Season Grade A+

Donate To GopherHole
Bob_Loblaw said:
I agree that it's not an A, but I think you're being a little pessimistic about the development of this season.

In the recent past, we've struggled against atrocious teams (NMSU, NSDU, SDSU), this year, we avoided a devastating loss. A loss that was flat-out embarrasing. From where we came from, that's a big plus.

We beat a decent Syracuse team and we got bowl eligible.

If you would have told people last year after the Michigan game that we were going to make a bowl in 2012, they would have laughed at you.

We were an embarrassingly bad football team, now we are just an OK Big 10 team, that's a significant improvement.
Click to expand...

A decent Syracuse team that rolled #9 Louisville today??

Yes we were embarrassingly bad, but that is now behind us, and significant improvement is obvious except to the blind.

Go Gophers!!!
 

B+ is maximum. If we go to Lincoln and win, and follow that up by beating MSU at home, I will give the season a B+.

There is nothing you can say to convince me that a Gophers team that loses to wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan deserves an A.

With empty trophy cases, an A is out of the question.
 

They are about where I thought they'd be in the W/L sense. They've been inconsistent, but injuries have had a lot to do with that. I'm still disappointed they lost to Northwestern, because that game was right there for the taking. That said, it is a young team (not that it should be the Swiss Army knife of excuses) and I've seen improvement, especially on the defensive side of the ball. What has impressed me is that Kill seems to be able to get the team to close games out. I missed the 4th quarter, but was listening to the wrap up after the game and Justin Conzemius pointed out that the Gophers have only lost one game under Kill in which they were leading after the 3rd quarter. That's really impressive and something to build on. Now we just need to be leading more games at the end of the third quarter.

As for the A+, in a world where just about everyone gets a trophy, I suppose one can argue it's merited, but I guess I don't grade on quite a lenient curve.
 

Grading things is insanely overrated (coming from someone that does a lot of grading).

We've accomplished what most reasonable people expected us to do this year, and arguably a little more. We were helped by having some cupcakes on our schedule, but we beat who we were supposed to beat, and played a lot of young guys doing it.


Taking a step back, there are some areas of concern, but this has been a positive season that can really only go up from here.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
How is it blowing a year of eligibility if he has led us to a bowl game? The entire team (all of those freshmen) get an extra month of practice, they get the experience of a bowl game, and you'd consider that a waste?

What would Nelson have had to have done to consider his playing time warranted?
Click to expand...

I guess I still am a guy that didn't like the burning of the redshirt. I still think shortell and gray at qb would have the same results as Nelson. We beat Purdue and Illinois and were thumped by wisky and Michigan. It is what it is, Nelson's career is shorted 6 games and we will see how it pans out in 3 yrs. not sure why so many want to conirnue arguing about it, people just disagree on the move, not a big deal
 


Dr.Don said:
A decent Syracuse team that rolled #9 Louisville today??

Yes we were embarrassingly bad, but that is now behind us, and significant improvement is obvious except to the blind.

Go Gophers!!!
Click to expand...

He's right, Syracuse is no better than decent. Louisville being rated #9 in the country was a joke. Sure they were undefeated, but they've played the 105th toughest schedule and have beat two teams with winning records, Cincinnati and the unstoppable powerhouse UNC.
 

I'm very happy with the progress. They have won every game they should win. That is miles ahead of where they were the last two years.

Not much chance of beating Iowa in the first game of the conference season in Iowa City after beating them the last two years at home. If we played them next weekend instead of NU we'd have a much better shot. Iowa fades down the stretch.

My first post so feel free to disregard... and I've been celebrating today's victory a bit. Enjoy the ride.
 

lakesgopher said:
I guess I still am a guy that didn't like the burning of the redshirt. I still think shortell and gray at qb would have the same results as Nelson. We beat Purdue and Illinois and were thumped by wisky and Michigan. It is what it is, Nelson's career is shorted 6 games and we will see how it pans out in 3 yrs. not sure why so many want to conirnue arguing about it, people just disagree on the move, not a big deal
Click to expand...

Yep. We lose a much improved Nelson in his 5th year on what had better be a much improved team so he could play on a bad team this year and beat Purdue. Yippie...
 

At the beginning of the yr. people were saying 5-6 wins would be a big improvement. Well we have 6!!!!!!!!! Nelson is making progress and learning, but must improve his throwing. We will be fine. Compete well next yr. and fight for titles and big bowls in 2014
 



Considering the injuries on offense, I'm gonna have to agree that this season has been a huge success. Gray, Harbison, Olson brothers, Barker, Engel, Christenson, Mottla, McDonald. My goodness...injuries are a part of football, but this team has overcome an inordinate amount on one side of the ball. I know the "young" thing gets overplayed, but think about the guys coming in and taking over for these guys. It's not even worth speculating, but the way this defense has played at times, how good could this team have been with a healthy offense moving the ball and keeping the D rested? I, for one, am really proud of this team and staff. Excited as hell to watch a bowl game next month!
 

mckerney said:
Yep. We lose a much improved Nelson in his 5th year on what had better be a much improved team so he could play on a bad team this year and beat Purdue. Yippie...
Click to expand...

In breaking down tape and with all of your scouting, you've concluded that even with Leidner, Streveler, an unknown 2014 recruit and an unknown 2015 recruit, we are doomed at the quarterback position in 2016?

Could you gve us a list of Big Ten quarterbacks that have started a minimum of 48 games in their careers? Thanks in advance.
 

MGGopher said:
Considering the injuries on offense, I'm gonna have to agree that this season has been a huge success. Gray, Harbison, Olson brothers, Barker, Engel, Christenson, Mottla, McDonald. My goodness...injuries are a part of football, but this team has overcome an inordinate amount on one side of the ball. I know the "young" thing gets overplayed, but think about the guys coming in and taking over for these guys. It's not even worth speculating, but the way this defense has played at times, how good could this team have been with a healthy offense moving the ball and keeping the D rested? I, for one, am really proud of this team and staff. Excited as hell to watch a bowl game next month!
Click to expand...

Hell of a post. Agree 100%. With a healthy offense (especially the o-line) we could easily have 2 more wins. The defense has been solid and a nice surprise.
 

Maximus said:
In breaking down tape and with all of your scouting, you've concluded that even with Leidner, Streveler, an unknown 2014 recruit and an unknown 2015 recruit, we are doomed at the quarterback position in 2016?

Could you gve us a list of Big Ten quarterbacks that have started a minimum of 48 games in their careers? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone is thinking that, I just think people that believe Nelson is going to be very good would have loved for him to sit out this season and play 4 full seasons.

Some people on here dig way to hard on subjects to try and feel like they are always right and others are always wrong. Just agree to disagree and move on
 



take a year off

It provides a great chance to reconsider perspective, and the ability to see positives where they occur.

At worst the big 10 wins can be filed under " beating teams we should." Big 10 teams have any advantage the U might have or want.

Great wins maybe not, but BIG10 WINS none the less.

EG#9 said:
I honestly can't believe I am reading this after what I watched today. I saw two terrible football teams play an atrocious game that was won by the team that didn't turn the ball over. This is as bad as I've felt about a Gopher road conference win in a long time.

To declare this season an "A" when the Gophers have 2 conference wins is more than a little questionable...we've won 2 or more conference games for 5 straight years now. Hopefully, the Gophers can do something with the rest of their season to actually justify an "A" grade.
Click to expand...
 

Well, Personally give them a solid B. Did better this year than expected, but against the better teams did not look all that great. Not saying they should have beated Iowa and/or Northwestern, but should have showed themselves better.

BTW = Big thing is a bowl, even a mediocre one since it does give them more practice and experience with pressure.
 

Who is to say Kill doesn't find a better Nelson replacement in the next few years. As we have seen in college football you can't take anything for granted from year to year. This win was huge and sets up for making recruiting a little bit easier.
 

If this team can find a way to win 2 of the next three they will have tons of momentum going into next year. Nelson would be 4-3 with 7 games under his belt. We'd all feel better than we did at 4-3 after 3 Big Ten games.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I agree that it's not an A, but I think you're being a little pessimistic about the development of this season.

In the recent past, we've struggled against atrocious teams (NMSU, NSDU, SDSU), this year, we avoided a devastating loss. A loss that was flat-out embarrasing. From where we came from, that's a big plus.

We beat a decent Syracuse team and we got bowl eligible.

If you would have told people last year after the Michigan game that we were going to make a bowl in 2012, they would have laughed at you.

We were an embarrasingly bad football team, now we are just an OK Big 10 team, that's a significant improvement.
Click to expand...

I agree with all of this, except I am not sure the Gophers are an OK Big 10 team. I would still say they qualify as a "bad" Big Ten team until they win a 3rd conference game. The biggest thing about today's game for me was that I did not see the offense do anything that I believe would be repeatable against most Big Ten defenses. I think they are down a minimum of two TD's against most Big Tent teams at halftime with that type of offensive performance.
 

mckerney said:
Yep. We lose a much improved Nelson in his 5th year on what had better be a much improved team so he could play on a bad team this year and beat Purdue. Yippie...
Click to expand...

You guys really need to get over Nelson's supposedly lost season. Simple fact, you don't know what the hell the situation will be four years from now. You know, there just might be a tiny bit of a chance they can recruit and develop another QB. Also, you have no frickin' idea of the situation with Shortell as far as being injured. Finally, it's not a bad team anymore. Not great, but certainly not bad. So, ya, let this season go down the tubes tubes so Phil can get a half more season of play. This program wouldn't have been hurt at all with another losing season. Can't believe internet clowns who are so damn sure they know better than a coach who sees his team every day and has, oh, about 30 years experience. Unreal.
 

Mulligan said:
You guys really need to get over Nelson's supposedly lost season. Simple fact, you don't know what the hell the situation will be four years from now. You know, there just might be a tiny bit of a chance they can recruit and develop another QB. Also, you have no frickin' idea of the situation with Shortell as far as being injured. Finally, it's not a bad team anymore. Not great, but certainly not bad. So, ya, let this season go down the tubes tubes so Phil can get a half more season of play. This program wouldn't have been hurt at all with another losing season. Can't believe internet clowns who are so damn sure they know better than a coach who sees his team every day and has, oh, about 30 years experience. Unreal.
Click to expand...

I'm with you on everything but the Shortell comments. Health is not the reason he lost his job. He lost his job because he didn't shine when he had the chance and he is not the type of QB that Limegrover and Kill want to run this offense because he can't run. They need the read option and QB draws in order to do the things they need to do and Shortell just isn't that guy. Had he put up great numbers they wold have adjusted to him but when he struggled it became pretty easy to push him aside and go to the Kid. Little tougher to say what is or is not the deal with Gray. He was basically invisible today, not sure if it is due to injury or other reasons.
 

mckerney said:
He's right, Syracuse is no better than decent. Louisville being rated #9 in the country was a joke. Sure they were undefeated, but they've played the 105th toughest schedule and have beat two teams with winning records, Cincinnati and the unstoppable powerhouse UNC.
Click to expand...

Syracuse is 5-5 and has a winning conference record (albeit in the Big East), including two wins over ranked teams. Also, had they scheduled a couple of MAC teams out of conference instead of Northwestern and USC, like most teams would do, they would likely have a winning 7-3 record right now. Maybe the strong non-conference schedule just balances out playing in a bad conference. Still, I think most Gopher fans are selling the Syracuse game short as being just another game against a crappy non-conference opponent that we should win 9 times out of 10. I think it was a bigger win than most of us make it out to be.
 

It is also a solid B for me. They beat my expectation of a 5-7 finish. However, we don't have Floyd, the Axe, or the Jug in the trophy case. Beating both Wisconsin and Iowa will merit an A any season IMHO. If it weren't for the slew of injuries, who knows we could have been staring at an 8-4 season. They can still get a B+ or an A depending on the Neb & MSU games.

Our hats off to Coach Kill & staff! A bowl win bodes well for recruiting. I was skeptical when they hired Coach Kill. Not anymore. The Killer is just what the doctor ordered to right the ship, mold youngsters into real men through hard work and integrity, and elevate the UofM football brand to its prominence again.
 

Cayman said:
Syracuse is 5-5 and has a winning conference record (albeit in the Big East), including two wins over ranked teams. Also, had they scheduled a couple of MAC teams out of conference instead of Northwestern and USC, like most teams would do, they would likely have a winning 7-3 record right now. Maybe the strong non-conference schedule just balances out playing in a bad conference. Still, I think most Gopher fans are selling the Syracuse game short as being just another game against a crappy non-conference opponent that we should win 9 times out of 10. I think it was a bigger win than most of us make it out to be.
Click to expand...

Who is the other ranked team Syracuse beat? Their other wins are Stoney Brook, Pitt, South Florida, and UCONN. None of those squads are ranked now but maybe one of them was in the back half of the top 25 when they played Syracuse?

That being said the Syracuse win is a quality non-conf win because it was a BCS conference opponent. They are a middle of the pack team in a bad conference but at least it is a BCS conference.

I just hope fans keep thing in perspective as they trip all over themselves praising Kill and the staff and shouting we're back at the top of their lungs. Getting to a bowl is great but we have been in this spot many times before and again Brewster who we all regard as a poor coach managed to win 7 games and 3 conference games in year 2 so Kill getting the squad to 6 wins is not some unprecedented accomplishment. It is still nice to see improvement over last year but Kill has a lot to prove in terms of his ability to take this team farther in the future. Hopefully this year is a stepping stone to bigger and better things in the years to come but of our 6 wins so far this year the only two that have any quality aspect at all to them are Syracuse and Purdue (because it was a blowout). The other 4 wins have all come against really bad football teams.
 

Since we are rebuilding I grade on improvement based on last season: B+ so far, could be an A by the end of the season, won't fall below B+
I use my four criteria I have mentioned before:
1) postseason play: this year we have postseason, last year we didn't
2) B1G record: last year, 2-6, this year (2-6) to (4-4). Can't be worse than last year at this point, could be better when all is said and done.
3) Overall record: last year 3-0, this year (6-7) to (9-4). At worst, 3 games better than last year. At best, could be a damn good season, not just a strong improvement.
4) Trophies (in order of preference: 1)axe, 2)pig, 3)jug, 4)bell ): last year 1-2, idle on the bell which we do not own, this year 0-3, idle on the bell which we still don't own. My least important criteria is the only one where we have slipped.

This season is setting a new bar. It is exciting to be back in the postseason after two 3-9 campaigns and this was a great year for Coach Kill.
 

csom_1991 said:
I know - premature to be assigning a grade to the season but barring a career ending injury to Nelson, the Gophers have hit and surpassed all my expectations for this season:


I could not be prouder of the team. Way to go Gopher players and coaches.
Click to expand...

Yes, the Gophers have played better than expected and we fans have a right to be proud. But do we now grade on the basis of performance versus expectation? If the Gophers win their two remaining regular season games and the bowl game, they will be 9-4 -- a solid B season. Lose all three and they'd earn a C. Look at it this way, if they earn an A+ for a 7-6 or 6-7 season, what grade would they deserve if they went undefeated?
Meanwhile, good job by Kill and the Gophers to improve from recent years. The trend is good to see.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Who is the other ranked team Syracuse beat? Their other wins are Stoney Brook, Pitt, South Florida, and UCONN. None of those squads are ranked now but maybe one of them was in the back half of the top 25 when they played Syracuse?

That being said the Syracuse win is a quality non-conf win because it was a BCS conference opponent. They are a middle of the pack team in a bad conference but at least it is a BCS conference.
Click to expand...

My mistake, Louisville is their only win over a ranked team, I got mixed up looking at their schedule and thought they had beaten a ranked Rutgers team, which they did not. They still have a chance to end up with a winning record, however.
 


mckerney said:
I don't see the quality win in beating two teams that currently have a combined Big Ten record of 1-11




Blow a year of eligibility on a promising young QB is more like it.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't call it blowing a year of eligibility. The only games he missed were all the cupcakes.
 

It's amusing fun to give out grades but pretty meaningless. Grades are a subjective thing. Even two people giving the same grade can have very different meanings. For example, two students get a D in the same class. One student says he never cared for the professor but should have studied harder. The other student says he did more than enough to get a better grade and is going to firebomb the professor's home. So what does that D mean? That's why I prefer the perfect science of pass/fail.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
I didn't realize the season was over.
Click to expand...

Yeah it was over when we lost to Iowa, remember? At 4-1, I remember seeing at least one post saying we should bench Gray and put Shortell in so he could gain experience for next year.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom