My Complaints for the Year

Donate To GopherHole
A

AEmerson40

Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2012
Messages
252
Reaction score
0
Points
16
The Gophers had a great season; the four game winning streak was one of the best months of my sports fan life. This thread isn't anything serious; there's just a couple things that frustrated me this season that I need to get out of my system. But don't get me wrong, GREAT SEASON. Now, my somewhat nit-picky complaints:

- I don't remember us ever defending the option play well. We only faced it a couple times, but remember 3rd and long vs. Nebraska?
- The wide receiver quick out/screen worked against us reasonably well every time I saw it ran. Don't think we ever figured that out.
- The lack of urgency when behind in the 4th or at the end of the half with scoring opportunities.
- Rashede not playing more.
- The Penn State game not being sold out. Ridiculous.
- Phillip Nelson against good defenses. Say all you want about not having playmakers, but he missed multiple open receivers and made a couple costly bad decisions against Iowa, Wisconsin, and MSU. I put those losses mostly on him. He played well in just about every other game, though.

That's it for my sour grapes. Regardless, I love this team, this coach, and this program. Go Gophers!
 

The concourse at TCF during halftime of the Wisconsin game. BRUTAL. I've never seen it so packed, you could barely move. I think the whole stadium decided to walk around to warm up all at the same time.

Was nice to see TCF packed though.
 

SUPER soft coverage by our CBs...gave up the quick slants and outs all season. The vanilla (even late in the season) play calling by Limegrover. Phillip Nelson made costly mistakes, not getting rid of the ball taking sacks... not hitting WIDE OPEN receivers, but I didn't expect him to come out pissing excellence, but he did vastly improve and have strong faith he'll continue to improve. Good head on his shoulders, great competitor and a helluva team mate. Lastly, we need more out of our LBers, Hill and Manuel just weren't the seniors I'd hoped they'd be..
 

Gopher028 said:
Lastly, we need more out of our LBers, Hill and Manuel just weren't the seniors I'd hoped they'd be..
Click to expand...

Tough crowd.

Aaron Hill....3rd on the team in tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, a sack, two interceptions returned 55 yards, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries returned 71 yards. Not to mention, he was a walk on.
 

Maximus said:
Tough crowd.

Aaron Hill....3rd on the team in tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, a sack, two interceptions returned 55 yards, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries returned 71 yards. Not to mention, he was a walk on.
Click to expand...

I was a little surprised about the shot at Hill and Manuel as well because I felt like both had very strong years and I am actually a little concerned about our ability to replace them next season since even with their somewhat limited overall skill sets the guys behind them were not able to get them off the field.

As to the OP, I agree with most of the points made there with the exception of the WR Screen/Quick out comment. I think our defense is designed to take away the big play in the passing game and will sacrifice the short stuff in order to keep the receivers in front of them.

Overall it was a great season but there is always room for improvement....
 


My complaint is that we still have way too many non-competitive losses which I define as any loss greater than a touchdown and a 2-pt conversion or greater than 8 points. At that point, if your team has the ball and there’s a second on the clock, you have a chance.

From 2010 – 2012, the Gophers had 5 in conference non-competitive losses each year. This year, it only dropped to 4. To put this in perspective, Wisconsin has had one non-competitive loss since 2010 including non-conference.

As long as a team is up on you by more than 8, they can be super conservative. It’s what the Gophers were able to do to Penn State this year. We need to be truly competitive in every game next year and increase the amount of games that we make non-competitive in our favor.
 

Maximus said:
Tough crowd.

Aaron Hill....3rd on the team in tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, a sack, two interceptions returned 55 yards, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries returned 71 yards. Not to mention, he was a walk on.
Click to expand...

They were Seniors, and it seems like many people on the board have gone out of their way to up the criticism and lower the praise for the Seniors. Kill hasn't but the board has.

That's my complaint.
 

My only complaint is the fact that we lost to our top 3 rivals, Wisky, Iowa, and Michigan. To me that's what college football is about, beating your rivals. Still a great year though no question.
 

beatles said:
My only complaint is the fact that we lost to our top 3 rivals, Wisky, Iowa, and Michigan. To me that's what college football is about, beating your rivals. Still a great year though no question.
Click to expand...

Winning at least one of the three trophy games is a minimum requirement for me to be totally satisfied with a season. And Wisconsin's 10 game winning streak makes me a very dissatisfied fan even if we manage to beat Iowa or Michigan.
 



UpnorthGo4 said:
Winning at least one of the three trophy games is a minimum requirement for me to be satisfied with a season.
Click to expand...

There are 4. Whether you deem it legitimate or contrived, there is a 4th trophy, and it goes to the winner of that game each time it is played.
 

dpodoll68 said:
There are 4. Whether you deem it legitimate or contrived, there is a 4th trophy, and it goes to the winner of that game each time it is played.
Click to expand...

If you have ever spent anytime on the Penn State board you understand that beating the Gophers means very little to them. It is just another game with an opponent for whom they have very little regard. There are also a huge number of Penn State fans who hate the fact they are in the Big 10. The trophy for the Penn State game means nothing to me. The game doesn't involve history, rivalry, or respect of any kind.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
If you have ever spent anytime on the Penn State board you understand that beating the Gophers means very little to them. It is just another game with an opponent for whom they have very little regard. There are also a huge number of Penn State fans who hate the fact they are in the Big 10. The trophy for the Penn State game means nothing to me. The game doesn't involve history, rivalry, or respect of any kind.
Click to expand...

I don't care how much or how little it means to you. I care even less how much or how little in means to Penn St. The fact is that it is indeed a trophy game. This cannot be argued against regardless of your feelings on the subject.
 

Maximus said:
Tough crowd.

Aaron Hill....3rd on the team in tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, a sack, two interceptions returned 55 yards, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries returned 71 yards. Not to mention, he was a walk on.
Click to expand...


And dangerously out of position on 70% of plays, terrible tackling angles, missed tackles..out physicalled. He made some big plays, but the picks he got were thrown right at him.
Manuel i'm not real mad about, he was a transplant OLB from SS and had to learn the position from scratch/
 



dpodoll68 said:
I don't care how much or how little it means to you. I care even less how much or how little in means to Penn St. The fact is that it is indeed a trophy game. This cannot be argued against regardless of your feelings on the subject.
Click to expand...

I never said it wasn't a trophy game. I was responding to a post complaining about not beating Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan. I only intended to refer to those three teams with my response. My post could have been more precise about what I meant just like your post could have been more lenient in judging it.
 

Gopher028 said:
And dangerously out of position on 70% of plays, terrible tackling angles, missed tackles..out physicalled. He made some big plays, but the picks he got were thrown right at him.
Manuel i'm not real mad about, he was a transplant OLB from SS and had to learn the position from scratch/
Click to expand...

Wow! Our defense was outstanding considering we had a starting LB out of position on 70% of the plays. If it was this often he must not be coachable either as I am sure the coaches would have brought up his horrendous positioning.
 


Thank goodness I spend time listening to analysis from sources other than this board. You know, places where people who understand football give thoughtful commentary. Places that have touted the play of our linebacking corp most of the season. Places where analysts expect a normal rotation through the defensive line . Now 'fess up, how many of you complainers were among those pseudo-experts who littered this board with dire predictions regarding Eric Decker's inability to play on Sundays?. He was too slow, remember? Best policy here for newcomers seeking insight: Identify the most complained about issue and imediately adopt an alternative point of view.
 

Hard for me to have many complaints this year, when I expected to go 6-6 and we end up 8-4, but there are always little things that bother me - so here goes:

1) Not beating either Wisconsin or Iowa. This is a standard complaint any year, even if we go 11-1 and lose to one of those hated programs. Our showing against Iowa was especially disappointing, but perhaps it was the wake up call we needed to get 4 Big Ten wins in a row. Was so proud of the way our defense played against Wisconsin, but crushed our offense couldn't even put one point on the board.

2) Nelson's erratic accuracy. This hurt us in a bad way in our losses.

3) Jim Souhan wasn't reprimanded, disciplined, or fired (at least publicly) for his awful article on Kill's health, the state of the program, and the idiotic suggestion that we plead Glen Mason to come back and lead the program. I'm mortified there were people out there who read that and actually agreed with it.

4) Our team's celebratory breaking of the newly won Governor's Bell. Unfortunate, as it thereby highlighting what a crap trophy this really is, both in concept (we knew that), and now physically (fragile junk). Replace that thing with a big heavy bell if you want even a chance at legitimizing that thing.

5) The two idiots in line in front of me at a concession stand who decided to order the entire menu, twice, during the 2nd Qtr of the UNLV game. Got all their food, after a bunch of 'special requests', then turned around, overloaded, and spilled half of it to the TCF concourse concrete, and tried to blame the cashier for 'stacking it badly'. The term 'overserved' is usually reserved for drinkers, but in this case it applied to these two who were apparently providing food for the entire section they sat in. Thanks for wasting my time out of my seat, and getting ketchup on my shoes.

#5 is by far my biggest complaint of the year.
 

I'm not too fond of the Gator Bowl pres. Though, he may have a chance to redeem himself.
 

Hate to nit-pick a 1000-yd rusher but I have to admit it, I get a little frustrated when Cobb has nothing up the middle and instead of lowering his head for little-to-no gain, attempts to bounce outside and loses 3-4 yards. Like a QB sometimes throwing the ball out of bounds; sometimes you have to realize that a play is lost and move on to the next. This actually happened several times on 3rd and short, forcing a punt.
 

Overall, a good year for us. If I were to identify some complaints, here it goes:
1) we lost the three games that I care the most about (I know Penn State is a trophy, I'm glad we got it, but in my totally subjective hierarchy of trophies Axe>Pig>Jug>Bell)
2) our offense was pretty effective against the bad to medium defenses, but we got absolutely shutdown (more so than other teams it seemed like) by the good defenses we played against
3) missed open receivers and dropped passes
4) defensive backs not looking back for the football
 

MNVCGUY said:
I was a little surprised about the shot at Hill and Manuel as well because I felt like both had very strong years and I am actually a little concerned about our ability to replace them next season since even with their somewhat limited overall skill sets the guys behind them were not able to get them off the field.
Click to expand...

Interesting hearing Brock Vereen's comments on the KFAN the other morning. He was asked about the defense having to fill big shoes next year and he said without hesitation that "they will and they will be better than this year." This is from an All-Conference SR. leaving the program. This kid really bought into Kill and staff. He mentioned that Murray will be All-Big Ten, Wilson having anther year left, Wells getting healthy, and Cockran developing even more.

My complaints are with the Food service, now that I have to use them for my kid. On the field the combination of pass blocking and QB decision making needs to get better.
 

Very happy with this season and the direction of the team. My constructive feedback would be: Work on a hurry up offense and get it in place before the bowl game. It has hurt the team a few times this year (before half against NW and before the half against Michigan).
 

My complaints are directed at the wimps around this place that try to single out any player on my Golden Gopher Football Team for criticism. It is PATHETIC of any of you to single out the 18 to 22 year old kids on this team. Rip the coaches new ones. Those dudes get paid the big bucks and they have ALL the power to play anybody they want. They have to power to CALL the plays. They have the power to coach the kids who play for them.

My second complaint is directed at people who don't complain about the wimps who complain about specific young players.

Go after the highly paid career designated football coaches people. Go after the fans who try to single out individual young players. Just because you may buy a ticket doesn't give you a free pass to rip on the kids. IF you have a deep-seeded need to rip on somebody...rip on the highest paid coach. He calls all the shots...and he gets paid millions over the course of a few years to MAKE SURE that things go as well as they can go on game day Saturday. Just MAYBE, an 8-4 record...4-4 in Conference Play is MORE than some of you fans deserved. MAYBE, the kids that you rip-on so often and so mindlessly OVER-ACHIEVED in Conference Play this season. Maybe YOU complainers let the kids down. And, damn, they lost to Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin and MSU..you know...that MSU team that will be playing the OSU for the Conference Championship on Saturday. Those were some fairly tough teams... That's the way I see it.

Sportsmanship has gone WAY down the drain when the kids who have NO power in the whole scheme of things are attacked the way some of you people attack them. For what? Because they won games they were supposed to win and they even managed to win some games that they were supposed to lose, at least as expected by the damn betting community and the Vegas bookmaking types.

I'm really proud of the kids who played on Saturdays for my Golden Gopher Football team. And, I'm not going to just sit back and read you people attacking these kids and just say nothing. I think you complainers are WAY out of line.

Like I said: if you are so lacking in sportsmanship and have to take shots at someone associated with the team...take those shots at Coach Kill and his Staff. THEY hold all the power and THEY call ALL the shots. And, they get paid a hell of a lot of money to take your shots, just laugh you and your comments off and still do things EXACTLY the way they want to do things. You should hear what they say about what each and every one of you complainers say, think and do. ; 0 )

Personally, I think Coach Kill and his Staff AND the kids playing the games all had a GREAT season so far. I look forward to the announcement by the bowl selection committees to hear where my Gophers will be playing, when they will be playing and which team they will be playing.

Some of you complainers REALLY had bad seasons this year. I didn't like your attacks on the kids and I especially didn't like your lack of sportsmanship. This team needs BETTER fans, that's for sure.
 

I really wish we would have had Nelson available against Michigan combined with the "open playbook" Limegrover brought out against Nebraska.

Would have been a completely different game.

That's the one game I would want to have back this year.
 

I've already stated in other posts that using nearly every second of the play clock when down by two scores without a ton of time is just a killer. It's like they're playing to beat the spread rather than win. I've never asked for a Mouse Davis Run and Shoot offense, just quicken up the pace a little when you're trying to score twice. It's kind of sad that I don't know that the Gophers could score twice in 13 minutes or so vs. Michigan State because they were burning so much clock.

I'm disappointed in how things worked out for McDonald.

I'm disappointed in whatever happened with Williams (aka Nugget) and Harbison. Hoping both are here and productive next year.

I'm disappointed in the way the offense stagnated vs. WI and MI St. Both games I thought it was MN's offense not the opposing defenses that was really the issue. Open receivers missed, receivers dropping balls when they weren't missed, etc. Not saying neither team had a good D, just thought it was more of MN not executing.

One thing will be interesting - while both Leidner and Nelson played well for stretches, both also had some poor performances. It will be interesting to see between them and Streveler who steps up over the offseason. I think the job is Nelson's to lose, but I hope he the pressure motivates him to play even better... Looking at the stats below, it's not as obvious who the better QB is.

Leidner, Mitch
RUSHING g att yards td long avg/c avg/g
2013 9 89 383 7 27 4.3 42.6
TOTAL 9 89 383 7 27 4.3 42.6
PASSING g cmp-att-int yards td long pct avg/p avg/g effic
2013 9 32-56-1 414 1 37 57.1 7.4 46.0 121.6
TOTAL 9 32-56-1 414 1 37 57.1 7.4 46.0 121.6
TOTAL OFFENSE g rush pass total avg/g
2013 9 383 414 797 88.6
TOTAL 9 383 414 797 88.6
SCORING g td rush rcv ret pat 2pat fg total avg/g
2013 9 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 42 4.7
TOTAL 9 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 42 4.7

Nelson, Philip
RUSHING g att yards td long avg/c avg/g
2012 7 69 184 0 25 2.7 26.3
2013 11 91 350 6 48 3.8 31.8
TOTAL 18 160 534 6 48 3.3 29.7
PASSING g cmp-att-int yards td long pct avg/p avg/g effic
2012 7 75-152-8 873 8 63 49.3 5.7 124.7 104.4
2013 11 92-179-6 1288 9 50 51.4 7.2 117.1 121.7
TOTAL 18 167-331-14 2161 17 63 50.5 6.5 120.1 113.8
TOTAL OFFENSE g rush pass total avg/g
2012 7 184 873 1057 151.0
2013 11 350 1288 1638 148.9
TOTAL 18 534 2161 2695 149.7
SCORING g td rush rcv ret pat 2pat fg total avg/g
2012 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
2013 11 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 36 3.3
TOTAL 18 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 36 2.0
 

I have no complaints.

The Gophers progressed better than I anticipated and I'm looking forward to the bowl game and to a fun and competetive 2014 season.
 

Lakeville Goldy said:
I'm disappointed in the way the offense stagnated vs. WI and MI St. Both games I thought it was MN's offense not the opposing defenses that was really the issue. Open receivers missed, receivers dropping balls when they weren't missed, etc. Not saying neither team had a good D, just thought it was more of MN not executing.
Click to expand...

I am with you on the need for better execution of the 2 minute drill. The one thing I will say to your comment above is that MSU kept 5 of it's last 6 opponents out of the endzone. Even if they were not the greatest teams in the world that is still very impressive and it points to an awesome defense. We definitely could have executed better against them but MSU's defense was great this season so I would not pin it all on the offense.
 



You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom