This one didn't bother me so much (Northwestern game)

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Sparlimb

Sparlimb

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Defense played well enough to win. Offense was pretty average, special teams were awful and the turnovers cost us the game. After watching the game, I realized we were just not good enough to beat Northwestern, or really any Big Ten team unless they turn it over several times. We're much better than we were last year, and our defense is almost good enough to play in the Big Ten. Our offense is a long ways away, but they are young and that is the easier side to fix. Although losing Stoudemire and Carter will be tough. I didn't leave the stadium mad. I just left knowing we don't have the horses to win.

I did think McDonald looked better than any other receiver on the team today. He looks legit.
 

We can still beat Purdue and Illinois. I don't know that we will, but we certainly can. Neither of them has beat a BCS team yet.
 

I'm still cautiously optimistic that we'll get to 6 win. I hope we can take care of business against Purdue and maybe steal either Wiscy or Mich.
 

Gopherprof said:
We can still beat Purdue and Illinois. I don't know that we will, but we certainly can. Neither of them has beat a BCS team yet.
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agree. i believe we can beat purdue and illinois. also think we have a shot at pulling off an upset against michigan state at home. i believe the gophers come back strong next week against becky and make it a competitive game. no idea right now how the becky, nebby and michigan games turn out.

either way, i am still pulling for our gophers the rest of the season, will be at the games, and always will. not a bangwagon jumper. never will be. in it until the end.
 

I disagree completely that the Gophers weren't/aren't good enough to beat Northwestern. The number of errors the Gophers made (7 fumbles being one example) was staggering and yet they still had several chances.
 


The only thing I would disagee with from the OP is about the defense. I do not think they are "almost good enough to play in the Big Ten". The defensive side is a long ways away. The front 7 are not very good at all. The conference season has exposed the front 7. Over a number of years fixing the defense has always been a problem. The question will be can this coaching staff do that.
 

scools12 said:
The only thing I would disagee with from the OP is about the defense. I do not think they are "almost good enough to play in the Big Ten". The defensive side is a long ways away. The front 7 are not very good at all. The conference season has exposed the front 7. Over a number of years fixing the defense has always been a problem. The question will be can this coaching staff do that.
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What game were you watching. The defense gave up 21 to Northwestern and 7 of that came on a sudden change situation right after the opening kickoff. They didn't play great, and gave up way too many rushing yards again but for the most part they kept Northwestern out of the endzone and gave the offense a chance to win. The defense is playing well enough to give us a chance but they have to play next to perfect because the offense has been so bad.
 

scools12 said:
The only thing I would disagee with from the OP is about the defense. I do not think they are "almost good enough to play in the Big Ten". The defensive side is a long ways away. The front 7 are not very good at all. The conference season has exposed the front 7. Over a number of years fixing the defense has always been a problem. The question will be can this coaching staff do that.
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Defense shut out Iowa and Northwestern in the 2nd half this year. I hope you can at least agree the defense is light's out better than the last 3 years...
 

Sparlimb said:
I just left knowing we don't have the horses to win.
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I completely disagree. It was a one possession game, we had first and goal down by 8, we certainly could have won. Maybe if we hadn't fumbled the opening kickoff we could have won. Saying we don't have horses is like saying we didn't have a chance at this game, and we absolutely did, eliminate some mistakes, maybe have Gray healthy, and we're good to go.
 



Cayman said:
I completely disagree. It was a one possession game, we had first and goal down by 8, we certainly could have won. Maybe if we hadn't fumbled the opening kickoff we could have won. Saying we don't have horses is like saying we didn't have a chance at this game, and we absolutely did, eliminate some mistakes, maybe have Gray healthy, and we're good to go.
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don't interject common sense or calm thought into these hyperbole threads. all some of this chicken littles' want to do is claim we are going to be 4-8 at the end of the season and that we just plain suck. let them have their pity party.
 

Cayman said:
I completely disagree. It was a one possession game, we had first and goal down by 8, we certainly could have won. Maybe if we hadn't fumbled the opening kickoff we could have won. Saying we don't have horses is like saying we didn't have a chance at this game, and we absolutely did, eliminate some mistakes, maybe have Gray healthy, and we're good to go.
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What I meant is Northwestern had a running back that could break the game open with a run. Which he did twice. We have dink and dunk guys. We get 8 yards on a pass and 5 rushing. McDonald looks like the only receiver that could break a big one and Gray is the only runner that can go the distance. We need more of those guys. And a center who can snap, but lucky for us we have one who transferred in and instantly will be our best lineman.
 

MNVCGUY said:
What game were you watching. The defense gave up 21 to Northwestern and 7 of that came on a sudden change situation right after the opening kickoff. They didn't play great, and gave up way too many rushing yards again but for the most part they kept Northwestern out of the endzone and gave the offense a chance to win. The defense is playing well enough to give us a chance but they have to play next to perfect because the offense has been so bad.
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if giving up 8 and 6 yards per carry is playing good enough.

Sparlimb said:
Defense shut out Iowa and Northwestern in the 2nd half this year. I hope you can at least agree the defense is light's out better than the last 3 years...
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I can agree it is better than the last 3 years but still a long ways away.
 

The Gophers have the manpower to play with NU. Coach Kill has said this team has no margin for error and, as was obvious, we were error prone and not ready to go in the first quarter on D.

I am concerned about the play of our D the first quarter. They guys were tentative and looked out of position on the two long runs. No way was that going to happen in the second half. Same with the Iowa game. I wish I knew what adjustments were made at halftime.

Injuries are a part of the game but this squad continues to be hit hard. This has to stop.

The guys must put together some solid games, find guys to replace the or they will go 0-8.
 



This one bothered me a lot. Turnovers, big run plays given up in first half, and two possessions inside the fifty with four minutes left and four downs instead of three, unable to score.

Someone remind me why I paid ~$400 to sit in the rain and watch this?

Coming out of a bye against a beatable team I expected better execution. I've been a big Kill defender and this is a young team but add me to the list of those who believe that next year is a "show me" year for coach Kill & staff - seven year contract or not.
 


We made a boatload of mistakes and still were in a position to win the game.
 


scools12 said:
The only thing I would disagee with from the OP is about the defense. I do not think they are "almost good enough to play in the Big Ten." The defensive side is a long ways away.
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Does not compute. Gopher D is in the top half of the Big Ten in scoring and total D. The only real weakness is at LB particularly against the run. Granted the competition has not been as good as the rest of the B1G has played, but the D looks to be well ahead of the O at this point. It does not take several years to compete in the Big Ten.
 


Catechol said:
Does not compute. Gopher D is in the top half of the Big Ten in scoring and total D. The only real weakness is at LB particularly against the run. Granted the competition has not been as good as the rest of the B1G has played, but the D looks to be well ahead of the O at this point. It does not take several years to compete in the Big Ten.
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How does it not compute? You say the competition has not been as good as the rest of the conference. I would argue the stats are inflated because of the competition and based on the 2 conference games played so far they will certainly not finish in the upper half of the conference in scoring D or total D.
 

If we bring anything close to our A game we win this football game. We lost by one possession, and that was after four missed snaps, a stupid turnover off the opening kickoff, some dumb penalties, etc.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
If we bring anything close to our A game we win this football game. We lost by one possession, and that was after four missed snaps, a stupid turnover off the opening kickoff, some dumb penalties, etc.
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And still ended up with 50 yds more in total offense.
8 minutes more in time of possession
72 offensive plays to 51 for NU(they were averaging 80 something I believe.
 

Sparlimb said:
Defense played well enough to win. Offense was pretty average, special teams were awful and the turnovers cost us the game. After watching the game, I realized we were just not good enough to beat Northwestern, or really any Big Ten team unless they turn it over several times. We're much better than we were last year, and our defense is almost good enough to play in the Big Ten. Our offense is a long ways away, but they are young and that is the easier side to fix. Although losing Stoudemire and Carter will be tough. I didn't leave the stadium mad. I just left knowing we don't have the horses to win.

I did think McDonald looked better than any other receiver on the team today. He looks legit.
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I guess I'm the opposite tack. You are correct that we don't have the horses to win, but when you fumble the opening kickoff, put the ball on the ground a half dozen time, and have a defense that doesn't realize that it's tackle football for a half, this is a tough one for me to swallow. Northwestern isn't that good, but they are better than us and that is really disconcerting.

We are just so unathletic. Kill keeps lauding Eric Klein and Klein is not an alchemist who can turn lead legs into golden moments, but our offensive line is just totally outmanned at this point. Can't even move an undersized Northwestern defensive front.
 

Winnable game. Man, sucks to lose. Not the worst I've ever felt after a loss, but it sure does get old. Guess I expected the Gophers to play a cleaner game after the bye week. By tomorrow or so I'll have recovered and will be looking forward to the Wisconsin game.
 

I said this in an earlier thread at the beginning of the year. I will know the team has turned the corner when we expect to win these games instead of hope to win, when I am surprised if we lose a game like this. I also believe if we would have had Gray in at QB we win the game. But we cannot keep playing the hope and wish game. We have to win on the field. I did not expect the team to win more than 6 and expected 5 so it has been a successful second year for me. I think the team is showing improvement and they are playing better in the second half but they have to correct the first half problems.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
Winnable game. Man, sucks to lose. Not the worst I've ever felt after a loss, but it sure does get old. Guess I expected the Gophers to play a cleaner game after the bye week. By tomorrow or so I'll have recovered and will be looking forward to the Wisconsin game.
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Well said and sums up my feelings perfectly. This was a game the gophs could've won...maybe even should've. It hurts to lose and I was pissed as all get out when I left, but I'll get over it by tonight. Go gophers
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
If we bring anything close to our A game we win this football game. We lost by one possession, and that was after four missed snaps, a stupid turnover off the opening kickoff, some dumb penalties, etc.
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Add the miss to a wide open receiver, a clip on a broken punt return that I never saw, and again some injuries we simply can't afford. Frustrating, should/could have won, but I can see progress. We are better than last year. The mistakes are fixable. The young players will continue to get better.
 

scools12 said:
The only thing I would disagee with from the OP is about the defense. I do not think they are "almost good enough to play in the Big Ten". The defensive side is a long ways away. The front 7 are not very good at all. The conference season has exposed the front 7. Over a number of years fixing the defense has always been a problem. The question will be can this coaching staff do that.
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What? I thought our defense has played well every game other than Iowa.

Sparlimb said our "defense is almost good enough to play in the Big Ten." I totally agree with Sparlimb - they are good enough to play in the B1G. We gave up some big plays, but we also had a lot of 3rd and 4th down stops.
 

50PoundHead said:
We are just so unathletic.
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I don't think so. We're a very fast and athletic team compared to previous teams. We just don't have the size, strength, and experience.

50PoundHead said:
our offensive line is just totally outmanned at this point. Can't even move an undersized Northwestern defensive front.
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We don't have any seniors on the O-Line, walk-ons or scholarship. I'm expecting our O-Line to be much stronger next year.
 

This was a game we most certainly could have and should have won. I can live when our opponents are just better than us. But that wasn't the case. We had way too many unforced mistakes on offense: fumbles, drops, bad passes.
 

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