This Gophers team is worse than last year. Next year's team will be better. Agree or disagree?

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Laker said:
OSU has 2 #1 receivers and 3 good tight ends. Last years CBs wouldn’t have made any difference. You can’t double cover both Tate and Smith. Another variable is coaching. Which OSU coaches wouldn’t be an upgrade to the Gopher staff? That’s the ingredient in OSU’s secret sauce that nobody talks about.
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This. I really think all the assisitant turnovers has really hurt this team. Think about it. We lost Rossi, then Winston, then Hetherman, that’s some very good defensive coaching talent. We have lost OCs too. Are the Gophers not paying enough? Tough to work with PJ? Something else. Hard to argue when a helmet school calls and offers a pile of cash. Would love to have some continuity like Kill enjoyed.

Still can’t believe tOSU has Matt Patricia as D coordinator. That guys resume is impressive other than his failing as a head coach. Money makes a difference for sure. We need to find a sugar daddy booster to support the program. Unfortunately I’m not him GH!
 


csom_1991 said:
Next year we will be much better - QB is the most critical position and I think we are set there for next year. Our bigger issue is if Lindsey plays lights out, he will jump for NIL dollars the year after. Yeah, I know this is looking way in advance but I think he is as good of a QB as we will ever see here.
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Start building that NIL fund for Drake now - where is Sid when you really need him?
 


The NIL situation has created a larger gap between the hand full of top spending programs and the rest of college football. The "Professional" teams like OSU will steamroll over most teams in College Football when they come to play. You cannot really judge the quality of our team by a game against OSU. The teams before PJ would have lost by at least another 20 points.

The Gophers are in a steady state of being a good program that constantly reloads. We are built on developing players and getting good transfers, but we will never be able to buy the best transfer players. We just hope to keep as many of our best players as possible.
 


alchemy2u said:
The NIL situation has created a larger gap between the hand full of top spending programs and the rest of college football. The "Professional" teams like OSU will steamroll over most teams in College Football when they come to play. You cannot really judge the quality of our team by a game against OSU. The teams before PJ would have lost by at least another 20 points.

The Gophers are in a steady state of being a good program that constantly reloads. We are built on developing players and getting good transfers, but we will never be able to buy the best transfer players. We just hope to keep as many of our best players as possible.
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The gap between P4 teams like us and the FCS has increased because of NIL and TV money which is to our benefit. I agree the gap between the "professional" teams and us is still there. I think there are less "professional" teams now because that depends on big boosters dumping money into a program or really churning out difference making money from your fans - Oregon, Miami, Texas Tech from boosters, Ohio State (and some others) from super large, national fan base funding NIL. Some "professional" teams from the past that dominated mostly because of awesome local recruiting will fall back to the pack a little. Most of those teams are in the SEC. Some teams will rise up...I'm thinking Nebraska.
 
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Whytetale said:
I believe that an upgrade in receiver play, which would increase Drake's numbers, may have a greater influence on his decision to stay or go. He was probably drooling over OSU's WRs. He also would love to be throwing to Rutgers' WRs.
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I think that upgrade is coming. Who wouldn't want to play with Drake for the next few years? He's a tall, smart, accurate, big armed QB that spreads the ball around and you get to play with him for the next two years (after this year). He rarely gets balls batted down because of his height and high release point. He isn't a running QB so you're not competing with his legs to get the ball thrown to you either. If he drops back to pass, the ball is very likely going to end up downfield! I hate to make this comparison, but he is like a college version of Tom Brady.

I often wonder about the lack of motivation receivers must feel when they are in a system that doesn't throw much for various reasons - i.e. the Gophers of years past. Most of the time you're blocking or just running wind sprints.
 

SeaBee_Gopher said:
I think that upgrade is coming. Who wouldn't want to play with Drake for the next few years? He's a tall, smart, accurate, big armed QB that spreads the ball around and you get to play with him for the next two years (after this year). He rarely gets balls batted down because of his height and high release point. He isn't a running QB so you're not competing with his legs to get the ball thrown to you either. If he drops back to pass, the ball is very likely going to end up downfield! I hate to make this comparison, but he is like a college version of Tom Brady.

I often wonder about the lack of motivation receivers must feel when they are in a system that doesn't throw much for various reasons - i.e. the Gophers of years past. Most of the time you're blocking or just running wind sprints.
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We can only hope your thinking is correct, or he may be gone.
 

Catechol said:
Stealing the win vs Rutgers could be a big difference maker in a good vs OK or disappointing final win total.
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Stealing the win??? Huh? Just a reminder that football games are FOUR quarters. Not first drives or first halves. Come on.
 



NotAFanOfBecky said:
This. I really think all the assisitant turnovers has really hurt this team. Think about it. We lost Rossi, then Winston, then Hetherman, that’s some very good defensive coaching talent. We have lost OCs too. Are the Gophers not paying enough? Tough to work with PJ? Something else. Hard to argue when a helmet school calls and offers a pile of cash. Would love to have some continuity like Kill enjoyed.

Still can’t believe tOSU has Matt Patricia as D coordinator. That guys resume is impressive other than his failing as a head coach. Money makes a difference for sure. We need to find a sugar daddy booster to support the program. Unfortunately I’m not him GH!
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Coaching turnover definitely doesn't help but a lot of it depends on what kind of turnover it is. When guys are getting promoted that is frustrating but totally understandable. We have had some guys make parallel moves as well, those are more concerning because that either points to not paying enough or other issues.

More stability would be great however I would prefer to have a staff full of in demand coaches as opposed to what Kill had where he had a bunch of coaches that stayed with him but in large part that was because they didn't have a better option and were not in demand.

Need to find that happy medium where you have continuity but also quality coaches. Mason had that with his offensive staff, struggled to find that same continuity with his defensive staff.
 


NotAFanOfBecky said:
This. I really think all the assisitant turnovers has really hurt this team. Think about it. We lost Rossi, then Winston, then Hetherman, that’s some very good defensive coaching talent. We have lost OCs too. Are the Gophers not paying enough? Tough to work with PJ? Something else. Hard to argue when a helmet school calls and offers a pile of cash. Would love to have some continuity like Kill enjoyed.

Still can’t believe tOSU has Matt Patricia as D coordinator. That guys resume is impressive other than his failing as a head coach. Money makes a difference for sure. We need to find a sugar daddy booster to support the program. Unfortunately I’m not him GH!
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Continuity can be good. Hanging on to Limegrover because of continuity held Kill back.

Some change can keep the program from getting stagnant as well. We have had more than our fair share under Fleck. It was similar with Brewster.
 

NotAFanOfBecky said:
This. I really think all the assisitant turnovers has really hurt this team. Think about it. We lost Rossi, then Winston, then Hetherman, that’s some very good defensive coaching talent. We have lost OCs too. Are the Gophers not paying enough? Tough to work with PJ? Something else. Hard to argue when a helmet school calls and offers a pile of cash. Would love to have some continuity like Kill enjoyed.

Still can’t believe tOSU has Matt Patricia as D coordinator. That guys resume is impressive other than his failing as a head coach. Money makes a difference for sure. We need to find a sugar daddy booster to support the program. Unfortunately I’m not him GH!
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Pretty much all of the coaches PJ lost were promoted, either with a higher position, or an increase in salary, or both. It's a sign of a good program. The top schools and coaches lose assistants nearly every year for the same reasons.
 




laazrakit said:
He comes from a fairly wealthy family, so I'm not sure that money would be a motivating factor. I'd be more worried about him being offered a chance to play for a team with a "real legit" chance to play for a Championship...
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In the past, I would have agreed. But, this guy has the chance to leave college with a net worth of $8M+ if he plays well next year. He is a gamer that I hope we can have stick here for his whole college career.
 




If we had Cignetti as the HC before the start of the year, the Gophers would be contending for a CFP spot this year. It's as simple as that. The schedule and NIL level are irrelevant. Hell, we would have crushed the Buckeyes with Cignetti coaching. I learned this from a couple of CFB geniuses last night.
 

The key here is what changes do the coordinators make.

If we have a better offensive line next year, our quarterback and playmakers will be good enough to compete at a high level.

On defense, we have to find a way to stop going into rush 3 drop eigght man into quarters zone defense. This bed but not brake defense will keep us in games against average and below average teams. But we will have no chance against good teams. We have to find a way to be more aggressive and tricky on defense
 


Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
If we had Cignetti as the HC before the start of the year, the Gophers would be contending for a CFP spot this year. It's as simple as that. The schedule and NIL level are irrelevant. Hell, we would have crushed the Buckeyes with Cignetti coaching. I learned this from a couple of CFB geniuses last night.
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Yeah, get back to me when Fleck has his team in the CFP and then has his unbeaten team beat #3Oregon on the road by 10. Second win over a top 20 team this season, with the first in a blowout.

Scheduling and NIL. LOL
 

Purdue’s mistakes cost them the game. Minnesota capitalized and had less mistakes, definitely more fun to dominates stats and win, in my opinion. But I’d rather almost lose than almost win.

Better than advertised: Purdue, Northwestern, UCLA, maybe Washington, and Indiana. Not as good as Michigan, Wisconsin, Rutgers, Michigan State, Penn State, Oregon. They are who we thought Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Maryland, Iowa, USC. King of the Castle OSU. Minnesota is either, not as good or who we thought they were, can’t really tell.
 

I think it will be better but some names need to step up - we have Drake and we have Koi. We do not have a lot of speed, and our other "best" offensive player can't stay healthy. Athletes win games. We are not developing athletes or strength on the Offensive side of the ball.
 

It seems like Fleck's teams have gotten better throughout the season after looking sketchy and rough the first few weeks (2023 being an exception...I hunted more that fall). Some of that depends on injuries, etc. Let's hope they can get some consistency in the OL, DT gets healthy, and the defense finds its identity with the new coordinator. MN has a legit chance to be 1-3 games better than LY.
 

Williams will make a great play in D and the next snap he will over pursue and give up gap.control for a huge gain the next play.

Bryan will be step.for step with a WR on one play and then get caught completely flat footed the next.

Our OL has no clue how to block a DL that shifts and stunts.

Our WRs can't get space in their cuts.

The positives:

Drake is soooooo good at pre-snap and 2nd and 3rd reads. He is an NFL caliber QB.

We have speed all over the field.

Our play calling on O is great....if we can hold the blocks.

Next year has potential. This year we are probably a 7 win team at best.
 

Tech Machine said:
Minnesota is either, not as good or who we thought they were, can’t really tell.
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I don't think that's a difficult question. The team clearly isn't as good as "we" thought they could be. Fans overwhelmingly are optimistic before the season starts and this board is no exception. What's helping us so far is that there are more than a few conference teams who also aren't as good as their fans hoped they would be.
 

USAF said:
Yeah, get back to me when Fleck has his team in the CFP and then has his unbeaten team beat #3Oregon on the road by 10. Second win over a top 20 team this season, with the first in a blowout.

Scheduling and NIL. LOL
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Spoken like a true college football genius.
 

Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
Spoken like a true college football genius.
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LOL.
I'm not the one somehow holding Fleck over the guy with one CFP and a top 10 rating in 1.5 years on the job.

Jeebus. It's ok to admit the guy has done an AMAZING job. At effing Indiana.
 

USAF said:
LOL.
I'm not the one somehow holding Fleck over the guy with one CFP and a top 10 rating in 1.5 years on the job.

Jeebus. It's ok to admit the guy has done an AMAZING job. At effing Indiana.
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Where did I say Fleck is a better coach than Cignetti? I think if Fleck had similar resources that Cignetti is working with, he'd have similar results. Just my opinion.
 

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