My week 3 thoughts

[GopherFB]

The Gophers did looke improved vs USC, IMO.

Defense was still not good but I think Theret did make a difference. Offense looked OK. They were down by less than a TD going in the 4th.

I'm still not happy at all, this team is still bad but at least they played better.

Next week vs N. Illinois is a big game, a measuring stick. Illinois beat them by 6 this week, so I think we'll have an idea of where we stand in the bottom half of the big ten after that game.

 

[alphagopher]

we needed 3 wins coming out of the preseason to have a chance at a bowl. we have one win now, and getting a second this week is no gimme (sad, I know). The only teams we have a reasonable chance to beat inmho are NIll, NW, Purdont and ILL, with a more realistic outcome being 2 for 4 here. Losing to the south dakota dental academy means that even if we win these 4, we still need to find another win for 6. As fpr all of the other games, we have literally zero chance to win. Zero. Or somewhat less than zero. The reality is that the rest of the league is getting better, and we are getting worse. Is there any other b10 team we can say with any confidence that we could beat?? Even Indiana has past us by. I really had high hopes for brew ball. We were sold a shiny city on a hill, we got a house of cards built on quicksand. Damn this sucks.

 

[GopherFB]

we needed 3 wins coming out of the preseason to have a chance at a bowl. we have one win now, and getting a second this week is no gimme (sad, I know). The only teams we have a reasonable chance to beat inmho are NIll, NW, Purdont and ILL, with a more realistic outcome being 2 for 4 here. Losing to the south dakota dental academy means that even if we win these 4, we still need to find another win for 6. As fpr all of the other games, we have literally zero chance to win. Zero. Or somewhat less than zero. The reality is that the rest of the league is getting better, and we are getting worse. Is there any other b10 team we can say with any confidence that we could beat?? Even Indiana has past us by. I really had high hopes for brew ball. We were sold a shiny city on a hill, we got a house of cards built on quicksand. Damn this sucks.

I agree. At this point I think a bowl game is pretty much not going to happen minus a miracle win someplace on the schedule.

Best case scenario is 5 wins, and I really thinl NW is going to hand us our rears. So, really, IMO best case would be 4 with a slim chance at 5. Honestly, I could see this being a 2-3 win team and going 0-8 in the Big Ten. NW is better than us, clearly. Wisconsin will throttle the Gophers. Purdue is a little better but we play them on their home field. Penn St. is nearly a sure loss. Ohio St, no chance. Michigan St looks pretty tough, very unlikely to win that one. Illinois is a comparable team to the Gophers but we play them on their home field. Iowa will probably kill the Gophers.

There isn't a single game left on the schedule that is a lock, though they should beat NI.

 

[Ole]

Defense was much better, more aggressive going after balls and getting in the backfield, this phase will get better as the season goes on. The green young uns are slowly getting seasoned.

Offense likewise seems to be getting better, there's a bit more complexity every week, but the scheme is the same, not the manic changing game plans from last year. I think we are running the ball fairly well, Kirkwood looks good, easily better than Whaley last year. Weber had some nice throws and some bad ones, he needs to trust his receivers and blockers more though. That pass to Mcknight was shades of MSU's B. Green TD last year, where he put the ball up and trusted that Mcknight would make a play, and he did.

Our season isn't lost, but there can be no more setbacks, NIU needs to be a W and a confident one.
We can hang with NW, IL, and PU, then we need to play the wet blanket to the Big ten contenders, wisky didn't look great, iowee lost and lost some runningbacks for the year, OSU is rolling, right along, we'll get our shot at them at home on Halloween weekend, do we have a great chance, no, but we can let it all hang out in front of a juiced and wild crowd.

Time to collect ourselves, win a NC game next week at home, and get ready for the real season.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Defense was much better, more aggressive going after balls and getting in the backfield, this phase will get better as the season goes on. The green young uns are slowly getting seasoned.

This has been said every single year. It's like people just copy and paste it from year to year. Believe it when I see it....

 

[GophersInIowa]

There's no doubt in my mind the defense will continue to get better throughout the year. I'm not saying they will be a top defense in the league, but they will be better than they are now.

The defense is and will be key the rest of the way IMO. If we see more of what we saw against USD, then we may not win more than 2 or 3 games. If they improve each game, then I think we have a shot at 5, maybe 6 wins.

 

[Schnoodler]

We could be pretty good by the end of the year. We might sneak an unexpected win at that time. I'm not sure we're out of bowl contention just yet. definitely made it tougher no doubt.

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

An improved peformance against and a W over NIU will build confidence and add anohter gameday under the belt for the youngsters. I think most of us expected an inconsistent D and inprovement as the season progresses, assuming we stay healthy. We lined up with 2 DB true frosh Saturday. Did anyone expect the O to light it up against OSU? Certainly not me.

I think what is most disappointing thus far is the play of the ST's which is an area I felt we would be pretty solid.

I think six W's is what the masses predicted; maybe 7. Six is a long shot but we need the W Saturday.

 

[Ole]

This has been said every single year. It's like people just copy and paste it from year to year. Believe it when I see it....

Our D was better late last year than early in the year.
With so much untested youth playing this year, and a baseline low of the SD game, how can the D not get better?

I get that you are one of the believe it when you see it guys, but didn't we see it this Saturday?

We gave up gobs and chunks to SD and MTSU, we at least contested some balls and forced some INTs and bad throws against USC.
Don't be so fast to poo poo improvement, god knows we aren't world beaters right now, but we've got alot of season left, might as well give ourselves credit when something gets better.