***-POST GAME THOUGHTS-***

[thailleagle]

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?

I'm not saying Mitch isn't good... we haven't seen enough of him to make that judgement but if Nelson is starting because he's better then Mitch then that's not saying much for him if that makes sense...

 

[Sparlimb]

What a sad day to have a bunch of recruits at. I'm sure the team on the field screamed "come here". These sort of games can hurt it more way than one.

 

[Fan of Crazy George]

If I didn’t know anything about either of the two quarterbacks today I would have thought that it was Nelson who was starting his first Big Ten game. The Iowa QB showed poise, made good reads, threw the ball with velocity and was able to hit his receivers in stride. I really think too many of the posters give our WR a bad rap that they don’t deserve. Engle made 2 great catches today. Nelson missed him terribly 3 other times. The one in the 4th quarter that was thrown so poorly had the potential to go all the way. Nelson almost never hits his receivers in stride. Instead they have to slow up, wait, and come back to the ball because it’s either thrown late or under thrown thus allowing the DB time to recover. Nelson is not making good decision and isn’t making good reads timely. I understand he is a young QB, but when compared to his opponents QB today, the future is not looking too bright. I’ll be curious to hear who Kill throws under the bus this week because we know it won’t be the QB.

 

[thailleagle]

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

I don't think his number was called once...

 

[stocker08]

Good

- Looked like we had some separation between the WR's and DB's on quite a few plays. Engel has been pretty impressive.

- De'Vondre Campbell is FAST. He seems to be in on all sorts of tackles.....and I rarely see him miss a tackle.

- Damien Wilson. Appeared to be the one player on defense that was able to recognize the blocking schemes, avoid a block, and make a tackle in the backfield. The rest of these guys run directly into the blocks.

- Special teams play continues to impress. Kick returns have been decent and coverage on both punts and kicks have been very good.

Bad

- Nelson. Made a few nice passes....but for the most part, they were to wide open receivers. He mostly threw the ball behind and over the head of his targeted receivers. He missed some open receivers, and didn't seem interested in dumping the ball off to wide open RB's until late in the game. Also his decision to scramble a few times ended up getting him sacked. Throw the ball away.

- Penalties/Refs. The Goodger penalty was a major buzzkill. Other than that, a few players just made some boneheaded plays. As for the Refs (I know everyone hates this excuse and it's not meant to be an excuse). They didn't change the outcome of the game by any means.....but they called Iowa on ONE holding penalty. They seemed to stick us every time they could. While this happened at the end of the game.....the deep ball which was thrown to Engel if I remember correctly was not called PI because the ball was uncatchable. Bull. It landed five yards in front of him and he was being held.

- Play calling. I realize that we want to run the ball. But really.....at what point do you move towards the passing offense, which worked much better in the first half. The play calling was not creative and Iowa was ready for it. I believe that I heard we ran the ball 27 times for 30 yards....We cannot afford to wait until we are down 17 points in the second half (we tossed in the towel with 3:00 left in the half and pretty much ran down the clock) to start throwing the ball.

Ugly

- Running game/Offensive Line: How many times did we run the ball up the gut into a brick wall? How many times did we run it outside? How many times did we run a jet play? We couldn't have been any less obvious. The O-line didn't help obviously. They were completely man handled....and on a unit that I thought we would maybe see as a strength. We also don't appear to have a back that looks for an opening. It is a straight forward play directly as drawn. Cobb looked like he made a couple cuts during the game, but we won't bust any big runs for the rest of the season if nobody is willing to make a move. A straight forward power running game will not win us any big ten games.

- Pass rushing/D-line. The QB had ALL DAY sitting back in the pocket. I really don't think the D-backs played that bad. If you give the opposing QB's 5-10 seconds to sit in the pocket every play.....somebody is going to get open. It will be an ugly season if this doesn't improve.

- Big plays/third downs. Saw it happen a few times against SJSU. We had the long TD screen pass and on a third down, they dumped the ball off to a WIDE open TE who took the ball downfield for around 40 or 50 yards. Cannot let breakdowns like that happen. As for third downs as a whole? TERRIBLE. They were converting on third and long all game. In fact, I believe there was one Iowa drive that began deep in Iowa territory, in which they converted three straight third and long plays. Again, this comes back to the lack of a pass rush, allowing the QB to sit in the pocket and pick apart the defense.

 

[Gopherprof]

- Damien Wilson. Seems like he got his first significant playing time towards the end of the game.

?? Wilson has started every game this season and played the vast majority of the snaps at MLB.

 

[thailleagle]

Good
- Damien Wilson. Seems like he got his first significant playing time towards the end of the game.

 

[stocker08]

?? Wilson has started every game this season and played the vast majority of the snaps at MLB.

Isn't Hill the starting MLB? And I could have sworn that Campbell has been starting, but I may be mistaken with all of the substitutions.

Guess I just didn't notice him as much until now.

 

[Gopherprof]

Isn't Hill the starting MLB? And I could have sworn that Campbell has been starting, but I may be mistaken with all of the substitutions.

MLB-Wilson
Will- Hill
Sam-Campbell/Manuel

 

[stocker08]

MLB-Wilson
Will- Hill
Sam-Campbell/Manuel

Ah, ok. Guess I still didn't really notice him much until later on in the game. Looked like they were pulling him for what appeared to be passing downs.

 

[mnsports1]

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.

I thought it was fairly obvious that the first pick was on Goodger. He found a spot and stopped, Nelson started his throw, then inexplicably Drew slid another step or two to where he could high five Cobb??

 

[GophersInIowa]

I thought it was fairly obvious that the first pick was on Goodger. He found a spot and stopped, Nelson started his throw, then inexplicably Drew slid another step or two to where he could high five Cobb??

That's how I saw it as well.

 

[mnsports1]

I like Goodger, but he had a tough one today. I'm sure next week can't get here soon enough for him.

 

[e.bigelow]

I thought it was fairly obvious that the first pick was on Goodger. He found a spot and stopped, Nelson started his throw, then inexplicably Drew slid another step or two to where he could high five Cobb??

I thought this as well. My thought was, WTF is Goodger doing?!

 

[stocker08]

I thought it was fairly obvious that the first pick was on Goodger. He found a spot and stopped, Nelson started his throw, then inexplicably Drew slid another step or two to where he could high five Cobb??

I agree. The picks were not really on him. The second one was a desperation throw....which I would prefer to see over a -6 yard scramble sack.

One other thing I noticed on defense. Have they ever heard of containing the runner? I saw way too many free outside runs because the d-back or LB tried to cut up the field towards the runner, rather than force him back toward the other pursuing defensive players.

 

[mnsports1]

I've seen Nelson make throws that make me think he'll do fine as the Gopher QB. Hopefully he, Mitch, and Chris continue to push each other. I believe Phil, and Mitch are better than they have shown, but that o-line doesn't instill much confidence in either in passing situations. Too bad we are not yet deeper at the WR position to spread it out and take some pressure off the o-line and bodies out of the box.

The biggest head scratcher was the taking of some of the sacks.

"Hitting WR's in stride" is pretty tough to harp on when WR getting off the line, running routes at the right depth, and a crowded pocket all play in. For most of the game I thought he put the ball on the WR body, it needs to then be caught. Nelson then got sloppier again at the end.

 

[mnsports1]

I agree. The picks were not really on him. The second one was a desperation throw....which I would prefer to see over a -6 yard scramble sack.

One other thing I noticed on defense. Have they ever heard of containing the runner? I saw way too many free outside runs because the d-back or LB tried to cut up the field towards the runner, rather than force him back toward the other pursuing defensive players.

yep.

 

[e.bigelow]

I've seen Nelson make throws that make me think he'll do fine as the Gopher QB. Hopefully he, Mitch, and Chris continue to push each other. I believe Phil, and Mitch are better than they have shown, but that o-line doesn't instill much confidence in either in passing situations. Too bad we are not yet deeper at the WR position to spread it out and take some pressure off the o-line and bodies out of the box. The biggest head scratcher was the taking of some of the sacks. "Hitting WR's in stride" is pretty tough to harp on when WR getting off the line, running routes at the right depth, and a crowded pocket all play in. For most of the game I thought he put the ball on the WR body, it needs to then be caught. Nelson then got sloppier again at the end.

I concur.

 

[nycjake10011]

Thought they would at least be competitive. Was looking forward to this game for a long time thinking they would certainly play better than last year. What a disappointment.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Whipped on the LOS. Pretty much end of story.

Our QB's and WR need a lot of work on timing. Wolitarski showed something for the future. We need a much shorter passing game. Started to see it work some in the second half. I watch games and see WR's bail out QB's all the time. I don't see that athleticism here.

I still see this team upsetting someone this year, but we need upperclassmen on the field to compete every week.

 

[mnsports1]

Whipped on the LOS. Pretty much end of story.

Our QB's and WR need a lot of work on timing. Wolitarski showed something for the future. We need a much shorter passing game. Started to see it work some in the second half. I watch games and see WR's bail out QB's all the time. I don't see that athleticism here.

I still see this team upsetting someone this year, but we need upperclassmen on the field to compete every week.

Exactly.

 

[RockinRanger]

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.

That we struggled to push UNLV around on the ground from start to finish was a pretty big red flag for how our offense would look. They've given up 400 yards on 36 carries in the first half to New Mexico.

 

[John Galt]

The Nelson apologists need to rewatch the game, and I'm not even talking about the interceptions. On the first drive of the game, we called a play for engel to run a 5 yard out, and he was open by 5 yards. Nelson practically sailed it into the stands. Practically every pass, even the completions, are poor throws. Rudock showed me far more accuracy as a passer today...

 

[MGGopher]

That we struggled to push UNLV around on the ground from start to finish was a pretty big red flag for how our offense would look. They've given up 400 yards on 36 carries in the first half to New Mexico.

LOL...I was just getting ready to post this. 35-35 was the score last time I saw it! Wowzers! Yes, you'd think a B1G offense would be able to put some points on a team like that.

 

[scools12]

Whipped on the LOS. Pretty much end of story.

Our QB's and WR need a lot of work on timing. Wolitarski showed something for the future. We need a much shorter passing game. Started to see it work some in the second half. I watch games and see WR's bail out QB's all the time. I don't see that athleticism here.

I still see this team upsetting someone this year, but we need upperclassmen on the field to compete every week.

People throw this around all the time likes it a given. Upperclassmen would provide more experience but their talent level is their talent level. Not a guarantee that these to be upperclassmen haven't hit their ceiling with regards to talent. People act like the other teams in the conference won't be playing upperclassmen that are more talented. This argument rings hollow.

 

[mnsports1]

The Nelson apologists need to rewatch the game, and I'm not even talking about the interceptions. On the first drive of the game, we called a play for engel to run a 5 yard out, and he was open by 5 yards. Nelson practically sailed it into the stands. Practically every pass, even the completions, are poor throws. Rudock showed me far more accuracy as a passer today...

dumb comment

Nelson wasn't w/o his mistakes, for sure. Much easier for Rudock to throw when they are gashing us with the run and his line gave him all day and then some. Were any of his completions poor passes, or just Nelsons. You reminded me of another reason to be somewhat impressed with Phil, it seemed like we would get stuffed on down 1 and 2, we would be forced to pass on 3rd and long, and he still converted more of them than I would have guessed.

 

[MaxyJR1]

People throw this around all the time likes it a given. Upperclassmen would provide more experience but their talent level is their talent level. Not a guarantee that these to be upperclassmen haven't hit their ceiling with regards to talent. People act like the other teams in the conference won't be playing upperclassmen that are more talented. This argument rings hollow.

I agree, but Kill has walk-ons beating out upperclassmen on the OL. This is why I think Kill needs at least four-five years to rebuild.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

Today we proved everybody right who said that we beat up on bad out of conference teams but would not compete in the B1G.

Today we proved everybody right who said that we can't pass and can't be successful without a better passing game.

Today Nelson proved everybody right who said he was not a good enough passer.

What a pathetic, embarrassing performance by our team today.

 

[Gopherprof]

I agree, but Kill has walk-ons beating out upperclassmen on the OL. This is why I think Kill needs at least four-five years to rebuild.

Those walk-ons also beat out guys that Kill recruited.

 

[Governor Sibley]

Everything in our offense takes place within ten yards of where the ball is being snapped.

We make the opposing team defend about 3% of the field.