Post Game Thoughts

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upnorthkid

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Offense

QB: Mitch played a tale of two halfs. Pitiful 1st. He can't play that way against better competition if we want to contend. He settled down some, but still missed badly on some easy throws in 2nd half. That last drive though. Say what you will, he came up huge when we needed him most. The fumbles cannot happen either. must be cleaned up. And for god's sake, if we're gonna keep using Strev, let him throw the ball at least once or give it to someone else because they're bringing everyone at him as soon as he touches the field.

RB: Smith is easily the best of the bunch. He leaves some yards on the table at times, but has the best burst, vision, and lateral quickness. He'll hit a home run in the next 2 weeks for sure. Williams. I love the guy for his team first attitude, but he needs his carries cut. Has minimal pop and doesn't fit our team where our attack is best, the spread.

WR: Game ball to Woli for sure. Kid has leaned out and picked up some great burst. Made consistently tough catches and his hands have really solidified (maybe nerves last year?). Maye had a mixed bag. Nice TD catch but dropped a couple balls. Carter made some plays as well but isn't open consistently enough yet. Holland needs to get the jitters out. Hopefully we lead big next week so he can get more PT and settle down

TE: some good plays from Lingen and Woz. Really worried we were going to lose Lingen for a couple weeks on that monster shot he took. Blocking was ok, didn't really see them doing anything great but didn't notice them missing blocks either

OL: we're dinged here bad. Need to get healthy and keep line consistent. This was not a good performance in terms of run blocking or pass protection. Hopefully they can get healthy and gel before B10 play

Defense

DL: was disappointed with these guys. Richardson played a whale of a game with his penetration and a couple big plays, but overall our pass rush was lacking. In addition, when guys were shooting gaps, it left some big holes in the quick hit run game. I don't know if that's scheme for certain or what, but we need more consistent pass rush. Our secondary is phenomenal, but we need the front end to be solid as well to truly approach elite status

LB: I thought overall they played a good game. Was one rough drive but they settled in. Celestin played a really good game imo. Williams was pretty good as well. Gave up some plays in running game and missed tackles here and there, but did nice work on their backs in coverage as well and laid the wood when they caught the ball.

DB: absolutely the deepest position on our team (and perhaps in all of B10?). Missing 2 starters/contributors and these guys still played a hell of a game. Murray and Calhoun shut down these wr's which is huge, even if they are at a lesser talent level. Myrick tackled well and did a great job on his int looking for and playing the ball. Safety play was strong as well. Great tackling as well

K: Santoso was alright. Missed one FG and the kickoff OOB were negatives, but he's should be a steady spot for us for the next 2 years.

P: Probably the worst game I've seen him have in a few years. Had some real short ones and some longer ones that were that were low liners. Not his best performance but not a worry imo. Just one off game
 

Richardson is the best defensive line player we've had the last 2 year. I'm very happy he's only a sophomore. Other than that, we had no pressure, no sacks, no nothing. Defensive back field had another stellar game. In NCAA Football Video Game rankings, our Defense would be a 90 and our offense would be a 70...
 

Sparlimb said:
Richardson is the best defensive line player we've had the last 2 year. I'm very happy he's only a sophomore. Other than that, we had no pressure, no sacks, no nothing. Defensive back field had another stellar game. In NCAA Football Video Game rankings, our Defense would be a 90 and our offense would be a 70...
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Tend to agree, as bad as that sounds. Our secondary would have some really highly rated players. Think Murray is boosting his stock for sure so far this year
 

Is "Stickum" allowed anymore? If it is, we need to use up a can per receiver, per game, cause those boys have brick hands right now.
 

I'll add that this was a gritty comeback victory by our guys. Showed character. We made more than enough mistakes to lose. Dodged a bullet to have their #1 WR on the shelf for this one. Mortell's overkicking coverage time after time...that will get us beat, eventually. Has to stop!

I now have serious doubts, for the first time, about Limegrover & Kill & offensive coaching. We just were hideous for most of the first half, and for stretches of the 2nd. Shame, as the defense is strong & special teams are good. Watching other games today, we appeared to be plodders on O. All over the field. Our WR's don't get open and don't help the (struggling) QB with tough catches on "borderline" balls. We look predictable. Just never seems to change. Rodney Smith is a star in the making, however. Lastly, where is the Washburn flash?
 


I would have brought Strevler in at halftime and ran the option. I think were at the point where we can discuss other options at QB
 

West Fargo Gopher Fan said:
I would have brought Strevler in at halftime and ran the option. I think were at the point where we can discuss other options at QB
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Um, no we're not. We have two home games to fix the offense. Hell, right now I'm more concerned with the offensive line than I am with the QB. If there was a good option we would have seen him already.
 


Sparlimb said:
Seems like CSU fans want to argue who is the most inept QB in D1.

http://chat.coloradostate.sportswar.com/message_board/ramnationgeneral/2015/September/12/

And the refs were screwing CSU

http://chat.coloradostate.sportswar.com/message_board/ramnationgeneral/2015/September/12/
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Links you posted don't seem to work, at least for me, but their starter and Leidner definitely duked it out for who was the worst, especially in the first half. Of course their QB was working without his top receiver and against a very good secondary, whereas ours was up against....well.....did I mention we won.....ok good...

And not surprisingly there is the obligatory "refs are out to get us complaints" by the fans of the losing team. Had we lost I am sure we would have 10 threads about how the refs wanted CSU to win.
 




Just win, and we did.

I was pretty much done with Mitch throughout the game but he came up huge that last series.

Limegrover....I don't know what to think. Sometimes it seems like he's handicapped by the lack of talent, other times (like today) it seems like he comes into a game with the wrong plan. Is there much to fix on O or is this who we are (again) for the rest of the year?
 

When Limegrover is on, he is great, when he isn't it is tough to watch.
If the line can't block better than this, we need someone besides RS or RW getting a lot of carries because RS is not big enough to get yards after tackles with this kind of blocking.
 

A generous take is Limegrover was confident they could come into this game with a base offense, and overpower them standard Kill & Co offense, but not show too much to keep the game film down. We can hope, right? Please?
 



I'm very concerned about the offense, down to the foundation. This was a bad CSU team. Bad QB, bad defense, lost their star WR. We should have won by 30 points today. The CSU defense was stuffing the run for large stretches, and Nick Stevens was worse than expected. To his credit, Bobo made the switch to Key and it made all the difference.

We won, but this is a canary in the coal mine kind of game. If our power blocking isn't working into 9 man fronts...we absolutely need to lean more on the 3/4 WR spread option look, quick hitters, etc while mixing in play action deep balls. There is evidence we run effectively out of these formations. Don't ask Mitch to hit the 15 yard outs, that's not in his wheelhouse. He can't roll left. Just stop it. Boy, we need Lauer and Campion to get healthy.

The defense played well after a shaky first two/three series as is their MO. The blitz on that last drive...I dunno, the guys had to be gassed.
 

Mulligan said:
Um, no we're not. We have two home games to fix the offense. Hell, right now I'm more concerned with the offensive line than I am with the QB. If there was a good option we would have seen him already.
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Im sure by Leidners 30th start he will figure it out.
 

upnorthkid said:
Offense

QB: Mitch played a tale of two halfs. Pitiful 1st. He can't play that way against better competition if we want to contend. He settled down some, but still missed badly on some easy throws in 2nd half. That last drive though. Say what you will, he came up huge when we needed him most. The fumbles cannot happen either. must be cleaned up. And for god's sake, if we're gonna keep using Strev, let him throw the ball at least once or give it to someone else because they're bringing everyone at him as soon as he touches the field.

RB: Smith is easily the best of the bunch. He leaves some yards on the table at times, but has the best burst, vision, and lateral quickness. He'll hit a home run in the next 2 weeks for sure. Williams. I love the guy for his team first attitude, but he needs his carries cut. Has minimal pop and doesn't fit our team where our attack is best, the spread.

WR: Game ball to Woli for sure. Kid has leaned out and picked up some great burst. Made consistently tough catches and his hands have really solidified (maybe nerves last year?). Maye had a mixed bag. Nice TD catch but dropped a couple balls. Carter made some plays as well but isn't open consistently enough yet. Holland needs to get the jitters out. Hopefully we lead big next week so he can get more PT and settle down

TE: some good plays from Lingen and Woz. Really worried we were going to lose Lingen for a couple weeks on that monster shot he took. Blocking was ok, didn't really see them doing anything great but didn't notice them missing blocks either

OL: we're dinged here bad. Need to get healthy and keep line consistent. This was not a good performance in terms of run blocking or pass protection. Hopefully they can get healthy and gel before B10 play

Defense

DL: was disappointed with these guys. Richardson played a whale of a game with his penetration and a couple big plays, but overall our pass rush was lacking. In addition, when guys were shooting gaps, it left some big holes in the quick hit run game. I don't know if that's scheme for certain or what, but we need more consistent pass rush. Our secondary is phenomenal, but we need the front end to be solid as well to truly approach elite status

LB: I thought overall they played a good game. Was one rough drive but they settled in. Celestin played a really good game imo. Williams was pretty good as well. Gave up some plays in running game and missed tackles here and there, but did nice work on their backs in coverage as well and laid the wood when they caught the ball.

DB: absolutely the deepest position on our team (and perhaps in all of B10?). Missing 2 starters/contributors and these guys still played a hell of a game. Murray and Calhoun shut down these wr's which is huge, even if they are at a lesser talent level. Myrick tackled well and did a great job on his int looking for and playing the ball. Safety play was strong as well. Great tackling as well

K: Santoso was alright. Missed one FG and the kickoff OOB were negatives, but he's should be a steady spot for us for the next 2 years.

P: Probably the worst game I've seen him have in a few years. Had some real short ones and some longer ones that were that were low liners. Not his best performance but not a worry imo. Just one off game
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Completely agree about Strevler. The opposing D is teeing off.

OL was terrible in the first half. #55 had a tough game. He did ok in pass blocking but was TERRIBLE at run blocking.

Our DTs played a good game. #96 is a stud. His height ( lack of) got us at least 30 yards in penalties.

Anyone seen anything from a DE? They don't make any splash plays. #20 ( true freshman) is our best edge rusher. What happened to #55?? Product of Hageman?

CBs played a good game.

Safety play was OK. #11 got burnt by double move. (twice)

Specials teams.....YUK. PR cost us about 150 yards if not more today. I put that on coaching more than the player. You could tell in the first quarter that he didn't have any confidence. PK cannot kick the ball out of bounds especially with his leg. Missed FGs happen. Punter was ok.

Coaches were out game planned and coached. Terrible offensive philosophy. In OT Leidner would have had a open receiver with a PA pass. Get creative and let the men have fun. It's football, don't play scared, PLAY TO WIN. I get that you can't do it every play. Have fun.
 

I forgot..

WR play was better. Still needs to progress.

LBs were studs. #13 is a player. MLB played good too. Why was #26 getting taken out of the game so much?
 

I came away from this game pretty discouraged about the Gophers prospects going forward and agree with much of what Pompous Elitist wrote on the first page. The defense allowed 17 points and forced 3 turnovers on the road, but the Gophers needed to go to overtime to win the game...that cannot happen. Such a defensive performance, especially against a non-power 5 school, should result in a laugher in this day and age of offense in college football.

I am mostly positive about the defensive performance, especially the games by Steven Richardson (definitely the MVP) and Jalen Myrick (pick and a huge deflection late). That said I have a few concerns about the defense, that all start with the lack of pressure from the front four. Theiren Cockran has been a complete non factor and looks like he has no burst coming off the edge. I was surprised that he wasn't in to rush on 3rd down on a few occasions today, but the coaches must be seeing what I see there as well. Cockran's lack of awareness on the play fake in the end zone in the first half cost the Gophers a safety too. He just stopped rushing and turned to look at the running back. That lack of a pass rush was arguably the main reason why Colorado State had a few big opportunities to hit big pass plays today. The Gophers were extremely lucky that CSU missed some big opportunities that better competition will not. In sticking with the pass rush theme, I was baffled by Claeys decision to try to blitz from deep on the drive that ended with CSU forcing overtime. Not only were guys trying to get to the QB from 10-15 yards from the line of scrimmage, but those guys were either gassed and their sprints looked like they were jogging...or they were just jogging forward toward the line.

Now the offense. I said Mitch was a below average D-1 quarterback last week and that certainly continues to be the case. He missed throws, showed inconsistent footwork and mechanics, locked on to one receiver (often KJ Maye), and made critical mistakes with the ball. The kid is a redshirt junior yet displays the poise of a true freshman far too often. I know some will say the receivers have to help him out, but the only really well thrown ball that was dropped all day was by Holland. With that said, Mitch came out and saved his best for last in making a number of nice throws on the Gophers last drive of regulation. I think it's important to praise that last drive while also remembering how we got to the point of needing that drive in the first place.

I really felt like Limegrover had his lunch handed to him today. While the limitations of the QB are noteworthy, it's also noteworthy that the Rams seemingly stuffed every first down run play all day long. Further, while the Rams were able to have their backup receivers run free (at times) from (allegedly) 3 future pros in the Gopher defensive backfield, the Gophers were never running free against the far less heralded CSU secondary. It's obvious to point out that the Rams knew exactly what to do when Streveler was in the game, but it didn't feel like they were caught off guard by anything else the Gophers ran either. What we saw from the Gophers in the first half offensively gets this team blown out by halftime against better opposition.

The lack of a push from the Offensive Line is another concern. While I do feel at least part of their failure was due to CSU knowing what was coming at them, you'd still hope that a B1G Offensive Line could impose their will at times against CSU's front which simply didn't happen. Ideally we need Lauer healthy at LT and be able to slide Campion from RT inside to guard (maybe we miss Epping's nastiness in the interior OL more than we thought we would).

We are through two games and 80 pass attempts and their has been nothing to get excited about from Holland, Gant (hasnt' played), or Still. Obviously Gentry has been out, but it sure looks like the best wide receivers on this team are still Maye and Wolitarsky. That's not a great sign. It also should give people pause in taking the "Demry has looked great in practice" stuff at face value. We've heard for a full calendar year about how impressive Holland/Gant/Gentry were and they can't crack a pretty pedestrian group of pass catchers.

Last point on special teams is that punt return has seemed to be an issue for the Gophers since Kill arrived. We've always had returners who seem incapable of tracking the ball and making correct decisions (catch or not to catch, fair catch or run with the ball) that has cost us field position. For as consistently good as the rest of the units have been in recent years, this area really stands out.
 


NorthernLakesGopher said:
but not show too much to keep the game film down
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Hasn't this happened every year (at least the last 2 years when we were more competitive)? Haven't Jerry and staff held their cards pretty close to the vest in the early part of the season, presumably to keep the film down? Or, am I delusional that as the season progresses Limegrover does indeed roll out more offensive creativity?
 

WestTexasGopher said:
Hasn't this happened every year (at least the last 2 years when we were more competitive)? Haven't Jerry and staff held their cards pretty close to the vest in the early part of the season, presumably to keep the film down? Or, am I delusional that as the season progresses Limegrover does indeed roll out more offensive creativity?
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I think its partly that, and partly the offense has had more time to practice newer plays to expand the play book. The coaches don't run a play unless the team has it completely down in practice, with new players (O line, backs, and receivers) it might take a while to keep opening up the play book.
 

upnorthkid said:
...
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Overall, pretty good assessment. Near the end of the game, I ran through this thought in my mind: great, gutty win. Every single unit had a gaffe that could have cost us the game. And every single unit gets some credit for the win. It's just great to escape with a W. With all the mis-match upsets, this was a huge win for us.

walleyeking said:
Coaches were out game planned and coached. Terrible offensive philosophy. In OT Leidner would have had a open receiver with a PA pass. Get creative and let the men have fun. It's football, don't play scared, PLAY TO WIN. I get that you can't do it every play. Have fun.
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Mostly disagree with your post, but this part is immature and uninformed.
 

EG9: It wasn't Cockran who bit on that early play fake, it was Hank Ekpe.
 

killme said:
Overall, pretty good assessment. Near the end of the game, I ran through this thought in my mind: great, gutty win. Every single unit had a gaffe that could have cost us the game. And every single unit gets some credit for the win. It's just great to escape with a W. With all the mis-match upsets, this was a huge win for us.



Mostly disagree with your post, but this part is immature and uninformed.
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You call me immature and uninformed because you don't agree with my opinion? You must be a NFL GM that has some inside info. The general consensus was Gophers made A LOT of mistakes and didn't play good. I think Mr. Kill said that as well but I'm sure he is uinformed as well.
 

killme said:
Great, gutty win. Every single unit had a gaffe that could have cost us the game. And every single unit gets some credit for the win. It's just great to escape with a W. With all the mis-match upsets, this was a huge win for us.
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I agree with the bolded. This team has character and resilience. They play hard through 4 quarters in the face of serious adversity, which will pay dividends in B1G conference play. I think this is the most important attribute they could possibly have, despite all the aforementioned flaws, talent level, and play by play execution.
 

WestTexasGopher said:
Hasn't this happened every year (at least the last 2 years when we were more competitive)? Haven't Jerry and staff held their cards pretty close to the vest in the early part of the season, presumably to keep the film down? Or, am I delusional that as the season progresses Limegrover does indeed roll out more offensive creativity?
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Yes, indeed. I and others mentioned this yesterday too. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd go pull up threads immediately following our games against teams like Western Ill, NMSU, Eastern Ill, et al. For the most part, our O looked like sh!t in those games, and the consensus on these boards (including from myself) was that we'd win no more than 1 or 2 B1G games...and 0 was a possibility. We obviously know how that turned out.

I don't think it's the coaches intentionally holding back. As mentioned, it's probably got more to do with players learning the schemes and getting comfortable. We're breaking in several new players on the O-line, and our starting RB is a rFr. The Gophers have improved during the season every year under Kill. I have no reason to doubt this year will be any different. I was extremely disappointed in the O (and had hoped this trend of slow, non-conference starts was over in year 5), but I'm not giving up on the season.
 

MGGopher said:
and had hoped this trend of slow, non-conference starts was over in year 5
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If it gets us contending for a B1G championship, I'm ok with a "slow, non-conference start" every year! I'll trust Jer and staff that they really do know what they are doing, until they show us that they really don't, which hasn't happened yet. ;)
 

Pompous Elitist said:
I'm very concerned about the offense, down to the foundation. This was a bad CSU team. Bad QB, bad defense, lost their star WR. We should have won by 30 points today. The CSU defense was stuffing the run for large stretches, and Nick Stevens was worse than expected. To his credit, Bobo made the switch to Key and it made all the difference.

We won, but this is a canary in the coal mine kind of game. If our power blocking isn't working into 9 man fronts...we absolutely need to lean more on the 3/4 WR spread option look, quick hitters, etc while mixing in play action deep balls. There is evidence we run effectively out of these formations. Don't ask Mitch to hit the 15 yard outs, that's not in his wheelhouse. He can't roll left. Just stop it. Boy, we need Lauer and Campion to get healthy.

The defense played well after a shaky first two/three series as is their MO. The blitz on that last drive...I dunno, the guys had to be gassed.
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I was thinking the same kind of thing. Since Kill has been here he's stressed the power run game, that's what we will do first and foremost. Everything else we do is based off of a dominant, effective run game. Problem is, I don't think we've seen a dominant run game yet. We either need to get good at what we want to be, or change our scheme to what we are good at. At this point in Kill's tenure, I would have thought our O line would be more on par with the likes of Wisconsin, blowing open holes in the d-lines of lesser opponents by the second quarter. I don't think we've really seen that yet. And maybe we'll never get there. If that's the case, then it's time to change up the scheme IMO
 

dpodoll68 said:
EG9: It wasn't Cockran who bit on that early play fake, it was Hank Ekpe.
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That was frustrating. I dont recall precisely but likely a safety or intentional grounding type play if he hadn't let up.

Related,, i wonder how much of 95 and 55 looking good in practice has to do with our tackles.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
That was frustrating. I dont recall precisely but likely a safety or intentional grounding type play if he hadn't let up.

Related,, i wonder how much of 95 and 55 looking good in practice has to do with our tackles.
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Starting to wonder that too. Kill called Hank Ekpe one of the best DE's in the conference this fall. It has only been two games but he's been pretty non-existent.
 

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