Some positive vibes on the Outback Bowl

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Gold Rush

Gold Rush

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Some fans are probably thinking we got a tough opponent in Auburn - and we did, no mistake about that. But as I have said before, if you want to play in the top bowl games you have to be ready to play the top teams. This will be a great barometer for the Gophers as you can be sure Auburn will let us know how good we are, what we need to work on and how far we are from the top teams in the country.

- The Gophers are coming into this game sort of like Georgia Southern did when they played us. They were a good team that got taken for granted and better than we thought. We all know how that one played out and we were fortunate to escape with a win. The Auburn vibe is very similar.

- The Gophers are in a similar situation in that they have everything to gain and nothing to lose. You have to love a situation like this. We are really in a position to surprise the hell out of the SEC and the entire country if we play our very best.

- Auburn coach Gus Malzahn is only 2-4 in his bowl games. Minnesota has won 3 straight bowl games. I like that one.

- The only times the Gophers lost this year were both games they did not play very well offensively, at Iowa and vs. Wisconsin in inclement conditions. I think the Gophers will be able to move the ball, even given a good Auburn defense. Tanner Morgan should be able to run the RPO and make good decisions, and I look for him to have a big day throwing. He will need to as Auburn should put up some points.

- This should be a huge boost for recruiting. The next few weeks PJ Fleck will be telling recruits we are going to the Outback Bowl to take on Auburn - the team that just beat Alabama. We are on a national stage playing on New Year's Day. How can you not get stoked by this if you are a Gopher fan?

Let's go out and get this Outback Trophy. Give it our best shot and really make a statement that Gopher football is indeed on the rise!!
 



Job Number 1 is to fill Big Dan's shoes on the O-line. There's time but Tanner's got to have that half-to-one second back to be fully capable in the passing game, and hopefully better in the run. Hoping the last days in this recruiting cycle lands a good O-line candidate for the future.
 

BilldGopher said:
Job Number 1 is to fill Big Dan's shoes on the O-line. There's time but Tanner's got to have that half-to-one second back to be fully capable in the passing game, and hopefully better in the run. Hoping the last days in this recruiting cycle lands a good O-line candidate for the future.
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We need to build quality depth on the offensive and defensive lines. That is an absolute must if we want to continue to win 10 games (or more!) a year, especially if the staff wants to run the extra offensive lineman package with the blocking TE.
 


Our biggest challenge will be to handle the AU defensive line. We struggled to protect Morgan against Wisconsin, and Auburn looks to have a better line, including a likely first round pick. How do we accomplish that? Quick passes? Screens? Six lineman sets? Six lineman plus two big tight ends? Maybe nine lineman with only Bateman out for a pass. Just run post routes all game!
 

There seems to be an ongoing claim that the snow etc during the WI/MN game caused the MN loss.
That is not true. Both teams played in the same weather.
WI completed a very long TD pass at the height of the snow fall.
I did not hear Fleck say the weather was the difference but if he did he was wrong too.
MN cannot get better without honestly looking at games lost and recruiting to solve those weaknesses.
 

I do feel like a loss ... would be bad.

The last 3 games while not catastrophic I think it still slows fan interest and so would another loss.

A win though and of course that would be huge.

As for gameday:

I really worry about the OL and defense. If they can get to Morgan a lot ... I think it could get out of hand very fast.
 




BilldGopher said:
Job Number 1 is to fill Big Dan's shoes on the O-line. There's time but Tanner's got to have that half-to-one second back to be fully capable in the passing game, and hopefully better in the run. Hoping the last days in this recruiting cycle lands a good O-line candidate for the future.
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They went to Andries at tackle as the answer vs Wisconsin. I don't recall if he had any major busts or got beat badly, at least any more than the rest of the guys.

And it speaks volumes about Andries' overall talent and versatility on the line.

But he has been playing mostly guard this year. I just wonder if maybe, just maybe, we'll see a new face at right OT?

Guedet? Dickson? Or maybe use one of those as the 6th OL?
 

Plato said:
There seems to be an ongoing claim that the snow etc during the WI/MN game caused the MN loss.
That is not true. Both teams played in the same weather.
WI completed a very long TD pass at the height of the snow fall.
I did not hear Fleck say the weather was the difference but if he did he was wrong too.
MN cannot get better without honestly looking at games lost and recruiting to solve those weaknesses.
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While some casual fans may believe this, do you honestly believe the staff -- which probably makes over $6 million per year among them, and whose livelihood depends on winning FB games -- simply threw up their hands and blamed the weather after the loss? Dude, they've now probably watched the Wisc game 100x between them and from multiple camera angles. Each position grouping has likely watched multiple cut-ups of each play and received an overall grade out score from their position coach along with a list of things to improve. This is B1G football, not a YMCA flag team. This is as close to a professional operation as you can get without being in the NFL.
 

Plato said:
There seems to be an ongoing claim that the snow etc during the WI/MN game caused the MN loss.
That is not true. Both teams played in the same weather.
WI completed a very long TD pass at the height of the snow fall.
I did not hear Fleck say the weather was the difference but if he did he was wrong too.
MN cannot get better without honestly looking at games lost and recruiting to solve those weaknesses.
Click to expand...

Really? I can come up with several plays that typically would have been made in decent weather to refute your claim, but it won't as it won't satisfy you as a Fadger troll. Wisconsin executed well. Cephus made a nice catch (with the wind) with the Gophers middle linebacker Barber trying to cover him. Taylor made a nice catch (with the wind) with a defensive end covering him. Looking forward to next year's October game.
 

MGGopher said:
While some casual fans may believe this, do you honestly believe the staff -- which probably makes over $6 million per year among them, and whose livelihood depends on winning FB games -- simply threw up their hands and blamed the weather after the loss? Dude, they've now probably watched the Wisc game 100x between them and from multiple camera angles. Each position grouping has likely watched multiple cut-ups of each play and received an overall grade out score from their position coach along with a list of things to improve. This is B1G football, not a YMCA flag team. This is as close to a professional operation as you can get without being in the NFL.
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I don't think you need multiple camera angles to dissect that game.
 




highwayman said:
Minnesota will win in classic fashion. True fans will celebrate, "realists" will predict a trap game in the 2020 opener.
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Serious question - what do you mean by classic fashion?
 

I think a huge storyline to watch leading up to the game is whether Derrick Brown and Marlon Davison choose to play for Auburn. If they don't that's a huge shot to a defense that while very solid, showed some holes in their game against Auburn.

At this point you gotta have great confidence in our passing attack against just about any team in CFB...especially in nice Florida weather. I trust our offense to get some points up, it really just comes down to whether or not our defense puts up some fight.
 

Bordergopher said:
Our biggest challenge will be to handle the AU defensive line. We struggled to protect Morgan against Wisconsin, and Auburn looks to have a better line, including a likely first round pick. How do we accomplish that? Quick passes? Screens? Six lineman sets? Six lineman plus two big tight ends? Maybe nine lineman with only Bateman out for a pass. Just run post routes all game!
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Slants, run them until they effectively stop us at it, and then run the ball. Once they stop the run, slants again. We need 7 lineman like we did against PSU. That worked really well.
 

BilldGopher said:
Job Number 1 is to fill Big Dan's shoes on the O-line. There's time but Tanner's got to have that half-to-one second back to be fully capable in the passing game, and hopefully better in the run. Hoping the last days in this recruiting cycle lands a good O-line candidate for the future.
Click to expand...
I don't think there is much of a difference whether Dan is in or not.

We simply slide over our third team All Big Ten LG, as named by the coaches and media, to RT and insert our third team All Big Ten center, as named by PFF, into the lineup. Having Daniel in is nice but he was not given any higher honors in the All Big Ten selection than any of our other 4 starters.
 

die hard gopher said:
I don't think there is much of a difference whether Dan is in or not.

We simply slide over our third team All Big Ten LG, as named by the coaches and media, to RT and insert our third team All Big Ten center, as named by PFF, into the lineup. Having Daniel in is nice but he was not given any higher honors in the All Big Ten selection than any of our other 4 starters.
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We need to make sure we have enough quality depth on the offensive line to be able to interchange parts if someone goes down. We are way better off now than where we were at a few years ago, but I am sure coaches want to have more depth next year. I am really looking forward to seeing next year's offensive line which should be deeper and more experienced.
 

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