Post Game Thread: Oregon Fumbles TD, Blows Out Gophers

[gopherbadgerman]

I'll continue to catch shit for saying it, but until/unless Fleck starts to recruit at a top 20 level, we won't be top 20 level.
That said, that's no excuse for this level of play.

Agree. Not sure why people are so surprised MN does not compete with top teams on a regular basis. Our players are not as good, plain and simple. Its like bitching on the NW State Board (if there is one) about why they could not beat the Gophers.

 

[Gilthorp57]

Understand the sentiment but personally the Billds wish this was the same at TCF for every down and every play by the other team.

TCF can be a Christian Science Reading Room at times and the students leave in the 3rd Qtr

 

[Gilthorp57]

Barreiro was telling people yesterday on his show that Cuban only just started donating to IU football. That none of the 2024 players received a cent from him.

So ... I don't know how much that factors into it. I'm sure he is paying some of the players on this year's team. Maybe he personally bankrolled Mendoza ... no idea.

Cuban is not the only wealthy IU booster....Simon Group, Cook Medical, and the Eli Lilly family are heavy contributors to the school.

 

[Panthadad2]

It's hard to believe any DBs would have a score above 50 last night. Duck receivers were running free as as bird.

 

[Ope3]

But that gets to the point about if a ranking matters more at the time of the game or at the end of the season. Usually ranked teams don't collapse ... but USC did.

Going into our game they were 3-1 with a win over then-#13 LSU and a 3-point loss to then-#18 Michigan in Ann Arbor.

After losing to us they were 3-2 ... but would then finish the regular season 6-6!


Clearly not a great team.

I don't disagree with any of that, as it certainly played out that the USC ranking was a mirage.

However we didn't know any of that heading into the Bank that night, and it certainly seemed like a multiple TD beat down was possible at the hands of the Trojans.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

The last two games are 50/50 situations against peer opponents. Beat NU & UW and the season’s story is at least winning the winnable conference games. Any other outcome and we look like/are a program in decline. A fateful eight quarters are upon us: We’ll see how the coaches handle it.

A tad on the dramatic side

The sky in my experience, usually isn’t falling, contrary to “reports”

 

[Ope3]

The talent was so good ... that in 2022 they went 8-3 in the Sun Belt?

Fully granted they went 11-1 in 2023 ... but no impressive wins, and they lost their one difficult game so they didn't even go to the SB championship game.

So that's three years in a row the Cignetti has been riding easy schedules.


Yep they won 11 games in 2024. Don't think there has been a less impressive slate of 11 wins in the history of college football. Weren't competitive in the total two difficult games they had all season.


It's coming back to Earth ... guaranteed ...

What does coming back to Earth mean for Indiana football? 9-3? 8-4?

It is literally the program with most losses in P4 football throughout history. Those types of records are still a remarkable jump and I don't envision they will fall below those floors with the setup now even if they decide to challenge themselves with a decent Non-Conference opponent once in a while.

I find it difficult to see them falling below 10-2, quite frankly in the future.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

The talent was so good ... that in 2022 they went 8-3 in the Sun Belt?

Fully granted they went 11-1 in 2023 ... but no impressive wins, and they lost their one difficult game so they didn't even go to the SB championship game.

So that's three years in a row the Cignetti has been riding easy schedules.


Yep they won 11 games in 2024. Don't think there has been a less impressive slate of 11 wins in the history of college football. Weren't competitive in the total two difficult games they had all season.


It's coming back to Earth ... guaranteed ...

So not in 2025?

In 2026 then?

Any clue on the Apocalypse?

 

[Panthadad2]

What does coming back to Earth mean for Indiana football? 9-3? 8-4?

It is literally the program with most losses in P4 football throughout history. Those types of records are still a remarkable jump and I don't envision they will fall below those floors with the setup now even if they decide to challenge themselves with a decent Non-Conference opponent once in a while.

I find it difficult to see them falling below 10-2, quite frankly in the future.

It would require Cignetti finding top NFL caliber quarterbacks every year and playing at least 6-7 BG10 games vs teams in the bottom half of the standings. Current success is not sustainable.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Agree. Not sure why people are so surprised MN does not compete with top teams on a regular basis. Our players are not as good, plain and simple. Its like bitching on the NW State Board (if there is one) about why they could not beat the Gophers.

I don't think that comes down to just recruiting. Indiana is not recruiting at a top 20 level. Neither is Iowa. Wisconsin wasn't when they were winning a lot.

Fleck puts a good amount of guys in the NFL so there's clearly talent. The defense returned a lot of contributors from a good defense last year, yet are significantly worse. I refuse to believe these blowouts are only because of a big gap in talent. It's more than that.

 

[salzie]

Pray tell, what makes it impossible to recruit top 20 classes?

Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Can be done.

Minnesota produces very few P4 level recruits so starting out, already in hole.

Our Western neighbor produce even less.

Our southern neighbors tend to stay in Iowa.

Our eastern neighbors tend to stay in Wisconsin


Nationally top recruits come from the south, convincing them to come north isn't easy especially given our NIL situation is behind the big boys

Iowa isn't getting top 20 classes and find success..of course they pay their DC more than our coordinators combined.

 

[PMWinSTP]

It seemed to me that the Oregon crowd and the team were taking it out on us for their bad showing at Iowa. The crowd never stopped roaring at every Gopher play. The Gophers can't compete with the top third of the present B10. This is the ninth year and they should have 4 and 5* players by this time.

They have 4* players, but I agree there should be a few more each class. As for 5*, there would have to be a very strong connection to gopher football for any chance.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

O-line is terrible and interior DL/LB are underperforming. LBs are especially underperforming. Team speed is just bad.

If the team is determined to run a pro-set with Lindsey at QB, you simply can't have him ducking and/or dumping off the ball every time he drops back. Opposing defenses are just throwing the house at Lindsey and taking advantage of his inexperience and the subpar group of receivers.

I'm not going to harp on the refs because it wouldn't have made any difference in the outcome, but there were some really crappy calls against us last night.

Oline has been biggest disappointment to me all year. They struggled to block Buffalo in the interior, and have not improved much. The amount of mental mistakes, just turning the wrong way, being flat footed at guard is surprising. Right tackle has been an issue all year with extra support from tight ends and Rb's. Yesterday's game started off bad when they whiffed at picking blitz pick up. Just seem like a lot of problems transitioning scheme from zone to Gap. Not excuses but, the Oline needs to hit the film room hard, and lesson the mental mistakes. You can accept being new as a group, learning new spots, but lack of details on hand placement, being flat footed at the snap or late, and anxiety of where to be are disappointing. Real lack of cohesion. Maybe the QB and Oline need a feed bag, get on the same page to end the season flush session. Big 10 level of play has been lacking in mental aspects to me.

 

[Some Day...Maybe]

Gopher Sports admin/video department is an absolute Mickey Mouse show currently. They can’t post the post game pressers of their men’s basketball and football coaches on YouTube. It’s much too difficult for them. Meanwhile, my high school does it with no problems ever. Maybe they should hire an 8 year old to help them.

 

[PMWinSTP]

I don't think that comes down to just recruiting. Indiana is not recruiting at a top 20 level. Neither is Iowa. Wisconsin wasn't when they were winning a lot.

Fleck puts a good amount of guys in the NFL so there's clearly talent. The defense returned a lot of contributors from a good defense last year, yet are significantly worse. I refuse to believe these blowouts are only because of a big gap in talent. It's more than that.

There are also teams that frequently have top 20/25 classes and aren't top 20/25 ranked teams.

 

[WindyCityGopher]

I’m that guy who continually puts his hand on the hot stove then is surprised when I get burned. That’s the best analogy I have for being a fan of Gophers football. It just really never changes. We’ll never be good enough to be one of the big dogs, and our best just gets us in the middle. The rest? The experience of touching the hot stove.

 

[Crosby]

That team that finished 7-6?

Against actual talent this team is folding up shop aggressively week after week

I'm not sure we are folding up shop. The talent level difference is simply astounding. They have a roster full of what we would consider to be our top talent. That said, I cannot explain why other teams seem to play top team like Oregon better (see Wisconsin).

 

[gopherbadgerman]

I don't think that comes down to just recruiting. Indiana is not recruiting at a top 20 level. Neither is Iowa. Wisconsin wasn't when they were winning a lot.

Fleck puts a good amount of guys in the NFL so there's clearly talent. The defense returned a lot of contributors from a good defense last year, yet are significantly worse. I refuse to believe these blowouts are only because of a big gap in talent. It's more than that.

I'm not saying it is only talent, but I think that is the biggest issue.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

Is anyone else totally bored with 3 down lineman, drop 8 in coverage soft zones look, or lack of execution? Already struggle with zone reads by QB, and maintaining edge rushing lanes and you use a three man front? The blitz from a deep linebacker drop or delayed call is just dumb when you have 1.5 to 1.6 seconds to rush the QB. I mean I know there are injuries in Secondary but just dropping that deep your handcuffing even a chance to make a play. Tired of being scared of Ghost or play calls not even happening. Really dislike the positioning of the linebackers or zone drops by design even. I know your trying to minimize mistakes but damn, you lack speed at LB on the field, and dropping so soft, or bringing everyone up you leave huge gaps for cutbacks and crosses for intermediate routes. I mean some of this is poor scheme at times, it really is. At the same time I doubt anyone coaches people to over react and take the wrong angle, or just stop in place. I don't like seeing things like you look like your putting people on their back foot at the snap. We lack gap integrity on defense, and cohesive team play against good teams. Tackling was poor yesterday. Not sure what the answer is, but 3 man fronts, trying to funnel to safeties that don't like tackling, and soft zones are not it. The being scared of a shadow not a recipe for success. Gophers are not good at zone defense, or the concepts even. Pretty clear they have to play man mentally.

 

[Panthadad2]

Oline has been biggest disappointment to me all year. They struggled to block Buffalo in the interior, and have not improved much. The amount of mental mistakes, just turning the wrong way, being flat footed at guard is surprising. Right tackle has been an issue all year with extra support from tight ends and Rb's. Yesterday's game started off bad when they whiffed at picking blitz pick up. Just seem like a lot of problems transitioning scheme from zone to Gap. Not excuses but, the Oline needs to hit the film room hard, and lesson the mental mistakes. You can accept being new as a group, learning new spots, but lack of details on hand placement, being flat footed at the snap or late, and anxiety of where to be are disappointing. Real lack of cohesion. Maybe the QB and Oline need a feed bag, get on the same page to end the season flush session. Big 10 level of play has been lacking in mental aspects to me.

A couple of the OL (right side) don't even move their feet when engaged. Maddening. They stop moving their feet after contact on run plays thus negating their nice size and of course get annihilated in pass blocking. I honestly think the Gopher offense would work better placing a 30-40lb lighter athlete at those positions compared to what's in there now.

For textbook good O-Line, watch the left guard and tackle for the Ducks. They bulldoze on running plays until the whistle and move their feet and strongly engage on pass plays.

 

[SamSquatch]

Agree. Not sure why people are so surprised MN does not compete with top teams on a regular basis. Our players are not as good, plain and simple. Its like bitching on the NW State Board (if there is one) about why they could not beat the Gophers.

Because other teams of our same profile play good teams a lot closer and actually have a chance at an upset. Everyone predicted this was a loss at schedule release but you should still be disgusted by the constant non-competitive games against decent/good teams.

Other teams like WI, Georgia Tech, Cal, Iowa, etc., are all in our tier but play way more talented. It’s gross to watch the games be an obvious beatdown minutes into Q1, which has happened multiple times this season.

 

[icepirate13]

Maybe the D needs to learn to tackle. Hitting high and not wrapping up has hurt us ALL year.

 

[Gopherchase]

I'm not saying it is only talent, but I think that is the biggest issue.

No chance the biggest issue isn’t coaching. It’s a clown show.

 

[Gopherchase]

Maybe the D needs to learn to tackle. Hitting high and not wrapping up has hurt us ALL year.

PJ not only doesn’t believe in momentum he practices tackling almost not at all. That’s the norm in the NFL, can’t do it in college.

 

[TwistingMyMelon]

They have 4* players, but I agree there should be a few more each class. As for 5*, there would have to be a very strong connection to gopher football for any chance.

There aren't that many 5-star players anyway so they're hardly worth worrying about.

 

[GopherGrit]

So not in 2025?

In 2026 then?

Any clue on the Apocalypse?

In 2025 they've had two nice wins.

They'll lose in the Big Ten champ game to Ohio State.

Then they'll lose in the 2nd round of the playoff as I expect them to get a first round bye, since the new rules are that those can now go to non-conf champions.


Was that a worthwhile season? I guess it's nice to win 11 games ... then accomplish nothing of note, two years in a row?

 

[GopherGrit]

What does coming back to Earth mean for Indiana football? 9-3? 8-4?

It is literally the program with most losses in P4 football throughout history. Those types of records are still a remarkable jump and I don't envision they will fall below those floors with the setup now even if they decide to challenge themselves with a decent Non-Conference opponent once in a while.

I find it difficult to see them falling below 10-2, quite frankly in the future.

Mendoza could well win the Heisman.

All it will take is them getting on just average QB, and they'll be the same thing that Clemson currently is. How is that not true?

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Ducks running into and bouncing off gaggles of Gophers on multiple occasions is what really sticks with me this AM. Receivers running in green grass. Ridiculous tackling effort.

Still a big fan of Lindsey and a healthy Darius but this offense has issues.

Ultimately the product on the field is recruited, selected, developed, prepared by the coaches. We’ve seen major transformations up and down with a change in perspective and leadership. PJ isn’t going anywhere but maybe it’s time to gamble on some up and comers.

 

[MNVCGUY]

I'm not sure we are folding up shop. The talent level difference is simply astounding. They have a roster full of what we would consider to be our top talent. That said, I cannot explain why other teams seem to play top team like Oregon better (see Wisconsin).

Sconnie played them in a rain storm.....that certainly helped quite a bit.