One loss is still only one loss, if aynthing this team has overachieved to this point

[gopherdudepart2]

If you would have asked before the season 95% of us would have been happy to see the Gophers start the season 6-2. The doom and gloom of one loss only becomes a self fulfilling prophecy if you let it. A wise man once said "Life is exactly the way you think it is, and only you can control how you feel about life".

This was an overall team loss to Illinois yesterday, not one guy on the team contributed anything more anything less. You win the games you deserve to win and lose the one's
you deserve to lose. This bye week is coming at a good time because we are playing a lot of young guy's in the lines that are a little undersized, that need rest for their minds and body's to heal up especially in the defensive line.
All of the teams goals are still achievable if the team leaves this one loss behind and doesn't let it linger in to all of the remaining games, it is still only one loss even if it was to a bad team. We got beat in the defensive and offensive lines the whole first half and were still only down 11 points when really Illinois should
have been blowing the Gophers butts off the field by 21 points or more after how poorly they played. They executed some triple option and the motion again was confusing to the defensive line. If anything a loss like this should bring everyone down to reality that
there is still a lot of work to do, fans, media members, everyone and a lot of room for improvement and an opportunity for the team to knock off teams that they will most likely be an underdog against the rest of the season.
Bad fundamentals and guy's taking poor tackling angles happen when guys are tired and young guy's let their minds wander about greatness before the work is put in, and you are dealing with a lot of immature young minds.
Same said for a kicker pushing a kick wide, or an offensive tackle missing the edge rusher and blocking down on a double team he was not coached to do.
Defensive tackles getting a hand to a face to extend a drive, a young defensive end overextends his angle because of excitement and over-runs the quarterback allowing for a huge third down gain, or a young defensive tackle for consecutive games getting out of there gaps allowing for a wide open hole because they are executing a twist that wasn't called or not playing the cutback.
Missed passes happen because a young guy in the receiving corps is having trouble seeing through the sun and a ball hits them in the hands and they lose it, or just lose a throw in the sun because they didn't see it. Obvious easy passes are missed because a young quarterback locks in on his first read and doesn't scan the field or when he is on the move refuses to set his feet and jumps in the air throwing a pass with no possiblity to complete it because the foot work is bad or there is no follow through on the throw that allows for the pass to be more consistently accurate. Taking a sack because the line is one thing but spending 5 seconds in the pocket without making a decision leads to a sack that set's a whole sequence of actions, a running back tries to do to much and coughs up a ball that he usually would not, that lead to a disastrous play.
What do all of these things have in common young football players learning to play the game at the Division one level with a lot of room for improvement. The good news is the team is playing at a higher level than most of us had a reasonable reason to believe they would.

These are all things if the coaches and the players put the time in and work at it can be fixed. These guy's need to get away from football for a couple days and get some good rest and put this loss behind them.
If you cannot get excited about the Gophers playing Iowa, Ohio State, Nebraska and Wisconsin you are not a college football fan. These are teams that are supposed to be better than the Gophers on paper and the Gophers have a chance to win each game. Preposterous I know, but yes even Ohio State is beatable.

 

[Triple D]

Umm, what are you talking about when you say a young guy lost a ball in the sun, is Fruechte not a senior and our most experienced WR?

Just read in the Sports Huddle summary that Kill said the team had 3 great practices last week, so I don't buy into the excuses that the team was to tired.

This was a choke, no ifs ands or buts and a bad bad loss.

The time to win is now, with no excuses. I was thinking about this today that we need to win NOW, next year we will take a huge step back losing 75% of our offense in Cobb and now Fruechte. I had high hopes for Edwards but he has proven nothing. Next years RBs are unproven plus we lose a potential NFL caliber LB in Wilson plus the defensive captain in Thompson.

There is absolutely no excuse for this team to come out flat and unprepared, the time to win is now and we royally screwed it up. I feel bad for Cobb who is blaming himself for this loss even though he is busting his butt out there. He deserves better from our team than yesterday effort.

 

[Spoofin]

I feel bad for Cobb who is blaming himself for this loss even though he is busting his butt out there. He deserves better from our team than yesterday effort.

I feel bad for Cobb too. But, his fumble had as much to do with the loss as any other thing. Lots of guys busting their butt. Lots of guys to blame for yesterday. Learn and move on....

 

[scools12]

I wouldn't exactly call a 6-2 team that has been a favorite in 6 out of the 8 games to this point as overachieving.

 

[Halsey Hall]

You, sir, are what we call an "enabler." We have not had one really good win where we shut down the other team, or we scored a lot of points. On plays where Cobb got stuffed, I thought "Who missed their block?" I would rewind and watch each lineman, and they ALL MADE their blocks. Then I went back to my math major days and figured, how can FIVE guys block NINE defenders? The problem starts with Limegrover, calling all these deep sideline passes every game. How many passes across the middle has this line coach ever called? How many reverses (yes, Matt, there is a reverse gear in most offenses)? Granted 3 of Leidner's misses could have been completions. But how many passes did he miss by 10 yards? The play calling is predictable at best. This team was NOT ready to play. I for one am tired of watching this crap year after year. Leidner is our worst qb since Jim Reese and friends in 1958.
Player Cmp Att Pct Yds
Jim Reese 35 98 35.7 555
Larry Johnson 17 51 33.3 406
Joe Salem 4 19 21.1 106

Yes, those '58 Gophers were 56 of 168 in passing. I sooo long for a qb who can complete a pass...any pass. Please stop making excuses for our club. We demand improvement.l

 

[GO4INLALALAND]

You, sir, are what we call an "enabler." We have not had one really good win where we shut down the other team, or we scored a lot of points. On plays where Cobb got stuffed, I thought "Who missed their block?" I would rewind and watch each lineman, and they ALL MADE their blocks. Then I went back to my math major days and figured, how can FIVE guys block NINE defenders? The problem starts with Limegrover, calling all these deep sideline passes every game. How many passes across the middle has this line coach ever called? How many reverses (yes, Matt, there is a reverse gear in most offenses)? Granted 3 of Leidner's misses could have been completions. But how many passes did he miss by 10 yards? The play calling is predictable at best. This team was NOT ready to play. I for one am tired of watching this crap year after year. Leidner is our worst qb since Jim Reese and friends in 1958.
Player Cmp Att Pct Yds Y/A AY/A TD Int Rate
Jim Reese 35 98 35.7 555 5.7 0.6 2 12 65.5
Larry Johnson 17 51 33.3 406 8.0 4.7 3 5 100.0
Joe Salem 4 19 21.1 106 5.6 1.9 1 2 64.2

Yes, those '58 Gophers were 56 of 168 in passing. I sooo long for a qb who can complete a pass...any pass. Please stop making excuses for our club. We demand improvement.l

You echo my thoughts exactly on Limegrover. Yesterday in the chat room, people were constantly complaining about the o line not blocking as the reason why Cobb was struggling. I pointed out numerous times that it is extremely difficult to execute a play when the defense knows the play before the ball is snapped. I am tired of Limegrover's offense and I think that as long as he is our o-coordinator we will struggle in the majority of our conference games. I really believe that if we had an o coordinator with any imagination yesterday, we would have blown Ill out of the water. My bigger concern is that Kill will never demote Limey because of their history and therein lies the problem. I like Kill, but I am concerned he will not make the tough decision regarding our offense due to his longstanding relationship with Limey. However, Kill is paid $2 million a year to win games, not keep his friends employed.

 

[Spoofin]

You echo my thoughts exactly on Limegrover. Yesterday in the chat room, people were constantly complaining about the o line not blocking as the reason why Cobb was struggling. I pointed out numerous times that it is extremely difficult to execute a play when the defense knows the play before the ball is snapped. I am tired of Limegrover's offense and I think that as long as he is our o-coordinator we will struggle in the majority of our conference games. I really believe that if we had an o coordinator with any imagination yesterday, we would have blown Ill out of the water. My bigger concern is that Kill will never demote Limey because of their history and therein lies the problem. I like Kill, but I am concerned he will not make the tough decision regarding our offense due to his longstanding relationship with Limey. However, Kill is paid $2 million a year to win games, not keep his friends employed.

Serious Question... Do you think Limey has always sucked, or just since he got to MN?

 

[GO4INLALALAND]

Serious Question... Do you think Limey has always sucked, or just since he got to MN?

I think he is in way over his head and cannot scheme well against a power conference team. I think he has MAC level talent, but not power conference level of talent. Also, I did not say he sucks, I just don't think he has the skill set necessary to be an o coordinator in the big 10.

Do you think Limegrover is a good or great o coordinator?

 

[Spoofin]

I think he is in way over his head and cannot scheme well against a power conference team. I think he has MAC level talent, but not power conference level of talent. Also, I did not say he sucks, I just don't think he has the skill set necessary to be an o coordinator in the big 10.

Do you think Limegrover is a good or great o coordinator?

I think he has limited personnel and that he is doing OK with what he has. I think he shares in the blame, no doubt, but think his history proves he can coach. In love with him? No. Wanting him canned? No way.

 

[GophersInIowa]

If you would have asked before the season 95% of us would have been happy to see the Gophers start the season 6-2.

While true, expectations can change throughout the season.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

For anyone taking shots at Limegrover or that are still clearly upset about a bad los

This is not the same Ole Gophers, and this team does not deserve to be branded with the sins of the past.
We as Gopher fans carry a lot of baggage no doubt because of past dissapointment, but I see something different in this version of the Gophers. It may not be visible or apparent but there is an effort level and something building in this group that has not been visible in the past.
I'm not trying to be an enabler, the Illinois loss is still a bad loss any way you cut it, but in the grand scheme of things it is still one loss in the loss column unelss you let it become otherwise. There are reasons why losses like these happen some of which is a team getting ahead of themselves and maybe overlooking an opponent that was likely the case Saturday.
Don't you stop for one minute or second and think that the offensive coordinator is calling plays that he think's his offensive line and quarterback can execute together and have success? With the Gophers limited playmaking options and limited quarterback play, injuries to the offensive line(affecting continuity) to be quite honest, I think the coaches have been squeezing blood from a turnip as far as play calling and offensive production goes. They have been taking calculated risks in order to try and maximize win potential, and score enough points to win. This team is not built to blow out or overpower anyone even teams with limited or supposed inferrior talent. The upcomming opponents the Gophers will play will all likely have superiror talent, yes that includes Iowa, but we knew that going in to this season. That is why I say and I have stated they the Gophers are overacheiving a bit. The sun in the eyes bit was about the dropped passes in the first half not just the Fruechte play. illinois was desperate for a win and even pulled out triple option plays that worked well with the help of the officials.

With all of the jury's this team has sustained how many other teams are playing defensive lineman that are in the two deeps and linebackers that are true freshman? True freshman that are playing quite well at times I might add, but make mistakes that young guys make.

Clearly the Cobb fumble had an impact on the outcome of the game,(he was trying to do more than he should but he is a competitive guy) but what about the sack that caused third and fifteen where the QB held the football for five seconds, the wide receivers have all run their defenders deep and the quarterback has two rush lanes open up and could have picked up a lot of yardage but still held the football? The obvious result of the previous action had a direct impact on the play call and situation that occurred. Some of this may be coaching to protect #7 Mitch because they do not want him to get hurt and have to even further limit the play calls. In that situation the QB has to see what is in front of him, and use his instincts to make a play.

I have pointed out weanesses in the defensive line stunts, the confusion of the motion plays, and quarterbacks inconsistent footwork and unwillingness to follow through on his throws that has led to some of the passing inaccuracy. What do these issues all have in common, young players, Sophmore and Freshman level playing high level positions that require experience and a high level of skill and execution.

Heck I saw quarterbacks in the NFL yesterday making some of the same errors, leaving there feet to make throws, and not following through on the throw to the correct foot and these are athletes and guys playing football at the highest level.
Criticize the guy's all you want and be ticked off all you want, but trust me nobody is more disappointed in Saturdays loss than the guys that lived the experience. For me, I have seen far to much hard work and effort, and good execution at times in games from this team to call them the "Same Old Gophers" like the media has. They do not deserve to wear the past sins of all old Gophers teams and coaches, this team and staff is different. Whether you choose to believe is your option.
I choose to believe because I have seen it with my own eyes that this team is improving, even in a loss, that all of there goals are still acheivable and that this can and will still be a highly successful season. These guy's collectively have worked far to hard to just let everyone dismiss them. They can compete and win all remaining games on the schedule. I'm usually a pessimist and compaling about as much as anyone, but I see light at the end of the tunnel. There is a lot of success on the horizon. Go Gophers.

 

[WolfontheProwl]

I would disagree. This team has played status quo football to this point. We have not beaten a very good team yet. The Gophers have held serve and for most fans maybe they didn't expect to beat Michigan before the year started but they would expect to beat Illinois. Frankly the Gophers could end the season losing six in a row. We are seeing the tough part of the schedule now.

 

[Enzoman]

The short-comings in the offense have been noted. Quite widely, I should think. But what about the other side? Is the nickel formation the only one allowed against a passing QB? It seems the Gopher defense basically used it the entire game, just as they did at TCU - and with similar results. O'Toole can't take pressure. Opening the game by blitzing the first few plays would have rocked him for the day. I'd like to see something - anything - other than the nickel for a while. By now the rest of the teams are probably well able to be able to beat it. Worse, it seems to fail half the time and when it fails, it's always very bad - at minimum a first down. I just find it hard to believe there's no other option available.