Ogee Ogilthorpe
Tattooed Millionaire
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2008
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Finally had the time (and the stomach) to watch the Michigan game again last night. You wouldn't know it from reading the board but what I saw was a pretty competitive game, with a few major turning points.
> Giving Michigan a 35-38 yard field to work with on their first possession, after Leidner's fumble, and that's been beaten to death.
> Marcus Jones, yet AGAIN, failing to field a punt late in the first half; game tied, he lets the ball land around the 15 yd line, it rolls inside the ONE. I've been harping for over a month on this, that he would at some point cost the Gophers MAJOR field position and this was arguably the turning point in the game. Gophers punt, Mich gets it on the Gophers 35-38 or so, and score right before half.
He catches that punt and falls forward to the 20 yd line, and the Gophers very likely run out the first half, score to take a halftime lead, or at worst, punt the ball back to Michigan probably somewhere around their own 30. That was just an absolute back breaker. I'm just absolutely amazed that this continues to happen.
> On a lesser note, Michigan starts the second half, drives down and scores; the Gophers respond with a VERY impressive drive of their own, advancing inside the Mich 25; First down, Leidner runs for 7-8 setting up a short second down; on 2nd down, he scrambles, eludes the rush, heads for the sidelines, and instead of throwing it away, takes the ball with him out of bounds, essentially a sack for a loss of 5 instead of an incomplete pass; then a 5-yd penalty for delay (or offsides?); all of the sudden 2nd and 2-3 becomes 3rd and 12, all this while being on the brink of FG position. Gophers complete a nice pass for 8-9 yards on 3rd down, and then kick a FG.
Horrible mistake on Leidner's part, magnified by the penalty. Drive killer.
Watching the game again, I was amazed at how many times Gardner completed passes BECAUSE of how inaccurate he was. Many of those completions, with an accurate pass, the Gopher coverage was right there and they make a play; but Gardner was so far off, and yes, the DB's were rarely looking for the ball, Mich receiver makes a circus catch for a completion.
I also didn't realize while watching the game live just how often OT Taylor Lewan (a seemingly lock for the first round next April) was flip flopping on the line to come out with unbalanced lines. On more than half of the plays, Lewan was on one side at essentially a TE spot, and on the other side it was just OG-TE. I wonder how much of that was on tape before Saturday and how much was put in during the bye week for Michigan because of crappy O-Line play?
On replay, this was a pretty solid showing from the Gophers. They did a lot of things well, IMO. I think Northwestern will be a good, good game. Gophers will move the ball, not a doubt in my mind, it's just how well they can stop the Cats. This is an opportunity to steal one.
> Giving Michigan a 35-38 yard field to work with on their first possession, after Leidner's fumble, and that's been beaten to death.
> Marcus Jones, yet AGAIN, failing to field a punt late in the first half; game tied, he lets the ball land around the 15 yd line, it rolls inside the ONE. I've been harping for over a month on this, that he would at some point cost the Gophers MAJOR field position and this was arguably the turning point in the game. Gophers punt, Mich gets it on the Gophers 35-38 or so, and score right before half.
He catches that punt and falls forward to the 20 yd line, and the Gophers very likely run out the first half, score to take a halftime lead, or at worst, punt the ball back to Michigan probably somewhere around their own 30. That was just an absolute back breaker. I'm just absolutely amazed that this continues to happen.
> On a lesser note, Michigan starts the second half, drives down and scores; the Gophers respond with a VERY impressive drive of their own, advancing inside the Mich 25; First down, Leidner runs for 7-8 setting up a short second down; on 2nd down, he scrambles, eludes the rush, heads for the sidelines, and instead of throwing it away, takes the ball with him out of bounds, essentially a sack for a loss of 5 instead of an incomplete pass; then a 5-yd penalty for delay (or offsides?); all of the sudden 2nd and 2-3 becomes 3rd and 12, all this while being on the brink of FG position. Gophers complete a nice pass for 8-9 yards on 3rd down, and then kick a FG.
Horrible mistake on Leidner's part, magnified by the penalty. Drive killer.
Watching the game again, I was amazed at how many times Gardner completed passes BECAUSE of how inaccurate he was. Many of those completions, with an accurate pass, the Gopher coverage was right there and they make a play; but Gardner was so far off, and yes, the DB's were rarely looking for the ball, Mich receiver makes a circus catch for a completion.
I also didn't realize while watching the game live just how often OT Taylor Lewan (a seemingly lock for the first round next April) was flip flopping on the line to come out with unbalanced lines. On more than half of the plays, Lewan was on one side at essentially a TE spot, and on the other side it was just OG-TE. I wonder how much of that was on tape before Saturday and how much was put in during the bye week for Michigan because of crappy O-Line play?
On replay, this was a pretty solid showing from the Gophers. They did a lot of things well, IMO. I think Northwestern will be a good, good game. Gophers will move the ball, not a doubt in my mind, it's just how well they can stop the Cats. This is an opportunity to steal one.
