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

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

  • A

    Votes: 26 18.6%

  • B

    Votes: 94 67.1%

  • C

    Votes: 18 12.9%

  • D

    Votes: 2 1.4%
  • Total voters
    140
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A win on the road in the Big Ten is always great, especially crossing two time zones. However, the game was a lot closer than it should’ve been. Bad first half and the decision to punt with 3 minutes left pushes it to a C for me. Obviously the punt worked out, but UCLA was only a yard away from sealing it.
 






Given the performance of the first half, I wonder if the coaches anticipated the changes to UCLA defense r just poor execution.. F for first half, A for third quarter. B for fourth quarter. A win is a win is a win, particularly in the new BIG.
 

Vandy said:
Tale of 2 halfs.... I'll vote tomorrow after sleeping on it.
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Going with B..... Defense was solid for pretty much the full game, and got disruptive when it was obvious they needed to make something happen. Their efforts were tempered by the offense's dud of a first half........
 



Want with a C-. Mainly because Callahan is not doing the job as OL coach. Yes I know it is getting old always blaming the OL and their respective coach. I bet ersway lost hundreds of thousand of dollars with his performance last night. Sad, really sad.
 

Never apologize for a win, but this is how you follow up on the USC game?
 

GopherHole Staff said:
What grade would you give Gophers coaches in win over UCLA?
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I gave the coaching staff an A. The team and the coaches refused to lose.

Brilliant move of the game: the punt late in the game putting the game in the hands of the defense. The defense leads the way and sets the tempo for this Gopher team. From the second half in the Big House up until the end of the game last night, the Gopher has come to life and has won 2 B1G games and lost 1 B1G game during a stretch when the “smart gamblers …”would have told the world the Gopher Team would have at best gone 1 win and 2 losses.

The coaches made some great adjustments! All credit goes to the players, but in my final analysis, field position during the final 3 1/2 minutes was everything last night.

Gopher team needed 7 to win and 3 to tie. They needed to be in possession with 2 minutes to go from mid field to either tie or win. They had a 3rd and long Or they could use a punt and good use of time outs to get the ball back around mid-field to either tie or win by the 2 minute warning mark. The defense was playing better than the offense all game long. The punt gave the Gopher the best chance to win or tie and send the game into OT.

Wins do Not need to be pretty. Especially, B1G wins!

Coaches get theA for the call and win. Players get An A for executing and the win!
 
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The “flat” halves are frustrating, the comeback was impressive, as was the finish. Wins are always tough when you are at Minnesota’s current level, but they are always good.
Offensive line is puzzlingly weak, I don’t get playing coverage on the UCLA go ahead drive, when pressure had dominated the third quarter.
B is a good grade and a win is a good thing.
 



They won so I gave them a B, first half was horrible but the defense kept them in it. It really shouldn’t have been that close though so I couldn’t give higher.
 

The tv anouncers said UCLA came out with a completely different defensive scheme for this game than they had used all year. I am guessing that contributed to our struggles on offense in the first half. Kudos to the coaches for making halftime adjustments that worked.
 

Word said:
The tv anouncers said UCLA came out with a completely different defensive scheme for this game than they had used all year. I am guessing that contributed to our struggles on offense in the first half. Kudos to the coaches for making halftime adjustments that worked.
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Coach said that at the PC as well.
 

B -- A win is great, not complaining. Come from behind wins are especially satisfying, because those have historically has been a huge problem for PJ's teams.

But the offense was unprepared mentally or strategically, and out of sync, for the entire first half of the game. Still having trouble with "chaos" style defenses. Lucky we were playing UCLA, which has some true individual talent but not enough across the board. If Gophs' offense plays a first half like that against Illinois or Wisconsin, we're toast ... by the half. Might even be toast against Maryland and/or Rutgers. Our 2024 OL isn't good enough to simply play uncreative, predictable, ram-it-down-opponents'-throats football. And the OL and/or RBs have real trouble picking up blitzing LBs. IMHO, we need something--tempo, creativity, motion, counters, QB rollouts, quick outside pitches--to give this years version of OL and RBs a chance to shine for an entire game. A few more downfield shots would help, too, though that requires competent pass blocking ...

I'd like to think there are 2 or 3 more wins there for the Gophs, but our offensive game planning and execution has got to improve.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
B -- A win is great, not complaining. Come from behind wins are especially satisfying, because those have historically has been a huge problem for PJ's teams.

But the offense was unprepared mentally or strategically, and out of sync, for the entire first half of the game. Still having trouble with "chaos" style defenses. Lucky we were playing UCLA, which has some true individual talent but not enough across the board. If Gophs' offense plays a first half like that against Illinois or Wisconsin, we're toast ... by the half. Might even be toast against Maryland and/or Rutgers. Our 2024 OL isn't good enough to simply play uncreative, predictable, ram-it-down-opponents'-throats football. And the OL and/or RBs have real trouble picking up blitzing LBs. IMHO, we need something--tempo, creativity, motion, counters, QB rollouts, quick outside pitches--to give this years version of OL and RBs a chance to shine for an entire game. A few more downfield shots would help, too, though that requires competent pass blocking ...

I'd like to think there are 2 or 3 more wins there for the Gophs, but our offensive game planning and execution has got to improve.
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We must be watching different teams. Yes there are issues....there are always issues for every team but I look at our remaining schedule and if we play well there are 4 wins there and the 5th isn't out of the question. Maryland and Rutgers do not look imposing. Illinois just gave up 49 to a horrible Purdue team and while Penn State is really good the game is at home and anything can happen.

None of the games will be easy but there are plenty of wins left on the schedule.
 


Jeshurun said:
First half F
3rd Quarter A+
4th B-
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This sounds about right to me. That 1st half was just a disgusting display, but we came out the locker room and did what we needed to do. Immediately flipped the game in the 3rd Q.

Punting that was dumb and a pussy move...worked out, but the result was better than the process there.

Brosmer absolutely clutch and unflappable. Really wish we had him for another season.
 


bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Did not have the team ready to play in the first half, so no A from me this week. But, they adjusted well and won it in the second, so a solid B. Can't afford to only play one half against better teams, but was good enough against the opponent we had this week.
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Defense played a full game. Giving up 10 points the first half does not qualify as not ready to play.
 

Gopher 461 said:
Given the performance of the first half, I wonder if the coaches anticipated the changes to UCLA defense r just poor execution.. F for first half, A for third quarter. B for fourth quarter. A win is a win is a win, particularly in the new BIG.
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So defense giving up 10 points first half is an F? No, not really.
 


A-

There aren’t many “horrible” teams in P4 (Purdue?) so after getting punched in the mouth by a IMO better than advertised UCLA team the guys had a great second half, overall. The optimism meter has swung back to a positive number. Loving the changes we’re seeing on offense, defense, special teams.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
B -- A win is great, not complaining. Come from behind wins are especially satisfying, because those have historically has been a huge problem for PJ's teams.

But the offense was unprepared mentally or strategically, and out of sync, for the entire first half of the game. Still having trouble with "chaos" style defenses. Lucky we were playing UCLA, which has some true individual talent but not enough across the board. If Gophs' offense plays a first half like that against Illinois or Wisconsin, we're toast ... by the half. Might even be toast against Maryland and/or Rutgers. Our 2024 OL isn't good enough to simply play uncreative, predictable, ram-it-down-opponents'-throats football. And the OL and/or RBs have real trouble picking up blitzing LBs. IMHO, we need something--tempo, creativity, motion, counters, QB rollouts, quick outside pitches--to give this years version of OL and RBs a chance to shine for an entire game. A few more downfield shots would help, too, though that requires competent pass blocking ...

I'd like to think there are 2 or 3 more wins there for the Gophs, but our offensive game planning and execution has got to improve.
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There's definitely three more winnable games...the next three.
 

PMWinSTP said:
There's definitely three more winnable games...the next three.
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I'd like to think so too, but there is the Curse of Bert that PJ has got to break. This year's Illinois team is better than last year's ... and Bert (or PJ) found a way to put yet another W in the Illinois column last year. If the Gophs win the next three games, meaning they are eligible for a decent bowl AND have broken the Curse of Bert, I'll be happy about how the season has gone ... even though we left the Jug in Ann Arbor with a very beatable Michigan team. Icing on the cake would be bringing home the Axe. But with the way WI is playing now, offense (esp. running game) really cooking, that might be too much to wish for. Go Gophers!
 

3 of the last 4 games have had distinct splits by half.

vs Iowa the Gophers clearly lost the halftime adjustments, but against Michigan and UCLA the Gophers improved dramatically.

I'm not sure whether to credit coaches for making good adjustments or to ding them for not having a great game plan to start with, but they seemed to figure things out against the Bruins.
 


Zeppelin Gopher said:
This sounds about right to me. That 1st half was just a disgusting display, but we came out the locker room and did what we needed to do. Immediately flipped the game in the 3rd Q.

Punting that was dumb and a pussy move...worked out, but the result was better than the process there.

Brosmer absolutely clutch and unflappable. Really wish we had him for another season.
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The punt worked because they pinned them inside the 5 yd line. Give up a touchback there, UCLA can be a little more zealous getting a 1st down early in the series. Plus the favorable field position when the Gophers got the ball back probably was the difference in getting the go ahead TD vs a game tying FG attempt.
 

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