STrib: Gophers' trip to Illinois could lead to another big fall

[BleedGopher]

per Joe:

In 2014, it took the near fall against Purdue — and the face plant at Illinois — to fully sharpen the Gophers’ focus for their November stretch run. They rebounded from the Illinois loss with a 37-point thrashing of Iowa, a hard-fought seven-point loss to No. 8 Ohio State, and a comeback win at No. 21 Nebraska.

Right now, this Gophers team could only dream of such a run. Claeys saw plenty that needs fixing on film. His biggest concerns on offense were the pick-six thrown by Mitch Leidner and the team’s excruciating struggles on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1.

Defensively, Claeys was most bothered by Rutgers’ 15-play, 90-yard touchdown drive that made it a two-point game early in the fourth quarter. Nor did Claeys like seeing his top cornerback, Jalen Myrick, get beat on Andre Patton’s 37-yard post-pattern touchdown.

“On defense, I think we can play better,” Claeys said. “But I look at it — as a defense, we really only gave up 23 points, with the pick-six and the field goal off the muff [Drew Wolitarsky’s fumbled punt]. We stopped them three-and-out and made them kick it, so there isn’t much more we can do.”

Claeys added: “We’re not that far off. Like I say, in today’s football, if you hold them to 23 points, you should be able to win the football game, for the most part.”

http://www.startribune.com/gophers-trip-to-illinois-could-lead-to-another-big-fall/398126111/

Go Gophers!!

 

[frannyjunk]

The defense should get better with the return of Kiante Hardin. The offence should get better when Jonah Pirsig returns this week or next. If the Illini starts their 3rd string QB again, the Gophs should come away with the W. Watch for the Illini QB situation as the week progresses.

 

[metrolax]

The one thing that this team has to do is tighten up and be more disciplined. That's the main difference I see between a Kill team and a Claeys team.
Also, we can usually count on 2-3 illegal formation/too many men in the backfield penalties each game.

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

Illinois and Purdue will both be challenges, especially Illinois. Don't take a win for granted. Hard to sse wins at either Nebraska or Wisconsin, and Northwestern will be very tough, though weather may be a factor and it's the final home game.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Illinois and Purdue will both be challenges, especially Illinois. Don't take a win for granted. Hard to sse wins at either Nebraska or Wisconsin, and Northwestern will be very tough, though weather may be a factor and it's the final home game.

Clearly we are not in a position to take any win for granted after what happened against Rutgers. That said, if we are who we think we are we should not lose to Purdue. 3 of the remaining 5 are very winnable if we play well, Nebraska and Wisconsin don't look promising on paper but you never know what will happen when the teams hit the field. We haven't had much luck against Wisconsin but have played well against Nebraska in recent years.

In my opinion we need to come out of this stretch at least 3-2 to really feel like it was a successful regular season.

 

[Sparlimb]

The one thing that this team has to do is tighten up and be more disciplined. That's the main difference I see between a Kill team and a Claeys team.
Also, we can usually count on 2-3 illegal formation/too many men in the backfield penalties each game.

Agreed. This is the most concerning to me to see this late in the season. If you've played over half your games and you still can't figure out how to line up, there's not much hope you'll figure it out. The lack of discipline is killing the team's momentum...