What grade would you give Mitch Leidner in game at Michigan?

What grade would you give Mitch Leidner in game at Michigan?

  • A

    Votes: 84 49.4%

  • B

    Votes: 82 48.2%

  • C

    Votes: 4 2.4%

  • D

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • F

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    170
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Forgiven him? If JK appointed him to lead the team in January and he has led admirably, and the team has taken to him as the leader, his on-the-field performance was the area he needed to show it. Trusting the staff to coach him up, I believed from the beginning of the year that he would improve with the work and experience he's getting. Today showed me a lot. Thought that's what this thread was about.
 

Weren't we supposed to have trouble running against this top 10 FBS rushing and total defense?
 


afurry91 said:
Huh?
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Simply illustrating there are different ways to grade. For example, we have some posters who will complain if we don't look like 2012 Alabama or Mitch fails to throw for 68% and 3 TDs. On the other hand there are those of us who understand we should grade the team and players on a relative scale. My examples were probably poor but you know, beer.
 

killme said:
Forgiven him? If JK appointed him to lead the team in January and he has led admirably, and the team has taken to him as the leader, his on-the-field performance was the area he needed to show it. Trusting the staff to coach him up, I believed from the beginning of the year that he would improve with the work and experience he's getting. Today showed me a lot. Thought that's what this thread was about.
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Agreed. All the rah-rah, leading Captains practices in the off season, hardest worker, toughest guy on the team stuff doesn't mean squat if he can't excel the same way on-the-field. Mitch did that today, kudos. The most important stat is 16-22. Teams can't stack the box & run blitz all day if the QB can go 16-22 on short & mid routes. That's opens thing up for Cobb. Gives the OL some momentum, let's us open up the play book a little & makes Limey look much smarter.
 



B+ played really really well, didn't miss any real easy throws and didn't hold on to the ball to long one sack maybe?
 

I think a B is fair. He played a solid but not spectacular game, and that is exactly what our offense needs out of him. He is not ever going to be the kind of quarterback who is talked about as a Heisman or first team Big 10 candidate. We don't need him to be the guy to go out there and win the game for us, we need him to be the guy who goes out there and gives us what he is capable of giving us and limit mistakes. He did that today, and we saw the proof in the pudding as we thumped the Wolverines.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
For a guy that is supposed to be a 3rd string TE, he was phenomenal. A+.
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:clap:

A-. Not perfect on some passes but weren't expecting 100% perfection from Mitch. Did what we needed him to do and no screw ups. Proved he is capable of being a power 5 qb. Seven more games like that and we sure as hell won't be playing in Detroit, Houston, Bum Fack Egypt etc. at bowl time. Get the jug. Done. Next up. Floyd. Get that done and bring home the Ax.

Ski-U-Mah my friends.
 



Grade based on expectations for a Big Ten quarterback: B (above average but below very good)

Grade based on fan expectations for Leidner: A-
 

Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
:clap:

Seven more games like that and we sure as hell won't be playing in Detroit, Houston, Bum Fack Egypt etc. at bowl time.
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Well, don't get your hopes up too much. My guess is that Minnesota still plays in one of the lower level Big Ten bowls if the team finishes 7-5 and doesn't get one as high as the Tax Slayer Gator even if they finish 8-4. Remember last year when Michigan with a 7-5 (3-5 conference) record was selected ahead of us for a better bowl. Unless this team finishes 9-3, I would bet with confidence that Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, and Penn State all get picked ahead of Minnesota for bowls unless one or more of them have 2 fewer wins. Minnesota is still one of the three or four worst teams in the conference for home attendance so far this season.
 

At one point in the game, I checked the stats, and the Gophers had more yards passing than running. And they didn't even need to put Perra in the game..............(sarcasm)........

Just a guess on my part, but I wonder if Leidner was hurt even worse than the coaches were letting on. After a week off, he looked a lot better. And now, with the bye week, he has a chance to show more improvement. Having said that, I would still like to see Streveler get a series or two every game, just to keep him sharp and let Leidner get a rest.
 

He was 14-23, 60% and no turn overs. But probably the most important series was 2nd quarter with 2 minutes left and coming off their own 1 yard line. And on third down he completes a pass for 21 yards to Lincoln Plsek. This is something few Gopher QBs have done. More frequently, third down inside our own 10 yard line was a disaster. Especially against Michigan, Ohio State. This was a major play on Mitch's part. He took the team with two more completions to a field goal before the half. That was not only critical for the team at that time in the game, but also for their psyche in games later in the schedule. They have a positive experience to lean on.
 



From what I can remember he only truly missed 2 throws and that was to the FB in the flat and to Berkeley in the flat. He took 2 sacks when nobody was open instead of throwing a pick (once we stayed in FG range). Michigan made nice plays to break up 2 passes, and the his other incompletions were fairly well placed balls (the throws to Maye and Jones). So basically he only had 2 real misses all game that I can recall which is absolutely excellent. He threw accurately on the run, made good reads and remained poised and calm. Excellent game all around by him and he didn't even really have his legs as a threat
 

oleboy41 said:
From what I can remember he only truly missed 2 throws and that was to the FB in the flat and to Berkeley in the flat. He took 2 sacks when nobody was open instead of throwing a pick (once we stayed in FG range). Michigan made nice plays to break up 2 passes, and the his other incompletions were fairly well placed balls (the throws to Maye and Jones). So basically he only had 2 real misses all game that I can recall which is absolutely excellent. He threw accurately on the run, made good reads and remained poised and calm. Excellent game all around by him and he didn't even really have his legs as a threat
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Now that I've read your post, I'm thinking I should upgrade my rating at least half a grade.

His performance yesterday reminded me of Adam Webber's recent words where he said you have to get into a rhythm but that's tough to do when you're not throwing much. Leidner got a lot of throws yesterday and he appeared to be the same old Mitch at first but was pretty darn good once he got into a rhythm.
 

I've been a big critic of ML7 and I thought yesterday was his best performance he has put in yet. Well done Mitch, well done! :clap:
 

cjbfbp said:
Well, don't get your hopes up too much. My guess is that Minnesota still plays in one of the lower level Big Ten bowls if the team finishes 7-5 and doesn't get one as high as the Tax Slayer Gator even if they finish 8-4. Remember last year when Michigan with a 7-5 (3-5 conference) record was selected ahead of us for a better bowl. Unless this team finishes 9-3, I would bet with confidence that Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, and Penn State all get picked ahead of Minnesota for bowls unless one or more of them have 2 fewer wins. Minnesota is still one of the three or four worst teams in the conference for home attendance so far this season.
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Two thoughts on this.

1) There's no way the Gophs win less than 8 games if Mitch plays in the remaining games like he did Saturday. I can see 10-2 with wins against Ohio St., Iowa, and Wisconsin. The only offense that truly impresses me is Nebraska's. I don't think we go into Lincoln and win even if we have the same offensive output that we showed against Mich.

2) I believe the conference officials select which team goes to what bowl. The hope is that the match-ups will be better. Let's hope so. I believe there was a let down when the team was passed over last year and would have played better in the BWW Bowl if they would have gone there instead. We'll never know that of course, but that's my opinion. Certainly couldn't have played any worse than Mich. did.
 

Earlier I said Stanzi and Tolzien were my standards for what kind of QB is needed to win in the Big Ten. Manage the game, don't make mistakes, and hit the rollout 10-yard pass for a first down when needed more often than not. I think it's safe to say Leidner played at that level Saturday. I wasn't confident he had it in him after seeing his first three games this year but I'm more than glad to have been surprised,.
 

This
cjbfbp said:
Now that I've read your post, I'm thinking I should upgrade my rating at least half a grade.

His performance yesterday reminded me of Adam Webber's recent words where he said you have to get into a rhythm but that's tough to do when you're not throwing much. Leidner got a lot of throws yesterday and he appeared to be the same old Mitch at first but was pretty darn good once he got into a rhythm.
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I think this is how most of us expected ML to play from the beginning of the season. And I think Mitch probably did, too. I think the biggest difference was not being under constant pressure and having some easier throws early, so Mitch was able to get comfortable and gain some confidence.

I gave Mitch a B+, because I think he can continue to progress through the season.
 

At best an average division 1 quarterback at this point, but an A+ for development/improvement, he's starting to make some plays and show a glimpse of what might be.
 

For Mitch this performance was about as good as it gets. So give credit where credit is due. Solid A- from me and Limegrover gets an A+ for finally loosening the reigns.
 

I gave Mitch an A. A few more games like that and I'll have to re-evaluate my opinion of him...
 

Let me ask you experts something...

Answer ONLY. If you played High School Football.

Did you have the entire playbook ready for your first game?

Or did you add wrinkles as the season wore on?

Same thing, just more complicated at the Big Time level.

I played in a High School tha twent 4 years straight without a loss.

We NEVER had the entire playbook in at game one. It was sequential, week to week.
 

Mitch threw some really nice balls on Saturday. He definitely protected well, and on the vast majority of his throws put it where really only our guys would be making the play on it. Didn't throw hardly any "ducks," and only sailed a couple off target in the first half. Hopefully he's settling in.
 

I gave him an "A" but it was probably more like a B+ or an A-. He did what we needed him to do. Didn't turn the ball over, completed a good number of his passes, and kept the drives going when third down rolled around. With Cobb running the ball like he is, and the defense playing as well as they are......we don't really need Leidner to throw for 250-300 yards. I'm sure that he will have games in the future where we need him to do more......but as far as the game on Saturday went......he did just fine.
 

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