BleedGopher
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per Sid:
Gophers blow upset
Wisconsin continued its dominance of the Gophers on Saturday with a 31-17 victory at Camp Randall Stadium, the 13th consecutive year the Badgers have taken Paul Bunyan’s Axe.
With a 17-7 halftime lead and the score still tied at 17-17 with eight minutes to play, you could recall Gophers coach Tracy Claeys’ optimistic predictions this past week about his 2017 team, and those seem very possible. But when you have four second-half interceptions, you don’t win games. It’s still hard to figure out why the Badgers can continue to compete for the title in the Big Ten while the Gophers lag behind.
Wisconsin entered with the nation’s fifth-best defense at stopping the run at 98.3 yards per game, but that didn’t stop the Gophers, who, subtracting five sacks, rushed for 132 yards on 33 carries. But the failure of the passing game killed the visitors’ chance of scoring a big upset.
At 8-4, and with potentially two Big Ten teams going to the College Football Playoff, the Gophers will probably get one of the better bowl bids that they have had in recent memory.
Claeys is optimistic the team can do better in 2017, even with a tougher schedule, which includes a final five-game stretch of at Iowa, at Michigan, Nebraska at home, at Northwestern and Wisconsin at home. Claeys said last week the team is in good hands going forward because of its young players.
“You know, the schedule is you play whoever it is, but we have a lot of young people that are making plays,” Claeys said. “We have to get some more depth up front in the offensive line, we’re banged up, but I believe we’ll have that by next fall. At receiver we need to improve there and catch more footballs. You have to catch the bad balls, too.”
That’s something the Gophers didn’t do well Saturday.
As for replacing quarterback Mitch Leidner, Claeys said: “I’d like to get to where we go to more of dual-threat quarterback and I think we have those kids in the system right now. Seth Green has done awfully well. Demry Croft, we were able to keep the redshirt on him. We have Mark Williams here, who can play several positions. We’re going to work to get one signed this year and move more in that direction, which is the direction I would like to go.
“We have our backs back, and defensively we return a lot of guys. The hardest one there is Demarius Travis, I think we have some kids that will have the opportunity to get where he’s at. Like I say it’s fun, the year has been a lot of fun. I know people are disappointed we lost [four] games but took them down to the wire and had a chance to win them. I think we’re in a place that we’re rolling players in that we should be competitive every year now in the Big Ten.”
This should have been a bigger year for the Gophers, but some close, tough losses kept them out of the Big Ten championship discussion.
http://www.startribune.com/close-losses-leave-vikings-in-need-of-help-for-playoffs/403171706/
Go Gophers!!
Gophers blow upset
Wisconsin continued its dominance of the Gophers on Saturday with a 31-17 victory at Camp Randall Stadium, the 13th consecutive year the Badgers have taken Paul Bunyan’s Axe.
With a 17-7 halftime lead and the score still tied at 17-17 with eight minutes to play, you could recall Gophers coach Tracy Claeys’ optimistic predictions this past week about his 2017 team, and those seem very possible. But when you have four second-half interceptions, you don’t win games. It’s still hard to figure out why the Badgers can continue to compete for the title in the Big Ten while the Gophers lag behind.
Wisconsin entered with the nation’s fifth-best defense at stopping the run at 98.3 yards per game, but that didn’t stop the Gophers, who, subtracting five sacks, rushed for 132 yards on 33 carries. But the failure of the passing game killed the visitors’ chance of scoring a big upset.
At 8-4, and with potentially two Big Ten teams going to the College Football Playoff, the Gophers will probably get one of the better bowl bids that they have had in recent memory.
Claeys is optimistic the team can do better in 2017, even with a tougher schedule, which includes a final five-game stretch of at Iowa, at Michigan, Nebraska at home, at Northwestern and Wisconsin at home. Claeys said last week the team is in good hands going forward because of its young players.
“You know, the schedule is you play whoever it is, but we have a lot of young people that are making plays,” Claeys said. “We have to get some more depth up front in the offensive line, we’re banged up, but I believe we’ll have that by next fall. At receiver we need to improve there and catch more footballs. You have to catch the bad balls, too.”
That’s something the Gophers didn’t do well Saturday.
As for replacing quarterback Mitch Leidner, Claeys said: “I’d like to get to where we go to more of dual-threat quarterback and I think we have those kids in the system right now. Seth Green has done awfully well. Demry Croft, we were able to keep the redshirt on him. We have Mark Williams here, who can play several positions. We’re going to work to get one signed this year and move more in that direction, which is the direction I would like to go.
“We have our backs back, and defensively we return a lot of guys. The hardest one there is Demarius Travis, I think we have some kids that will have the opportunity to get where he’s at. Like I say it’s fun, the year has been a lot of fun. I know people are disappointed we lost [four] games but took them down to the wire and had a chance to win them. I think we’re in a place that we’re rolling players in that we should be competitive every year now in the Big Ten.”
This should have been a bigger year for the Gophers, but some close, tough losses kept them out of the Big Ten championship discussion.
http://www.startribune.com/close-losses-leave-vikings-in-need-of-help-for-playoffs/403171706/
Go Gophers!!
