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
You couldn’t run the ball for about the first time I remember and still won the game. For a coaching staff who lives by a running game I was encouraged we managed a win Also I thought the defense was very solid.
 

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.
The gophers are 2 for their last 10 on 50+ field goals.......punt the damn, ball
 

You couldn’t run the ball for about the first time I remember and still won the game. For a coaching staff who lives by a running game I was encouraged we managed a win Also I thought the defense was very solid.
We couldn't run the ball for schit against Purdue last year with Mo out.

It's a massive problem.
 

First game of season against Big Ten opponent with new untested players and coming out on top equals A in my book.
 



How long of a fg attempt can we try? Kesich has the leg.
I had zero problem with the 54-yd FG attempt. It wasn't into the wind (from what it appeared, I wasn't there) and it was in the first half, not at a time in the game where missing could really cost you.

I will say Kesich needs as many attempts as he can get in-game as we move forward. His attempts didn't fill me with a boatload of confidence; making his first FG attempt JUST inside the right upright, slightly pushing the 54-yd attempt and yanking the living shit out of the XP, kind of all over the map. More reps and he should be fine but it's not uncommon for guys with a really big leg to not be very consistent.

Will have to watch this situation as we move further into the season. Cautiously optimistic.
 

I had zero problem with the 54-yd FG attempt. It wasn't into the wind (from what it appeared, I wasn't there) and it was in the first half, not at a time in the game where missing could really cost you.

I will say Kesich needs as many attempts as he can get in-game as we move forward. His attempts didn't fill me with a boatload of confidence; making his first FG attempt JUST inside the right upright, slightly pushing the 54-yd attempt and yanking the living shit out of the XP, kind of all over the map. More reps and he should be fine but it's not uncommon for guys with a really big leg to not be very consistent.

Will have to watch this situation as we move further into the season. Cautiously optimistic.
Completely agree
 

I gave a C. Rossi was once again outstanding to bring up the overall grade. The clock stuff still baffles me. The tying drive it looks like if you don't make it on 4th, you got 2 TO's and then can still get the ball back with some time and then you uses the TO. Perhaps Fleck just thought. Better chance to have everything right on 4th down and that's the game. But once you take the TO, it really was the game on that play.

Special teams, kind of yucky, but not sure how much was that coaches. The roughing the punter was huge, big kick return to setup their score. Didn't really like the long FG attempt, but after seeing the last FG, perhaps they are fully comfortable with him attempting long kicks.
 

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.
Well stated. The biggest lesson was learned. Battle through adversity.
 



I gave a C. Rossi was once again outstanding to bring up the overall grade. The clock stuff still baffles me. The tying drive it looks like if you don't make it on 4th, you got 2 TO's and then can still get the ball back with some time and then you uses the TO. Perhaps Fleck just thought. Better chance to have everything right on 4th down and that's the game. But once you take the TO, it really was the game on that play.

Special teams, kind of yucky, but not sure how much was that coaches. The roughing the punter was huge, big kick return to setup their score. Didn't really like the long FG attempt, but after seeing the last FG, perhaps they are fully comfortable with him attempting long kicks.
This is the correct thinking IMO. I'd rather use that timeout to get the right play when we have a chance to score than to save it for a hypothetical situation where it might not even come into play.
 

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.
Is the shite you’re ingesting legal?
 

Joe Rossi put the team on his back this game. Hopefully we get more of the creativity on offense that we ran in Q4 for the rest of the season, and figure out how to run the ball!
 




This is the correct thinking IMO. I'd rather use that timeout to get the right play when we have a chance to score than to save it for a hypothetical situation where it might not even come into play.
The missed FG IIRC was a high snap that messed up the timing. The holder struggled to get the ball down.
 


NYC is a tough guy town...
I was expecting more from C J Ham!

Did you change it to Bologna? - Typed while listening to Yacht Rock on Pandora via an MTA 🚎 - Nothing says badazz like groovin to Robbie Dupree’s Steal Away🤣
 
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Solid B. Yes, there was a lot to be frustrated about starting with the running game. But they kept playing hard; avoided being hurt by penalties; won the turnover battle; and they executed when the game was on the line. They looked like the better coached team when they were moving into position to kick the final field goal. Any mistake there would have cost them the game. I don't think we're at the stage yet where we can be haughty enough to call Nebraska "garbage" and be outraged that we didn't beat the hell out of them.
 

C.

The defense played well. I was very frustrated that the RB's used were Tyler and Williams only. Tyler is not a between the tackles runner it appears and Williams is ....well Williams. Where were Evans and Taylor? They weren't saving Taylor's games played number as he did get in for a few plays.
 


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.
Not quite that high but really good. Run blocking will get better against more familiar fronts.
 


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.
Would you approve the FG try in that situation from 42 yds? A 54-yarder for Kesich is the same thing.
 

That QB and Husker team in general are trash. We should have won by 20…although still nice to start off 1-0. Loss to that team would have been a bad setback.
Nebraska is a bowl team. To call them trash is insane.
 

Nebraska is a bowl team. To call them trash is insane.

I think they are going to struggle to win games. For Sims to be in his fourth year of starting P5 football games behind Center, and to make the mistakes he made last night.... wowzers.... It won't take teams very long to figure out that offense. They'll play a bunch of low scoring games probably, and maybe sneak out a win in some of them.

Looking at their schedule, their best shot at wins are NIU, La Tech and Northwestern... and maybe Maryland at home.
 



I think they are going to struggle to win games. For Sims to be in his fourth year of starting P5 football games behind Center, and to make the mistakes he made last night.... wowzers.... It won't take teams very long to figure out that offense. They'll play a bunch of low scoring games probably, and maybe sneak out a win in some of them.

Looking at their schedule, their best shot at wins are NIU, La Tech and Northwestern... and maybe Maryland at home.
They will beat Colorado comfortably.
 

Offense was pretty pedestrian, which is expected at this point in the season, but I don't know how you can go any lower than a B with he defensive performance. I had zero issues with PJs game management as well. There were play calls on offense that were literally a step or a longer pass away from making the offense look quite a bit better than the end results show. Plus the end of game resiliency. These kids wouldn't have pulled this one out without the culture that's been developed here.
 

PJ Fleck:

"I'm really proud of our defense. They came through. Four takeaways. We talked about the ball all week, how important that was going to be.

Offense, we just couldn't get a lot of things going in rhythm. And that's a credit to them. That defense is very difficult; it's the same Syracuse defense but instead of 265, 260 across the board up front they're 320, 330 -- a little different of a system when you have those players, the length in the back end, the pressure, and not being able to prepare for exactly what you want. I thought we held our cool, though.

We were poised. And we kept saying on the sideline, 'It's going to hit. We're going to get opportunities. We'll have a chance.' And nobody stopped believin' on that sideline. I thought our leaders showed great resiliency, resolve and passion for each other. A frustrated locker room is a divided locker room. A grateful locker room connects. I think they're really grateful for each other.

They're rooting for each other on the sideline. There's a lot of conversations that have to happen over there, we've got to help them. We talk about elite team leaders lead. Players made a ton of plays! That doesn't mean coaches have to be involved in that, pushing them to get them to do that.

And on special teams, we weren't very good on special teams tonight at all. Until when it counted at the very end to the game winner. And I loved the response from Dragan [Kesich]. I put him in a really tough position from the 54-55 yarder but that's the confidence I have in my kicker. I watch him kick 65-yarders in practice like it's nothing. I get to see that, you've seen that. I'm going to trust our players."


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