My take on the game

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GophersInIowa

GophersInIowa

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I know most everyone wants to talk about the QB situation, but here's my take on everything else:
- The OL did not play well at times. Pretty disappointing. Obviously having a backup center in there didn't help.
- Kirkwood ran well today. I'd like to see Wright get a few caries. Kinda a change of pace guy (thunder and lightning).
- Receivers have been a huge surprise for me. Would like to see us go down field more with Crawford-Tufts.
- Are we just not capable of running screens? Get Jones or Maye out there on some screens.
- Our secondary is vastly improved this year. Carter is all over the place. That was a very explosive passing game we faced and we kept them in check most of the game.
- MLB is a huge concern for me right now. Would have liked to see Beal in there when Western was running it all over us.
- Hageman is a stud. Enough said.
- Did anyone else see when Wilhite came up with the ball after it was tipped by Hageman (I believe)? It may have hit the ground, but thought it should have been reviewed at least.
- Kicking game sucked again: missed FG and crappy punting.

Too many penalties, lots of mistakes, and we still won. Lots of work to do, but I'm excited about 3-0! Let's go get Syracuse next week!
 

Receivers have been a huge surprise for me. Would like to see us go down field more with Crawford-Tufts.
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Why are Andre McDonald and Brandon Green not playing? Isaac and AJ have played well, but I thought Green was going to take a leadership role this year as a senior and arguably our top recruit this year did not see the field.

Agree with you on kicking game, Eldred was awful, 28 yard average.
 


gopherinpain said:
Why are Andre McDonald and Brandon Green not playing? Isaac and AJ have played well, but I thought Green was going to take a leadership role this year as a senior and arguably our top recruit this year did not see the field.

Agree with you on kicking game, Eldred was awful, 28 yard average.
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Both are dealing with injuries. Green's recovery isn't going to well.
 

I feel bad for Green. His time to be a leader and he can't stay healthy.
 


Andre practiced all week I thought. I don't know why he didn't play, but I'm a little frustrated that we burned his red shirt in the UNLV game if he has not made the rotation.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I know most everyone wants to talk about the QB situation, but here's my take on everything else:
- The OL did not play well at times. Pretty disappointing. Obviously having a backup center in there didn't help.
- Kirkwood ran well today. I'd like to see Wright get a few caries. Kinda a change of pace guy (thunder and lightning).
- Receivers have been a huge surprise for me. Would like to see us go down field more with Crawford-Tufts.
- Are we just not capable of running screens? Get Jones or Maye out there on some screens.
- Our secondary is vastly improved this year. Carter is all over the place. That was a very explosive passing game we faced and we kept them in check most of the game.
- MLB is a huge concern for me right now. Would have liked to see Beal in there when Western was running it all over us.
- Hageman is a stud. Enough said.
- Did anyone else see when Wilhite came up with the ball after it was tipped by Hageman (I believe)? It may have hit the ground, but thought it should have been reviewed at least.
- Kicking game sucked again: missed FG and crappy punting.

Too many penalties, lots of mistakes, and we still won. Lots of work to do, but I'm excited about 3-0! Let's go get Syracuse next week!
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Yep all around. It also seems that the O-Line Pass Blocks better then they Run Block. The D-Line today at least, seemed to do the exact opposite. Remember how after the UNLV game Kill said that they were not prepared for the Offense that the Rebels ran? Well today it looked like they were prepared for the Broncos to throw the ball and instead they ran it down the Gophers throat.

Tell you one thing though, we all know that it's a whole lot more fun at TCF when the Gophers win. Let's try it again Saturday Night shall we!
 

Regarding the kicking situation, I thought when Hawthorne transferred from NC State, he'd be the odds on favorite for that job. For him to lose that job, I'm assuming he has not impressed in practice.
 

Iceland12 said:
Yep all around. It also seems that the O-Line Pass Blocks better then they Run Block. The D-Line today at least, seemed to do the exact opposite. Remember how after the UNLV game Kill said that they were not prepared for the Offense that the Rebels ran? Well today it looked like they were prepared for the Broncos to throw the ball and instead they ran it down the Gophers throat.

Tell you one thing though, we all know that it's a whole lot more fun at TCF when the Gophers win. Let's try it again Saturday Night shall we!
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They were going against a 3 man rush in most passing situations
 



afurry91 said:
Andre practiced all week I thought. I don't know why he didn't play, but I'm a little frustrated that we burned his red shirt in the UNLV game if he has not made the rotation.
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He clearly had made the rotation. Then someone stepped up when he was hurt and played better
 

Rallis at MLB is lost and Hill is just terrible out there. I thought Roland Johnson was getting push up front but there were NO LB's to fill the holes. Did I miss something or did Edwards and Beal not play? Manuel was 10 times better than Hill I would prefer to see Hill riding the bench the rest of the year.

Kicking sucks and needs to get figured out, yesterday! Oline pass protected alright I thought that WM packed the box with 8 and sometimes 9 guys (especially with Gray in) and we still moved the ball. Really questioning why they don't allow gray to throw the ball especially play action, I just don't get it.

I can't remember a secondary that has played this well. I spoke about Cater before this season the improved dedication not only on the field but in the classroom has really paid off, he was all over their receivers today I believe 2PBU's and an INT.

Good Win let's keep 'em coming!
 

Kicking - Kicking - Kicking....so disappointing. Kill has to be so pissed with this!
 




Wouldn't You like to Know said:
Rallis at MLB is lost and Hill is just terrible out there. I thought Roland Johnson was getting push up front but there were NO LB's to fill the holes. Did I miss something or did Edwards and Beal not play? Manuel was 10 times better than Hill I would prefer to see Hill riding the bench the rest of the year.

Kicking sucks and needs to get figured out, yesterday! Oline pass protected alright I thought that WM packed the box with 8 and sometimes 9 guys (especially with Gray in) and we still moved the ball. Really questioning why they don't allow gray to throw the ball especially play action, I just don't get it.

I can't remember a secondary that has played this well. I spoke about Cater before this season the improved dedication not only on the field but in the classroom has really paid off, he was all over their receivers today I believe 2PBU's and an INT.

Good Win let's keep 'em coming!
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Can't really say on Beal but Edwards was injured in the 2nd quarter I believe and they said he was on the sidelines with his pads off late in the game. Radio indicated it may have been head related but they were not really sure.

On your other points agree the kicking game is a massive disappointment. This is supposed to be one of Kill's strong points and I know he devotes a lot of personal time before practice working with the kickers. Clearly they are struggling to discover and recruit talent at both kicker and punter, hopefully they get it figured out before it costs us a game.

Love seeing Carter living up to the hype. Purely speculation on my part but I know Tyrone Carter has been spending a lot more time back in Minnesota, maybe he was able to play a roll in getting Michael's head on straight so that his natural ability could take over. It was never a question of talent with that kid it was all about the mental aspect of the game both on and off the field.

Lot's of work to do but 3-0 looks pretty good on the stat sheet.
 

I thought I saw Edwards on the sideline not in uniform.

Would have liked to see Beal play some when W. Michigan was running all over us.
 

Edwards got his bell rung. He was coming off after a kickoff (I think) and he was staggering around. The coaching staff jumped him right away.

I have been worried about our linebackers and I don't understand why Beal was held out of the game. He was on kickoffs.
 

What is Miller looking at out there. Did Miller think they would pass on us on every play while they ran down our throats successfully. Why didn't beal play? Saw him on KO's pancaking blockers on every KO. Feel bad for Rallis - his a terrible MLB and should replace Hill at SAM LB and put beal at MLB and give the kid a chance to defend in a pasing situation. Miller is a terrible LB coach if he can't see what all of Gopher Nation is seeing with our LB's. Why not try Rallis, Beal, Cooper/manual togther on a few series. I would think this would be our best combo unless Rallis *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#s the bed at SAM LB like he id doing at MLB....82 offensive plays and beal did not play - what is Miller thinking about when a team averaging 50 run yards a game - made our inside LB's look like they were not even on the field. Thought Beal was impressive vs UNLV and UNH and would see more time. Would hate to see Beal get discouraged and just hang it up after this year when he has 1 possibly 2 yrs left. Beal is in grad school - go to wall street and go pro there.
 

Terminator said:
What is Miller looking at out there. Did Miller think they would pass on us on every play while they ran down our throats successfully. Why didn't beal play? Saw him on KO's pancaking blockers on every KO. Feel bad for Rallis - his a terrible MLB and should replace Hill at SAM LB and put beal at MLB and give the kid a chance to defend in a pasing situation. Miller is a terrible LB coach if he can't see what all of Gopher Nation is seeing with our LB's. Why not try Rallis, Beal, Cooper/manual togther on a few series. I would think this would be our best combo unless Rallis *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#s the bed at SAM LB like he id doing at MLB....82 offensive plays and beal did not play - what is Miller thinking about when a team averaging 50 run yards a game - made our inside LB's look like they were not even on the field. Thought Beal was impressive vs UNLV and UNH and would see more time. Would hate to see Beal get discouraged and just hang it up after this year when he has 1 possibly 2 yrs left. Beal is in grad school - go to wall street and go pro there.
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Claeys makes the personnel decisions, not Miller. Rewrite your rant.
 

gopherinpain said:
Why are Andre McDonald and Brandon Green not playing? Isaac and AJ have played well, but I thought Green was going to take a leadership role this year as a senior and arguably our top recruit this year did not see the field.

Agree with you on kicking game, Eldred was awful, 28 yard average.
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The two receivers are hurt.

Eldred had 2 punts in the 20 and the third FC at 23. Still has had none returned. He's doing what he is being asked to do.

He did have one poor punt, which he needs to work on. He's played in 3 football games in his entire life. He's done pretty damn good. Don't just read the box score, try to understand strategy as well.
 

Kill talked about them this morning. Sounds like Andre's turf injury set him back on the field as well. Limited practice hurt his picking-up the Offense. They wanted to try and get him in the mix yesterday but the game dictated otherwise.
 

Iceland12 said:
Kill talked about them this morning. Sounds like Andre's turf injury set him back on the field as well. Limited practice hurt his picking-up the Offense. They wanted to try and get him in the mix yesterday but the game dictated otherwise.
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yeah, A.J. Barker was doing just fine.
 

I don't know what to think of this game. We did well against the pass, but bad against the run. We gift wrapped 7 points with the red zone turnover, but so did they. We let them have 2 drives for a TD that just made it look too easy. We scored 2 TDs 90 seconds apart. Carder missed some wide open receivers. Our QB went down and the backup dazzled for about 1 quarter of game time, and then became pedestrian. They missed a FG, we missed one too. The stats were about as even as they get.
 

I did not like punting on 4th and 1 at midfield. WM went for it in similar situation and made it. When we punted, they got the ball & after a few plays were at midfield.
 

zambam said:
They were going against a 3 man rush in most passing situations
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Conversely, when Gray's in the game the other team stacks the box & has our 5 OL-men trying to move 4 DL-men, 3 LB's & 1 SS. When Gray went down & Shortell connected on some passes Kirkwood started finding running room.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Conversely, when Gray's in the game the other team stacks the box & has our 5 OL-men trying to move 4 DL-men, 3 LB's & 1 SS. When Gray went down & Shortell connected on some passes Kirkwood started finding running room.
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Western Michigan's "3 - 4" might have been a bit of a misnomer too. They might ave had 3 guys down, but there seemed to always be 1 and sometimes 2 there guy standing as defacto ends.
 

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