Post Game Thread: Gophers Lose a Very Winnable Game at Cal

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DelawareGopher said:
I think this game is evidence that we shouldn’t be scheduling any OOC road games with west coast teams. A 9:30 start time is rough on players and the fans, and there’s no benefit when we have to do it a couple times per year anyway in conference play.

Edit: PJ’s teams are always good for one or two fluky, gross losses each year. I’ll take a late night road loss against a solid P4 team with a stud QB as one of those losses. That’s the most positive I can be. But losing our last 3 (?) OOC P4 regular season games is depressing.
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Bolded: This!

Surprised I haven't seen any further comments about this. Probably because it's considered a weak excuse ... not that it's not.

But the great point is made: why play a night game out West?? If you're going to schedule it, dictate that it has to be a mid-day game or we won't sign the deal.



"Luckily" our only other western road trip this year is Nov 14 to Oregon. Which is already penciled in as a loss anyway.
 

kg21 said:
Cal was 2-6 last year in the ACC and lost most to the portal and graduation.

I'm being a realist here. We've got issues.
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I heard they got a new QB? And a new OC?

Are those important? You tell me
 

GopherGrit said:
Bolded: This!

Surprised I haven't seen any further comments about this. Probably because it's considered a weak excuse ... not that it's not.

But the great point is made: why play a night game out West?? If you're going to schedule it, dictate that it has to be a mid-day game or we won't sign the deal.



"Luckily" our only other western road trip this year is Nov 14 to Oregon. Which is already penciled in as a loss anyway.
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One word on why it happened at night...

TV.
 

BilldGopher said:
One word on why it happened at night...

TV.
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I understand that. And I understand that this game was probably scheduled before the Big Ten expanded with western teams. (True?)

That said ... non-conference game ... tell them we won't sign unless we get to dictate the game time. If they refuse, then no deal!
 


GopherGrit said:
I understand that. And I understand that this game was probably scheduled before the Big Ten expanded with western teams. (True?)

That said ... non-conference game ... tell them we won't sign unless we get to dictate the game time. If they refuse, then no deal!
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For what it's worth this game probably looked pretty good to anyone else watching The Late Show except us. Two promising QBs where one had unfortunately a stronger supporting cast.

Outside numbers 7, 23, and 0, Drake was not getting a lot of help.
 

The timing thing is what it is but this is a completely beatable OOC team on the schedule and the Gophs lost again. Lost out east against UNC, lost out west against Cal - these are teams you need to beat at least sometimes to be taken seriously as a program at the national level.

Outside of beating an historically bad CO team in Boulder a few years back, when was the last time this team beat a non-con P4 program? Each time they go up against even mediocre same-level teams, they lose.

It’s a damning program history of pathetic results against teams that are mid-level squads in their respective conferences.
 

BilldGopher said:
For what it's worth this game probably looked pretty good to anyone else watching The Late Show except us. Two promising QBs where one had unfortunately a stronger supporting cast.

Outside numbers 7, 23, and 0, Drake was not getting a lot of help.
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These squads are pretty evenly matched. One played a close to perfect game the other team? Not as well as they needed to.
 

Could we petition the NCAA to move over some points from last week's crushing? Just 18 points.? PJ loves it being on him so he should get that petition going.
 




matt said:
Danny Collins needs to change his best by a lot.
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Lost by less than 2 scores with 2xTO’s. Their average field position was the 36 yard line.

Didn’t like not blitzing on the last series before half as that was clearly effective.
 

gopherlaney said:
Lost by less than 2 scores with 2xTO’s. Their average field position was the 36 yard line.

Didn’t like not blitzing on the last series before half as that was clearly effective.
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There is absolutely no way to spin the 3 man rushes.

It's inexcusable to keep doing it when it didn't work all game.


Other than that specifically, I agree that the defense played well enough for us to win it in spite of the disadvantages they were put in.
 

GopherGrit said:
There is absolutely no way to spin the 3 man rushes.

It's inexcusable to keep doing it when it didn't work all game.


Other than that specifically, I agree that the defense played well enough for us to win it in spite of the disadvantages they were put in.
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That's the most frustrating thing for me. For all of the warts in our play (including Koi's punt return issues), I think we were in a position to win but for some unforced and bizarre coaching errors. Giving away the 3 points before half was huge and the red carpet to that field goal was laid out by the coaching staff. Potentially took more points off the board based on how the offense was moving with the reckless trick play timing.
 




bleedsmaroonandgold said:
That's the most frustrating thing for me. For all of the warts in our play (including Koi's punt return issues), I think we were in a position to win but for some unforced and bizarre coaching errors. Giving away the 3 points before half was huge and the red carpet to that field goal was laid out by the coaching staff. Potentially took more points off the board based on how the offense was moving with the reckless trick play timing.
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Some percentage of that is execution by the players. Yes they rushed three, but pretty sure they were still supposed to cover the wrs, it’s not like they dropped into a 30 yard umbrella, and yes the trick play didn’t work, but Koi didn’t have to take big loss on the play.
 

BilldGopher said:
Last week against the Demons did not help this team. Actually is a flashback to Mason's days and his cupcakes. This time however the reality hit before B1G+ play began.

Take the bye, regroup, and come out strong for Mr. Kaliakmanis and the Scarlet Ks...

P.S. Guess we know what GH staff thinks with the title on this one...
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Disagree with your first sentence. Northwestern State punted approximately 147 times. That should have been enough to make Perich at least competent as a punt returner.
 

This is the expected result of Fleck's poor recruiting. Every year, his recruiting class is in the bottom-half of the Big 10. He simply doesn't do a good job getting players. The result is on the field.

But that's okay for us, right Gophers fans? We don't expect a winning team like other Big 10 programs that would have fired Fleck by now. We just want a good "culture" and for both teams to have fun.
 

MZBKA1 said:
This is the expected result of Fleck's poor recruiting. Every year, his recruiting class is in the bottom-half of the Big 10. He simply doesn't do a good job getting players. The result is on the field.

But that's okay for us, right Gophers fans? We don't expect a winning team like other Big 10 programs that would have fired Fleck by now. We just want a good "culture" and for both teams to have fun.
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We’ve tried bringing in a great recruiter for a HC in the past. I’m not sure a coach out there exists that will consistently out recruit OSU, Michigan, PSU, USC, Oregon, Nebraska, Washington or even UCLA.
 

Cal in line to be Illinois of ACC. They only have 4 teams on schedule with winning records left. SMU, Louisville, Virginia and UNC. Only Louisville is on the road. They don’t play Miami, Notre Dame, Florida State or Georgia Tech.

They are a mirror of us and have a really experienced OC who just got there to compliment the defensive minded HC.
 

It’s absolutely shocking to me that the Gopher football reporters either lack the intelligence or the guts to ask the most obvious questions.

1) What did you think of the timing of the Perich pass play call?

2) Being prepared with the stats on rushing 3 vs rushing 4. They got killed almost every time they rushed 3.

3) What was the thought process on the 3rd and 7 run in the 4th quarter?

4) Were you trying to cause a delay of game on the offense with your defensive substitutions that resulted in your too many men on the field?

These are the most obvious questions for a Gopher fan who watched that game.
 

I didn't like the 3 down lineman approach at all , drop 8 in coverage on defense. Talented quarterback for Cal, but it seemed the most success the defense waa having was with bringing pressure getting him rattled. I thought #9 Devin Williams on defense had a good game one of his best as a Gopher. #16 Lawrence on the Dline, I know a transfer, but he is talented and needs to play more, he waa disruptive in limited action and needs to be in rotation more. # 11 Mentz on D line, thought he was disruptive too. I think the D coordinator needs to trust his linebackers to be on the field and make plays. They didn't possess the ball enough on offense early in the game and didn't sustain drives early enough. Lindsey was playing well with the exception of the interception. Offensive coordinator goes to the well on being predictable at times. It was a winnable game but Cal made more plays and the Gophers had some poor execution and hero plays on Special teams. We need our linebackers on the field, Baranowski and Devin Williams are two of our better players on defense as is Anthony Smith. Kingsbury was playing well too. Sometimes you have to trust your linebackers will make plays and don't always need to be taken out. Not a great night of execution by coaching staff, thought Cal staff had better preperation for the opponents tendencies. Breaking in a new D coordinator so will have some growing pains with that. Koi tried to hard to be a hero last night, and didn't flush his mistakes, still learning. I like our guy's , don't let this one linger and bounce back. Still a lot of football and winnable games left. Don't dwell on it, on to Rutgers, and need the win. Athans gonna be keyed up to show us we were wrong about him. Give Cal credit, they are good team, and winning roads games never a given.
 
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MaxyJR1 said:
Cal in line to be Illinois of ACC. They only have 4 teams on schedule with winning records left. SMU, Louisville, Virginia and UNC. Only Louisville is on the road. They don’t play Miami, Notre Dame, Florida State or Georgia Tech.

They are a mirror of us and have a really experienced OC who just got there to compliment the defensive minded HC.
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And they made PJ Fleck and his staff look like total amateurs. It was a clinic by Wilcox and his staff.
 

I went to bed last night thinking that the word post game to best describe what just happened was abomination. Woke up this morning thinking that a much better word was typical. I’m rinsing and repeating this so I apologize for that but it’s exactly what keeps us in shitty bowl games now for what will be the eighth out of nine years under PJ.
 

BilldGopher said:
For what it's worth this game probably looked pretty good to anyone else watching The Late Show except us. Two promising QBs where one had unfortunately a stronger supporting cast.

Outside numbers 7, 23, and 0, Drake was not getting a lot of help.
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PJ needs to get some real good wr talent. Drake is a stud and needs game breakers.
 




GopherGrit said:
There is absolutely no way to spin the 3 man rushes.

It's inexcusable to keep doing it when it didn't work all game.


Other than that specifically, I agree that the defense played well enough for us to win it in spite of the disadvantages they were put in.
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I would send 6 every time.
 


kg21 said:
Cal was 2-6 last year in the ACC and lost most to the portal and graduation.

I'm being a realist here. We've got issues.
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This is conventional thinking about Cal and probably a nice opportunity to recognize that early season college football in the NIL world is unpredictable.

Last night was the least expected game plan from a Cal team I’ve seen in 35 years. Our MO has been to look exactly like what your team was. Instead the new OC put the ball in the Frosh QBs hands and went all passing all game. Pre-season prognostications can’t account for that.

I feel your guys pain. When you play that style of football you have to be nearly perfect and error free. That’s really hard. That said, Fleck has won a LOT at Minnesota and that isn’t as easy to do as what it may seem like. You guys have a solid team and are going to win a lot of games this year. On the road at Whoregon and tOSU are likely L’s but everything else are potential wins. 9-3 is a very successful season.

Minnesota fans have been great. Cal fans will be rooting for you.
 

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