PiPress: Gophers suffer two losses in two weeks, for two different reasons

[BleedGopher]

per Greder:

The Gophers’ defense took the brunt of the blame for the 29-26 overtime loss to Penn State on Oct. 1. Then Minnesota’s offense took responsibility for the 14-7 loss to Iowa on Saturday.

While the Gophers (3-2) can look to a single possession in each game as the slim margin to almost being undefeated, reality puts Minnesota at 0-2 in Big Ten play heading into Saturday’s game against Maryland (4-1, 1-1) in College Park.

The change in culprit confounds because the Gophers looked like they would be able to run the ball on the Hawkeyes (4-2, 2-1). Minnesota had averaged 228 rushing yards per game, and the Hawkeyes had given up nearly 200 yards against Northwestern and Rutgers in their first two Big Ten games. Iowa also gave up 239 yards on the ground in the 23-21 loss to North Dakota State.

Did Iowa rise up from its previous performances to play better in the rivalry game?

After a long pause, Gophers coach Tracy Claeys said, “That’s the unknown.”

http://www.twincities.com/2016/10/10/umn-gophers-losses-offense-iowa-hawkeyes/

Go Gophers!!

 

[beavergopher]

The thing in common are tons of stupid drive killing penalties.

 

[jonnyganas]

The "unknown" is why they didn't feed Shannon Brooks the ball? The kid was averaging 5.5 ypc but only got 10 carries.

 

[John Galt]

This team plays with very little heart and passion. They seem like they are absolutely sleep-walking and going through the motions.

Hope they prove me wrong and come out fired up to play against Maryland. Claeys is coaching for his job for the next month.

 

[upnorthkid]

This doesn't take much extra analysis. ML7 crapped the bed as a sr qb in a rivalry game with a gameplan put in place where we were expecting him to perform. an 8.2 QBR is not going win you any games. And he was lucky his QBR was that high as Iowa dropped another couple of Ints

 

[tikited]

This team plays with very little heart and passion. They seem like they are absolutely sleep-walking and going through the motions.

Hope they prove me wrong and come out fired up to play against Maryland. Claeys is coaching for his job for the next month.

They also don't play very smart. It was only two or three seasons ago that I felt the opposite.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

The "unknown" is why they didn't feed Shannon Brooks the ball? The kid was averaging 5.5 ypc but only got 10 carries.

I was curious about the play calling all season, but I chalked it up to a new OC trying new things / being semi unpredictable. Now I'm just lost.

 

[Governor Sibley]

Penalties and playing dumb are the *worst* signs for a new coach who inherited a functioning team.

 

[WorkingMyTailOff]

Penalties and playing dumb are the *worst* signs for a new coach who inherited a functioning team.

Very true. I actually thought the team did play well for a good part of the Penn St game. They just looked really tight against Iowa.

 

[Jack jones]

Until we get/play receivers who can get separation, our offense is ineffective. When an average defensive team like Iowa can play 8/9 in the box, and we can't pass, tough to score points. Seems as if I remember that the Gophers worked on hurry up / no huddle just different temple to give the defensive teams more to prepare for. Still waiting to see this happen.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

All of these penalties are a captain's problem as much as coaching. You need leadership from your captains on both offense and defense for all of the penalties that are occurring in games. Leidner and Wolitarsky should both owe extra push-ups this week as should Tyler Moore. No excuses for the center to false start or snap the ball high, he is the guy that controls the ball. Moore is a damn good football player, he should expect more of himself.
On defense getting offsides so easy by the ends and some of the self inflicted penalties again, the captains should be nipping this crap in the bud. Coaches can only do so much, if you F-up you should give yourself up downs and push ups as a reminder to quit doing the stupid stuff. No excuses for Shannon Brooks to only get 10 touches on Saturday either, that guy leads by example and he is a tough hombre to tackle, he needs the dang football in his hands more that much is obvious. Jay Johnson I get why he and Leidner had a tough week because of what happened to them personally but I would still run a few laps together just for some camaraderie if anything else showing they are sticking together.

These guys just need a little chance to breath and stop worrying about what you cannot control. I see a lot of talent in the Gophers, what is done is done, the last two losses were more about self inflicted wounds and mistakes by the Gophers than they were about Iowa and Penn State outclassing them talent wise or effort wise on the football field.
Flush the last two weeks, you cannot take back the L's all you can do is correct the mistakes and try and beat Maryland this week. Carrying forward the previous weeks crap, and mistakes doesn't do anyone any good. People need to layoff the coach and the buyout thing, Claeys is a first year coach, and he is still learning how to be a head coach. Again give the guy a little chance to breath and grow as a coach. Gophers need to stop beating themselves, they still have a lot of football left to be played. Just give the guys a chance to turn things, I still think they can and will play better. A lot of us including me have been to negative after these two losses, yeah the losses sucked but harping on that doesn't make things better. The disappointment is knowing the Gophers could have beaten both Penn State and Iowa, but you cannot change that fact bitching about it on a message board. I appologize for ripping Mitch in the Scroggins column, I'm sure he wanted to beat Iowa as much as anyone on Saturday, just one of those days where he just didn't have "it" on that game day.