Rossow: Gophers unwavering confidence in Leidner is bailed out this week by Smith

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Rossow:

The signs of a coaching staff with too high of expectations for Leidner have been there all along. Whether it was trusting him on a crucial third-down play at Penn State or rolling Leidner outside the left hashmark and expecting him to complete a pass on the opposite sideline against Iowa, there have been plenty of indications this coaching staff truly believes he is one of the best quarterbacks in the conference, if not the country.

They’re wrong.

Leidner’s lack of accuracy took eight points off the board on two deep passes, which if thrown in stride with his receivers, are sure touchdowns. The first was the opening play of the game, where Rashad Still got behind a trio of Purdue defenders, but had to gear down his route to catch an underthrown pass. The reception went for 46 yards, but the Gophers settled for a long Emmit Carpenter field goal to open the scoring.

http://www.1500espn.com/gophers-2/2...confidence-leidner-bailed-week-smith-defense/

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
per Rossow:

The signs of a coaching staff with too high of expectations for Leidner have been there all along. Whether it was trusting him on a crucial third-down play at Penn State or rolling Leidner outside the left hashmark and expecting him to complete a pass on the opposite sideline against Iowa, there have been plenty of indications this coaching staff truly believes he is one of the best quarterbacks in the conference, if not the country.

They’re wrong.

Leidner’s lack of accuracy took eight points off the board on two deep passes, which if thrown in stride with his receivers, are sure touchdowns. The first was the opening play of the game, where Rashad Still got behind a trio of Purdue defenders, but had to gear down his route to catch an underthrown pass. The reception went for 46 yards, but the Gophers settled for a long Emmit Carpenter field goal to open the scoring.

http://www.1500espn.com/gophers-2/2...confidence-leidner-bailed-week-smith-defense/

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

You know, I've not been one to contest the tone of Twin Cities sportswriters. They write what they see, and I'm aware that I probably have a tinge of maroon bias that might make me get annoyed at what I see as unnecessary negativity. But this is getting ridiculous.

Yes, Leidner made a horrendous decision and threw a horrendous pass at the end of the first half. But didn't he also throw for 231 yards? Didn't he also rush for another 74 yards and two touchdowns? Didn't he consistently make smart choices on the read option? Didn't he make many more positive plays than negative plays? What does this kid have to do to not get ripped?

What am I missing?
 

High expectations but ... what do you do, never have him throw?

Mitch blew it on that play, but otherwise he had an alright day.
 

Can't wait to read what they say when MN goes to B1G championship 10-2.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 

Sometimes they forget players are human and not robots.

Which writer can show they have the least homer or bias for the home team?

If this staff earns the opportunity to come back next year, it will be interesting to see how QB position progresses under Johnson.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


Carter didn't have to dive to catch his long pass. He keeps his feet and just extends his arms it hits him right in stride.
 

You can knock the tone of his writing all you want.
Fact is, Mitch being off on two deep balls resulted in two field goals rather than two touchdowns. That's 8 points.

Mitch throwing that pick basically was 7 more.

That's 15 points.


And that was in what I think was one of his better games of the year
 


jonnyganas said:
Can't wait to read what they say when MN goes to B1G championship 10-2.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

YAWN, Should be undefeated!

Sure they scored 44 but they left at least three other TDs on the field!
 






GophersInIowa said:
I'm not the only one who thought that. Not sure why it is so funny. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think it is outrageous.
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Guy caught it fully extended. If he doesn't lay out he isn't even close to making the catch.

Looked for a replay of it. Can't find one. Maybe you are right and I misremember the play, but I laugh because from my memory it seemed like a funny comment.
 



Some guy said:
Guy caught it fully extended. If he doesn't lay out he isn't even close to making the catch.

Looked for a replay of it. Can't find one. Maybe you are right and I misremember the play, but I laugh because from my memory it seemed like a funny comment.
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Fair enough.

Regardless, there is plenty of reasons to be critical of Leidner today and this season. I just don't think throwing a ball a few inches too far on a ball that went 55+ yards in the air is one of them.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Fair enough.

Regardless, there is plenty of reasons to be critical of Leidner today and this season. I just don't think throwing a ball a few inches too far on a ball that went 55+ yards in the air is one of them.
Click to expand...

I actually thought it was one of his better days.
The int to close the first half is as much on the coaches and the wideout. Wideout never looked for the ball which makes me think he ran the wrong route. Coaches should've not been going for points with 80 yards to go in less than 30 seconds and no timeouts.

ML missed on throws but hit some too. If you can eliminate the puck, playing like that will give the gophers a chance in the last 3
 

Some guy said:
I actually thought it was one of his better days.
The int to close the first half is as much on the coaches and the wideout. Wideout never looked for the ball which makes me think he ran the wrong route. Coaches should've not been going for points with 80 yards to go in less than 30 seconds and no timeouts.

ML missed on throws but hit some too. If you can eliminate the puck, playing like that will give the gophers a chance in the last 3
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I don't know, looked to be 100% on Mitch. Claeys said he ordered 4 verticals to see what they could get downfield (the wisdom of this is debatable) and the receivers ran those routes but Mitch didn't get the memo. It makes no earthly sense to run a 10 yard play in that situation. How/why it happened is unknown.
 

Some guy said:
Guy caught it fully extended. If he doesn't lay out he isn't even close to making the catch.

Looked for a replay of it. Can't find one. Maybe you are right and I misremember the play, but I laugh because from my memory it seemed like a funny comment.
Click to expand...

Ball hit Carter in the elbows after diving. He would've caught it without a dive. Criticize Mitch all you want on that godawful end of half play and the other long ball, but that was a perfect throw that should've been a touchdown.
 

I'm constantly amazed at the degree of negativity I find on this board. I doubt there is a single guy on this board now or at the time of his athletic prime who could throw a better ball to Carter than Mitch did. He didn't need to lay out like he did but even so who cares. Gained a bunch of yards- scored 3- and we scored over 40 again but people are bitchin like we won 7-6. Unreal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Some guy said:
Guy caught it fully extended. If he doesn't lay out he isn't even close to making the catch.

Looked for a replay of it. Can't find one. Maybe you are right and I misremember the play, but I laugh because from my memory it seemed like a funny comment.
Click to expand...

I think you got it wrong...he didn't extend to catch it, he just jumped. He runs through the ball it hits him in stride and on his hands.

That said, maybe Mitch knows his receivers better than we do and knows they don't run through the ball (i.e. Carter on his catch) and he knows he needs to slightly underthrow them so they can catch it and stay on their feet.

What we all don't seem to get is that they do this in practice time and time and time again. I am not a practice every day and I don't see what they see. But I suspect that the Coaches and our Senior QB aren't confused. That said, Mitch may just be a ****ty QB...I don't know.

But I know that Carter jumps all the time when he goes to catch the ball and it has cost him drops on easy catches if he just keeps his feet. Probably why he got beat out by a walk on (who has been kicked off team).
 

The Leidner hatred by Gopher fans and the local media is ridiculous. He may not be the QB we all hoped he would be but his ranking among previous Gopher QB's looks pretty damn good. Let's face facts. The Gophers have never had a top rated passing QB in it's entire history. The last Gopher QB who made the All America team was Sandy Stephens and he didn't pass all that much.

One stat that I am certain Leidner looks pretty good in is leading the Gophers to a win with a 2nd half comeback. I doubt there is any Gopher QB in history who has done it as often as Leidner. He is simply a hard nosed competitor who be all accounts is loved by his teammates whatever his failings as a passer. I will take that any time given the Gopher's 50 year history of futility since they last won a Big 10 championship.

Win %

Leidner - 59.5% (3 bowl games)
Abdul-Khaliq - 59.5% (2 bowl games)
Cockerham - 56.5% (1 bowl game)
Dungy - 54.5%
Cupito - 54.1% (3 bowl games)
Foggie - 50.0% (2 bowl games)
Hohensee - 40.9%
Weber - 34.0% (2 bowl games)
Schade - 31.8%
Fleetwood - 30.3%
Sauter - 29.4%

Completion %

Weber - 57.0%
Sauter - 57.0%
Abdul-Khaliq - 56.8%
Leidner - 55.9%
Cupito - 55.9%
Hohensee - 54.3%
Fleetwood - 53.1%
Cockerham - 52.0%
Schade - 51.4%
Foggie - 49.5%
Dungy - 46.8%

Interception %

Cupito - 2.7%
Leidner - 2.9%
Weber - 3.2%
Sauter - 3.5%
Schade - 3.67%
Hohensee - 4.3%
Cockerham - 4.95%
Fleetwood - 5.0%
Foggie - 5.1%
Dungy - 5.97%

Touchdown Pass %

Abdul-Khaliq - 6.5%
Cupito - 6.0%
Cockerham - 5.98%
Foggie - 5.4%
Hohensee - 4.57%
Weber - 4.52%
Sauter - 4.23%
Dungy - 3.75%
Leidner - 3.54%
Schade - 3.51%
Fleetwood - 2.0%

http://www.thedailygopher.com/2011/7/7/1633820/a-look-at-some-of-the-greatest-of-gopher-quarterbacks
 

Mitch is what and whom he is. Right now he's the offense leader of a 7-2 team tied for the lead in the B1G West. Is he a Heisman candidate? No. Is he the best QB in Gopher history? No. But he's a capable leader of our offense. If anyone says they would not have been happy to be at 7-2 this morning 2 months ago they are self dfilusional.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
The Leidner hatred by Gopher fans and the local media is ridiculous. He may not be the QB we all hoped he would be but his ranking among previous Gopher QB's looks pretty damn good. Let's face facts. The Gophers have never had a top rated passing QB in it's entire history. The last Gopher QB who made the All America team was Sandy Stephens and he didn't pass all that much.

One stat that I am certain Leidner looks pretty good in is leading the Gophers to a win with a 2nd half come back. I doubt there is any Gopher QB in history who has done it as often as Leidner. He is simply a hard nosed competitor who be all accounts is loved by his teammates whatever his failings as a passer. I will take that any time given the Gopher's 50 year history of futility since they last won a Big 10 championship.

Win %

Leidner - 59.5% (3 bowl games)
Abdul-Khaliq - 59.5% (2 bowl games)
Cockerham - 56.5% (1 bowl game)
Dungy - 54.5%
Cupito - 54.1% (3 bowl games)
Foggie - 50.0% (2 bowl games)
Hohensee - 40.9%
Weber - 34.0% (2 bowl games)
Schade - 31.8%
Fleetwood - 30.3%
Sauter - 29.4%

Completion %

Weber - 57.0%
Sauter - 57.0%
Abdul-Khaliq - 56.8%
Leidner - 55.9%
Cupito - 55.9%
Hohensee - 54.3%
Fleetwood - 53.1%
Cockerham - 52.0%
Schade - 51.4%
Foggie - 49.5%
Dungy - 46.8%

Interception %

Cupito - 2.7%
Leidner - 2.9%
Weber - 3.2%
Sauter - 3.5%
Schade - 3.67%
Hohensee - 4.3%
Cockerham - 4.95%
Fleetwood - 5.0%
Foggie - 5.1%
Dungy - 5.97%

Touchdown Pass %

Abdul-Khaliq - 6.5%
Cupito - 6.0%
Cockerham - 5.98%
Foggie - 5.4%
Hohensee - 4.57%
Weber - 4.52%
Sauter - 4.23%
Dungy - 3.75%
Leidner - 3.54%
Schade - 3.51%
Fleetwood - 2.0%

http://www.thedailygopher.com/2011/7/7/1633820/a-look-at-some-of-the-greatest-of-gopher-quarterbacks
Click to expand...


Mitch probably gets more hate than he deserves because the team around him isn't helping him out, and he can be very good at times. Then there are times when he's very off.

One quibble with the stats above is that it's really hard to say how impressive or unimpressive a completion percentage is without knowing yards per attempt and ideally yards after catch. Personally I'd also like to see percentages by distance, to left, right, center, etc.
 

ncgo4 said:
Mitch is what and whom he is. Right now he's the offense leader of a 7-2 team tied for the lead in the B1G West. Is he a Heisman candidate? No. Is he the best QB in Gopher history? No. But he's a capable leader of our offense. If anyone says they would not have been happy to be at 7-2 this morning 2 months ago they are self dfilusional.
Click to expand...

This is all true, but I think the issue some of us have is that the team hasn't looked very good getting to that record and it's hard to find a scenario where we can defeat a quality opponent like Wisconsin. That's the frustrating part (not saying it can't happen if the ball bounces our way). Absolute kudos for finding ways to win and I hope and believe the team rallies and continues to improve. I don't think we've seen a 4 quarter effort in all 3 phases yet this season. Additionally, Iowa isn't very good and we laid an egg. It was there for the taking. PSU was all but wrapped except for horrendous gap control on defense, giving up the big plays on third down again and again.

I'm still not sure Sawvel can contain himself as DC, and I LOVE Sawvel. He seemed to acknowledge as such in that tweet yesterday. He's a gambler and has been losing a little too often thus far. Absolutely want this staff to win and succeed because we do have a real, live defense which is exciting.

Oh and as for the people that think we're rooting for the team to lose, GTFO with that garbage. Really, just the worst take.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I'm not the only one who thought that. Not sure why it is so funny. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think it is outrageous.
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You arent wrong but it was only 1 pass out of many where most are underthrown. It was a good pass but most of the time Mitch isnt very good at the long ball. I dont think he is as bad as some here but clearly he is a very inconsistent qb.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
The Leidner hatred by Gopher fans and the local media is ridiculous. He may not be the QB we all hoped he would be but his ranking among previous Gopher QB's looks pretty damn good. Let's face facts. The Gophers have never had a top rated passing QB in it's entire history. The last Gopher QB who made the All America team was Sandy Stephens and he didn't pass all that much.

One stat that I am certain Leidner looks pretty good in is leading the Gophers to a win with a 2nd half comeback. I doubt there is any Gopher QB in history who has done it as often as Leidner. He is simply a hard nosed competitor who be all accounts is loved by his teammates whatever his failings as a passer. I will take that any time given the Gopher's 50 year history of futility since they last won a Big 10 championship.

Win %

Leidner - 59.5% (3 bowl games)
Abdul-Khaliq - 59.5% (2 bowl games)
Cockerham - 56.5% (1 bowl game)
Dungy - 54.5%
Cupito - 54.1% (3 bowl games)
Foggie - 50.0% (2 bowl games)
Hohensee - 40.9%
Weber - 34.0% (2 bowl games)
Schade - 31.8%
Fleetwood - 30.3%
Sauter - 29.4%

Completion %

Weber - 57.0%
Sauter - 57.0%
Abdul-Khaliq - 56.8%
Leidner - 55.9%
Cupito - 55.9%
Hohensee - 54.3%
Fleetwood - 53.1%
Cockerham - 52.0%
Schade - 51.4%
Foggie - 49.5%
Dungy - 46.8%

Interception %

Cupito - 2.7%
Leidner - 2.9%
Weber - 3.2%
Sauter - 3.5%
Schade - 3.67%
Hohensee - 4.3%
Cockerham - 4.95%
Fleetwood - 5.0%
Foggie - 5.1%
Dungy - 5.97%

Touchdown Pass %

Abdul-Khaliq - 6.5%
Cupito - 6.0%
Cockerham - 5.98%
Foggie - 5.4%
Hohensee - 4.57%
Weber - 4.52%
Sauter - 4.23%
Dungy - 3.75%
Leidner - 3.54%
Schade - 3.51%
Fleetwood - 2.0%

http://www.thedailygopher.com/2011/7/7/1633820/a-look-at-some-of-the-greatest-of-gopher-quarterbacks
Click to expand...

Pretty good for a DII QB!
 

Claeys said he wanted a deep pass on the play at the end of the 1st half. So - either the OC didn't call the play the coach wanted - or he did call the right play and it wasn't communicated properly to the QB and the WR's - or the QB and the WR's deliberately ran the wrong play. Leidner was quoted as saying he wasn't sure what the goal of the play was. That sounds like a communications issue to me.

Bottom line, if the QB isn't sure what he's supposed to be doing - whether that's his fault or the OC's fault - don't run the stinkin' play. call a time-out, or audible to a safe play. So, I would say there is plenty of blame to go around - Leidner shares some of that blame, but it's not all on him.
 


Mitch said he saw DB way off and thought a short pass and spike would have worked. Great if WR is on same page. The QB has to understand that a 45 yard interception is ok in that situation and chuck it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Mitch said he saw DB way off and thought a short pass and spike would have worked. Great if WR is on same page. The QB has to understand that a 45 yard interception is ok in that situation and chuck it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Yup pretty clear miscommunication. ML threw a slant, WR never looked
 

Sawvel's kids Martin, Coughlin and Winfield might be the best 3 Defensive Freshmen in the Big Ten. If you rewatch the games watch those three move in and out of coverage. Super smooth. 2016 Mn was 1 decent QB from being a well rounded above avg Big Ten Team.
 

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