[POST GAME THREAD] Minnesota defeats Maryland 31-10

Donate To GopherHole
heston11 said:
I think your definition of a "crappy" team is different than most. Solid win on the road vs a 4-1 big ten team with the 17th best recruiting class in the nation per the ESPN broadcast.
Click to expand...

Well 17th last year right?

That doesn't really help much this year...

But still yea not a garbage team.
 

Very happy with Rhoda and the defense - and the TD screen pass was a long awaited treat, but we need Mitch to have a hot hand passing to beat some of the big boys on our schedule. Against Wisconsin and Nebraska Gophers won't be able to run as they did today. Northwestern on the road will be a tough game and Illinois will put up a fight. That leaves Rutgers and Purdue.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
Very happy with Rhoda and the defense - and the TD screen pass was a long awaited treat, but we need Mitch to have a hot hand passing to beat some of the big boys on our schedule. Against Wisconsin and Nebraska Gophers won't be able to run as they did today. Northwestern on the road will be a tough game and Illinois will put up a fight. That leaves Rutgers and Purdue.
Click to expand...

NW game is at TCF. I believe the Gophers should have an easy time with IL if they use the same approach they used at MD.
 

Not sure how you guys don't see this

We passed more than we ran in the two losses...40 plus times each. We don't do it well. Our receivers are not open and the pocket is rarely clean. Our design/scheme doesn't utilize strengths.
It makes the game longer. It makes the defense defend more minutes.

Versus Maryland we ran 48 times and passed 15 times. We have good running backs. Smith makes plays out of nothing. Brooks hits a tiny seam hard and gets positive yardage almost every time without much help.
If we continue to run the ball we'll continue to win. We control the game.

If we add another screen pass here and there, hit Smith out of the backfield, hit Lingen down the middle, run a jet sweep with Smith while Brooks is in the game after gashing them etc we have weapons but we gotta run much more than we pass. The idea we need a 50/50 balance is very flawed. Maryland passed 37 times and ran 36 times of which how many of the runs were actually quarterback scrambles? It's a dumb goal to be 50/50 just because. Definitely not our strength to pass. It does not make our running game better!!!! We still averaged 5 yards a carry today without Rhoda's minus yardage.

You can say 70 was on one play...that's what happens when you keep bashing. Think Adrian Peterson and 1500 yards... no gain, no gain, minus two, no gain, plus 67 etc. Brooks is very similar he finds the end zone!!! Give those guys and McCrary the ball. Keep challenging and rewarding the line. They cheat too much...play action to a wide open receiver for a change.
 

60's Guy said:
We passed more than we ran in the two losses...40 plus times each. We don't do it well. Our receivers are not open and the pocket is rarely clean. Our design/scheme doesn't utilize strengths.
It makes the game longer. It makes the defense defend more minutes.

Versus Maryland we ran 48 times and passed 15 times. We have good running backs. Smith makes plays out of nothing. Brooks hits a tiny seam hard and gets positive yardage almost every time without much help.
If we continue to run the ball we'll continue to win. We control the game.

If we add another screen pass here and there, hit Smith out of the backfield, hit Lingen down the middle, run a jet sweep with Smith while Brooks is in the game after gashing them etc we have weapons but we gotta run much more than we pass. The idea we need a 50/50 balance is very flawed. Maryland passed 37 times and ran 36 times of which how many of the runs were actually quarterback scrambles? It's a dumb goal to be 50/50 just because. Definitely not our strength to pass. It does not make our running game better!!!! We still averaged 5 yards a carry today without Rhoda's minus yardage.

You can say 70 was on one play...that's what happens when you keep bashing. Think Adrian Peterson and 1500 yards... no gain, no gain, minus two, no gain, plus 67 etc. Brooks is very similar he finds the end zone!!! Give those guys and McCrary the ball. Keep challenging and rewarding the line. They cheat too much...play action to a wide open receiver for a change.
Click to expand...

This^ I think you also just keep doing what is working and exploit a defense where it is weak and when the other team does not make adjustments. I didn't get to see much of the game yesterday and haven't been able to see a whole game yet this year, but hopefully this road win builds more confidence. Need to clean up mistakes and penalties (ugh), but if they can win the next three without a lot of injuries, the last three should be a lot of fun to watch and maybe, just maybe go 9-3 or 10-2. Either would probably keep Tracy here and get us to a decent bowl. Shoot, the year Northwestern went to the Rose Bowl, they lost to Miami, Ohio (granted a much better Miami, Ohio).
 


Maybe this has been covered - but I wonder if we would've had as strong an offensive performance if we had Leidner in the game.

NOT because Leidner is a worse QB - he's much better than Rhoda - but because his absence forced a change in play calling. As mentioned, we ran it way more than usual and it worked really well. Complete conjecture, but given the play calling with Leidner in the game this year, we might've been throwing it more yesterday and performing worse.

I hope the coaches continue to call plays like we saw yesterday - add Leidner to the mix for 15-20 passes a game and we could be pretty darn strong on that side of the ball and give our defense more rest between series.
 

Gopher07 said:
Maybe this has been covered - but I wonder if we would've had as strong an offensive performance if we had Leidner in the game.

NOT because Leidner is a worse QB - he's much better than Rhoda - but because his absence forced a change in play calling. As mentioned, we ran it way more than usual and it worked really well. Complete conjecture, but given the play calling with Leidner in the game this year, we might've been throwing it more yesterday and performing worse.

I hope the coaches continue to call plays like we saw yesterday - add Leidner to the mix for 15-20 passes a game and we could be pretty darn strong on that side of the ball and give our defense more rest between series.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think yesterday's recipe will probably work the next three games. When we get into the last few, (Nebraska, Wisconsin) I think we'll need to be able to pass to have a chance. Those teams will be able to stop the run without selling out most likely, leaving us in the situation where we will have to pass to move the chains. When that happens, having some experience and succes in the games leading up to those will come in handy.
 

It is nice to see a lop-sided B1G road game victory for the Gophers after close loses to PSU and Iowa.

The defense did well with lots of FR & SO playing well for what I think will be an eight-win season. Next year, we will have a young group with experience on D. Kudos to the O-Line and to our running game with Smith leading the running attack.

Great to see Lingen back. Now, let's get Mitch back.
 

60's Guy said:
We passed more than we ran in the two losses...40 plus times each. We don't do it well. Our receivers are not open and the pocket is rarely clean. Our design/scheme doesn't utilize strengths.
It makes the game longer. It makes the defense defend more minutes.

Versus Maryland we ran 48 times and passed 15 times. We have good running backs. Smith makes plays out of nothing. Brooks hits a tiny seam hard and gets positive yardage almost every time without much help.
If we continue to run the ball we'll continue to win. We control the game.

If we add another screen pass here and there, hit Smith out of the backfield, hit Lingen down the middle, run a jet sweep with Smith while Brooks is in the game after gashing them etc we have weapons but we gotta run much more than we pass. The idea we need a 50/50 balance is very flawed. Maryland passed 37 times and ran 36 times of which how many of the runs were actually quarterback scrambles? It's a dumb goal to be 50/50 just because. Definitely not our strength to pass. It does not make our running game better!!!! We still averaged 5 yards a carry today without Rhoda's minus yardage.

You can say 70 was on one play...that's what happens when you keep bashing. Think Adrian Peterson and 1500 yards... no gain, no gain, minus two, no gain, plus 67 etc. Brooks is very similar he finds the end zone!!! Give those guys and McCrary the ball. Keep challenging and rewarding the line. They cheat too much...play action to a wide open receiver for a change.
Click to expand...

Anyone challenging the coaches for being so conservative yesterday needs to read the above post. Well done 60's.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 



I'd argue 4 turnovers had more to do with the victory than the game plan. We have no shot to beat Wisconsin if we do not develop a passing game. We will struggle to beat Nebby if they develop a lead. Just because our passing is clunky now does not mean it cannot get better. It must get better.

Like others, when it became obvious Mitch was having a really bad day v Iowa we should have ran more. We should have ran more with the lead. OTOH the defense lost us the PSU game. Let's not kid ourselves.
 

Smith and Brooks had more carries in the 1st half yesterday than the whole game against Iowa. I still don't get why we didn't run that much last week. We were having some success.
 

Michigan and Ohio State both called a 40/60 ratio of pass to run vs Wisconsin. This will maximize yards per play and theoretically keep a team from cheating too much. If we try to run 75+ percent of the time we should do ourselves a favor and run the triple option. Of course, our passing game may not develop in time and contribute to a loss. We aren not seeing a ton of interesting stuff from this offense right now. Still, it is Jay's first year.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Just for comparison's sake, under Kill, the Gophers had 20+ point wins 6 times. They have 2 under Claeys. The Gophers also lost by 20+ points 11 times under Kill. As bad as last week was offensively, they were competitive. There's room to improve, but there's a lot of season left. Get to Nov. 12th with 3 more wins and you're a lot more confident heading to Lincoln.
Click to expand...

Kill inherited a program that was basically at rock bottom. You really can't compare the two at this point in time.
 



We just don't have the wide receivers to pass to a 50/50 ratio. I like 60/40 run versus pass. And I think at least 30 ℅of the passing should go to Smith, Brooks , and Lingen. And for god sakes don't throw the ball to Wozniak. He has enough trouble handling the snap count!!
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom