Post Game Thread: Gophers BEAT Bielema!!! Win 4 Straight!!

[Dave H]

And when you have a defense that is leading the conference and one of the best in the country in takeaways, the more times the opponent has to snap the ball the better.

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

W or L - this season has been the most enjoyable to watch since 2019 for me. The forward pass is fun!

Yeah, isn't it great to have a 70% passer? What a difference such a player would have made in all the recent decades. Passing QBs came to the fore in the '70s and we rarely had one. Warmath relied on the run game and defense (Sandy Stephens was a .333 passer and no one was complaining). We did have a few 60% passers, of which the best was Abdul-Khaliq, who led the nation in pass efficiency one year. Cory Sauter was about .600, too. But most of our QBs have been in the .500s.

 

[MNVCGUY]

I wonder (if they are Vikings fans) if they liked when KOC chose to pass in games like @GB when running would have killed more clock and given them almost no chance to get back into the game. Being aggressive /= being smart.

The thing is, it is not like you are going to call a big time play...its going to be a rather safe throw that happens quick to avoid a sack and get positive yards. So basically an extended running play. Well Taylor had been running pretty good so why not just let the guy who has been your MVP see what he can do?

Now, on 2nd and 4 I can see calling a safe throw if you want too but on first down it is definitely not "playing for the FG" by calling a running play when running has been working. Taylor was averaging 6 yards a clip...

Fans oversimplify it but a lot goes into those decisions. If you throw on 2nd down and it is incomplete you pretty much force yourself to throw on third down as well because as much as some fans don't want to believe it the goal there was to get a first down and keep the ball even if they were being "safe" with the playcalls.

Plus there is the time factor. Incomplete pass stops the clock and allows Illinois to get the ball back with potentially the full 2 minutes on the clock and maybe even a timeout.

I stand by my assertion they would have gone for it on 4th and 1. I just get annoyed when people act like running is playing not to lose and passing is playing to win.

 

[Dave H]

I agree which is why I think they could consider it on 2nd but not 1st. But we don't know what was being discussed or if they had options called and let the defensive set dictate the play call.

The only thing you dont want to do is put yourself in a position to make a catastrophic mistake. If they need 8 points to tie then they have zero margin for error and everything needs to break exactly right for them just to force OT. That is what matters.

And yeah...the belief that passing is going for the win is great in hindsight but if it goes sideways those same people would be throwing a hissy fit and rightfully so. But if you are getting decent chunks on runs then run the ball, force them to use TOs and get to 8 points and make them do something special.