BleedGopher
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Tom Powers: Gophers hit a new low, but worst is yet to come
Tom Powers
Updated: 09/11/2010 07:00:26 PM CDT
Too bad they don't sell alcohol at TCF Bank Stadium. For that matter, it's too bad they don't sell opiates. Gopher Nation definitely was ready to float away from Saturday's football horror.
The story line for the upcoming contest between Minnesota and USC now has been established. The game will feature one team that officially has been disgraced against another that informally is really, really embarrassed. Ugh! What an awful exhibition against South Dakota. My ears are red with embarrassment just from watching it.
When the USC Trojans, currently in hot water with the NCAA, look at the film of the Gophers' loss to South Dakota, their jaws will drop. Then they will blink and rub their eyes. Finally, they will break into guffaws that will echo across campus. Minnesota's defense was so stunningly bad against the Coyotes, it's frightening to think about what will happen against a good, if heavily sanctioned, USC team.
"As I just told the team, the depth of my disappointment, right now, you can't measure it," coach Tim Brewster said after the mind-boggling 41-38 loss to the Coyotes.
Listen, if the Gophers can't beat South Dakota, how in heck are they supposed to beat USC — other than to hope that more Trojan misdeeds will lead to an NCAA-mandated forfeiture a couple of years down the road? It was just awful, I tell you. And on the way down to the news conference after the game, whose smiling face popped up on the TV doing a bit of Big Ten Network analysis of the game? Why, none other than Glen Mason, who appeared quite animated and perky.
In fairness to Mase, the sound was off so I really don't know what he had to say. But he looked to be in such high spirits that I thought he might wet himself.
"I guarantee you we're not going to go in there scared," quarterback Adam Weber said of the USC game. "Any time you go into something and you're timid or scared, you've already lost the game."
I'd be terrified. I might even transfer to a junior college before getting my head handed to me on a platter. Offensively, the Gophers could survive. But that defense, especially the secondary, can't possibly have a chance. Against South Dakota, the same slant pass that was wide open in the first quarter was wide open in the fourth quarter. Time after time after time.
"There's no excuse to have a defensive performance like we had today," Brewster said. "But we can't let this game define us, define our season."
It probably already has. Minnesota was supposed to win this one easily, maybe by three or four touchdowns. But if nothing else, the game substantiated Brewster's theories that these pre-conference games against lesser schools don't do anything to help recruiting. Especially if you lose them.
South Dakota quarterback Dante Warren seems like a good player, and I don't want to take anything away from him. But I don't recall seeing him on anyone's preseason All-America list, either. Against the mis-tackling, non-covering Gophers defense, he threw for 352 yards and ran for another 81. In all, he was responsible for five touchdowns. Minnesota defenders looked like greyhounds at the racetrack, laboring after the mechanical rabbit that never gets caught.
"There's talent on the defensive side of the ball," Brewster said. "We've got to coach that talent out."
(Insert your own punch line here.)
Afterward, the usually upbeat Brewster was as crestfallen as I've ever seen him. When he wasn't trying to convey his total disappointment, he kept repeating that the responsibility for the loss was his and his alone.
"I accept the blame," he said several times.
As if people weren't going to assign it to him anyway. That's how it is in college sports. It's always the coach's fault, even though some of his defensive players were so inept that they appeared to be good candidates for range-of-motion therapy.
Well, that was not the way to make friends and influence people. It's impossible to overstate how horrible Saturday's loss was in the grand scheme of things.
Can the Gophers now avoid a seasonlong tailspin? Yeah, if they beat USC. That would help erase the discomfort from the South Dakota game.
It's a tall order, but one that is necessary. Otherwise, that debacle will remain stuck in everyone's throat, like a fishbone.
http://www.twincities.com/gophers/ci_16052227
Go Gophers!!
Tom Powers
Updated: 09/11/2010 07:00:26 PM CDT
Too bad they don't sell alcohol at TCF Bank Stadium. For that matter, it's too bad they don't sell opiates. Gopher Nation definitely was ready to float away from Saturday's football horror.
The story line for the upcoming contest between Minnesota and USC now has been established. The game will feature one team that officially has been disgraced against another that informally is really, really embarrassed. Ugh! What an awful exhibition against South Dakota. My ears are red with embarrassment just from watching it.
When the USC Trojans, currently in hot water with the NCAA, look at the film of the Gophers' loss to South Dakota, their jaws will drop. Then they will blink and rub their eyes. Finally, they will break into guffaws that will echo across campus. Minnesota's defense was so stunningly bad against the Coyotes, it's frightening to think about what will happen against a good, if heavily sanctioned, USC team.
"As I just told the team, the depth of my disappointment, right now, you can't measure it," coach Tim Brewster said after the mind-boggling 41-38 loss to the Coyotes.
Listen, if the Gophers can't beat South Dakota, how in heck are they supposed to beat USC — other than to hope that more Trojan misdeeds will lead to an NCAA-mandated forfeiture a couple of years down the road? It was just awful, I tell you. And on the way down to the news conference after the game, whose smiling face popped up on the TV doing a bit of Big Ten Network analysis of the game? Why, none other than Glen Mason, who appeared quite animated and perky.
In fairness to Mase, the sound was off so I really don't know what he had to say. But he looked to be in such high spirits that I thought he might wet himself.
"I guarantee you we're not going to go in there scared," quarterback Adam Weber said of the USC game. "Any time you go into something and you're timid or scared, you've already lost the game."
I'd be terrified. I might even transfer to a junior college before getting my head handed to me on a platter. Offensively, the Gophers could survive. But that defense, especially the secondary, can't possibly have a chance. Against South Dakota, the same slant pass that was wide open in the first quarter was wide open in the fourth quarter. Time after time after time.
"There's no excuse to have a defensive performance like we had today," Brewster said. "But we can't let this game define us, define our season."
It probably already has. Minnesota was supposed to win this one easily, maybe by three or four touchdowns. But if nothing else, the game substantiated Brewster's theories that these pre-conference games against lesser schools don't do anything to help recruiting. Especially if you lose them.
South Dakota quarterback Dante Warren seems like a good player, and I don't want to take anything away from him. But I don't recall seeing him on anyone's preseason All-America list, either. Against the mis-tackling, non-covering Gophers defense, he threw for 352 yards and ran for another 81. In all, he was responsible for five touchdowns. Minnesota defenders looked like greyhounds at the racetrack, laboring after the mechanical rabbit that never gets caught.
"There's talent on the defensive side of the ball," Brewster said. "We've got to coach that talent out."
(Insert your own punch line here.)
Afterward, the usually upbeat Brewster was as crestfallen as I've ever seen him. When he wasn't trying to convey his total disappointment, he kept repeating that the responsibility for the loss was his and his alone.
"I accept the blame," he said several times.
As if people weren't going to assign it to him anyway. That's how it is in college sports. It's always the coach's fault, even though some of his defensive players were so inept that they appeared to be good candidates for range-of-motion therapy.
Well, that was not the way to make friends and influence people. It's impossible to overstate how horrible Saturday's loss was in the grand scheme of things.
Can the Gophers now avoid a seasonlong tailspin? Yeah, if they beat USC. That would help erase the discomfort from the South Dakota game.
It's a tall order, but one that is necessary. Otherwise, that debacle will remain stuck in everyone's throat, like a fishbone.
http://www.twincities.com/gophers/ci_16052227
Go Gophers!!
