***-POST GAME THOUGHTS-***

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thailleagle

thailleagle

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We didn't match up well against Iowa on paper so I don't know why anyone would be surprised we lost. Our Offense has looked unimpressive all season against smaller teams so I really wasn't shocked that we couldn't "bully" a team of equal or bigger size. The Passing Game isn't as bad as I thought it would be... more accuracy on a few of those throws & our stats would've been a lot better but having ZERO ground game today really hurt.

A lot of experts said we wouldn't make a Bowl Game this year but would be an improved football team & I think that's all we can really hope for the rest of the Season after today's display...

I still think we'll sneak in a win against someone we're not supposed to beat...
 

Can't argue with anything you say. But I think it is a stretch to look forward to a bowl game. I know its only winning 2 more games, but I don't see it in the cards. But that's why we play the games. If we do go bowling, it will be beacuse someone plays an Iowa like game from 3 years ago where they go up and down the field but piss it all away. Those are always fun to watch...
 

Sparlimb said:
Can't argue with anything you say. But I think it is a stretch to look forward to a bowl game. I know its only winning 2 more games, but I don't see it in the cards. But that's why we play the games. If we do go bowling, it will be beacuse someone plays an Iowa like game from 3 years ago where they go up and down the field but piss it all away. Those are always fun to watch...
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Today was a harsh reality check for some but a lot of us saw this coming after the UNLV game. We don't have an effective Offense & that's going to hurt us this season...
 

I really thought our OL would make a step forward this year. Today was extremely disappointing in that department (along with pretty much every other one).

Not ground breaking stuff, but our receivers are just not very good. The prime example was early in the 2nd half and Nelson threw a fade to Engel. He totally allowed the CB to just guide him out of bounds and gave himself no chance to catch the ball.
 

thailleagle said:
Today was a harsh reality check for some but a lot of us saw this coming after the UNLV game. We don't have an effective Offense & that's going to hurt us this season...
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Can't argue with any of that. I was wrong.
 



Biggest disappointment is they way the Gophers were simply manhandled at the line of scrimmage both sides of the ball. Until that is fixed which is questionable the team will not become a competitive B1G conference team.
 

I just don't understand how you can come out so lackadaisical in a huge game like this. Some could argue this was the biggest game for this program in a long time.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I just don't understand how you can come out so lackadaisical in a huge game like this. Some could argue this was the biggest game for this program in a long time.
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I think everyone was trying hard, but as has been said numerous times today, we were just manhandled on both lines. Now, I think a gameplan which included more throwing in the first half would've been more effective, but I can see why Kill & Co were praying they could sneak out enough yards on the ground to kill the clock and keep the ball away from Iowa -- a la the SJSU game. Obviously didn't work, and obviously was our downfall. I think the OP said it all in this thread...this team is probably better than last year in a few areas, but it's gonna be a long year overall with this offense.
 



GophersInIowa said:
I just don't understand how you can come out so lackadaisical in a huge game like this. Some could argue this was the biggest game for this program in a long time.
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We came out with more energy & effort in the SJSU game then we did today. It was slightly frustrating to see how conservative we seemed to be considering this was a game that could've turned the tide for the program for a while. Watching the game it felt like they weren't playing with any sense of importance if that makes sense...
 

MGGopher said:
I think everyone was trying hard, but as has been said numerous times today, we were just manhandled on both lines. Now, I think a gameplan which included more throwing in the first half would've been more effective, but I can see why Kill & Co were praying they could sneak out enough yards on the ground to kill the clock and keep the ball away from Iowa -- a la the SJSU game. Obviously didn't work, and obviously was our downfall. I think the OP said it all in this thread...this team is probably better than last year in a few areas, but it's gonna be a long year overall with this offense.
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Agree. From the 10,000 foot level. The team is better. They play with an identity, make fewer bonehead mistakes, look like they no what they are doing, or at least what they are trying to do (generally). That said, at the 100 foot level they simply don't have the individual playmakers (Shede being the exception). Once they get down by more than two scores to quality opponents, there is little chance they can come back. So it's gonna be a long year in the Big Ten.

I think Kill is a good coach, but at some point he's gonna need talent. Losing 6-8 big ten games but committing the fewest penalties in the league ain't gonna be good enough. He's gonna need to recruit. So far that hasn't been a strength, and it's what I'm very concerned about.
 

thailleagle said:
We came out with more energy & effort in the SJSU game then we did today. It was slightly frustrating to see how conservative we seemed to be considering this was a game that could've turned the tide for the program for a while. Watching the game it felt like they weren't playing with any sense of importance if that makes sense...
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I get what you're saying and I agree.
 

MGGopher said:
I think everyone was trying hard, but as has been said numerous times today, we were just manhandled on both lines. Now, I think a gameplan which included more throwing in the first half would've been more effective, but I can see why Kill & Co were praying they could sneak out enough yards on the ground to kill the clock and keep the ball away from Iowa -- a la the SJSU game. Obviously didn't work, and obviously was our downfall. I think the OP said it all in this thread...this team is probably better than last year in a few areas, but it's gonna be a long year overall with this offense.
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you can definitely tell the team has improved in a lot of areas since last season (fundamentals, penalties, special teams, etc) but it seems we've struggled having consistency on Offense under the Kill regime. He recruited some very good QB's at NIU it's crazy we haven't been able to get one...
 



tato2001 said:
Agree. From the 10,000 foot level. The team is better. They play with an identity, make fewer bonehead mistakes, look like they no what they are doing, or at least what they are trying to do (generally). That said, at the 100 foot level they simply don't have the individual playmakers (Shede being the exception). Once they get down by more than two scores to quality opponents, there is little chance they can come back. So it's gonna be a long year in the Big Ten.

I think Kill is a good coach, but at some point he's gonna need talent. Losing 6-8 big ten games but committing the fewest penalties in the league ain't gonna be good enough. He's gonna need to recruit. So far that hasn't been a strength, and it's what I'm very concerned about.
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Iowa is not more talented than us and by the way Hageman got worked all game today. We just didn't show up in what arguably was the biggest game we've had for our program since the Michigan disaster oh so many years ago.
 


If we'd have gotten beat (beaten?) last week by two or three touchdowns, I could have consoled myself by saying, "Hey, running is more important than passing in the Big Ten, so we'll be OK."

This week we got beat at home by the fifth- or sixth-best team in the Big Ten, and we got dominated on both sides of the line. And our starting QB apparently doesn't know that you can throw the ball away to avoid a sack.
 

We need receivers, but I saw them get better separation today than they did in most of the non-conference games. Nelson was just absolutely brutal. Even the TD pass was a poorly thrown ball and the Iowa DB was almost able to make a play on it despite the fact that Engel broke wide open.
 

thailleagle said:
After what we seen on the field today I find that hard to believe. They've clearly got better WR's, O-Line, D-Line & QB then us...
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I don't think we put our kids in a position to compete today. I think the Iowa coaches kicked out coaches tails all day. I actually thought out WRs had some separation and our OL and play calling made their DL look a lot better than it actually is. Our gameplan is so easy to prepare for.
 

John Galt said:
We need receivers, but I saw them get better separation today than they did in most of the non-conference games. Nelson was just absolutely brutal. Even the TD pass was a poorly thrown ball and the Iowa DB was almost able to make a play on it despite the fact that Engel broke wide open.
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Yup. Sometimes I wonder if I'm watching a different game or the sense of denial about Nelson is really that great.

He made some HORRIBLE throws today. Most of the incompletions were totally his fault (obvious drop by Freuchte aside) and those interceptions were god awful. He's just not good at throwing the football at all. Not on the run. Not in the pocket. Not deep. Not short. Not at all.
 

He also can't throw it out of bounds
 

Indi1006 said:
I don't think we put our kids in a position to compete today. I think the Iowa coaches kicked out coaches tails all day. I actually thought out WRs had some separation and our OL and play calling made their DL look a lot better than it actually is. Our gameplan is so easy to prepare for.
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I can see that as far as the lines... but Iowa's QB was better then Nelson in every way & some of the passes he threw were just beautifully placed. Iowa also has a very good WR that made some really timely catches for them today...

We don't have a more talented WR or QB then them...
 

One of the key plays in the game today that absolutely killed us was the Goodger false start at the end of the first half. We we were down 10-0, but had finally put together a drive down to the Iowa 30 yard line and had a 3rd and 1. It really seemed like if we could have gotten some points on that drive and been down 10-7 or 10-3 at the half, we would have had some momentum to possibly do something in the 2nd half.
 

John Galt said:
We need receivers, but I saw them get better separation today than they did in most of the non-conference games. Nelson was just absolutely brutal. Even the TD pass was a poorly thrown ball and the Iowa DB was almost able to make a play on it despite the fact that Engel broke wide open.
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+1. This follows my thought process exactly. I don't entirely blame the o-line, and I'm surprised at people who thought we could continue what we were doing and put up 300 yards on the ground in conference play. The running game was impressive against bad teams, but everyone knew that just this was probably not going to be enough in the Big 10 - we needed a passing game to go along with it. I thought our WRs would be really over matched, but I was actually impressed today at how much they were getting open. Unfortunately Nelson was mostly brutal, so the passing game suffered because of that. Until we can figure out how to make our passing game click in the Big 10 our running game will continue to go nowhere.
 

thailleagle said:
you can definitely tell the team has improved in a lot of areas since last season (fundamentals, penalties, special teams, etc) but it seems we've struggled having consistency on Offense under the Kill regime. He recruited some very good QB's at NIU it's crazy we haven't been able to get one...
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Forewarning, I'm a little tipsy.

I think our QBs are good (at least capable of game managing), just young and without much experience. If we were playing NIU's schedule I think we would be a solid program and win 8-10 games a year. Problem is, we have to play in the Big 10, and I just don't think our offensive game plan translates all that well into league play. We can't be vanilla 80% of the game and expect much success when both sides of our line are getting manhandled.

I think it boils down to our coaching staff trusting our players. Sure, they may be young and inexperienced where it counts (especially on offense), but at some point you have to let them go out and play and take chances. Run, run, pass drives only dig us into holes, and the lack of adjustments on the sidelines is discouraging. It's nice seeing second half adjustments, but I'm tired of moral victories of winning the second half. I want to win a first half against a team with a pulse.
 

Where was Maxx Williams today? He should be targeted 6-8 times every game, and I didn't see a ball thrown his way.
 

thailleagle said:
I can see that as far as the lines... but Iowa's QB was better then Nelson in every way & some of the passes he threw were just beautifully placed. Iowa also has a very good WR that made some really timely catches for them today...

We don't have a more talented WR or QB then them...
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Agree with this. Need more talent at the skill positions. I think either Leidner or Nelson will turn into a solid Big 10 QB, but it takes time. The WRs looked a little better today at getting separation, but our best athletes at that position are still young. With the way both our QBs throw the ball, we need somebody at that position able to bail them out consistently, and we just don't have that person yet. I almost want to see one of them go up and manhandle a D back to know they are making a play on the ball, but it seems as if they are passive when running routes. Add that in with a pitiful OL effort and you get what you saw today.
 

Nelson took a couple of unnecessary sacks today when he easily could have thrown it away. I could never understand why on third and long when the QB has no open receivers he doesn't go deep and hope his receiver makes a play. If the ball gets picked off, probably no big deal since you'll be punting on 4th down anyway. What I can't stand is when the QB runs all over the place only to get sacked.
 

Does any of this make us miss Adam Weber?! :)
 

Are we sure we don't have a good QB?

thailleagle said:
you can definitely tell the team has improved in a lot of areas since last season (fundamentals, penalties, special teams, etc) but it seems we've struggled having consistency on Offense under the Kill regime. He recruited some very good QB's at NIU it's crazy we haven't been able to get one...
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Thailleagle,

1. What's wrong with Mitch Leidner? What have you seen on game day that convinces you Mitch is not a good QB or will not be a very good QB given time and experience?

2. Thoughts?
 

Nort73 said:
Forewarning, I'm a little tipsy.

I think our QBs are good (at least capable of game managing), just young and without much experience. If we were playing NIU's schedule I think we would be a solid program and win 8-10 games a year. Problem is, we have to play in the Big 10, and I just don't think our offensive game plan translates all that well into league play. We can't be vanilla 80% of the game and expect much success when both sides of our line are getting manhandled.

I think it boils down to our coaching staff trusting our players. Sure, they may be young and inexperienced where it counts (especially on offense), but at some point you have to let them go out and play and take chances. Run, run, pass drives only dig us into holes, and the lack of adjustments on the sidelines is discouraging. It's nice seeing second half adjustments, but I'm tired of moral victories of winning the second half. I want to win a first half against a team with a pulse.
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I agree...
 

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