The wet blanket

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PitinoFan said:
Auburn even used all 3 timeouts. What a helpless feeling that must have been for Auburn and their fans to watch that clock tick down, knowing they couldn’t stop us.
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It is perhaps ironic that my two favorite Gopher drives of the last two seasons both ended up resulting in 0 points. Peeling the final 8 minutes off the clock against Auburn was right up there with the the similar soul crushing drive to suck the life out of Wisconsin last year (it resulted in a missed field goal, but effectively used up the clock to the point of ending any doubt as to who was going to win).

And a quick note: anyone suggesting this thread was intended to be some sort of gloomy prediction for next year, simply needs to re-read the first paragraph of the OP. That isn't what this is about. Its simply an opportunity to discuss some of the things that could adversely affect the upcoming season.
 

MNVCGUY said:
You keep acting like this call you made of 7 new starters on defense next year was something nobody saw coming. 6 of those guys were seniors so they were 100% gone meaning every single person knew it. As for Winfield, once the high round draft grades started coming in it was assumed by most that he would go to the NFL. So this idea that you somehow predicted anything in regards to the defense for next year is a joke, stop patting yourself on the back for something everyone saw coming.

So when the defense falters the way you hope it does early, how many games does it cost us? You have already decided there is no way the new players can possibly do better then the old ones so use your prognostication skills to tell us what the record will end up being next year.
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Each sentence of yours above is a deliberate misrepresentation of what I have posted. Conversation killer.
 



A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Year 24 of "Wisconsin is due to fall into mediocrity".... or some form or another.
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Yeah, the good news is that we finally appear to be closing the gap at least. I think it would be awesome if Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa settled in as the Big 3 in the West and slugged it out for the title most years.
 


Schnauzer said:
I am in no ways officially predicting what I am about to type. I remain very bullish on the Gophers and I do not fail to appreciate all the wonderful things that were accomplished this season, even for a second. As I appreciate that stuff, I can't help but think about how many things went the Gophers' way this season and how good luck rose up many times.

first, there were those three incredible non-con games where the Gophers managed spectacular plays to wrestle victory from the jaws of defeat. What if the non-conference schedule next season goes the other way? What if the Gophers head into the conference schedule with a couple losses on their record after all the off season buildup (which promises to be considerable)?

Next, the biggie: I do not recall a previous Gopher season where the injuries were kept to a similar minimum. The Gophers weren't particularly deep but even well into the season looked like a deep team because there just weren't those big injuries hitting that required a lot of backup to play rolls they otherwise might not have. Can this happen again? What if it is a "normal" season of injuries, or worse? With a defense that is already replacing a LOT of starters - this could be a major problem for our team. Morgan has been very healthy. It would be awful to see him lose playing time to injury when a heavier load will be expected of him next season.

If the mojo from this season continues, and the row the boat culture matures yet another year to the point even a higher percentage of players are playing at a high level - the schedule sets up for yet another special year. But, if the injuries hit and a few bad bounces go against the Gophers, I could see next season being the type of year that loses some of our fragile fan base to the "same old Gophers" bs. My official prediction for next year will be 9-3 and like this year, I am hoping the Gophers top my prediction. But, I can't help but worry about this other stuff and be a bit concerned about a step back season.

How about you? What other areas concern you or what areas do you see where people perhaps have false positive assumptions?
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I will share a little secret with you. Good teams have a lot of "luck" and bad teams have a lot of "bad luck". I think the staff has created an environment of winning and I foresee some more "good luck".
 

salzie said:
Predicting wisconsin's demise is a MN tradition.
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They did have an unexpected downturn in 2018 after predictions of CFP caliber competitiveness. Wisconsin hasn’t had many good or decent teams to keep them out of Indy but MN is rising. MN is fully capable of defeating Wisconsin (despite the humbling game at TCF unfortunately snowballing out of hand - and Wisconsin played perfectly). This year the game being earlier in fall season certainly helps MN. The upside/downside of the upcoming early season heavyweight tilts is the season may be another hype fest or a downer pending the outcomes. Already getting hot thinking about it.
 

Wisconsin also had Biasdasz declare, another first round talent leaving the Big Ten West.

Also, two other o-line starters graduating.

Besides Cephus, losing AJ Taylor at WR, so 2 of top 4 WRs gone.

Cruickshank, who was a weapon in return game and elsewhere transferring also hurts.

Love that we get them after App State, at Ann Arbor, at Lambeau vs Irish.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yeah, the good news is that we finally appear to be closing the gap at least. I think it would be awesome if Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa settled in as the Big 3 in the West and slugged it out for the title most years.
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The lesson probabbly is that if you want a divisional foe to suck ... don't count on time doing it for you... break them and make them suck.
 



swingman said:
Wisconsin also had Biasdasz declare, another first round talent leaving the Big Ten West.

Also, two other o-line starters graduating.

Besides Cephus, losing AJ Taylor at WR, so 2 of top 4 WRs gone.

Cruickshank, who was a weapon in return game and elsewhere transferring also hurts.
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One thing I have noticed is the heir apparent to JT is not as obvious as it has been in the past. Similar to the run we had at RB under Mason it usually seems like you can take one look at Wisconsin and know who the next great back is going to be. I don't feel like that is the case at the moment. Not saying that guy isn't on the roster, just not as obvious as it has been in previous years. Replacing someone as dynamic as JT will not be easy.
 

Some guy said:
Michigan state and Illinois are going to be bad next year IMO
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I hope so, too. But probably few predicted the Illini semi-turn around this season. I don't know what they have coming back. Mich St has been down, but they'll have a new QB. That will go a ways to determining if they can bounce back or not. Similar, of course, to NW (which is not a road game obviously, but just saying).
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Yeah that drive just ground them into the dirt.

I felt sorry for a few defenders who were giving it their all but clearly were just running on empty, got close a few times... but justc couldn'tstop us.
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That rips the soul out of a defense. The big, super-star Auburn DL was just gassed at the end.
 

swingman said:
Wisconsin also had Biasdasz declare, another first round talent leaving the Big Ten West.

Also, two other o-line starters graduating.

Besides Cephus, losing AJ Taylor at WR, so 2 of top 4 WRs gone.

Cruickshank, who was a weapon in return game and elsewhere transferring also hurts.

Love that we get them after App State, at Ann Arbor, at Lambeau vs Irish.
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I will love it when we can look at Wisconsin the way we look at Illinois. I don't want every little star to have to align just perfectly in order for us to have a good chance to beat them.
 



I very much agree with the original post. I'm very high on Fleck & the Gophs both now & going forward, but also a real chance we lose 2 or 3 of of our first 4 games this year.

Defense will likely have a bit of an adjustment period w/ all the new starters, and FAU, Iowa, and BYU are solid to good teams. I'm not expecting it (my best guess is we're either 3-1 or 4-0 after 4), but wouldn't be shocked at all by 2-3 losses.

I'd be happy with an 8 or 9 win season, and it wouldn't alter my enthusiasm for Fleck one bit.
 

MplsGopher said:
I will love it when we can look at Wisconsin the way we look at Illinois. I don't want every little star to have to align just perfectly in order for us to have a good chance to beat them.
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I get what you're saying, but I'm never going to weep over Wi losing talent, the goal for me is still for MN to get better than WI, not for Wi to get worse than MN
 

The greatest compliment we can give Tanner Morgan is that people barely remember that the Gophers lost their presumptive starting QB in stupidly random, perfectly Gophers, non-contact fashion in August.

Yeah 2019 was a charmed year in several ways but the program is also more resilient than before.
 

fmlizard said:
The greatest compliment we can give Tanner Morgan is that people barely remember that the Gophers lost their presumptive starting QB in stupidly random, perfectly Gophers, non-contact fashion in August.

Yeah 2019 was a charmed year in several ways but the program is also more resilient than before.
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Not sure Annexstad was the presumptive starter. Most GH'ers expected Morgan. He played so well the end of 2018...

Before last year, I was expecting 6-8 regular season wins, plus a Bowl appearance. The difference between what I expected and what happened were:

1. The Gophers beat everyone they were "supposed" to beat. How many years have we figured they should be 6-0 or 5-1 early only to see them drop a game or two inexplicably. Yes, there were some close calls, but this year they didn't drop one of those games.

2. They won a couple games they "shouldn't" have won. PSU (and to some extent Auburn), specifically. Again, most years the Gophers compete but drop both of those games.

3. The bottom four of the B1G West were terrible against the Gophers. Illinois was really up and down over the year, but I'm not sure they even showed up for the game here. Other years at least one of those four plays the Gophers tougher than expected and pulls out a win. Not this year.

Obviously nobody can guarantee all of that happens next year. One thing I do think, you won't see Fleck playing the NC games as conservatively as he did this year. I've said before he Milton Bearled those games; if he plays the full offense and defense I think the Gophers win handily. He tried to pull out just enough to win, almost got caught, but was successful.

Additionally, Joe Rossi has proven pretty adept at tailoring the defense to the players he has. Winfield out late 2018? Best the defense played that year. Kamal Martin out? Didn't miss a beat.

Based on everything, I'm expecting another really good year.
 

MplsGopher said:
I hope so, too. But probably few predicted the Illini semi-turn around this season. I don't know what they have coming back. Mich St has been down, but they'll have a new QB. That will go a ways to determining if they can bounce back or not. Similar, of course, to NW (which is not a road game obviously, but just saying).
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Michigan state has a new QB and the strength of their offense was their QB last year
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yeah, the good news is that we finally appear to be closing the gap at least. I think it would be awesome if Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa settled in as the Big 3 in the West and slugged it out for the title most years.
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Why? I’d rather be slugging it out with Northwestern and Illinois and see Wisconsin and Iowa finish 1-11 every year.
 

John Galt said:
Why? I’d rather be slugging it out with Northwestern and Illinois and see Wisconsin and Iowa finish 1-11 every year.
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I like the rivalry between those teams. I want us competing with and beating them when they are good not racking up wins against them when they stink the way they did against us for a lot of years.
 



John Galt said:
Why? I’d rather be slugging it out with Northwestern and Illinois and see Wisconsin and Iowa finish 1-11 every year.
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Sure, but you know that's not anywhere close to reality.

Iowa and Wisconsin have been consistently the top teams in the West for as long as the West as been in existence. They have their systems and their identity pretty well figured out, and are set up to do "what they do" in perpetuity.

They're never going to be Ohio State, but they can have years like Iowa's 2015, now and then.
 

salzie said:
I get what you're saying, but I'm never going to weep over Wi losing talent, the goal for me is still for MN to get better than WI, not for Wi to get worse than MN
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Correct answer!
 

the goal for me is still for MN to get better than WI, not for WI to get worse than MN

So ...... doesn't that mean that threads like these are not your goal, then?
 

MplsGopher said:
the goal for me is still for MN to get better than WI, not for WI to get worse than MN

So ...... doesn't that mean that threads like these are not your goal, then?
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it's better than complaining about fans standing up during a big game
 

Schnauzer said:
It is perhaps ironic that my two favorite Gopher drives of the last two seasons both ended up resulting in 0 points. Peeling the final 8 minutes off the clock against Auburn was right up there with the the similar soul crushing drive to suck the life out of Wisconsin last year (it resulted in a missed field goal, but effectively used up the clock to the point of ending any doubt as to who was going to win).

And a quick note: anyone suggesting this thread was intended to be some sort of gloomy prediction for next year, simply needs to re-read the first paragraph of the OP. That isn't what this is about. Its simply an opportunity to discuss some of the things that could adversely affect the upcoming season.
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Those were two great drives for sure - loved them!! My favorite was that miracle drive vs. Georgia Southern. I thought for sure that one was going in the L column. What was it -- like 3rd and 35 from our own 5 yard line with time running out!!! Then 2 big passes to pick it up and the miracle TD pass to Autman-Bell which I thought was out of bounds! Sensational drive for sure!!
 

OL was a HUGE question mark coming into the season. I always say, your team and offense only go so far as your OL. The improvement from game 1 thru bowl was incredible. All return. We should be at least 8 deep on the OL next year. But I am most excited about the DL. It was mainly serviceable this year if we're being honest. But there is more talent waiting in the wings than we have had since the early 60s. Hearing great reports on the new DL coach, and if we can get the kind of improvement on the D line, that we saw last year on the O line, well, you've got a championship team. Winning the LOS is the top goal. We are in great shape.
 


I believe that if an offense has 2min 30sec left on the clock, in the 2nd quarter, they should drive for points weather its a 3 pointer or a TD. 2min & 30 sec is still 150 seconds. I'm not saying run risky plays but with that much time in the first half with timeouts left, even with no timeouts, you are wasting valuable playing time that could give you 3-7 points. If not then you punt and make the opponent dive the length of the field. Of course that depends on how well the offense has been doing. Sometime you just want to make first downs to end the first half, but if you've proven you can move the ball why sacrifice that time?

YOUR OPINION?
 
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