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Clark W. Griswold

Clark W. Griswold

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I was very disappointed by the Iowa game but am now looking forward to Michigan. I want to see if the Iowa game was just the team having an off day or a sign of things to come. Things I want to see on Saturday:
Win our share of battles on the line of scrimmage
Establish a run game
Make Gardner uncomfortable with pressure and coverage
Most of all - be competitive

A competitive game will show me a lot about the makeup of this team and the coaches, as will another listless effort. I am hopeful.
 

Clark W. Griswold said:
I was very disappointed by the Iowa game but am now looking forward to Michigan. I want to see if the Iowa game was just the team having an off day or a sign of things to come. Things I want to see on Saturday:
Win our share of battles on the line of scrimmage
Establish a run game
Make Gardner uncomfortable with pressure and coverage
Most of all - be competitive

A competitive game will show me a lot about the makeup of this team and the coaches, as will another listless effort. I am hopeful.
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Which of the players showed "listless effort" against Iowa?
 

How is Michigan in the trenches? That was the biggest takeaway from the Iowa game for me, that they were flat out stronger and better along the lines.
 

mnsports1 said:
Which of the players showed "listless effort" against Iowa?
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Listless was probably the wrong word word. I do not think that the talent gap is that big between Iowa and the Gophers, so what does saturday result say about the gophers effort?

If you want to talk about the Iowa game go to one of the other threads.
 

Clark W. Griswold said:
Listless was probably the wrong word word. I do not think that the talent gap is that big between Iowa and the Gophers, so what does saturday result say about the gophers effort?

If you want to talk about the Iowa game go to one of the other threads.
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You brought it up. Saturday showed me one (more physically mature and more talented) team executed much better than the other team. Hopefully we can close the execution gap this weekend.
 


Not to bring up Iowa again, but their defensive front 7 might be as good as Michigan's. I hope Gophers can win the turnover battle, stay in their lanes on defense, and have some balance on offense. If Nelson can calm down just a little bit and deliver some nice throws, we might see the running game start to be there and then it will be very fun!
 

All can be forgiven from the Iowa game if we are able to come out and be competitive. I can handle losses, as long as we are playing well and get beat by a better team. We're not going to run the table any time soon. The way we lost this last week is the type of loss that stings.
 

I have a hunch Michigan will be bringing some heavy blitzes on Saturday. Nelson is going to have a big opportunity to prove the naysayers wrong or add fuel to the fire.
 

nokomismod said:
I have a hunch Michigan will be bringing some heavy blitzes on Saturday. Nelson is going to have a big opportunity to prove the naysayers wrong or add fuel to the fire.
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ssccrreeennn!
 



mnsports1 said:
ssccrreeennn!
Click to expand...

do we want to show that much of our playbook?

No just kidding. I think this game will be a big litmus game for us in how far we've come. These players have shown fight for Kill in the past, now we'll see if they rally around him again. Last week's game should've put a chip on our shoulder. TBH, we match up better defensively against Michigan as well. They're more of a scat type of team that isn't going to just smash you over and over again. There will be ample opportunity for our guys to make plays with the ball in the air. If we can capitalize on that, give our struggling offense some shorter fields, and get some points on the board, I'd say we definitely have a puncher's chance.

All in all I hope we go into this game with the mentality that we have nothing to lose and everything to gain and will go out there with the intent to go down swinging if that's what it comes to. It's time to stop babying our offense. Odds are that Iowa knew what was coming on many of our plays and it showed. Diversify, unleash everything we've got, and let's WIN THIS DAMN GAME!

ok rant complete. god i want the jug back
 

I would like to see a good start to the game for once! get a lead right away!
 

nokomismod said:
Not to bring up Iowa again, but their defensive front 7 might be as good as Michigan's. I hope Gophers can win the turnover battle, stay in their lanes on defense, and have some balance on offense. If Nelson can calm down just a little bit and deliver some nice throws, we might see the running game start to be there and then it will be very fun!
Click to expand...

Obviously opposition has to factor in but Michigan's run defense has been even better than Iowa's to date. The most rushing yards they have allowed in a game is 107 against Akron and that includes a game against Notre Dame. So we may again struggle to move the ball on the ground which does not bode well for our offense.

X-factor is Gardner in this one, he has been turning it over a lot so far, if he keeps doing that we may have a chance. If Michigan takes care of the ball it could a really long game.
 




Hard to see a kid in his first game at the Big House in front of 115,000 people staying calm. I do agree, however, that the team and Nelson need to relax and trust that they can win or be equal with UM at the line of scrimmage. If the kids get wound up and lose their discipline like last Saturday then this weeks game will be much worse than last weeks game.

nokomismod said:
Not to bring up Iowa again, but their defensive front 7 might be as good as Michigan's. I hope Gophers can win the turnover battle, stay in their lanes on defense, and have some balance on offense. If Nelson can calm down just a little bit and deliver some nice throws, we might see the running game start to be there and then it will be very fun!
Click to expand...
 

tinyarch said:
Hard to see a kid in his first game at the Big House in front of 115,000 people staying calm. I do agree, however, that the team and Nelson need to relax and trust that they can win or be equal with UM at the line of scrimmage. If the kids get wound up and lose their discipline like last Saturday then this weeks game will be much worse than last weeks game.
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It's weird because I thought Nelson looked pretty calm in his first ever start at Wisconsin, and I was impressed. Now almost a year later we're talking about him needing to calm down after looking skittish in a game at home. I'm hoping it was just rust after not playing for a game and a half. Hopefully he hasn't lost confidence.
 



See the thing is I watched the replay of the Iowa just to see a view from TV because i was at the game anyway I quite frankily do not think Iowa beat through being "the stronger team" or having the "bigger players". I think we gave them the game. Watching made me notice some things. Early in our 1st 3 or 4 drives Nelson would actually keep a rhythm passing the ball for 2 or 3 1st downs and then he would make a bad pass or terrible decision that could have easily went for another 1st down and would keep Iowa's offense off the field. If Nelson could keep a rhythm like he would in early drives during last weeks game and actually hit receivers consistently and not make a bad wide open throw we could have a shot at Michigan. Looking at the game again, our defense actually played very well making stops in the backfield on a good amount of occasions. I know they did give up some bad plays but for being on the field way more than they should have been they did what they needed for the offense to stay in the game. I believe we were the better team just missed so many plays and i mean a lot of plays mostly passes that could have really won us the game. We gave them enough drives to practically win it.
 

RunGopherRun said:
All can be forgiven from the Iowa game if we are able to come out and be competitive. I can handle losses, as long as we are playing well and get beat by a better team. We're not going to run the table any time soon. The way we lost this last week is the type of loss that stings.
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Exactly.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Obviously opposition has to factor in but Michigan's run defense has been even better than Iowa's to date. The most rushing yards they have allowed in a game is 107 against Akron and that includes a game against Notre Dame. So we may again struggle to move the ball on the ground which does not bode well for our offense.

X-factor is Gardner in this one, he has been turning it over a lot so far, if he keeps doing that we may have a chance. If Michigan takes care of the ball it could a really long game.
Click to expand...

I hear what you're saying, but particularly in the ND game, ND just had a lot of success passing early on (and then had to pass because they were playing from behind later in the game). So, it's not like Mich D was shutdown, ND's game plan was just to pass a lot.

Now, how does Tommy Rees compare to Nelson? I don't know....ND fans certainly aren't happy with his performance this year
 

upnorthkid said:
do we want to show that much of our playbook?

No just kidding. I think this game will be a big litmus game for us in how far we've come. These players have shown fight for Kill in the past, now we'll see if they rally around him again. Last week's game should've put a chip on our shoulder. TBH, we match up better defensively against Michigan as well. They're more of a scat type of team that isn't going to just smash you over and over again. There will be ample opportunity for our guys to make plays with the ball in the air. If we can capitalize on that, give our struggling offense some shorter fields, and get some points on the board, I'd say we definitely have a puncher's chance.

All in all I hope we go into this game with the mentality that we have nothing to lose and everything to gain and will go out there with the intent to go down swinging if that's what it comes to. It's time to stop babying our offense. Odds are that Iowa knew what was coming on many of our plays and it showed. Diversify, unleash everything we've got, and let's WIN THIS DAMN GAME!

ok rant complete. god i want the jug back
Click to expand...

Coulda swore that was what the Iowa game was for?
 


tinyarch said:
Hard to see a kid in his first game at the Big House in front of 115,000 people staying calm. I do agree, however, that the team and Nelson need to relax and trust that they can win or be equal with UM at the line of scrimmage. If the kids get wound up and lose their discipline like last Saturday then this weeks game will be much worse than last weeks game.
Click to expand...

The Big House has the quietest large crowd in the country...
 

killme said:
The Big House has the quietest large crowd in the country...
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I've heard that before. Which B1G stadium is the loudest/most intimidating? Kinnick was quite loud last year (their fans know how to "get after" as Gardy would say).
 

As Mase would say there's always a chance. What gives me hope is the Michigan oline is experiencing some upheaval and growing pains. If Hageman can have a big game we might put a scare into them. My fear is Gardener is just too good when he gets loose that however we disrupt him he'll just make some play on the run.
 

fryguy22 said:
I hear what you're saying, but particularly in the ND game, ND just had a lot of success passing early on (and then had to pass because they were playing from behind later in the game). So, it's not like Mich D was shutdown, ND's game plan was just to pass a lot.

Now, how does Tommy Rees compare to Nelson? I don't know....ND fans certainly aren't happy with his performance this year
Click to expand...

ND was pretty successful running the ball. But, like you said, they passed a ton so they didn't run it a whole lot. ND's running backs rushed it 18 times for 105 yards (5.8 yds/carry).
 

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