[POST GAME THREAD] - Minnesota defeats Fresno St 21-14

Donate To GopherHole

Simply put, this is the kind of game I would expect the Gophers to lose. And the kind of game I got used to seeing them lose. So it's all the more exciting to see the win snatched away there. What a game.
 

Pizza section not as full ad I thought it would have been, but full of very enthusiastic fans.
 

saintpaulguy said:
Pizza section not as full ad I thought it would have been, but full of very enthusiastic fans.
Click to expand...

I pizza-ed it but never got to my actual seat.
I lingered on the shady side for a while.
 

mxpro32 said:
Your receivers were great. They made a bunch of clutch plays, even under pressure. They made some nice catches that were perfectly defended. A bunch of your guys made nice plays. Good game. Congrats on the win.
Click to expand...

Thanks, it was an exciting game and as close as it could have been (what would Fresno have done if they had scored? Two? Overtime? Good luck the rest of the way.
 


That game was RIDICULOUS. Incredible plays by Annexstad, TJ, Winfield, Smith, Green and others made for an exciting game. The offense did just enough after losing our main weapon. Love Seth Green. Loved Annexstad’s fourth quarter magic and calm under fire after struggling a little bit. The defense showed up and they can run. Durr looks like he’s back. Smith is going to be great. Cashman doing his thing.

That was a fun, entertaining game. Way to go PJ and staff! This team is only going to get better.
 

TJ is just gonna be that crazy girlfriend who pisses you off (early drop again...) and makes you happy in a roller coaster that you just can't get off....
 

Forgot to mention.

Several times during the game I thought of how there were events that occurred that didn't go our way that would have resulted in the Gophers ... giving up, or just not making the plays needed to get back in it. Tonight there were lots of those moments, and they kept making plays.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Forgot to mention.

Several times during the game I thought of how there were events that occurred that didn't go our way that would have resulted in the Gophers ... giving up, or just not making the plays needed to get back in it. Tonight there were lots of those moments, and they kept making plays.
Click to expand...

There were also a bunch of plays that, had they gone the Gophers way, the game wouldn’t have been that close; near turnovers, etc. Fresno was fortunate to be in the game at the end.
 



So many extreme highs and lows in this game from so many different players:

Tyler Johnson: Terrible drop in the first half, crucial game changing fumble in the second half, highlight reel catch on the 3rd down.
Zack Annexstad: Got happy feet and scrambled in to pressure killing some opportunities, Amazing ability to extend the play and get it to Johnson for the 3rd down conversion.
Jacob Herbers: Had a really bad punt early in the 3rd quarter that really started giving Fresno the field position advantage, then bounced back with a couple solid ones on the following 3 and outs.

My initial takeaway from this game is that our offensive line is still nowhere near physical enough for the B1G. Even facing 8 man boxes, they should have been able to open an occasional hole for Williams, but nothing was ever there. If it's not there against Fresno State, it's certainly not going to be there against B1G opposition. I don't know how much blame to put on the play calling as things were pretty vanilla, but Annexsted wasn't exactly inspiring confidence with his play and we did have a two score lead for much of the time the offense looked inept.

Really impressed with the WR group on offense: Bateman is living up to all the hype and Autman-Bell has caught and held on to at least 3 balls through 2 games while taking a big shot from a defender.

Really impressed with Cashman and Smith on defense: Fantastic start to the game from Cashman and Smith continues to exceed any rational expectations for a freshman corner.

I have to say I hated the decision before half to try the 53 yard FG given time and score and the fact that Fresno blocked two kicks and returned them for TD's last week. I am really glad it worked out, but the risk seemed to outweigh the reward to me at the time.
 

Plenty of things for the coaching staff to work on but in the end a solid WIN.

The only thing Coach promises is that recruiting better players will pay off with more wins.

Not rocket science but we now have data from two games and it appears he's correct.

Looking forward to collecting more data...
 

Most talent since the Maroney/Metrodome days.

Enjoy the ride this year, then buckle up for real expectations next year since most are returners!

What almost cost us the game?

The staff insisting on predictable Williams draw plays on EVERY 1st down. Set up too many 2nd and longs and 3rd and longs, which of course led to the Herbers 10 punts in a row fest. Not a good idea to keep dipping into that 1st down well with your 3rd string RB and an unproven O-line, particularly since it appears that your passing game may be your offensive strength even WITH your bellcow Rodney Smith in the mix. Mix it up with the downs a little bit!

Should have opened that 7-0, 10-0 lead into something bigger before Fresno made its move in the 2nd half.
 
Last edited:

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
There were also a bunch of plays that, had they gone the Gophers way, the game wouldn’t have been that close; near turnovers, etc. Fresno was fortunate to be in the game at the end.
Click to expand...

I felt like we were one step away from breaking runs on the outside several times but .... just couldn't.
 



It should be noted that they FIXED THE KICK OFF MUSIC!!!
 

Really, really fun game to have been at. Gophers beat a very, very good team who many anticipate will be playing in a New Years day bowl game. This after RS1 goes down with what may be a significant injury. The defense showed an awful lot of talent. I am very impressed with what they did tonight.
 

I was at a birthday party and missed the game. Anyone know if any media platform, ie BTN On Demand, Comcast, etc, have the full game for my viewing pleasure?
 

Overall, very nice win! The speed on the defense is really impressive. Great games by Winfield, Smith, Durr and others. Blake Cashman continues to impress. Very excited about our receiving core. We need to let Zack take advantage of that and open it up a bit more. Hope our RBs, Smith and Ibrahaim, are not seriously hurt. Go Gophs! Keep up the good work!
 

Airguard6 said:
I was at a birthday party and missed the game. Anyone know if any media platform, ie BTN On Demand, Comcast, etc, have the full game for my viewing pleasure?
Click to expand...

Most of the time they are posted to YouTube without commercials
 

Fun game, I was impressed by Zack once again, the WR group may be the best group that they've ever had, Terrell Smith has a bright future, Blake Cashman was everywhere, love Carter Coughlin's motor, Carpenter has an impressive leg and who hasn't been impressed by Winfield. On downside, the OL needs to play better (I wonder if Dunlp and/or Faalele get a shot soon?), punting is becoming a concern,I'd like to see a better pass rush and lets pray that Rodney Smith is okay.
 

Through two games Cashman with 5.5 TFL, 18 tackles, PBU, sack. Impressive. Stay healthy.
 

mkAz said:
Fun game, I was impressed by Zack once again, the WR group may be the best group that they've ever had, Terrell Smith has a bright future, Blake Cashman was everywhere, love Carter Coughlin's motor, Carpenter has an impressive leg and who hasn't been impressed by Winfield. On downside, the OL needs to play better (I wonder if Dunlp and/or Faalele get a shot soon?), punting is becoming a concern,I'd like to see a better pass rush and lets pray that Rodney Smith is okay.
Click to expand...

I don’t think the OL played badly for the most part. Zack was bailing a little too early sometimes. He’ll learn to step up in the pocket.
 

mkAz said:
Fun game, I was impressed by Zack once again, the WR group may be the best group that they've ever had, Terrell Smith has a bright future, Blake Cashman was everywhere, love Carter Coughlin's motor, Carpenter has an impressive leg and who hasn't been impressed by Winfield. On downside, the OL needs to play better (I wonder if Dunlp and/or Faalele get a shot soon?), punting is becoming a concern,I'd like to see a better pass rush and lets pray that Rodney Smith is okay.
Click to expand...

What is your concern with the punting? I thought it was solid.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I don’t think the OL played badly for the most part. Zack was bailing a little too early sometimes. He’ll learn to step up in the pocket.
Click to expand...

I guess I would disagree with comments about the OL. Last week I wrote that I wouldn’t trade our OL coach for the OL coach at Mich. — who jumped ship after last year. Now I am not so sure. Our OL line functions well when we have a running back like Rodney or Shannon but not so well when we are forced to go down the depth chart. In other words, when we need some movement up front we seem to get stymied. Our pass blocking —— particularly at the tackle positions need help. Hard to always keep a back in to help. Yet that’s what it looks like we will have to do. Not so sure if it might be necessary to pull some red shirts. Couldn’t do any worse.
 

Pete smith said:
I guess I would disagree with comments about the OL. Last week I wrote that I wouldn’t trade our OL coach for the OL coach at Mich. — who jumped ship after last year. Now I am not so sure. Our OL line functions well when we have a running back like Rodney or Shannon but not so well when we are forced to go down the depth chart. In other words, when we need some movement up front we seem to get stymied. Our pass blocking —— particularly at the tackle positions need help. Hard to always keep a back in to help. Yet that’s what it looks like we will have to do. Not so sure if it might be necessary to pull some red shirts. Couldn’t do any worse.
Click to expand...

Timing by the rb has something to do with that too as does the defense selling out against the run in situations and us not audibling out of a run play. Running game got better as the game went on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

GophersInIowa said:
I don’t think the OL played badly for the most part. Zack was bailing a little too early sometimes. He’ll learn to step up in the pocket.
Click to expand...
I don’t know, he wasn’t getting much time time either, there were also very few running lanes being opened (they averaged less than 3 yards per carry). Lots of room for improvement.
 

btowngopher said:
What is your concern with the punting? I thought it was solid.
Click to expand...
Perhaps I was spoiled by Santoso, but 6 puts for a 38.5 ave, much of that helped by healthy bounces too, that’s just not good enough.
 

mkAz said:
Perhaps I was spoiled by Santoso, but 6 puts for a 38.5 ave, much of that helped by healthy bounces too, that’s just not good enough.
Click to expand...
Agreed
It was poor performamce, few bounces helped average. Couldnt flip field
 

Airguard6 said:
I was at a birthday party and missed the game. Anyone know if any media platform, ie BTN On Demand, Comcast, etc, have the full game for my viewing pleasure?
Click to expand...

Watch it on FOX Sports GO app


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Our punter is averaging over 41, like 32nd in the country. It's not a major concern for me. Might not be a weapon, but far from a disaster.
 

My takeaways...

Solid win. With Smith, Gophs win comfortably by at least couple TDs IMHO.
Props to Carpenter. Golden leg.
Nice job with TOP.
Substitution and defense set management was not good at times, causing untimely and wasted TOs. Players looked completely confused on several occasions.
The offense play calling was not adjusted even though Gophs had 3rd string RB. Same play mix as last week.
Zack got better. More effective and efficient. Mobile with eyes down field.
Seth Green...X-factor but need to mix it up more.
TJ can't drop that early pass...and needs secure the ball better. Both drop and fumble were costly.
Personal foul penalty on last FSU scoring drive was very untimely and just plain stupid.
Props to Fleck for thanking the band. Very classy.

Staff should have a lot to analyze from this game to improve. Probably won't see it next week.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom