What grade would you give Gophers coaches in win over Nebraska?

What grade would you give Gophers coaches in win over Nebraska?

  • A

    Votes: 10 6.3%

  • B

    Votes: 64 40.0%

  • C

    Votes: 70 43.8%

  • D

    Votes: 15 9.4%

  • F

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • Total voters
    160
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What grade would you give Gophers coaches in win over Nebraska?
 

I decided I couldn't go with an F because they a won a game against a Big Ten football team, but if there was ever a time this was it.

Even the defense looked pretty lackluster against a very one dimensional QB. If Simms hits the open guy on the bomb in the 4th quarter, the game is over. A neutral observer would have had no idea what staff was in year 1 and what staff was in year 7
 


I put B because

Terrible situation the O put us in but the team put it together in the last 3 minutes and persevered.

Great comeback
 

I mean, we had 3 points scored for most of this game, against Nebraska.
 


Running QB's almost always give defenses problems. That was the situation tonight. AK faced a very effective secondary. So on both sides of the ball the Gophers had problems. Well, they won the game. A
 

Continue to be amazed how Wenger has a job as Special Teams coach. Just mindboggling.

And for all the folks who hate it when KO return calls for a fair catch to start the drive on the 25, Gophers decided to bring out 3 kicks and got thumped inside the 20 on all 3 of them, if I recall correctly.

Awesome to beat Nebraska though!!! A boatload of Husker fans at one of my project offices, can't wait to go to work tomorrow!
 

It was frustrating to get gashed by the run like we did, but somewhat understandable considering we did not even know what offense they'd be running, and we were without our best tackler.

The running game is obviously a huge concern at this point, but I don't know if I put this on the coaches. You don't just replace so much OL talent and not miss a beat in game one. Hopefully this improves in the coming weeks. Getting CAB back will help to open up the field more. Even though it was extremely ugly I'm thrilled we were able to come out with the W.
 

I gave them a C. You can't outright fail in your first game of the season because you are still figuring out players and their reactions during a game. Coaches have been attempting to create this situation during practices and this is the first chance to see it live.

There were elements that clicked and elements that pffted. We found out that some of the expected big play players are still here. We may have more in development and that's exciting.
 



The coaching was A++++.

A bunch of young men from divergent backgrounds stuck together and stayed the course when everything was working against them. The pass interference call that wasn't made, for example.

When we were at that age, and in their state of immaturity, on national television, most of us would have lost focus.

But these kids continued to believe in themselves and in their coaches and their team mates when things were looking very bleak.

A++++, all the way. Well done, Gopher coaches. Well done.
 

Billds were there to the very last second surrouunded by Nebbie fans.

We have a saying that "winning is better." Certainly the case tonight if not by just a hair.

Even with the W it's a C for me.
 

Seriously, how do the coaches a get an A? Unless it’s pass/fail.
 

A win gets a passing grade from me, but that was ugly. Defense won the game for us, but if we want to win the final year of the West, offense and special teams NEEDS to improve.
 



Ewert86PC said:
I gave them a C. You can't outright fail in your first game of the season because you are still figuring out players and their reactions during a game. Coaches have been attempting to create this situation during practices and this is the first chance to see it live.

There were elements that clicked and elements that pffted. We found out that some of the expected big play players are still here. We may have more in development and that's exciting.
Click to expand...
+o4
 

Coaching Concerns:

1.) Situational Game calling: Fleck going for 54 yard field goal in 1st half. Some of the situational football calls to me do not make sense. I just didn't understand taking that risk of giving them good field position when they had moved the ball, but weren't consistent. I felt if you miss, you give them an easy 3 to tie the game. Good thing for turnovers.

2.) The running game. It wasn't just the OL, it was the play calling. Seemed like all the run plays were slow developing zone blocking schemes, which with the 3 - 5 gave the speed players of NE time to get to the holes. Play variety in the run game needs to improve.

3.) Taking a shot: Seem like we replaced a run game with a short pass game, which is fine. However, we needed to take more shots down the field to loosen up the middle of the field. Not sure if routes were called and they were covered that well, or if our game calling was just that conservative.

Loved the defense, and the "W", but concerned we won't get these things figured out for North Carolina.
 


This game remained me PJ Fleck's first game as a gopher coach. Go gophers!~~
 

Gave em a C.

I felt the offensive gameplan in the first half was good. Just didn't execute with the running game and a few passes were dropped or put in the wrong spot. Happens.

I felt the reverse on 2nd and 3 inside the 20 was terrible and killed that drive. We actually had some momentum with the running game on a few of the plays prior.

I was OK with the long field goal. Yes generally the situation would say to punt it but Fleck wanted to see how his new kicker would fare from that far on a big stage. So I don't fault the coaches too much on that.

Timeout usage wasn't terrible but we were in a spot where if we didn't score at the end we would have had 1 left to try and get a stop with a little over 2 minutes to go. Not great.
 

10 points off 4 turnovers needs to improve. Like the turnovers though. That is a welcome improvement from previous defenses.

I voted C but would give the defense an A- if I could split it. They were lights out aside from the 1 brain fart.
 
Last edited:

gophernut1 said:
Coaching Concerns:

1.) Situational Game calling: Fleck going for 54 yard field goal in 1st half. Some of the situational football calls to me do not make sense. I just didn't understand taking that risk of giving them good field position when they had moved the ball, but weren't consistent. I felt if you miss, you give them an easy 3 to tie the game. Good thing for turnovers.

2.) The running game. It wasn't just the OL, it was the play calling. Seemed like all the run plays were slow developing zone blocking schemes, which with the 3 - 5 gave the speed players of NE time to get to the holes. Play variety in the run game needs to improve.

3.) Taking a shot: Seem like we replaced a run game with a short pass game, which is fine. However, we needed to take more shots down the field to loosen up the middle of the field. Not sure if routes were called and they were covered that well, or if our game calling was just that conservative.

Loved the defense, and the "W", but concerned we won't get these things figured out for North Carolina.
Click to expand...
This is perfectly stated. My thoughts exactly.
 

Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
Continue to be amazed how Wenger has a job as Special Teams coach. Just mindboggling.

And for all the folks who hate it when KO return calls for a fair catch to start the drive on the 25, Gophers decided to bring out 3 kicks and got thumped inside the 20 on all 3 of them, if I recall correctly.

Awesome to beat Nebraska though!!! A boatload of Husker fans at one of my project offices, can't wait to go to work tomorrow!
Click to expand...
I have no problem trying to return a shorter kick but he returned one from 2 yards into the end zone. Made little sense to me.
 

That Nebraska defense was really quick. The only deep shot I recall taking… Jackson looked open by 2 yards when the ball left AKs hand, but the defender closed in a hurry and we were lucky it wasn’t picked off. I think Nebraska is going to win 8 games after yesterday… I think this was a much better win than the sentiment in this thread seems to be.
 

Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
Continue to be amazed how Wenger has a job as Special Teams coach. Just mindboggling.

And for all the folks who hate it when KO return calls for a fair catch to start the drive on the 25, Gophers decided to bring out 3 kicks and got thumped inside the 20 on all 3 of them, if I recall correctly.

Awesome to beat Nebraska though!!! A boatload of Husker fans at one of my project offices, can't wait to go to work tomorrow!
Click to expand...
Special teams was bad. And whoever they had back there returning last night should be done. Just zero acceleration or explosiveness. If you are going to bring those balls out young man, bring them out with your hair on fire.
 

The Negatives:
  • Stop going for 54+ yard FG's when your defense is playing great. Fleck continues to do this every year and is not learning his lesson. This is incredibly concerning and frustrating.
  • How many times did we run the ball on 2nd and 10. It became as predictable as death and taxes. Brutal play calling in the first half and then forced to throw in the fourth quarter.
  • Despite the brutal perfomance in first half by the offense, the game was one to an absolute brain-fart on special teams to open the half. Special teams seems to be a serious area of need already this early in the season.
The Positives:
  • Daniel Jackson with the best catch in recent memory. Absolute retribution for some earlier drops.
  • This defense is really good and is going to be fun to watch if they stay healthy. 3 sacks on a very mobile QB at a very key time!
  • They effing pulled this one out of the hat. A W is a W.
 

Figure out how the run the ball and don't give up on it. I honestly can't believe I am saying this about a PJ Fleck team. I am also not sure we have a workhorse/bellcow type back in this group. 2 looked alright but was easy to bring down and didn't look overly quick either. I guess maybe I am just used to having studs back there for how many years now.

I will give him this though(Fleck), he at least seems to be open to changing a game plan/offensively strategy to fit his team. This kind of slinging the ball all over would have never happened a few years ago.
 

There is a lot that can be said about a Coach whose team snatched victory from sure defeat by overcoming, what many called terrible coaching decisions.
Resiliency is an attitude, one that has become part of the CULTURE instilled by coach Fleck. So for this alone Fleck deserves a B.
 

RememberMurray said:
The coaching was A++++.

A bunch of young men from divergent backgrounds stuck together and stayed the course when everything was working against them. The pass interference call that wasn't made, for example.

When we were at that age, and in their state of immaturity, on national television, most of us would have lost focus.

But these kids continued to believe in themselves and in their coaches and their team mates when things were looking very bleak.

A++++, all the way. Well done, Gopher coaches. Well done.
Click to expand...
I like this sentiment for that portion of the coaching job. Amazing we were able to come back and win that game.
 

EG#9 said:
I decided I couldn't go with an F because they a won a game against a Big Ten football team, but if there was ever a time this was it.

Even the defense looked pretty lackluster against a very one dimensional QB. If Simms hits the open guy on the bomb in the 4th quarter, the game is over. A neutral observer would have had no idea what staff was in year 1 and what staff was in year 7
Click to expand...
Idiotic take. Pulled out a gutsy win with some great maneuvering. You’re not going to score on every play and you are not going to stop opponents on every play.

Who calls the passing plays and who calls the D? The coaches, goof.

This isn’t a video game, slick.
 

We continue to be a terrible 3rd quarter team.

Special teams was bad - our kick returns were brutal, NE got a lot of yards on punts returns, roughing the kicker rrg.

Running game questionable, has to be set up by the pass. Why can’t our running backs pop out if the hole is filled inside - lack of vision!

A win but many concerns - C
 

Five for fighting said:
The Negatives:
  • Stop going for 54+ yard FG's when your defense is playing great. Fleck continues to do this every year and is not learning his lesson. This is incredibly concerning and frustrating.
  • How many times did we run the ball on 2nd and 10. It became as predictable as death and taxes. Brutal play calling in the first half and then forced to throw in the fourth quarter.
  • Despite the brutal perfomance in first half by the offense, the game was one to an absolute brain-fart on special teams to open the half. Special teams seems to be a serious area of need already this early in the season.
The Positives:
  • Daniel Jackson with the best catch in recent memory. Absolute retribution for some earlier drops.
  • This defense is really good and is going to be fun to watch if they stay healthy. 3 sacks on a very mobile QB at a very key time!
  • They effing pulled this one out of the hat. A W is a W.
Click to expand...
How long of a fg attempt can we try? Kesich has the leg.
 

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