Scorched Earth...Penn State Edition

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DougMN said:
I do Coach. I'm not quite sure how my outlook on the Gopher/B1G TEN season translates into being a bad Coach though. You post on the Gopher Football Forum- you must hate the NFL. Is there a correlation? Prognosticators haven't spent much time breaking down my team and our opponents this year. I guess that's a benefit of Youth Football.

When is the last time we upset anyone? Nebraska in 2014, I think. Rutgers and Purdue are Wins. Maryland, Nebraska, Wisconsin are losses. That leaves Iowa, Illinois and Northwestern. I think we get 1 of those. That's 6 wins. If we had beat Penn State and proved we could win on the road in a tough environment- the Season outlook would be different.
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Again you go back to one loss in the first 1/3 of the season has changed your outlook by 4 games.


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3 conference wins and Tracy is toast?

I think that's a real possibility.
 

DougMN said:
My expectations were very high for this year. I'm talking 10 Win high. This game should have been a win. The 'Kill/Claeys" system is now in full effect and this was the window where we don't have a Michigan, Michigan State or Ohio State on the schedule. This loss signified that this is going to be another 5-6 Win season which means 2-3 Conference Wins. For those of you that are remaining positive and finding Silver Lining in this- Hats off. But this was a BAD Penn State Team that was depleted on defense and has horrible coaching. I am guessing PSU wins 2 more games this year.
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So had we won, we would be on track for 10 wins. But an OT loss means we're on track for 5-6 losses. I can guarantee that if they didn't tie the game, you wouldn't have posted this rant. The difference between winning and losing is often razor thin. The conclusions you have drawn make no sense to me. Penn St certainly didn't pack it in after their rough start, I imagine we won't either. All goals still on the table from my end, and I also expect 9-10 wins, and I still do. Get some key players back, stay healthy, and improve week to week and we can still get there.
 

DougMN said:
And if your response, which would be typical on here, is "Good- we don't need you"- guess what...the Athletic Department does. I've been a Season Ticket holder for many years. I haven't missed a Home game in 6 years. I am waiting at 7AM for the tailgate lot to open every week during Home games with my group of friends. I travel to Away games. I vocally support the team at work, with friends and I've brain-washed my kids to be Gopher fans. I am the fan that simply writes my check during ticket renewal without even thinking about it. I don't expect a 'pay-off' every year. Heck- even every 5 years. The little success we felt in 2014 was amazing and completely inflated my expectations. And I know if you are a Gopher fan that only 'gets' something out of it if they win- you are doing it for the wrong reasons. But it's getting old. I'm trying to hang in there, but it's getting harder and harder.
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I've got an idea that should solve all our problems. How about we jack prices on season tickets?
 

I agree with most of what DougMN has said, and for me it wasn't just the Penn St. loss that lowered expectations. The Gophers struggled with bad teams in Oregon St. and Colorado St. Penn St. will likely finish with 5-7 wins, they are an average team. If you want to be a contender, you have to beat average teams whether at home or on the road.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
I agree with most of what DougMN has said, and for me it wasn't just the Penn St. loss that lowered expectations. The Gophers struggled with bad teams in Oregon St. and Colorado St. Penn St. will likely finish with 5-7 wins, they are an average team. If you want to be a contender, you have to beat average teams whether at home or on the road.
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Colorado State got trashed at home by a horrible Wyoming team. Oregon State got beat by 40 points.
 

DougMN said:
Well...wherever it's taken- I'm sure you will have multiple comment's on it to put it in it's place. Your Maroon and Gold Glasses are admirable. But your anger and venom are very ugly. Send me a PM and I'll tell you where I tailgate. You can stop over for a beer Saturday morning.
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Anger and venom? I'm always going to side with my university against anonymous assailants on the Internet, 100% of the time. Don't like it? Tough. Don't trash my university.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I agree with most of what DougMN has said, and for me it wasn't just the Penn St. loss that lowered expectations. The Gophers struggled with bad teams in Oregon St. and Colorado St. Penn St. will likely finish with 5-7 wins, they are an average team. If you want to be a contender, you have to beat average teams whether at home or on the road.
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Many many contenders have had stinker games. We aren't an overwhelming powerhouse like Michigan and OSU. Even Wisky struggled with Georgia State. If your expectations are lower, that's fine. We aren't a great team right now. I still like the potential of this team when we get back Lingen and Still and let's see how the secondary looks adding in our #2 and 3 corners.
 

Section2 said:
Many many contenders have had stinker games. We aren't an overwhelming powerhouse like Michigan and OSU. Even Wisky struggled with Georgia State. If your expectations are lower, that's fine. We aren't a great team right now. I still like the potential of this team when we get back Lingen and Still and let's see how the secondary looks adding in our #2 and 3 corners.
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Don't forget Devers. Could have really used him Saturday.
 



dpodoll68 said:
Anger and venom? I'm always going to side with my university against anonymous assailants on the Internet, 100% of the time. Don't like it? Tough. Don't trash my university.
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That's why I invited you over for a beer. Maybe I wouldn't be an anonymous assailant if we met. It's also my University as well. I bet your not an a**hole in person.
 

Doug, I'm right there with ya on this one. I, too, was bothered intensely by this loss & how it unfolded. What concerned me most were the stupid LOS penalties, the lack of discipline, and our DB's inability to turn and look for the ball. Oh, and the tackling has been spotty all season, too.

I admire you for being such a loyal and committed Gopher fan. Ski-U-Mah!
 

dpodoll68 said:
Pretty sure the University of Minnesota Athletic Department will continue to exist without DougMN's gargantuan financial contributions.
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You're not wrong, you just sound like an asshole when you phrase it like that.

I've told my boys on more than one occasion that sometimes it's better to be kind than right, and sometimes you can be both. You don't have to phrase it like you're trying to pick a fight, which is how it reads.
 

Carlson 79 said:
Doug, I'm right there with ya on this one. I, too, was bothered intensely by this loss & how it unfolded. What concerned me most were the stupid LOS penalties, the lack of discipline, and our DB's inability to turn and look for the ball. Oh, and the tackling has been spotty all season, too.

I admire you for being such a loyal and committed Gopher fan. Ski-U-Mah!
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Watch it or you won't be needed either.
 




dpodoll68 said:
Pretty sure the University of Minnesota Athletic Department will continue to exist without DougMN's gargantuan financial contributions.
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The Department has apparently decided it can continue without the financial contributions of 18% of its season ticket holders too.
 

Unregistered User said:
You're not wrong, you just sound like an asshole when you phrase it like that.

I've told my boys on more than one occasion that sometimes it's better to be kind than right, and sometimes you can be both. You don't have to phrase it like you're trying to pick a fight, which is how it reads.
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Point taken. Thanks, friend.
 

DougMN said:
When is the last time we upset anyone? Nebraska in 2014, I think.
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I didn't know they played football way back then.


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Spoofin said:
I didn't know they played football way back then.
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Upset was the wrong term. I should have said won as the underdog. Upset would refer to beating a ranked team and I have no idea how long that's been. Looking at last season's schedule I don't think we won any games as the underdog.
 

Penn State is a bad team? Is Pittsburgh, who lost one-point road games to Oklahoma St. and UNC, a bad team? Because Penn St. almost beat Pitt on the road.
 

WorkingMyTailOff said:
How come it seems that everyone of your posts is a passive aggressive slam against the program? Empty trophy case... you could at least make them more aggressive or funny.
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I never said anything recently about an empty trophy case. Clearly funny is not my thing but I might take you up on your suggestion to be more aggressive when I'm not busy focusing on our efforts to earn our fifth straight bowl game.
 

Agree that it was very disappointing, mostly because it suggested we might lose most if not all of our remaining road games (Wisconsin, Nebraska, Maryland - which is coming on strong - and Northwestern. Going 6-6 or even 7-5 in the sixth year of a rebuilding program, with a much softer schedule than last year, is not where we want to be. Yet we really don't know how good Penn State is - we'll have a much better sense of that after this Saturday, as we will with the Gophers against Iowa. If Maryland wins at Penn State and we lose at home, anguish may be reasonable.
 

DougMN said:
This was supposed to be the year for the Gophers. Weak schedule, Senior QB, good HB's, good recruiting classes starting to pay off.
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All that is true, but I notice you didn't mention expectations about defense. We've grown accustomed in this era of Minnesota having a good, or at least decent, defense and assumed that the defense would take care of itself despite some critical personnel losses. For the most part, the offense has played well this year and did again at PSU (almost 500 yards) but our eyes and conference team stats tell us that this is one of the worst defenses in the conference, particularly when it comes to passing defense.

For much of the recent Kill/Claeys era, this team has been a good defense/weak offense team. Most of us probably didn't feel the team would transform into a good offense/weak defense team but that's what's happened so far. Despite Leidner's bad and very untimely interception against PSU, the "senior QB and good HBs" have played well. If they continue that way, we just need some significant improvement on the other side of the ball to be a pretty good team. We also need to cut down on dumb penalties as we're leading the conference in penalty yards per game.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
Yet we really don't know how good Penn State is - we'll have a much better sense of that after this Saturday, as we will with the Gophers against Iowa. If Maryland wins at Penn State and we lose at home, anguish may be reasonable.
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Well said! I know enough from watching one PSU game to know that they have a potentially very good QB and some pretty good receivers. If the rest of their team catches up and they get some defensive players healthy, they could be a bit of a surprise for the rest of this year.
 

If you look at PSU's schedule, I think they win 2 more with a possibility of beating Indiana on the road. I don't think Franklin is a good Head Coach. Just because they are Penn State doesn't mean they are good. The team we played on Saturday wasn't good. They just figured out if they threw deep at Ayinde, they catch it or get a PI.

If we had won the game- whoever said it is right- no scorched earth, no post bitching about the hardships of being a Gopher fan...etc. I can't count how many games over the years we have been in it 'til the end and lost. That's where the Gopher fatigue sets in. Having defeat snatched from the jaws of victory over and over. It's also why I HATE Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin- teams that seem to have a Horseshoe stuck up their ass- even with all of their talent. I would LOVE nothing more than to roll Iowa and the rest of the schedule and this Penn State Game proven to just be a hiccup. As a long time Gopher fan, my brain tells me it's a trend and not a mirage though.

I said in my first post I was venting. I'm not rolling it up.
 

olddoc said:
I was not aware the the recruiting classes were so stellar to warrant the optimism of a nine or ten win season no matter how easy the schedule is.
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Coach Claeys was aware of it, he said as much. Coach Kill also said this should be their best year.


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dpodoll68 said:
Pretty sure the University of Minnesota Athletic Department will continue to exist without DougMN's gargantuan financial contributions.
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Combine more people like Doug with the 18% and it'll just mean playing in front of 35000 fans in a 50000 seat stadium. Yay! Don't think that's the goal.


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Some Day...Is Coming! said:
Coach Claeys was aware of it, he said as much. Coach Kill also said this should be their best year.
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Could be this is their best team. Could be the team from 2 years ago played above their ability. Could be their best team is 6-6 against the easiest schedule we've had since the early part of the century.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Pretty sure the University of Minnesota Athletic Department will continue to exist without DougMN's gargantuan financial contributions.
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Gotta love that attitude. Must be a government worker.


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Yeah, I find myself constantly adjusting expectations on a season...Usually after the first game.

At this point, the ridiculous losing streak against Wisconsin means just a win against them almost makes the season a success to me. But I would like to see the team play competitively the whole season. Especially when we have a soft schedule. This loss sucked - made the 9 month wait for football that much more painful.
 

Nax5 said:
Yeah, I find myself constantly adjusting expectations on a season...Usually after the first game.

At this point, the ridiculous losing streak against Wisconsin means just a win against them almost makes the season a success to me. But I would like to see the team play competitively the whole season. Especially when we have a soft schedule. This loss sucked - made the 9 month wait for football that much more painful.
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Unfortunately, we've seen both teams play this year and we look to have about a 2% chance of winning the Axe...
 

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