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Gold Rush

Gold Rush

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This game goes in my book as a vintage PJ Fleck and the Gophers win. There were so many good things to take from this game some things are overlooked. I wasn't expecting a blowout shutout win on the road as a road dog.
What were some of the things you liked from this game!!
 

One good thing is that practically everything in this game preview and prediction was wrong except that Potts would be able to get some yards.

This is the CFN predicion that now goes in the round filing cabinet...

collegefootballnews.com

Minnesota vs Colorado Prediction, Game Preview

Minnesota vs Colorado prediction and game preview. Minnesota vs Colorado Broadcast Date: Saturday, September 18 Game Time: 12:00 ET Venue: Folsom Field, Boulder, CO Network: Pac-12 Network – …
collegefootballnews.com collegefootballnews.com
 

Bucky and Ky are legit and bring different dynamics to the RB position. Bucky is similar in style to Trey, but he has a little bit more of a north South mentality than Trey. He's got great start, stop and change of direction ability and will be a good complement to Trey the rest of the year.

Ky looked really comfortable and patient for it being his first game action. He looked bigger than I thought and ran with some power.

I believe we have the pair and a spare with those three and I still think Cam will be able to provide another dimension as well.
 

I really liked how the offensive line just took control of the game and dominated a pretty good defensive front of Colorado. Remember, just last week they held the #5 Texas A & M offense down and held their own. We need that offensive line to take over games in the Big Ten like they did yesterday. They have too much size and experience not to be a factor in every game as long as they stay healthy.
 

The DL finally flashed like many of us hoped they would during the offseason. Mafe and Rush lived in the backfield and walked away with 2 sacks each. I noticed and/or heard the announcers mention MJ Anderson, Martin, Carter, and MDT making excellent plays at points. Super encouraging.
 



I thought the funniest line from the broadcasting crew was when they showed a highlight of their mascot, a huge buffalo running onto the field and they said, "That's the most rushing yards from anyone from Colorado that we have seen all day!!" I got a good laugh at that one.
 

Defense - Everything - Coverage was great everytime they threw, pass rush was relentless for the entire game, tons of pressure and sacks, LBs were flying around making tackles. Just an unbelievable performance from that group and one that will hopefully give them a ton of confidence heading into the remainder of the season....truly awesome across the board on D yesterday.

Offense - Potts proved last week wasn't a fluke. Kid is really good, maybe not Mo but not a massive drop off either. Irving is going to be special and Thomas looked good as well. Having CRAB back was a huge boost to the offense as well and the line played great. The best part is that there is another gear there still on offense.

Special Teams - rough day overall but was good to see Trickett hit that last field goal and Fleck made it very clear in the post game that he is the guy they are going to lean on moving forward.

Overall - Winning on the road is hard....but we went out and absolutely dominated a power 5 team in their building. Wasn't a perfect game but it was super impressive and something to really build on moving forward as the conference season resumes in a few weeks.
 




Let's hope that this game means the defense is finding its legs, its identity and its on-field leaders. It was an impressive performance. This offense can really hum when CAB, Jackson, and Wright are all present as downfield threats and we have a rotation of good, change of pace RBs. Rotating 10 OL during the game is good, too. Puts a lot of stress on the defense. Suddenly, I am looking forward to a return to Big Ten play. Go Gophers.
 

A few statistics really jump out at me from the boxscore:

- Colorado rushed for -19 yards. They REALLY got shut down.
- Colorado had only 63 yards rushing/receiving total offense.
- Minnesota had only 34 total tackles. That is very very low. It shows they were getting 3 and outs and got off the field quickly.
- Minnesota had 277 yards rushing 53 times for an averaged 5.2 yards per carry. Compare this to last week vs. Miami (OH) where we rushed 46 times for 175 yards and a 3.8 average.
 

CAB is another level. Wright has made some great plays, and I think Daniel Jackson is gonna have a great career here, but CAB is just a more complete player right now. Really missed having him out there.
 

skyman31 said:
CAB is another level. Wright has made some great plays, and I think Daniel Jackson is gonna have a great career here, but CAB is just a more complete player right now. Really missed having him out there.
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I think the trio we have now gives me the same vibes as 2019. The stud veteran, the talented new guy, and a solid contributor that'll get his shot to lead the group in a few years.
 




skyman31 said:
CAB is another level. Wright has made some great plays, and I think Daniel Jackson is gonna have a great career here, but CAB is just a more complete player right now. Really missed having him out there.
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Yes, CAB is on another level and the obvious leader in that group. If he can stay healthy, he might be the next Gopher receiver drafted. I think the receiver corps in general has been a learning process too. I like Jackson over the middle in the quick slant. He seems to navigate traffic better than Wright. Wright, on the other hand being still a little raw but uber talented with explosive potential, is dynamic in space, and has potential for getting endzone jump balls.

It's fun to go back and watch some of the Kill era games. I feel bad for Leidner at times with limited talent to get open and catch passes. The receiver corps now is exponentially better.
 


Listen to the post game Fleck presser, he seems to have a good gauge on this team... feels there's still meat on the bone. Completely agree, our offense should be able to compete at a top 10 clip. CAB hits his stride and Wright and Jackson keep growing, could get nasty. Feel the run game will always be solid. Defensively, just needs to have a little swagger and have guys flying around. Saw a glimpse of that, just need to build on it. Keeping building and that Iowa game is going to be big time.
 





skyman31 said:
CAB is another level. Wright has made some great plays, and I think Daniel Jackson is gonna have a great career here, but CAB is just a more complete player right now. Really missed having him out there.
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It changes the offense when he is out there. Part of the Miami game problem, I suspect, was playing without both CAB and Mo. We just weren’t mentally ready for such a structural change.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
It changes the offense when he is out there. Part of the Miami game problem, I suspect, was playing without both CAB and Mo. We just weren’t mentally ready for such a structural change.
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With the Miami game, part of the reason I got on Sanford was because SO many of the plays they made in the running game were made by their safeties flying up field. In my personal opinion, we got into a shell too early in that game and if we would have landed (or even attempted) a couple more long passes, the game would have been a blow out. So you're right, if we would have had CAB and Wright in the second half of that game, I just can't envision how Miami could have stopped our running attack.
 

Gold Rush said:
A few statistics really jump out at me from the boxscore:

- Colorado rushed for -19 yards. They REALLY got shut down.
- Colorado had only 63 yards rushing/receiving total offense.
- Minnesota had only 34 total tackles. That is very very low. It shows they were getting 3 and outs and got off the field quickly.
- Minnesota had 277 yards rushing 53 times for an averaged 5.2 yards per carry. Compare this to last week vs. Miami (OH) where we rushed 46 times for 175 yards and a 3.8 average.
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The low Gopher tackles number (34) is due to a two-to-one advantage in time of possession. To get more tackles yesterday Mafe and Sori-Marin would have needed to tackle Colorado coaches on the sidelines.
 

PhillyGopher said:
Three games in and Walley looks better every game and will be a key contributor for a long while.
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Walley has that thing that few people have. He looks like a mad man out there (flying around knocking down much larger men) but he seems to have tremendous control of his body. On one of the hits on the Colorado WR, he actually made an incredible play to not target or lead with his crown (it took really body control). I'm not saying he is or will be like Winfield, but someone else made that comparison and I can actually see it.


Again - before anyone tells me it's too early to compare anyone to Antoine Winfield, I agree. I'm not, I'm just saying that the way he is out there playing like a little wolverine reminds me, in glimpses, of Antoine.
 

Dakota2 said:
The low Gopher tackles number (34) is due to a two-to-one advantage in time of possession. To get more tackles yesterday Mafe and Sori-Marin would have needed to tackle Colorado coaches on the sidelines.
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Yep. Colorado only ran 45 plays and 27% of them (12) were incompelte passes.

Our total number of tackles is really a sign of just how dominant we were.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
With the Miami game, part of the reason I got on Sanford was because SO many of the plays they made in the running game were made by their safeties flying up field. In my personal opinion, we got into a shell too early in that game and if we would have landed (or even attempted) a couple more long passes, the game would have been a blow out. So you're right, if we would have had CAB and Wright in the second half of that game, I just can't envision how Miami could have stopped our running attack.
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The way Miami sold out to stop the run, and the fact that we kept running into it, was interesting. We just wanted to get off the field with a win (with our beat up receiving corps’ play being kind of iffy). Strategy would have worked better if not for a couple of key (avoidable) penalties by the Gophs that gave Miami new life. If we had CAB and Wright both available in the 2nd half, we would have punished Miami for their imbalanced defense.
 
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MGGopher said:
The DL finally flashed like many of us hoped they would during the offseason. Mafe and Rush lived in the backfield and walked away with 2 sacks each. I noticed and/or heard the announcers mention MJ Anderson, Martin, Carter, and MDT making excellent plays at points. Super encouraging.
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For me, this was the most important piece of the game. I don't think there is a team in the country that can withstand our OL running if we dominate the TOP. So while our OL and RB play was great and fun, I kind of expected it.

Our DL dominated the LOS and it just made everyone look better. Our LBs, suddenly didn't look slow. Our DBs, seemed to lock down the receivers. It all starts up front and if our DL crew can continue playing anything like they did yesterday, watch out.
 

A good thing is that there is radio coverage under Learfield's banner.

Apparently BTN is not planning on producing a Game in 60 for this one. Cowards.

For those not there or willing to pony-up, our radio memory is all we have.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
The way Miami sold out to stop the run, and the fact that we kept running into it, was interesting. We just wanted to get off the field with a win (with or beat up receiving corps kind of iffy in play). Strategy would have worked visibly better if not for a couple of key (avoidable) penalties by the Gophs that gave Miami new life. If we had CAB and Wright both available in the 2nd half, we would have punished Miami for their imbalanced defense.
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Yep. I also think PJ sandbags a bit in nonconference (in terms of play calling). It reminded me a bit of the South Dakota State game a few years ago. To those of us at that game, it was clear that if we wanted to beat them deep, it sure looked open.
 

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