We got Out Coached Big Time

[Gopherlife]

Wisconsin got away with a half dozen PIs, but our defense ultimately didn’t play well enough to win even if those had been called. They were out for revenge and we couldn’t stop their lines. Future is bright, but this game sucked.

That's right. During almost every pass incompletion, there was a Wisconsin defensive back pulling down on the receiver's collar or pulling him back at the waist. However, Wisconsin won outright, given the rules that were set for the game.

 

[Bordergopher]

The Gophers have a good team, but this is the second time (vs Iowa and vs Wisc) that we got out coached. Both of those teams threw the kitchen sink at us with "out of character" offensive plays. Wisc is running reverses, going on 4th downs, passing against tendencies, etc to win. We just stick to our old tendencies and don't mix up the play enough and got conservative on offense.

I was happy earlier in the season when it looked like the coaches trusted the kids enough to make plays and win games. We have to move to that next level where we pull out all of the stops to win every game. It is what makes some good teams great. When they can grab the momentum by doing the unexpected and pull out some of those underdog games.

This x1000. Great post.

 

[Spoofin]

OP is right. Would be nice to have an honest discussion about it.

 

[akgo4]

Don't want to read about a 4th and 2 deciding the game or all the PIs Wisconsin had not called. Wisconsin played harder than us and better than us. They knew how to react and work hard in a big game. We aren't at that point yet. We also better realize real quick that nothing is a given next year. RTB isn't Kumbaya, and if we want it to be more than a catch phrase, it's time to demonstrate that it can also mean smacking someone in the mouth when it's time to get physical. We were out-physicalled today - not out-coached.

 

[hello-world]

Don't want to read about a 4th and 2 deciding the game or all the PIs Wisconsin had not called. Wisconsin played harder than us and better than us. They knew how to react and work hard in a big game. We aren't at that point yet. We also better realize real quick that nothing is a given next year. RTB isn't Kumbaya, and if we want it to be more than a catch phrase, it's time to demonstrate that it can also mean smacking someone in the mouth when it's time to get physical. We were out-physicalled today - not out-coached.

No, they were definitively out-coached. Some of the things Minnesota struggled w/ today were easily preventable if they had just made the right adjustments.

"They're not calling DPI so start pushing off"

"They're burning our pass rush on third so stop using that package"

"Smith is struggling to pick up the right blocks so put in somebody else"

^All of these could have been the difference in this game.

 

[MGGopher]

OP is right. Would be nice to have an honest discussion about it.

Is that not what's happening here? If not, do you have an opinion to add that would further the discussion?

I posted earlier in the thread Wisconsin had a great plan on both sides of the ball. I agree with a post a couple above this one that said the MN plan on D was to stop Taylor and make Coan win it with his arm in that weather. Great plan on paper, but the problem is he did it. On D, Wisc wanted to stop the run at any cost while bringing constant inside pressure and playing physical on our WRs outside. It worked. So yeah, on the whole, Wisc outcoached and outplayed MN. Just like last year MN outcoached and outplaye Wisc. Sucks, but they're a great staff and team. I hope MN turns the tables next year...

 

[Gopherlife]

Don't want to read about a 4th and 2 deciding the game or all the PIs Wisconsin had not called. Wisconsin played harder than us and better than us. They knew how to react and work hard in a big game. We aren't at that point yet. We also better realize real quick that nothing is a given next year. RTB isn't Kumbaya, and if we want it to be more than a catch phrase, it's time to demonstrate that it can also mean smacking someone in the mouth when it's time to get physical. We were out-physicalled today - not out-coached.

But I would argue that the Gophers smacked a few teams in the mouth this season. This just wasn't their game.

 

[Bad Gopher]

We did get schemed pretty good today, but any game planning looks good when your line is pushing people around and you have multiple dimensions for them to defend. We didn't have the luxury of being multidimensional, and they did.

 

[cncmin]

No, they were definitively out-coached. Some of the things Minnesota struggled w/ today were easily preventable if they had just made the right adjustments.

"They're not calling DPI so start pushing off"

"They're burning our pass rush on third so stop using that package"

"Smith is struggling to pick up the right blocks so put in somebody else"

^All of these could have been the difference in this game.

yes, exactly

 

[nsmike]

I think that there was a failure to anticipate the offensive scheme adjustments for both the Iowa and Wisconsin games. The defensive game plan in each case seemed geared to exactly what was on tape for the opposing offense even though there were signs it was evolving in the previous game or two.

 

[Brandon]

We lost when we couldn’t run or pass block

 

[gopherdudepart2]

Should have dumped it off to the backs to replace the blitzing linebackers Wisconsin had in middle of field. Could have made it costly for them to continue to blitz. Big Dan getting hurt really messed up the gameplan. Unfortunate that we kept fire blitzes on those Wisconsin screen plays. Inability to run the football made the Gophers to exposed to What Wisconsin does well on defense. Credit Wisconsin they flipped the game by opening up the passing game.

 

[MNVCGUY]

It was a 3 point game at halftime so to say the decision to punt cost us the game is foolish. I would have been all for going for it there but no guarantee we would have made it.

game was lost when the D fell apart in the second half. Credit to Wisconsin’s players and coaches. They came up with some wrinkles we couldn’t adjust to and their players executed.

 

[cncmin]

Should have dumped it off to the backs to replace the blitzing linebackers Wisconsin had in middle of field. Could have made it costly for them to continue to blitz. Big Dan getting hurt really messed up the gameplan. Unfortunate that we kept fire blitzes on those Wisconsin screen plays. Inability to run the football made the Gophers to exposed to What Wisconsin does well on defense. Credit Wisconsin they flipped the game by opening up the passing game.

It almost seemed UW’s offense knew exactly what D we were bringing...either they did a great, great job of scouting or they were pulling some Houston Astros / NE Patriots shenanigans. I assume the former, but...

 

[hello-world]

It almost seemed UW’s offense knew exactly what D we were bringing...either they did a great, great job of scouting or they were pulling some Houston Astros / NE Patriots shenanigans. I assume the former, but...

It's not like it was that hard. We literally bring in a blitz package on every single 3rd down. Change personnel for it and everything. It's a minor miracle that other teams hadn't been taking advantage of that all season long.

 

[leib0039]

I really thought that 4th and 2 was the perfect time to pull out the Seth Green throw, dont recall seeing it all year. That's what they did, surprises at every turn.

 

[scools12]

Badgers coaching staff out coached the Gophers staff. Can’t argue that.

Gophers best players their WRs had multiple opportunities to make a big play and didn’t get it done.

 

[cncmin]

It's not like it was that hard. We literally bring in a blitz package on every single 3rd down. Change personnel for it and everything. It's a minor miracle that other teams hadn't been taking advantage of that all season long.

I hear that. You have to give UW’s staff a lot of credit for schemes and taking full advantage of situations today. I sure hope Leonard is a HC somewhere next year. He is clearly a good DC. I’m far more surprised with their offensive game plan. If they had opened up their offense all year they’d never have lost to Illinois or struggled with anyone else outside of OSU.

 

[Herd]

Out coached? I didn’t see that really.

WI ran the ball well, MN didnt run it well or stop the run. MN went to the air more, and had some success, but didn’t sustain it. As the weather got worse, the ground attach by WI was potent.

I don’t think Better Coaching was going to stop the WI running game. Coaching on a few plays, but I don’t think it was that significant.

 

[cncmin]

Out coached? I didn’t see that really.

WI ran the ball well, MN didnt run it well or stop the run. MN went to the air more, and had some success, but didn’t sustain it. As the weather got worse, the ground attach by WI was potent.

I disagree that the Badgers won that game by their running game. They won it by D and through the air.

 

[Herd]

I disagree that the Badgers won that game by their running game. They won it by D and through the air.

The WI Running game and OL were the big difference that I saw. The OL push in the 2nd half was dominant. WI won the LOS on both sides, and that’s not coaching.

 

[Veritas]

The thing that bugged me was the lack of defensive adjustment at the half. They burned us on the screen multiple times on 3rd and Minnesota just kept blitzing. Drove me crazy.

Something in their head needs to stop and say, "Oh, they've solved this, lets throw something new at them."

Instead, they ran it repeatedly and ended up getting burned for like 40 yards on a screen when they were already down 2 scores. That looked pretty bad.

If a football team does not have a good four man pass rush there is nothing they can do that does not expose them to being "out coached". There is no safe or sure response to poor four man rush. Period. Don't pretend that single most important factor in winning big games does not exist.

 

[GDMFT]

Like others have said, Gophers plan was to stop JT. We held him to under 100 yards on the ground and the team under 200. They found other ways to get him the ball. If anyone would have said he would only have 76 yards rushing I'm pretty sure 99% would say we would win. I think the biggest difference in this game and also IA is we don't have a legitimate pass rush without bringing the house. Every time we blitz it seems like we get burned on the edges and have no contain.

 

[Dano564]

Similar to how uniform choice affects the outcome as well.

Similar to how calling timeouts prior to the last 3 minutes of the football game has affected outcomes as well.

 

[Dano564]

I think coaching is obviously a factor in any win or loss.

The issue a team has is if they are lower on skill (or talent), to make up that difference, you have to play very well and mistake free. Even if you do so, a correct play call by the opponent can take advantage of whatever your defensive weakness was.

Gameplan to stop #23 seemed right. But we were getting beat in the trenches on both sides of the ball, and being down only 3 at half was fortunate for how dominating WI was.

Our team could have beaten that WI team maybe 5 out of 10 times, or maybe 3 or 7 times, but today wasn't one. To get to become a team that would beat WI 9 out of 10 times, you need a skill or talent advantage to dictate the game beginning to end.

We're not quite there yet.

 

[Mulligan]

We lost when we couldn’t run or pass block

Yep, and look at the lack of a pass rush by us. No sacks. They sacked Tanner 5 times and he was under a lot of pressure other times. We easily could have turned the ball over more with some of his throws as he was leaning back. Also, not counting the sacks and take away two runs we somewhat broke, we averaged about 1.7 yards a carry on 23 other runs. You just can't compete doing that, especially in those conditions.

Ya, I wished they would have gone for it on that 4th down but I actually was more upset with the time-out which gave Wisconsin a chance to get organized.

Last year we outplayed them. They outplayed us today. They also had stuff ready for us on offense where we had no counters so PJ got outcoached. But some of the posts after the game remind me of 6th graders throwing a temper tantrum. Got a feeling damn near all of those throwing tantrums would have jumped at a 10-2 regular season when this began. Also, think this guy is going to prove it wasn't a one year deal and we'll be in the mix for at least a Big Ten West title every year.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Game was mainly lost in the trenches. TM2 hit and hurried all game. Playmakers on the outside didn’t make plays. Weather factor.

Need better talent on the defensive line
Need better talent at linebacker
The offensive line needs to mature/get better
Offense with little misdirection, creativity today.
Offense flat out didn’t execute even when given the chance on too many occasions
They caught the defense in too many mismatches and once again misdirection led to big plays and critical conversions at times.

Kudos to Wisconsin - played out of their minds and executed nearly everything they attempted despite 23 getting bottled. They really did seem to “pre-cog” what was coming on both sides of the ball - great coaching job. Time to have a few drinks and contemplate lost opportunities. The season can still end on a positive note with a nice bowl opponent and showing.

 

[AZGopher8]

Game was mainly lost in the trenches. TM2 hit and hurried all game. Playmakers on the outside didn’t make plays. Weather factor.

Need better talent on the defensive line
Need better talent at linebacker
The offensive line needs to mature/get better
Offense with little misdirection, creativity today.
Offense flat out didn’t execute even when given the chance on too many occasions
They caught the defense in too many mismatches and once again misdirection led to big plays and critical conversions at times.

Kudos to Wisconsin - played out of their minds and executed nearly everything they attempted despite 23 getting bottled. They really did seem to “pre-cog” what was coming on both sides of the ball - great coaching job. Time to have a few drinks and contemplate lost opportunities. The season can still end on a positive note with a nice bowl opponent and showing.

This is a spot on summary of today and the current team.

Personally, I was frustrated by losing out on an opportunity to play in the Big Ten Championship this season. The chance to play one game to go to the CFP and the Rose Bowl as the consolation prize. I mean that is a season that we have dreamed about for (sadly) generations now. However, I do believe this team will not be a one year wonder with a fall to mediocrity. The future will present more of these big games and opportunities. It will be a fun time to be a Gopher Football fan again.

 

[Scoops5]

We got outplayed in every phase of the game. Wisconsin was simply better. They owned the line of scrimmage, they were better at the skill positions and they easily out coached us. We turned it over, we failed to go for the throat, we failed to respond when punched in the face. Easily our worst game since last year.

Disagree. Iowa was our worst game because of all the mistakes we made. It's one thing to get beat by a team who executed. had a better game plan, and found a way to hide countless pass interference plays (Wisc). It's another when your uncharacteristic mistakes cause you to beat yourself while it's obvious the other team (Iowa) isn't as as strong.

 

[tomdog]

Pretty much this. I was disappointed MN didn't go for it as well, but that wasn't the difference. The D played well early in the game, and with the weather there was reason to believe this would be a really low scoring game (and in fact, it was only 10-7 at the half). Field position matters in a game like that, so the staff took a calculated risk. Probably wrong, yes, but if you get stuffed there on 4th would we see this outrage? The way MN ran the ball early, there was a good shot it gets stuffed.

Wisconsin had a great gameplan. They schemed up 4 or 5 wrinkles on O to get matchups and EVERY SINGLE ONE of them worked to perfection. They schemed up a D to get pressure up the middle while pressing our WRs and it worked 85% of the time and really rattled Morgan. Pretty much the worst game imaginable. Sucks.

This is a good synopsis of what happened.