This thread if for people that actually ENJOYED the win!!

Donate To GopherHole
SonOfTheVarsity said:
Here's one of my favorite take-aways from the game. I've seen a lot of people say the run game sucked. I don't get it. We averaged 5.8 yards per rush. Not only is that the best YPC of the Jerry Kill era, it's the best mark for the Gophers since the 2007 season (we had 6.3 yards per rush in a loss to Purdue). If we average 5.8 yards per rush on a bad day, I can't wait to see this running game on a good day.
Click to expand...

This this is positivity thread, I'm going to beat the negatives to the punch....."but if you take out the big runs, it was probably only 2.8".....THE BIG PLAYS HAPPENED!!
 

Watching the replay this morning I was even more impressed with Shabazz than I was seeing him live. He made three outstanding plays and the TD for the Rebels in the first half wasn't all his fault. Player of the game imo.
 

tikited said:
Watching the replay this morning I was even more impressed with Shabazz than I was seeing him live. He made three outstanding plays and the TD for the Rebels in the first half wasn't all his fault. Player of the game imo.
Click to expand...

I though him and Boddy-Calhoun had very good games at defensive back.
 

I whined about the fans last night, but the game was a blast. The people I brought with me had a great time, and there's nothing better than going a little crazy over the different td's we scored last night. I'm hoping we see a few more scores like that with offense putting up some big numbers!
 

Killjoy said:
At the Goal Line lunch I sat with some people from the University of Minnesota Athletic Department and they said the GopherHoler's are a bunch of negative whiners. Why would they think that?
Click to expand...

Maybe they meant the StarTribune comments or sports writers?
 


tikited said:
Watching the replay this morning I was even more impressed with Shabazz than I was seeing him live. He made three outstanding plays and the TD for the Rebels in the first half wasn't all his fault. Player of the game imo.
Click to expand...

Shabazz was great! Watching Nelson's first run was awesome too. It was great seeing guys step up to make plays!

Vereen tackled really well in the secondary as well.
 


The game went pretty much the way I thought the game would go. Any time my Gopher Team gets a win, I feel as though the game went the way I hoped it would. There is plenty to work on. We have established that. But, we have 11 more games to continue to work to improve in so that our players can get that 13th game...that bowl invitation at the end of the regular season.

This game at the BANK is now: "...in the bank..." At a minimum, the team needs five more wins. At a maximum...well, that depends on the players, their coaches, Lady Luck, the way the ball bounces, hard work and the ability of the players to stay healthy. It may also depend which teams we play and when we play those teams.

The TEAM could not have done ANY more to have put themselves ON SCHEDULE for my personal goal for a bowl invitation for them.

It was a GREAT start to the 2013 season! Take 'em one game at a time Gophers! With these ooc games...win and put that win in the bank. It's going to take at least 6 wins and hopefully more than 6 wins are possible in this march for a bowl game invitation! And...I can hardly wait until Conference play starts! Win the first road game of the season next Gophers. It may be played out west...but get the win and put it in the bank...
You will NEVER hear this Gopher Fan complain about a win...
; 0 )
 

players seems to enjoy the Win too! hopefully we see another 5-9 more this year

 




1 penalty is huge for a team whose penalty rate & undisciplined players had nearly our identity. I love how we won BOTH halves & didn't fade in the end of the game we kept plucking along rather then just trying to completely run off some clock. Our backups looked solid as well so I'm confident we have some kind of depth should injuries happen...

Also only 5 teams have scored 50 points against UNLV in the last 3 years including us & the other 4 were ranked... that's a very good sign...
 

tikited said:
Watching the replay this morning I was even more impressed with Shabazz than I was seeing him live. He made three outstanding plays and the TD for the Rebels in the first half wasn't all his fault. Player of the game imo.
Click to expand...
Triple Z!

It just felt good to be back in the stadium. Enjoyed every minute of it.
 




highwayman said:
I love special teams and defensive scores. We had THREE! You can go a whole (or several) season without seeing one KOR or a blocked kick TD and we had both in one game.

This was like a prototypical 70s Vikings game-offense struggled, defense and special teams came through.

We scored 51 points. 51. Won by 4 touchdowns. Our second-teamers played. And scored. ONE PENALTY.

Without pre-season games, you can expect some struggles. That's why you want to open at home and play as many NC home games as possible. Now it's off to New Mexico to play a NMSU team that will likely give up more than 50 to Texas.

The offense will get better, the defense will get better. If your QBs can run for 3 TDs and pass for a 4th every week, you'll win more than you lose. If you score 3 defensive or special teams TDs you'll win every time.

I'm ecstatic. This was a character-building win.
Click to expand...

+1! Nailed it!
 

SonOfTheVarsity said:
Here's one of my favorite take-aways from the game. I've seen a lot of people say the run game sucked. I don't get it. We averaged 5.8 yards per rush. Not only is that the best YPC of the Jerry Kill era, it's the best mark for the Gophers since the 2007 season (we had 6.3 yards per rush in a loss to Purdue). If we average 5.8 yards per rush on a bad day, I can't wait to see this running game on a good day.
Click to expand...

For me, I am just disappointed in the lack of push up front. With everyone on the OL returning, I felt like we should have had a big advantage up front. We saw big holes on the two big runs but I would have liked to see more consistency, that is all. Our RB's had 23 carries on the night and only five of them went for 5 or more yards.

Either way, I'm still happy with the win and am glad to be 1-0.
 

It all gets down to your outlook on life. If you want to look hard enough, you can find positives in any situation - or find negatives in any situation.

I generally try to be positive - it keeps my blood pressure within manageable levels.

As far as the Gophers, any win is a good win. Leave the nit-picking to our "friends" in the media.
 

I've said this in a couple of different places last night and today. We all have to remember as bland and out of sync as the offense looked last night, they still put a 30 spot on the board. They are only going to get better...and the game plan will become a little more diverse as well. that was a very vanilla game plan.
 

GophersInIowa said:
For me, I am just disappointed in the lack of push up front. With everyone on the OL returning, I felt like we should have had a big advantage up front. We saw big holes on the two big runs but I would have liked to see more consistency, that is all. Our RB's had 23 carries on the night and only five of them went for 5 or more yards.

Either way, I'm still happy with the win and am glad to be 1-0.
Click to expand...

Kind of agree. It's great to get a big push up front and rattle of five yards each and every time, and we didn't do that. I still think we ran the football well, though.

I think most people would agree that Northwestern pounded us pretty well on the ground in our meeting last year (maybe you disagree, but I certainly had that impression). Here's the rushing stats from NW vs. the Gophers last year, and from last night's game:

NW vs. Gophers: 34 carries, 208 yards, 6.1 YPC, 3 TDs, 12 rushes of 5+ yards
Gophers vs. UNLV: 38 carries, 221 yards, 5.8 YPC, 3TDs, 13 rushes of 5+ yards

Very similar stats. Just shows an interesting perspective. I'm sure most Gophers fans who were down on our run game yesterday wouldn't argue that NW had a lousy day on the ground at TCF last season, too.
 

My most positive takeaway is the increase in talent and speed. We are beginning to look like a real B1G team. Every good team has bad games, but they have the talent to take advantage of the opportunities when they arise. We were kind of ugly, but we had the talent and poise to take it to the house when UNLV made a mistake. We are beginning to have the players that can make the big play to help us win games.
 

SonOfTheVarsity said:
Kind of agree. It's great to get a big push up front and rattle of five yards each and every time, and we didn't do that. I still think we ran the football well, though.

I think most people would agree that Northwestern pounded us pretty well on the ground in our meeting last year (maybe you disagree, but I certainly had that impression). Here's the rushing stats from NW vs. the Gophers last year, and from last night's game:

NW vs. Gophers: 34 carries, 208 yards, 6.1 YPC, 3 TDs, 12 rushes of 5+ yards
Gophers vs. UNLV: 38 carries, 221 yards, 5.8 YPC, 3TDs, 13 rushes of 5+ yards

Very similar stats. Just shows an interesting perspective. I'm sure most Gophers fans who were down on our run game yesterday wouldn't argue that NW had a lousy day on the ground at TCF last season, too.
Click to expand...

Take away the late run by Cobb and the YPC avg drops to 4.3, that 60 yard run in garbage time makes those rushing numbers on the day look a little better then the actually were. All that aside the only thing about the running game that worries me a little is that the QB was once again our most effective runner and the RB's did very little outside of Cobb's long run late.

I know the QB run is part of the offense, I just hope Nelson can take the hits and stay upright.

And before anyone jumps down my throat I very much enjoyed the victory last night so I think it is ok to post in this thread :)
 

Eric Murray

Eric Murray was impressive. For someone his size and of which his recruitment was so ho-hum, I thought his performance on his 1st game as a true freshman was exciting. Same goes for others with big games and maybe not big names--Shabazz, Boddy--but Murray stood out to me.
 


It never makes any sense when you hear take away that one long run? Why would you ? Kind of like take away the plays when they scored.
 

Blackhammer said:
It never makes any sense when you hear take away that one long run? Why would you ? Kind of like take away the plays when they scored.
Click to expand...

I agree with you. Just making the point that one carry when the game was well in hand significantly skewed the overall rushing numbers for the game. Bottom line is our RB's were pretty much a non factor.
 

First, my apologies to Dr. Don, as he got to see my reaction during the game via chat. No doubt we had room for improvement.

However - I am very pleased by the outcome of the game. If you asked most how a blowout would occur, I believe most would say it would occur late in the second quarter and beyond, and that is exactly what happened. We started the game slow, but anytime we really needed our offense, they came through with great poise. Our defense made great adjustments. The intangibles all seemed to fall in our favor - and while some may call that fluky, I believe it to be demonstrable of a well-coached team. There were many times in the Brewster era where we had to overcome the pick six, or the blocked kick/punt returned for a TD in crucial moments of the game. On Thursday, we made the plays. We were the better team, hands down - and that is the first time I can say that in a long time.

Kudos, Gophers.
 

The run by Cobb, the two runs by Nelson, and the run by Leidner were all outside zone plays. Cobb bounced to the outside. Nelson was in the alley, as was Leidner. Nelson's second he broke contain and could have taken it straight up or sprinted to the corner which he did. All were good for long gains. Why? UNLV sold out to stop the inside zone. Where the fans, and the coaches do see eye to eye, the coach wants to see if the offense can run inside zone against inside slants by the ends, backers closing to the inside. The fans see that doesn't work, they are getting any push. Why do they keep running that play? Yet when the coach inserts a inside fake and QB option everyone can see TD. But that play is designed to take advantage of the inside slant. and for the offense to make the defense play honest and straight up. After Nelson and Cobb's run. Williams came in and had some success on the inside zone. But it was Leidner and the second team offense that used it because UNLV could not stop it.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom