Sid Hartman: Ex-coach Mason sees Gophers victory as a positive first step

[BleedGopher]

per Sid:

The Gophers football team entered its season opener with Buffalo as a 24-point favorite, so while the 17-7 victory wasn’t a bad outcome, there’s no doubt that the team is going to have to figure out how to score more points going forward to compete, especially in the Big Ten.

Former Gophers coach Glen Mason was doing the color commentary for the Big Ten Network telecast. He said that while he was surprised by the final, the biggest thing for a Gophers squad that is playing a ton of new players with a new coaching staff is to build momentum.

“I’ve said that all along,” Mason said. “They won tonight. A win is a win. When you look at their schedule, the toughness of the schedule is real loaded. They have to win early and build momentum, because those last five games are going to be really challenging.”

Mason added that even though the team had success last season, that meant nothing the second Thursday’s game began.

“Every season is independent,” he said. “You can’t say just because a team was 9-4 that they’re going to be 9-4 or better this year. They lost a lot of good players off of last year and lost a quarterback who had his ups and downs and was controversial in some regards in Mitch Leidner, but he played quarterback for four years.”

http://www.startribune.com/glen-mason-sees-gophers-victory-as-a-positive-first-step/442435053/

Go Gophers!!

 

[Iceland12]

Faith in both QBs

Throughout the season, the Gophers’ quarterback situation is going to remain the biggest story line.

And both Conor Rhoda and Demry Croft had positives and negatives in the victory. Rhoda threw for 176 yards on 12 of 21 passes and hooked up with Tyler Johnson on a 61-yard touchdown, but he also had an interception in the end zone late in the first half, and the second half might have been much more comfortable had the Gophers come away with points there after driving to the Buffalo 5-yard line.

Croft was able to pass for 63 yards, rush for 32 yards and lead a TD drive as well.

“I don’t think [Fleck] really wants to use a two-quarterback system, but he hasn’t decided on one, yet,” Mason said. “So he thought it would be fair to let them both play tonight. I was impressed that he let them both play, and he gave confidence to both.

“I thought Conor Rhoda played better running that offense, but he had faith in Croft at the end of the game in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line. Not just going with the running backs but throw the football. I don’t think he’s definitively made a decision on who the quarterback is yet.”

 

[Iceland12]

If there was a standout performance in the game it was Tyler Johnson’s first half at receiver. Last year as a freshman, he showed a lot of positive signs, grabbing 14 passes for 141 yards and a score in 13 contests. But he made a big leap in Thursday’s first half, when he had six receptions for 141 yards.

Mason said that while some might question why he slowed down in the second half, that misses the point.

“Everybody looks at it and says, ‘Geez, you catch six passes in the first half, what happened in the second half?’ ” he said. “But you have to give the defense credit, because maybe they’re doing some things to take him away. … P.J. was really high on Johnson coming into this game, and I can see why. The young man coming in from North High School is really good.”

One unpleasant surprise was the two missed field goals by Emmit Carpenter, one of the best kickers in college football last year. Still Mason said that his third kick, a 43-yarder with 2:05 to play, meant the most because it made it a two-score game.

“He’s the Big Ten Kicker of the Year in the conference, really good, made 22 of 24 last year, and I wasn’t surprised when he made the third one,” Mason said. “He’s an exceptional kicker, and who knows why he missed the first two? No one makes them all.”