Sitting on leads...

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Great Plains Gopher

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I don't know about you, but sitting on a lead makes me nervous. The Gophers needed a third touchdown to put the game away and never got it (let clock run out at half, e.g.). Get that put-away touchdown and then go conservative, if you like. Otherwise the game goes down to the wire.
 

Well we did leave two touchdowns off the board when Barker dropped one in the first quarter and when Tufts' (I think it was him) touchdown was called back because one of our olinemen committed a horrible holding call.
 

I agree. While the Gophers controlled the game throughout, it was only 17-3. A single mistake, high snap from the longsnapper, pick 6, fumble return for a TD, or anything else and Syracuse is right back into the game.
 

I agree that it is nerve racking...but I am going to go with Coach Kill on this one...unlike his two predecessors, he knows how to close out football games and win.
 

I'm another one who gets uncomfortable when things are going well and the coach seems to take his foot off the gas. I have assumed it was out of a desire to minimize mistakes. It seems it's happened against W Michigan and Syracuse.
 


We need the leads...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rbSs3PB00o4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 

Former Goofer said:
Well we did leave two touchdowns off the board when Barker dropped one in the first quarter and when Tufts' (I think it was him) touchdown was called back because one of our olinemen committed a horrible holding call.
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What do yo mean by that? It was an obvious hold, no question about it. If he did not hold, it was going to be a sack.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
I don't know about you, but sitting on a lead makes me nervous. The Gophers needed a third touchdown to put the game away and never got it (let clock run out at half, e.g.). Get that put-away touchdown and then go conservative, if you like. Otherwise the game goes down to the wire.
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If they are connected to the battery it can also be dangerous.
 

Personally, I've always been frustrated with MN coaches' inability to deliver the "death blow" in games we're winning. Every time I'm watching a game where we appear to dominate the first half and then play "not to lose" rather than playing to win in the second half, I have flashbacks of the 2003 Michigan game. I can't count the number of times we've managed to lose games by playing this strategy. The thing that we fail to realize by employing this strategy is that winning teams win games because they find ways to win them. There's no reason we should be assisting them by throttling back once we have a comfortable lead. That being said, given the opportunity, I'd like to see the Gophers pound Iowa by 50 this weekend!

GO GOPHERS!
 



Considering in both of the previous games, "sitting" on our leads has caused the other team to not even have the time to come back on us, despite solid efforts to try to do so, I'm gonna have to say I'm cool with it. Plus, they have a soph QB out there, they're not gonna put him in position to make mistakes unnecessarily.

It also helps when you know you got a defense that can hold its own.
 

In all honesty, I don't feel like the coaches took the foot off the gas. They were still throwing the ball later in the 4th. Max just didn't connect on some of his open looks and the drives stalled.

The execution issues are why we went through nail biting time. Not the playcalling IMO.
 

hoialmen said:
Personally, I've always been frustrated with MN coaches' inability to deliver the "death blow" in games we're winning. Every time I'm watching a game where we appear to dominate the first half and then play "not to lose" rather than playing to win in the second half, I have flashbacks of the 2003 Michigan game. I can't count the number of times we've managed to lose games by playing this strategy. The thing that we fail to realize by employing this strategy is that winning teams win games because they find ways to win them. There's no reason we should be assisting them by throttling back once we have a comfortable lead. That being said, given the opportunity, I'd like to see the Gophers pound Iowa by 50 this weekend!

GO GOPHERS!
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It wasn't the coaches failing to do it though IMO. There were opportunities in the passing game in the 4th to keep things moving. Max just missed some throws (not unexpected for a young QB as a closer game draws to a close). Execution, not playcalling, was the issue.
 

Only real beef I had was we left some time on the clock. There were at least 3 times I remember for sure where we snapped the ball with about 12-15 seconds left on the play clock. I get that this isn't Madden where you can just hit the "X" button & hike it, but there's no reason there should have been more than 5 seconds on the play clock on those.

It was a nice last drive for the FG, though.
 



I have written this several times before. While it would have been great to go up 24-3, but with the defense playing well and the clock on our side. Its more about first downs on offense and keeping the clock moving. And a great QB will use his voice to entice an offsides, he also has one eye on the play clock and anything inside 5 is again great. If you are Syracuse you are waiting to get the ball back, but you are playing the defense and the clock. This is something this team is learnning to do.
 

FireDaveLee said:
Only real beef I had was we left some time on the clock. There were at least 3 times I remember for sure where we snapped the ball with about 12-15 seconds left on the play clock. I get that this isn't Madden where you can just hit the "X" button & hike it, but there's no reason there should have been more than 5 seconds on the play clock on those.

It was a nice last drive for the FG, though.
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That bugged me as well. It was almost as if we were the ones behind and hurrying to score. We'd get out of the huddle around 20-25 seconds on the play clock and snap it with double digit seconds left. Just settle down, leave the huddle with 15 or so seconds on the clock, and snap it under 5.
 


I actually thought he playcalling was perfect on Saturday.

Kirkwood was running the ball well and Syracuse doesn't have a very good run defense and I thought we mixed in some passing attempts too. The problem was that Max was sharper in the 1st half.

If you look at our drives following the 14-3 lead...
10:00 3rd Quarter: Passed on 1st, 2nd and 3rd and 10...all incomplete.
3:00 3rd Quarter: Ran on all 7 plays....2 first downs, failed to get a yard on 3rd and 1.
11:00 4th Quarter: Ran on 1st down, sacked (passing), incomplete pass
8:00 4th Quarter: 9 plays....4 passes and 4 runs (also FG). We passed on 2 2nd downs as well.

When we went up 14-3...we didn't sit on the lead. Our play calling didn't get that conservative, we just weren't executing as well. There is an idea out there that Max wasn't as sharp because we were only throwing on passing obvious situations, but that isn't true. In our final 4 drives (while up by two scores and having a dominant playing defense), we attempted to throw on second down several times. We just weren't as sharp.
 

Stan The Caddy said:
What do yo mean by that? It was an obvious hold, no question about it. If he did not hold, it was going to be a sack.
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I thought the same thing Stan.
Bob_Loblaw said:
I actually thought he playcalling was perfect on Saturday.

Kirkwood was running the ball well and Syracuse doesn't have a very good run defense and I thought we mixed in some passing attempts too. The problem was that Max was sharper in the 1st half.

If you look at our drives following the 14-3 lead...
10:00 3rd Quarter: Passed on 1st, 2nd and 3rd and 10...all incomplete.
3:00 3rd Quarter: Ran on all 7 plays....2 first downs, failed to get a yard on 3rd and 1.
11:00 4th Quarter: Ran on 1st down, sacked (passing), incomplete pass
8:00 4th Quarter: 9 plays....4 passes and 4 runs (also FG). We passed on 2 2nd downs as well.

When we went up 14-3...we didn't sit on the lead. Our play calling didn't get that conservative, we just weren't executing as well. There is an idea out there that Max wasn't as sharp because we were only throwing on passing obvious situations, but that isn't true. In our final 4 drives (while up by two scores and having a dominant playing defense), we attempted to throw on second down several times. We just weren't as sharp.
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I was surprised when they did that. I was thinking they'd stay on the ground and chew some clock up.
 

It was not all on Shortell, there were at least four tough but catchable balls that were dropped when the player got hit after the catch but before securing the ball. AJ had two, Goodjer at least one and I believe someone else had one or more as well. AJ is running routes really well, but if he is going to be the go to guy, he has to get those balls. That was the same problem he had before this year. One catch was a touchdown, and I believe two more would have given us first downs.
On a different subject, without mentioning names Coach Kill was definitely talking to guys on the sidelines who made unforced errors e.g. illegal motion, etc.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I actually thought he playcalling was perfect on Saturday.

Kirkwood was running the ball well and Syracuse doesn't have a very good run defense and I thought we mixed in some passing attempts too. The problem was that Max was sharper in the 1st half.

If you look at our drives following the 14-3 lead...
10:00 3rd Quarter: Passed on 1st, 2nd and 3rd and 10...all incomplete.
3:00 3rd Quarter: Ran on all 7 plays....2 first downs, failed to get a yard on 3rd and 1.
11:00 4th Quarter: Ran on 1st down, sacked (passing), incomplete pass
8:00 4th Quarter: 9 plays....4 passes and 4 runs (also FG). We passed on 2 2nd downs as well.

When we went up 14-3...we didn't sit on the lead. Our play calling didn't get that conservative, we just weren't executing as well. There is an idea out there that Max wasn't as sharp because we were only throwing on passing obvious situations, but that isn't true. In our final 4 drives (while up by two scores and having a dominant playing defense), we attempted to throw on second down several times. We just weren't as sharp.
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This was the only one that bothered me too, because we didn't really get the clock moving. However, it is nice to even have the lead to sit on (for a change) and as Bob points out, I'm not sure that was what we were trying to do. We tried to stroke the post...
 

FireDaveLee said:
Only real beef I had was we left some time on the clock. There were at least 3 times I remember for sure where we snapped the ball with about 12-15 seconds left on the play clock.
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This was a bit of an issue for a while. The left an additional 30-40 sec (approx) up on the clock that they could have bled off on the 2nd to last drive (the one before the FG). They fixed it on the final drive, so I'm wondering if that was an inexperience thing from Max combined with the coaches not stressing it enough until they talked before the FG drive. On that drive they broke the huddle late and ran it down to about 3 or 4 sec every time.
 

corcoran1 said:
It was not all on Shortell, there were at least four tough but catchable balls that were dropped when the player got hit after the catch but before securing the ball. AJ had two, Goodjer at least one and I believe someone else had one or more as well.
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Agree, but after rewatching the game last night I confirmed that on almost every one of those balls Max put the ball in a bad spot (very high, behind the receiver, in a spot where the defender could swipe it, etc). I don't want to sound too hard on Max, I thought he had a really good game overall. Those "misses" were just more glaring given how "on" he was earlier in the game. Given that these misses also came at times when he wasn't pressured and the receiver was open, I tend to put the onus more on the QB (i.e 60% of the blame type of thing)
 

When you have a large enough lead that you can take time off the clock you do it. Time management and field position become more important than trying to make a big play. Especially now that we have a defense we can rely and trust to hold its ground.
 

I think part of this uncomfortably is not just due to watching a young developing inconsistent offense, but also having been burned so badly on defense for .... well all my years as a gopher fan. And so being a Gopher fan has been so synonymous with "no lead is safe" that it is perhaps hard for us, especially for me, to comprehend "Don't worry, the defense has got this."

I've never experienced that sort of team to root for.
 

GoAUpher said:
This was a bit of an issue for a while. The left an additional 30-40 sec (approx) up on the clock that they could have bled off on the 2nd to last drive (the one before the FG). They fixed it on the final drive, so I'm wondering if that was an inexperience thing from Max combined with the coaches not stressing it enough until they talked before the FG drive. On that drive they broke the huddle late and ran it down to about 3 or 4 sec every time.
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True; most happened before the last drive. It may have been addressed.
 

it just feels odd to have the gophs leading. someone here posted some stats that showed outta 19 games the gophs never led so this feels strange.
 

Stan The Caddy said:
What do yo mean by that? It was an obvious hold, no question about it. If he did not hold, it was going to be a sack.
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And it would've been a sack because the guy lined up directly in front of him blew by him like he wasn't there. It was a horrible play either way for him because it was piss poor blocking. You can't have DTs flying by OGs with that type of ease
 

picky, picky, picky. We won the god damned game.
 

I agree with the people who are saying that the coaches did not take their feet off the accelerator, it was the execution that slacked off. That's one reason that I am excited about this season. We are 4-0 and have not played a good/complete game yet. I think that our best is yet to come. Go Gophers!
 

I can't see how anyone could say we were too conservative in the fourth quarter. Are some of you like Reusse and have your comments typed in before the game? We just didn't do the best job of executing our passing game in the second half
 

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