Watch out for Indiana........

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Gold Rush

Gold Rush

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The Gophers played a fantastic game yesterday and beat a nationally renowned team they have not beaten in 53 years. Everyone is STILL celebrating (I know I am!) With that said, we need this Indiana game and the players and coaches can't celebrate this win for very long. Bloomington, Indiana has always been a tough place for us to win at and the Hoosiers can very easily beat us if we take them for granted or are still trying to come down from the big Nebraska win.

We will need to get back to Earth quickly, play smart and execute a good game plan and treat them just like they were Nebraska. If the Gophers still have their heads in the clouds, they will get beat.
 

Gophers will have a Target on there backs against Indiana

Hoosiers have been traditionally tough against Gophers in Bloomington. Plus those guys are coming off the bye week to play Minnesota so they have
had a chance to watch a lot of film. No time to rest on laurels, we need the Gophers to get every Big 10 win possible.
Indiana offense put's up a lot of points and they will run the no huddle and try to turn the game in to a track meet.
Gophers have the right to feel good about themselves and to celebrate even today. After that it is time to turn the page and go to work against Indiana.
Nebraska win loses some of it's luster if Gophers lose to Indiana. Gophers had a similar type of win against Ohio State in 2000 and then went to Indiana
the next week and played a stinker of a game. Coaches said all that week they practiced like crap and then the coaching staff including the head coach
seemed to think they had punched there ticket elsewhere. I am not saying that about this staff, but there going to have to reign in the ego a bit, and
get the players to realize they play the role of the hunted now and not the hunter this week. Indiana is going to want to make a name for themselves
against the Gophers. Confidence is a good thing, Gophers have the right to puff out there chest's and feel good, but we need to beat the Hoosiers.
That means working just as hard this week as last week, no slacking off, the no huddle is never easy to defend. Indiana has a really good quarterback,
this will not be an easy game. Gophers need to control the clock and be just as methodical with hogging the clock and using some motion as this last week.
Let the kids enjoy the win, it is a big deal, but Beat Indiana.
 

I don't really agree with any of this at all. A target on their back? You try to beat every team you play, you shouldn't need extra motivation to get ready for a game. It's not like we are a top 10 team. I'm pretty sure there are no hangovers or not ready to play type scenarios. This coaching staff will have them ready. If they lose it's because they were out executed, simple as that.

Gold Rush said:
The Gophers played a fantastic game yesterday and beat a nationally renowned team they have not beaten in 53 years. Everyone is STILL celebrating (I know I am!) With that said, we need this Indiana game and the players and coaches can't celebrate this win for very long. Bloomington, Indiana has always been a tough place for us to win at and the Hoosiers can very easily beat us if we take them for granted or are still trying to come down from the big Nebraska win.

We will need to get back to Earth quickly, play smart and execute a good game plan and treat them just like they were Nebraska. If the Gophers still have their heads in the clouds, they will get beat.
Click to expand...
 

Agreed, Gopherdude. You have to take the games one at a time and get ready for a very serious challenge this week. Indiana needs this game bad, but can still make a bowl if it beats Illinois and Purdue which is extremely doable for them. I would say that if we lose to Indiana, we will probably go to the "worst" of the Big Ten Bowls, but if we win, it gives us a very good chance of moving up the Bowl ladder and a chance for a very nice season. This is a big game for the Gophers, and a very big challenge coming off the big win. If we win - the next game vs. Penn St. gets very very big!!!!
 

minnyrules11 said:
I don't really agree with any of this at all. A target on their back? You try to beat every team you play, you shouldn't need extra motivation to get ready for a game. It's not like we are a top 10 team. I'm pretty sure there are no hangovers or not ready to play type scenarios. This coaching staff will have them ready. If they lose it's because they were out executed, simple as that.
Click to expand...

As Gopherdude said, this is a classic case of a letdown game after a big win. This is what you call a "trap game." You can't get too high or too low - you have to take it one game at a time. This happens all the time in sports, just like gopherdude saying how we lost at Indiana after a big OSU win, which is a fairly similar situation. After the USA hockey team beat the Russians, they still had to beat Finland for the gold medal. Herb Brooks knew he was in the ultimate letdown situation here and what he did was have the hardest practice of the year and yelled and swore at the players getting them back to Earth. I like to say that might have been one of the greatest coaching jobs ever done because he was able to get them down to Earth and avoid that letdown. This isn't always easy to do and it happens all the time.
 


Gold Rush said:
The Gophers played a fantastic game yesterday and beat a nationally renowned team they have not beaten in 53 years. Everyone is STILL celebrating (I know I am!) With that said, we need this Indiana game and the players and coaches can't celebrate this win for very long. Bloomington, Indiana has always been a tough place for us to win at and the Hoosiers can very easily beat us if we take them for granted or are still trying to come down from the big Nebraska win.

We will need to get back to Earth quickly, play smart and execute a good game plan and treat them just like they were Nebraska. If the Gophers still have their heads in the clouds, they will get beat.
Click to expand...

Doubt the players and coaches are. Odds are they are lifting and watching film today
 

Typically I would agree, good chance of a trap game or letdown. But not in this case, I don't think. Indiana has an offense to be respected, and the game is on the road. Those two aspects will have the Gophers ready and focused.

That being said, this game is the Super Bowl for Indiana. With road games left against Wisky and OSU, and home games against Illinois and Purdue, and sitting at 3 wins, this game likely stands between Indiana and a bowl game. They NÉED this game, need it bad, to keep any momentum going forward for the program.

This will be a big test, in doubt, but I like the matchup. Offenses like theirs thrive on rhythm and keeping them off the field will go a long ways towards disrupting that rhythm.

They DID have their best win of the season after their last bye week though. Let's hope they don't repeat that feat Saturday.
 

Willie Middlebrooks (#42)

gopherdudepart2 said:
Hoosiers have been traditionally tough against Gophers in Bloomington. Plus those guys are coming off the bye week to play Minnesota so they have
had a chance to watch a lot of film. No time to rest on laurels, we need the Gophers to get every Big 10 win possible.
Indiana offense put's up a lot of points and they will run the no huddle and try to turn the game in to a track meet.
Gophers have the right to feel good about themselves and to celebrate even today. After that it is time to turn the page and go to work against Indiana.
Nebraska win loses some of it's luster if Gophers lose to Indiana. Gophers had a similar type of win against Ohio State in 2000 and then went to Indiana
the next week and played a stinker of a game. Coaches said all that week they practiced like crap and then the coaching staff including the head coach
seemed to think they had punched there ticket elsewhere. I am not saying that about this staff, but there going to have to reign in the ego a bit, and
get the players to realize they play the role of the hunted now and not the hunter this week. Indiana is going to want to make a name for themselves
against the Gophers. Confidence is a good thing, Gophers have the right to puff out there chest's and feel good, but we need to beat the Hoosiers.
That means working just as hard this week as last week, no slacking off, the no huddle is never easy to defend. Indiana has a really good quarterback,
this will not be an easy game. Gophers need to control the clock and be just as methodical with hogging the clock and using some motion as this last week.
Let the kids enjoy the win, it is a big deal, but Beat Indiana.
Click to expand...

Gopherdudepart2,

1. I agree with 98 percent of what you have to say.

2. With respect to the 21 October 2000 game in Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, Indiana, I confess I was not present. http://ericthrall.com/gophers/football/2000/indiana.html I think The Loon might have been at that game, so he might be able to chime in if he has an account on GopherHole. My contention is that we would not have lost this game had Willie Middlebrooks (#42) not broken his leg in this game. I remember how certain people on GopherHole used to rag on Willie for not looking back at the ball, but at 6'2" he was one of the best cornerbacks we had in my memory.

3. Bottom line: We simply did not have enough depth in 2000 to survive with Willie Middlebrooks going down. We still had a decent season. I think we would have beaten IU if Willie played the entire game healthy. I think we would have won one or two more games had Willie not broken his leg at IU.

4. That being said, "Yeah, we have a bad track record at Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, Indiana." Let's buck this trend!
 




Can it be a trap/letdown game when you're 9 1/2 point underdogs?
 

Plinnius said:
Can it be a trap/letdown game when you're 9 1/2 point underdogs?
Click to expand...

Is that the line on the game??? Wow -- that is really high. Well - that ought to get people back to reality if it's true. This will not be an easy game!
 

6 Nov 1999 said:
Gopherdudepart2,

1. I agree with 98 percent of what you have to say.

2. With respect to the 21 October 2000 game in Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, Indiana, I confess I was not present. http://ericthrall.com/gophers/football/2000/indiana.html I think The Loon might have been at that game, so he might be able to chime in if he has an account on GopherHole. My contention is that we would not have lost this game had Willie Middlebrooks (#42) not broken his leg in this game. I remember how certain people on GopherHole used to rag on Willie for not looking back at the ball, but at 6'2" he was one of the best cornerbacks we had in my memory.

3. Bottom line: We simply did not have enough depth in 2000 to survive with Willie Middlebrooks going down. We still had a decent season. I think we would have beaten IU if Willie played the entire game healthy. I think we would have won one or two more games had Willie not broken his leg at IU.

4. That being said, "Yeah, we have a bad track record at Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, Indiana." Let's buck this trend!
Click to expand...
Ya if we don't lose Willie and we knock down the hailmary pass vs NW (Willie probably does) we would've been 6-2 that year in conference, too bad we *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!# the bed vs Ohio in non con. We might be the only team to lose to Ohio and beat Ohio State in the same year!
 

Use the Navy template as a way of winning in Bloomington.

Navy is 120th in passing, 10th in rushing, 70th in points for, and 54th in points against.
MINN is 119th, 23rd, 64th, and 42nd


They had the ball for 37 minutes in that game. Control the clock and run the ball effectively and they can give themselves a shot.
http://www.iuhoosiers.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2013-2014/g2navy.html#GAME.TEM
 



Simple game plan for this week:

Keep Indiana's offense off of the field. They have proven they can score with ease. And they have proven they still don't know what defense is. So long as our offense doesn't sputter, we can hang with this team. Hopefully the momentum from the past two weeks carries over to this Saturday.
 

I pegged this as a loss at the start of the year, but I could definitely see us winning. This reminds me of the bowl game last year and that Tech team was much better, we just gave it away at the end. I'll say we win 37-31, if the oline continues to dominate and we eat clock with Williams/Cobb/Kirkwood. Hopefully our TE and WR can hang on to the ball this week, we will have our opportunities vs IU. As much as we complain about playing so many teams off the by we're 2-1 in those games and played scUM tough until the 4th quarter
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
Hoosiers have been traditionally tough against Gophers in Bloomington. Plus those guys are coming off the bye week to play Minnesota so they have
had a chance to watch a lot of film. No time to rest on laurels, we need the Gophers to get every Big 10 win possible.
Indiana offense put's up a lot of points and they will run the no huddle and try to turn the game in to a track meet.
Gophers have the right to feel good about themselves and to celebrate even today. After that it is time to turn the page and go to work against Indiana.
Nebraska win loses some of it's luster if Gophers lose to Indiana. Gophers had a similar type of win against Ohio State in 2000 and then went to Indiana
the next week and played a stinker of a game. Coaches said all that week they practiced like crap and then the coaching staff including the head coach
seemed to think they had punched there ticket elsewhere. I am not saying that about this staff, but there going to have to reign in the ego a bit, and
get the players to realize they play the role of the hunted now and not the hunter this week. Indiana is going to want to make a name for themselves
against the Gophers. Confidence is a good thing, Gophers have the right to puff out there chest's and feel good, but we need to beat the Hoosiers.
That means working just as hard this week as last week, no slacking off, the no huddle is never easy to defend. Indiana has a really good quarterback,
this will not be an easy game. Gophers need to control the clock and be just as methodical with hogging the clock and using some motion as this last week.
Let the kids enjoy the win, it is a big deal, but Beat Indiana.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing and I remember that game well. Antwan Randle El was a one-man wrecking crew for the Hoosiers.

Gotta stay focused.
 

Gold Rush said:
Is that the line on the game??? Wow -- that is really high. Well - that ought to get people back to reality if it's true. This will not be an easy game!
Click to expand...

Yes, Indiana is a 9.5 point favorite.
 

We put up 34 against the 50th ranked Defense in the country yesterday so I'm confident we can at least score 31 against the 113th ranked Defense in the country. Ball Control is key to victory...
 

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