+ pounds bigger, stronger, a year older and more experienced, and healthy competition over the next 6-9 months to determine best starting 5.

 

[John Galt]

This team basically overachieved, plain and simple.

6-6 was a miraculous outcome, given the circumstances. The win against Purdue was virtually a fluke; the Gophers exploited a few favorable matchups, jumped out ahead of Purdue, and Purdue was caught off guard and struggled. Almost exactly what happened for the Gophers against Iowa and Northwestern. They were fortunate to beat Syracuse, the defense played the best game they've played all year. Period.

I can't respect ANY opinion or analysis of the season/team that doesn't address in DETAIL the fact that much of the season was played with 19-20 year olds on the Offensive Line. It doesn't get any more simple than that. You CANNOT CANNOT CANNOT compete in a BCS conference (even in a down year) with that kind of youth and inexperience along the entire line. You can deal with it at a few skill positions and you can deal with it sprinkled throughout other units, perhaps even the O-Line, IF you have some 4th and 5th year players leading them along.

This sums it up pretty well: Next year the Gophers return their top 8-10 offensive linemen and they will STILL be relatively young across the line, for the position. Only Eddie O and Mottla would be seniors (I think?) and they may not be guaranteed to win starting jobs.

I think who the QB was this year was almost irrelevant; Gray won the easiest two games on the schedule, Shortell won a few that could have gone either way, and Nelson won two BT games (one of them on the road). It's hard to fault any of the QB's considering what was going on around them. Passes that went from completions to INT's, nobody making plays in the passing game, makes it tough for a QB to build some momentum.

I'm optimistic for next year. Lots of returning talent, essentially the entire starting Offense returns, and the defense returns a lot. If Kill hits a home run with a few JUCO defensive players, I think this team wins 8+ games. I'm excited to see the entire offensive line as a UNIT return next year, everyone of them 10-15+ pounds bigger, stronger, a year older and more experienced, and healthy competition over the next 6-9 months to determine best starting 5.

The only thing that rivaled the youth of our O-line was the youth of our receivers and running backs. I think the reason Barker played so well was that he had actually been part of a college football team for 4 years. With all of our receivers back next year (except Green) and a year under their belt, plus the addition of Harbison, they should be much improved.

 

[MNVCGUY]

The only thing that rivaled the youth of our O-line was the youth of our receivers and running backs. I think the reason Barker played so well was that he had actually been part of a college football team for 4 years. With all of our receivers back next year (except Green) and a year under their belt, plus the addition of Harbison, they should be much improved.

I hope you are right but looking at the list of receivers on our roster right now I see very little to get excited about for next year at that position. Harbison is a complete X factor in terms of how he comes back. Jones has been a shell of what he looked like he might be last season. Of the guys returning Fruechte is fine as long as he doesn't have to adjust, and McDonald has shown a few flashes of being decent but no one has stood out as a future go to guy. I was worried about the receiver position coming into this season and Barker was the only bright spot that emerged at all, and even he was not great by Big Ten standards.

A better O-Line and more experienced QB will help but I still see very little in the receiver postiion that is going to have too many Defensive Coordinators losing sleep at night before facing us.

 

[Iceland12]

More likely you can't respect any analysis that has theses sentences in it:

When Gray was healthy they stood a chance in every game. Max's inability to complete a Pass plus the O-Lines injuries doomed the Offense.

 

[60's Guy]

I agree under the circumstances the team overachieved

This team basically overachieved, plain and simple.

6-6 was a miraculous outcome, given the circumstances. The win against Purdue was virtually a fluke; the Gophers exploited a few favorable matchups, jumped out ahead of Purdue, and Purdue was caught off guard and struggled. Almost exactly what happened for the Gophers against Iowa and Northwestern. They were fortunate to beat Syracuse, the defense played the best game they've played all year. Period.

I can't respect ANY opinion or analysis of the season/team that doesn't address in DETAIL the fact that much of the season was played with 19-20 year olds on the Offensive Line. It doesn't get any more simple than that. You CANNOT CANNOT CANNOT compete in a BCS conference (even in a down year) with that kind of youth and inexperience along the entire line. You can deal with it at a few skill positions and you can deal with it sprinkled throughout other units, perhaps even the O-Line, IF you have some 4th and 5th year players leading them along.

This sums it up pretty well: Next year the Gophers return their top 8-10 offensive linemen and they will STILL be relatively young across the line, for the position. Only Eddie O and Mottla would be seniors (I think?) and they may not be guaranteed to win starting jobs.

I think who the QB was this year was almost irrelevant; Gray won the easiest two games on the schedule, Shortell won a few that could have gone either way, and Nelson won two BT games (one of them on the road). It's hard to fault any of the QB's considering what was going on around them. Passes that went from completions to INT's, nobody making plays in the passing game, makes it tough for a QB to build some momentum.

I'm optimistic for next year. Lots of returning talent, essentially the entire starting Offense returns, and the defense returns a lot. If Kill hits a home run with a few JUCO defensive players, I think this team wins 8+ games. I'm excited to see the entire offensive line as a UNIT return next year, everyone of them 10-15+ pounds bigger, stronger, a year older and more experienced, and healthy competition over the next 6-9 months to determine best starting 5.

The people we recruited last year look like they will be contributors. It appears the staff can evaluate talent! If we can add another class like that, within our lesser numbers available, this year; then, we may be on our way. Pirsig won an award on the scout team. We heard good things about Hayes. The Ohio St transfer should be in the mix. Our O line should be markedly better next year which will help everything be much improved.

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

I hope you are right but looking at the list of receivers on our roster right now I see very little to get excited about for next year at that position. Harbison is a complete X factor in terms of how he comes back. Jones has been a shell of what he looked like he might be last season. Of the guys returning Fruechte is fine as long as he doesn't have to adjust, and McDonald has shown a few flashes of being decent but no one has stood out as a future go to guy. I was worried about the receiver position coming into this season and Barker was the only bright spot that emerged at all, and even he was not great by Big Ten standards.

A better O-Line and more experienced QB will help but I still see very little in the receiver postiion that is going to have too many Defensive Coordinators losing sleep at night before facing us.

I have to admit I was dead wrong about the WR position this year. I've always been of the opinion, for the most part, that the skill positions such as RB and WR are the most easily plugged in, replaced, and other than ELITE talent, they aren't missed that much. I was dead wrong.

The WR's were the most disappointing unit for me this year. I can count on one hand the times a WR made a play, as in caught a ball that wasn't right on the money, adjusted to make a catch, or made something significant happen after the catch. I can't recall a more underwhelming performance from a group than what they did this year. I can't say that it changed games, as they just didn't throw the ball that much, but it might have made a few games more interesting.

60's guy: I actually hope Pirsig and Hayes never see the field next year, and rarely the next. Barring major injuries, or realizing they are elite talent, I hope they both first hit the field, for the most part, as Juniors that have been waiting in the wings to be impact players. After this year, and maybe next year, I hope the days of playing multiple FR and SOPH on the line are history.

Ice: I know we point to O-Line injuries a lot for some of the offensive issues but I actually don't know that it made that much difference. It would be one thing if they had Seniors getting injured and being replaced by FR and SOPH. It would be easy to point to that as a major source of problems. But the Gophers had FR and SOPH getting injured and replaced by FR and SOPH's for the most part. I just don't know that it would have made that much of a difference. Also, you really need to stop banging that Gray drum. I let it go a long time ago. We'll never know if Gray would have made a difference or how good he could have been. He couldn't stay on the field. Call me crazy, but that's something I look for in a starting QB. At any rate, it's ancient history...

 

[Seany]

To me the most disappointing thing about this season was our inability (for the most part) to establish a viable rushing game in order to help take some of the pressure off our QB's as well gain some game and clock control so that our defense didn't have to be out there so much. It's a tough task when you can't run the football, and ranking 80th in the FBS (and 9th in the Big Ten) in rushing yardage clearly isn't gonna get it done, and it did not.

Again though, I think that was mostly due to having a green offensive that also happened to get hit with a ton of injuries, so here's hoping that next year they can stay healthy, develop some cohesion, and we can run the dang football again.

 

[tonypierce039]

Status Quo

To me the most disappointing thing about this season was our inability (for the most part) to establish a viable rushing game in order to help take some of the pressure off our QB's as well gain some game and clock control so that our defense didn't have to be out there so much. It's a tough task when you can't run the football, and ranking 80th in the FBS (and 9th in the Big Ten) in rushing yardage clearly isn't gonna get it done, and it did not.

Again though, I think that was mostly due to having a green offensive that also happened to get hit with a ton of injuries, so here's hoping that next year they can stay healthy, develop some cohesion, and we can run the dang football again.

Being green at positions shouldn't be a continuing issue. I poke my head in here occasionally and it's constantly the same story year after year coach after coach. The issue isn't being young, the issue is having low talent youth! The fact of the matter is that MN is recruiting at a Northern Illinois level, until that changes the youth will always be green. Take my Ducks, in the early 2000's they made a couple runs but one injury to a key guy and it was Sun Bowl every year. This year the Ducks played 9 true freshman and 12 redshirt freshman due to injury, but they are high level talents. Till this staff can string 2-3 good classes together of better talent it will be much more of the same.

 

[Iceland12]

Being green at positions shouldn't be a continuing issue. I poke my head in here occasionally and it's constantly the same story year after year coach after coach. The issue isn't being young, the issue is having low talent youth! The fact of the matter is that MN is recruiting at a Northern Illinois level, until that changes the youth will always be green. Take my Ducks, in the early 2000's they made a couple runs but one injury to a key guy and it was Sun Bowl every year. This year the Ducks played 9 true freshman and 12 redshirt freshman due to injury, but they are high level talents. Till this staff can string 2-3 good classes together of better talent it will be much more of the same.

That's why depth has been a problem around here for years not just the last two. They've never really had 22 Big Ten level Starting players, let alone 44. That's why they may have trouble replacing their two top Cornerbacks and leading Sacker. That's probably why their starting Linebackers wouldn't be starting anywhere else in the Big Ten. It's why the QB's that stepped in after Gray got hurt, looked for the most part, so bad. Experience absolutely helps but the replacements haven't had a lot of talent. Mason's running game did it on scheme but the majority of the time when he ran-up against better talent he lost. When injuries piled-up for Brewster and Kill winning became nearly impossible.

"Coaching them up" and/or "scheme" are the mantras all Gopher Fans have to believe in because we're not reading a whole lot of "the Gophers got THAT guy!" . Kill did it at SIU and UNI but he didn't have to face huge differences in talent for half his Conference Games either.

Oh when talking about the Duck's success in recruiting talent you forgot to mention Phil Knight, his money and Nike. Those helped Oregon too didn't they? Just like deficiencies in kicking, catching, tackling, no running backs with breakaway speed, passing, play calling have also been responsible for this season's disappointments too; not just the youngness of the line.

 

[WorkingMyTailOff]

Depressing, but true Iceland. Looking back to 1999 when we played the Ducks in El Paso, the teams were even.

I think there are some really unique, positive, and interesting things to sell about our school, program, and city. The stadium, good campus, first class city (which no other big ten or very few SEC schools have)...The recruiters have to find a way to bring in some better talent.
Once here, I think the current staff will be able to coach them to success.

 

[Seany]

Being green at positions shouldn't be a continuing issue. I poke my head in here occasionally and it's constantly the same story year after year coach after coach. The issue isn't being young, the issue is having low talent youth! The fact of the matter is that MN is recruiting at a Northern Illinois level, until that changes the youth will always be green. Take my Ducks, in the early 2000's they made a couple runs but one injury to a key guy and it was Sun Bowl every year. This year the Ducks played 9 true freshman and 12 redshirt freshman due to injury, but they are high level talents. Till this staff can string 2-3 good classes together of better talent it will be much more of the same.

I cannot argue with that, however that belies the reality that not everyone can recruit to the level that an Oregon or other schools of its ilk can. There always has been and always will be 'haves' and 'have-nots' within the realm of collegiate football recruiting, so if you happen to be a member of the have-not tribe who is unable to consistently land those 4 and 5 star recruits, then you have to find another way, and it is possible to do so, whether through scheme or 'coaching them up'. We had possibly the best offensive line in the nation in the mid 2000's, a record-setting line anchored by Eslinger and Setterstrom and surrounded by valuable role players like Melander, Ainslee, Nicholson, Shidell, etc, with the point being that not a single one of those players was a highly rated recruit, but yet they melded into unquestionably the greatest offensive line in Golden Gopher history.

We simply cannot land recruits like Oregon can, but what we can do in the alternative is land the best we can (and in my opinion we DO have a good group of youngsters here right now by Minnesota standards), pray for their health, and let them develop cohesiveness as a unit the only way they can, which is by playing together and maturing together, so that hopefully by the time they're upperclassmen, we'll be cookin' with gas heat once again.