***POST-GAME THOUGHTS THREAD***

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A couple thoughts

We deserved to win, was at the game and we looked every bit the better team

We need to pass more, all qbs overthrow receivers from time to time. But when when you're not that good it makes no sense to play it safe all the time.

Great day for a game / tailgate. I've been to the last half dozen or so of these aways and this was probably the best (most fans) gopher support I've seen. Let's build on that.
 

GophersInIowa said:
The counter argument to that is that there were a lot of missed opportunities on offense. The reverse flea flicker was set up perfectly, just not executed. Other times receivers were open but the connection was not made.

I'm not making excuses for the play calling at times as I get frustrated as well. Just pointing that out.
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I agree that there were many missed opportunities, but disagree that you made a counter argument. Rather, that there were opportunities at all was due to the fact that the playbook in one drive in the first half and more drives than not in the second half was not pure vanilla. It gave the offense a real probability to move the ball - and, agreeing with you, a chance to actually mis-execute an actual "opportunity".
 

I watched the post game speech posted online. I'm no doctor, but Kill looks/sounds pretty run down. That guy is a fighter and you can tell the players really care about him. I hope the experts can get things figured out for him. There's no question he is the team leader, but it's easy to forget the rest of the coaching staff. Hats off to those guys today. Some questionable play calling, but they got a W.

http://www.gophergridiron.com/news_article/show/300741?referrer_id=327390
 

Northwestern was missing two of their best offensive players. They made up for it by getting their best referees into the game.
 

I am watching it again. Tackling was terrible in the first quarter. That will have to be better next week. Both QBs need to understand that it's OK to throw the ball away. That said, they made enough plays to cover up their mistakes.
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
The playbook was as open today as it has always been. It just worked better, we played better. We threw the ball 14 times and ran it 49 times. Our success today had nothing to do with "opening up the playbook" it was because of our improved execution.
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Bob - I am always amazed why so many people don't make this connection. Execution seems to do miracles for people's perception of the "play book". I wonder if has anything to do with whether you win or not also? In all seriousness thanks for pointing out this.
 

Interesting game. I think that even though Limegrover opened it up at times, we won in spite of him. I actually thought that our fellas came out ready to play in the Michigan game and Limegrover killed us throughout with his gameplan and I thought he darn near did it to us again today, but players persevered through some tough times and terrible calls and pulled out a great win. We'll win a game or two less this year because of our O coordinator that we would have otherwise. Having him around clouds my thinking as it relates to Kill because while I want Jerry to get better and to be on our sideline for 12 or 13 games a year, I don't see how anyone could think that Limegrover is the answer at O coordinator. I also think that overall our O line has underperformed even today for long stretches and those are his guys, too.

Claeys is great. He sucked at Michigan and admitted as much three or four times the past two weeks and comes out with a D ready to play and calls a great game. We were a bit rusty on our tackling, but overall a very nice effort although our pass rush against a porous O Line was still just OK. Wells is a shell of his former self and with Boddy-Calhoun out for the year I think that we have challenges in the D backfield that are being met very well by Johnson and Travis and the rest of the guys out there. Wilson makes some nice plays and overall I think we're getting as much out of our talent on D as we can.

Nelson and Leidner are both not very accurate. We'll have to suffer through that most likely the rest of the year and hope it improves. Even when they complete passes it's generally not on the numbers. I think Nelson is clearly our number one but Leidner should play a fair amount, too. We're not going to the Rose Bowl this year get them both experience.

While Cobb played solid today, we don't have a homerun hitter at either RB or WR. Maybe next year.

If Jones ever goes back to return a punt again we should all riot in the streets.

It was a good win against a beatable team. We still haven't put together a solid effort for 60 minutes and that is on the coaches. I think we can win in the B1G with Claeys' D, still not convinced Limegrover isn't a moron and/or overmatched. I have a hard time thinking about watching him call our O for the rest of this year much less for the entirely of Kill's tenure whatever that ends up being. It's been really bad and the two minute drills are worse than most 8th grade teams can muster.
 

ncgo4 said:
Northwestern was missing two of their best offensive players. They made up for it by getting their best referees into the game.
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Watching the game again, that "pick" that was called should get Craig Jeffries a reprimand from the league office. The line of scrimmage was the 31. Wolitarsky and NW's CB make contact inside of 5 yards. NW's corner runs into Fruechte's man. The linesman, who is standing right in front of this, does nothing. After the ball is in the air, Jeffries tosses the while running backwards at the 10...20 yards from where the play happened. He's so sure he nailed the call that he didn't even bother to signal the TD. What if they had conferred and the linesman (who again was less than five yards from the play and looking right at it) had overruled that terrible call? You call each play to its completion and sort things out afterward. Suspendable offense.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Watching the game again, that "pick" that was called should get Craig Jeffries a reprimand from the league office. The line of scrimmage was the 31. Wolitarsky and NW's CB make contact inside of 5 yards. NW's corner runs into Fruechte's man. The linesman, who is standing right in front of this, does nothing. After the ball is in the air, Jeffries tosses the while running backwards at the 10...20 yards from where the play happened. He's so sure he nailed the call that he didn't even bother to signal the TD. What if they had conferred and the linesman (who again was less than five yards from the play and looking right at it) had overruled that terrible call? You call each play to its completion and sort things out afterward. Suspendable offense.
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I agree, while I understand hyperbole that was one of the worst calls in college football history. I was proud that our fellas were able to keep it together and pull out the win.
 



MinnesotaNice said:
I watched the post game speech posted online. I'm no doctor, but Kill looks/sounds pretty run down. That guy is a fighter and you can tell the players really care about him. I hope the experts can get things figured out for him. There's no question he is the team leader, but it's easy to forget the rest of the coaching staff. Hats off to those guys today. Some questionable play calling, but they got a W. http://www.gophergridiron.com/news_article/show/300741?referrer_id=327390
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Well they did get up early and head to Evanston this morning. That could be part of it.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Watching the game again, that "pick" that was called should get Craig Jeffries a reprimand from the league office. The line of scrimmage was the 31. Wolitarsky and NW's CB make contact inside of 5 yards. NW's corner runs into Fruechte's man. The linesman, who is standing right in front of this, does nothing. After the ball is in the air, Jeffries tosses the while running backwards at the 10...20 yards from where the play happened. He's so sure he nailed the call that he didn't even bother to signal the TD. What if they had conferred and the linesman (who again was less than five yards from the play and looking right at it) had overruled that terrible call? You call each play to its completion and sort things out afterward. Suspendable offense.
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That was such an awful call! I agree with you 110%!
 

Something I missed, after Nelson's run where he knocked out Van Hoose (where he didn't even get the first down), he's all fired up coming back to the huddle. Campion stops him, holds up a finger and presumably tells him to knock it off. The benefits of having a 25 year old on the field.
 




Breakin' The Plane said:
Watching the game again, that "pick" that was called should get Craig Jeffries a reprimand from the league office. The line of scrimmage was the 31. Wolitarsky and NW's CB make contact inside of 5 yards. NW's corner runs into Fruechte's man. The linesman, who is standing right in front of this, does nothing. After the ball is in the air, Jeffries tosses the while running backwards at the 10...20 yards from where the play happened. He's so sure he nailed the call that he didn't even bother to signal the TD. What if they had conferred and the linesman (who again was less than five yards from the play and looking right at it) had overruled that terrible call? You call each play to its completion and sort things out afterward. Suspendable offense.
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Agree. When I see all the blocking on bubble screens where a receiver is blocking while the ball is still in the air, it's beyond ridiculous that this was called.

For all the folks more familiar with the rules than I, is it only in the pros where a team can't call multiple time-outs prior to a play being run? I get the "chilling" the kicker angle, but I thought that was delay-of-game.
 

50PoundHead said:
Agree. When I see all the blocking on bubble screens where a receiver is blocking while the ball is still in the air, it's beyond ridiculous that this was called. For all the folks more familiar with the rules than I, is it only in the pros where a team can't call multiple time-outs prior to a play being run? I get the "chilling" the kicker angle, but I thought that was delay-of-game.
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Yes, someone please help with the back-to-back timeouts thing. I was wondering the same thing 50poundHead. Maybe that rule is only in the NFL?!
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Watching the game again, that "pick" that was called should get Craig Jeffries a reprimand from the league office. The line of scrimmage was the 31. Wolitarsky and NW's CB make contact inside of 5 yards. NW's corner runs into Fruechte's man. The linesman, who is standing right in front of this, does nothing. After the ball is in the air, Jeffries tosses the while running backwards at the 10...20 yards from where the play happened. He's so sure he nailed the call that he didn't even bother to signal the TD. What if they had conferred and the linesman (who again was less than five yards from the play and looking right at it) had overruled that terrible call? You call each play to its completion and sort things out afterward. Suspendable offense.
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My thoughts, precisely. Suspension fully deserved - you simply cannot make a mistake that bad as a ref, not at any level, certainly not D-1.
 

I wasn't able to watch the game today. Can someone summarize the terrible officiating? Many comments about how the score should have been more in favor of MN. One of the calls is summarized above.
 

50PoundHead said:
Agree. When I see all the blocking on bubble screens where a receiver is blocking while the ball is still in the air, it's beyond ridiculous that this was called.

For all the folks more familiar with the rules than I, is it only in the pros where a team can't call multiple time-outs prior to a play being run? I get the "chilling" the kicker angle, but I thought that was delay-of-game.
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Late in the Michigan/IU game, Michigan ran a crossing pattern blatantly designed as a receiver screen. Receiver (was it the TE Funchess?) not only ran toward the IU d-back about 5-7 yards downfield, but took a step backward to bump the d-back, getting directly in his path and the d-back ran right into him. The other Mich receiver, crossing toward the outside, caught the ball wide-open and ran for about a 30-yard gain. NO CALL.

Compare that to Wolitarski - a crossing pattern, indeed, but he was actually even trying to fight through the NW defender, who was bumping him. They had a completely legal bumping within about 2 yards of the LOS; and then Fruechte's defender ran into the backside of Wolitarski's defender. Wol didn't even touch the defender, or come close to it; nor did it even appear that he was actually trying to do anything more than get past his aggressive defender. Disgusting call, particularly considering how poorly D-1 refs calls bubble screens, WR push-offs, or intentional crossing pattern screens.
 

I saw the gophers effort today and was dang proud.

I know Northwestern was missing some of there top guns but so what, we have seen the Gophers have some really impactfull injury's on defense and offense this year.
Really extra happy for the Seniors, James Manuel, Ra'Schede Hagamen, Aaron Hill, Ed Olson Jr, Brock Vareen, Mike Henry, Derrick Engel, those guys played
there butts off today to get the Gophers there first Big 10 road win of the year along with the rest of the guys. Who knew #27 Cobb has that amount of wiggle to him and that Kirkwood can really lay a lick when he wants too.
He Cobb plays like that and we will have our first Big 10 back since the Maroney, Barber days. The line blocked some individual plays outstanding today. Those guy's look around the room and there just are not that many of them left the seniors but they showed up today.

So happy, to see that there were a lot young guys making plays today too.
You could see the Gophers improved as the game wore on and even though they had to play the opponent and the the rotten Big 10 officials today they persevered through effort and hard work. You could tell the switch at QB also improved the rythm and intensity at which the offense played. Number #7 he not need get down on himself he is a young guy
still learning to play the game. You can tell the Gophers have made an effort to improve at some of techniques and what we have seen in the mistakes in other games.
Extra happy that the defensive line really showed up today(real techique improvement and an effort to change and show them something new) especially #55 he got better today.
The linebackers helped bring the pressure and they were showing them some looks they did not expect. You could see visible improvement on individual matchup's and those kids played with a lot of enthusiasm. There was some bad plays and some poor execution here and there but you could see some of those light bulb moments hit.
Brock Vareen gets a game ball for filling in at CB and really competing hard and how can you ignore the batted balls and interception by #99.
When he plays like he did today, big Schede the Gophers defense can really start to handle what the other teams are doing. Clean up the penalties and sustain more drives
and like the coach said in the post game speech there is no reason they cannot have a shot at winning the remainder of the games they play.
Yes the challenge is high and the competition get's better but so are the Gophers. That was a joyful win and a much needed change.
It may not be a signature win but it was a dang good one, you can see the wheels are turning and the leaves are starting to turn the other way.
The Gophers are starting to grab a little MO.
 

BarnBoy said:
I wasn't able to watch the game today. Can someone summarize the terrible officiating? Many comments about how the score should have been more in favor of MN. One of the calls is summarized above.
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The one I highlighted was the biggie. NW got bailed out by a very questionable PI call when they went for it late deep in their own territory. Everything else I thought was about average. Gophers shot themselves in the foot with a couple of dumb penalties early.
 

BarnBoy said:
I wasn't able to watch the game today. Can someone summarize the terrible officiating? Many comments about how the score should have been more in favor of MN. One of the calls is summarized above.
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1. Middle 3rd Q - Wolitarski called for phantom Off. PI call on Fruechte TD. Covered in this thread.
2. Fruechte called for "block in the back" while lightly pushing NW defender on the side of his shoulder as Minn ball carrier was falling to the ground. Weak call even if the play was still ongoing.
3. NW ball, 4th-and-19(?), ~5 minutes to play, from about their own 25. NW receiver makes a late cut, Murray gets a hand on his arm with the slightest tug. Weakly bumps receiver as they both make a play on an incomplete pass. PI call to give NW life in a game that would otherwise be over.
4. A few plays later, same scoring drive, NW throws a deep fade, short, WR pushes off w/ both hands outward to push back the Minn defender, right in front of the ref. The ball falls through the created gap into the gut of the WR. No call, and NW scored a few short plays later.

There was an unsportsmanlike conduct call against the Gophers' D in the second half, I believe against Manuel. Hard to tell what happened; dunno if it was deserved or not; but there was no obvious over-physicality or anything that would make anything obvious.

Even the NW fans were making fun of how much the refs favored them on their message boards.
 

Yeah there were really only two bad calls, it's just that both of those calls could have been extremely important.
 

Not germane to any play today, but just wondering about questionable calls and review,since that is getting kicked around so much today.

Say there is a fumble, no question about that, but when the ball hits the ground, why don't they use replay to see if there is control? If player "A" possesses the ball, and is clearly down and covering up the ball and contacted by an opposing player, but there is a scrum that ensues, why try to pry the bodies off the pile to see who has control of the ball after all that scrumming and then determine possession? I've seen replays many times where I can clearly see one player possess the ball after a fumble, and then the sh!tstorm of people piling on starts, but the replay clearly shows that he had possession of the ball.
 

My post game thought is that Phil better be named the starting qb. He is our best chance at winning.
 


e.bigelow said:
+1. Spot on, sir!
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KellyLeeks was right, IMO - it seems more that Limegrover opened up the playbook today when Nelson was in there. I agree with KL that the offensive ineptitude is more Limegrover than either of the QBs, who aren't amazing passers, but each hold their own given actual passing opportunities, which Limegrover is very reluctant to present. Either of these QBs have appeared capable passers. Just need the coaching staff to remove the chastity belts and let them play.
 


heston11 said:
My post game thought is that Phil better be named the starting qb. He is our best chance at winning.
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I don't think the starter is going to matter. I'd guess both play going forward and the hot hand is going to get the majority of series.
 

cncmin said:
1. Middle 3rd Q - Wolitarski called for phantom Off. PI call on Fruechte TD. Covered in this thread.
2. Fruechte called for "block in the back" while lightly pushing NW defender on the side of his shoulder as Minn ball carrier was falling to the ground. Weak call even if the play was still ongoing.
3. NW ball, 4th-and-19(?), ~5 minutes to play, from about their own 25. NW receiver makes a late cut, Murray gets a hand on his arm with the slightest tug. Weakly bumps receiver as they both make a play on an incomplete pass. PI call to give NW life in a game that would otherwise be over.
4. A few plays later, same scoring drive, NW throws a deep fade, short, WR pushes off w/ both hands outward to push back the Minn defender, right in front of the ref. The ball falls through the created gap into the gut of the WR. No call, and NW scored a few short plays later.

There was an unsportsmanlike conduct call against the Gophers' D in the second half, I believe against Manuel. Hard to tell what happened; dunno if it was deserved or not; but there was no obvious over-physicality or anything that would make anything obvious.

Even the NW fans were making fun of how much the refs favored them on their message boards.
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I forgot about that one. Fruecthe's "push" wasn't why they guy fell down. He either just tripped or faked it. It reminded me of the phantom PI in OT during the Vikings 2009 NFC championship. Just because it appears contact was made, doesn't mean it was. Only call what you see, not what you think happened.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
I don't think the starter is going to matter. I'd guess both play going forward and the hot hand is going to get the majority of series.
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When the only measure of a player is if he is a starter or not, that does simply display nothing.
 

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