Why is everybody so pessimistic?

Donate To GopherHole
3399 said:
Here is why it is easy to be pessimistic- Despite playing the weakest non-conference schedule in the league, MN now ranks statistically in the Big Ten this way- Total offense - 11th Total Defense - 7th Rushing Defense- 7th Passing offense- 12th Pass defense- 10th Opponent's completion percentage- 12th Pass efficiency- 10th Pass defense- 11th Sacks against- 8th Opponent's 3rd down- 10th Turnover margin- 7th No running backs in the top 10 No QB in the top 10 No receivers in the top 10 That is a lot of categories to be in the bottom half of the conference.
Click to expand...

And the second year of bottom of the barrel recruiting. Other than that, things look up!
 

GopherDieHardDyingHard said:
I'm sorry, I was mistaken thinking that the object of the game was to actually score more points than your opponent. Maybe we should ask the Big Ten to start handing out participation ribbons so no one's feelings get hurt? You say that losing by 29 points is shallow...I say you're looking way too hard for positives. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm pessimistic because I don't feel we're any closer to being a respectable Big Ten program than when Kill and his staff took over 3 years ago. I'm pessimistic because we have taken the easy road to non-conference wins and are totally unprepared when the conference season starts. I'm pessimistic because I am being told that we're supposedly executing better offensively in a game when we only score 13 points. I'm pessimistic because our fan base is desperately grasping for anything positive to say and when they can't, they rip on the fans like me who see the product on the field for what it is.

Sorry if this comes off mean-spirited, but I'm tired of the same old crap that we get every year and as a fan base, I think we deserve better than what we're getting.
Click to expand...

I think that really only applies to this season. I was upset when we ditched the home and home with North Carolina, but then we replaced them with TCU a year later and so it really doesn't bother me. We played one BCS opponent out of conference in Kill's first two seasons and we are doing so again the next two seasons. Three "cupcakes" and one decent BCS opponent seems like fairly normal scheduling and not significantly worse than what most teams do. Some would argue that getting pounded by a good team out of conference is worse than beating the snot out of a crappy one, I don't really know who's correct in that instance.

And technically I think the 13 points we scored on the road this week would be considered improvement over the 7 we scored at home last week. We also only had our quarterback take a loss of yards instead of throwing the ball away once this week versus three or four times last week. So I guess there is some level of improvement, but I could see where it gets frustrating when that improvement seems marginal.
 

Cayman said:
The self-proclaimed realists on this board seem to have negative outlooks on the present and future of our sports programs far more often than positive ones, so I could see where the two might be confused.
Click to expand...
That is probably because for the last half century that is the reality.
 

Progress should be marked from our bowl game v Texas Tech. To regress from our late season performance last year to what we've seen this year, even in non con play, is reason enough to be pessimistic. We shouldn't be proud to be developing some semblance of offensive competency six games into the season. That should have been established with the group of returning starters we have, and should have been built upon to make us a competitive B1G squad. We're not a competitive B1G squad. We're the easiest win in the conference right now.
 

go4ergold said:
It's not called being pessimistic. It is called being realistic. Big difference.
Click to expand...

Yes, realism. To win only one or two B1G games in year three is not encouraging. Gophers looked sluggish and slow-starting in non-con games, had no passing game to speak of, and laid an egg with Iowa (one of the worst first halves I've ever seen, in front of an excited, hopeful sellout Homecoming crowd). What most of us want is - at the very least - to win three or four conference games - and that appears to be lacking in Year 3. Yes, there were some hopeful signs in the Michigan game, but remember Nelson was Kill's choice as starter against Iowa, despite Leidner's good showing in two previous games. Throw in the health issue as a wild card.
 


die hard gopher said:
that is so shallow
Click to expand...
Sometimes it's really not. It's year 3 of the Kill regime and we're still getting beaten by 20+ points on the regular by actual B1G teams. That's my argument.

Yours is "well it didn't really look that bad". Have fun with that.
 

LesBolstad said:
Was his first game, the 19-17 loss at USC. With a chance to win on a last minute drive. All Brewster recruits I might add.

That's why I'm pessimistic.
Click to expand...

You're not the only one to bring up Brewster's recruits. The unspoken question is will Kill be like Salem, who tanked when he ran out of Stoll's recruits.
 

We got destroyed by a team that struggled to beat a horrible Akron team & a UConn team that ended up firing their Coach & people are wondering why there may be a bit of pessimism? Really? Is the koolaid THAT strong?

Please get a grip on reality...
 

thailleagle said:
We got destroyed by a team that struggled to beat a horrible Akron team & a UConn team that ended up firing their Coach & people are wondering why there may be a bit of pessimism? Really? Is the koolaid THAT strong?

Please get a grip on reality...
Click to expand...

Agreed. They started Nelson against Iowa. Watching other college teams makes me realize how far behind we are. Thinking back to Mason's team that lost to Michigan, he had Maroney, Barber, Tapeh, Spaeth, Eslinger, etc. Who do we have to compare?
 



thailleagle said:
We got destroyed by a team that struggled to beat a horrible Akron team & a UConn team that ended up firing their Coach & people are wondering why there may be a bit of pessimism? Really? Is the koolaid THAT strong?

Please get a grip on reality...
Click to expand...

This team has always had a portion of the fan base who believes that you can will this program to relevance by having faith and complete unwavering allegiance to the head coach. It's a unique portion of a fan base that doesn't really exist elsewhere in Minnesota at either the college or professional level.
 

Agree with others. No matter how deep you have to search to find positives here and there, the fact remains this is a bad football team. And it doesn't appear (at least in the two games they've played against teams with an actual pulse) that things will improve significantly anytime soon.
 

If you want to be pessimistic, hang around pessimistic people. If you want to be optimistic, hang around with yourself.
 

3399 said:
Here is why it is easy to be pessimistic-

Despite playing the weakest non-conference schedule in the league, MN now ranks statistically in the Big Ten this way-
Total offense - 11th
Total Defense - 7th
Rushing Defense- 7th
Passing offense- 12th
Pass defense- 10th
Opponent's completion percentage- 12th
Pass efficiency- 10th
Pass defense- 11th
Sacks against- 8th
Opponent's 3rd down- 10th
Turnover margin- 7th

No running backs in the top 10
No QB in the top 10
No receivers in the top 10

That is a lot of categories to be in the bottom half of the conference.
Click to expand...

Can you show me a source that shows us as having the weakest schedule in the league? I could only find the link below which has Mich St, Nebraska, OSU and Becky as worse schedules than us....just curious if I am missing something or if you are just making stuff up. Thanks!

http://www.fbschedules.com/2013/07/phil-steele-2013-college-football-strength-of-schedule-rankings/
 



fryguy22 said:
Can you show me a source that shows us as having the weakest schedule in the league? I could only find the link below which has Mich St, Nebraska, OSU and Becky as worse schedules than us....just curious if I am missing something or if you are just making stuff up. Thanks!

http://www.fbschedules.com/2013/07/phil-steele-2013-college-football-strength-of-schedule-rankings/
Click to expand...

You couldn't dispute how bad we're ranked in the conference so you pick on the 1 error he might've made? Good job... pass that koolaid!
 


Are you kidding me? We lost by 30. This thread is a joke. We truley are in denial as fans. Yes, let's give the Gophers a Gold star for trying. Loserville USA!!!

die hard gopher said:
yes, we lost 42-13, yes, maybe the coaching staff was a little bit conservative but overall i am very pleased with what we saw and the progress we made and i believe we are light years ahead of where we were last week, the game was a lot closer then the final score, we were tied well into the second quarter and were in the game well into the third quarter, there are a few points i want to make

Offensively some of you may say we only scored 13 which is nothing special but you need to look deeper then that. Liedener went 14-21 as a freshman, accumulated over 200 yards of offense, i think he will be a very good QB in the future, possibly a top 3 QB in the conference by his senior year, he is just as good of a runner as Marqueis was with his combo of size and speed and will be a much better passer then Queis ever was, he did have 2 costly turn overs but he is a freshman and will learn. our O-line was actually capable of moving and clearing out some bodies and Roderick Williams had a few nice runs, and we got over 280 yards of total offense, that is 120 yards more then last week against a superior defense, we rushed for over 130 yards, while we only rushed for 30 yards last week, that is more then 4 times more yards then last week, and i think Maxx Williams will be a first team all B1G TE down the road, he showed what he is capable of and Wolitarsky will be a very good player as well,

defensively we held Fitz Touscant, a more talented back then Weisman to only 78 yards and held Michigan to 113 yards rushing, last week Weisman ran for 147 yards on us and Iowa as a team ran for 250 on us, that is huge progress, i felt like our Front seven played well stopping the run and Damien Wilson and James Manuel played well and did a nice job of shedding blocks and getting tackles, we held Michigan to over 100 total yards less then Iowa and Michigan is a much more talented, more potent offense then iowa is.

the only true negative for me were the secondary and maybe our lack of a pass rush, we also had a lot of uncharacteristic penalties that i was disapointed about, that is something i prided this team on and our discipline but Gardener is a very talented QB, he has had his ups and downs this year but he had a bye week to get some work done, i honestly believe he will be a top 5 heisman contender next year, kickoff and punt coverage were also great, and we only had one less first down them Michigan had, 17-16, overall i took away a lot more positives then negatives away from this game and i would think that more people would be able to realize this
Click to expand...
 

fryguy22 said:
Can you show me a source that shows us as having the weakest schedule in the league? I could only find the link below which has Mich St, Nebraska, OSU and Becky as worse schedules than us....just curious if I am missing something or if you are just making stuff up. Thanks!

http://www.fbschedules.com/2013/07/phil-steele-2013-college-football-strength-of-schedule-rankings/
Click to expand...

That is the full year SOS. No way MN has had harder games than wisconsin (asu and osu on road). You are comparing apples and oranges
 

die hard gopher said:
Yes the Iowa game was bad and I am disappointed about the news of kill but can't you see the monumental progress we made from last week to this week against a superior team?
Click to expand...


5269558397
 



Tx_Gopher said:
I don't know what the Sagarin SOS numbers were two weeks ago, but right now he's got Minnesota at 132 on SOS and Wisconsin at 133. Purdue is at 19 for SOS interestingly enough.

Link: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/2013/conference/

Edited with link by conference and to correct inaccuracy.
Click to expand...

He is comparing partial year conference rankings with a full year SOS. If there was a SOS for the first six games his point would have some validity
 



It seems fairly evident that the coaching staff is looking for 6 wins this season, play conservative, stay in the game, and maybe upset someone they shouldn't, in addition they usually play really well one week and dominate a B1G team.

I'd say at this point there is still a 50/50 chance they make it, the problem is that just won't satisfy the fan base.
 

jovs said:
It seems fairly evident that the coaching staff is looking for 6 wins this season, play conservative, stay in the game, and maybe upset someone they shouldn't, in addition they usually play really well one week and dominate a B1G team.

I'd say at this point there is still a 50/50 chance they make it, the problem is that just won't satisfy the fan base.
Click to expand...

4-8 won't either...
 

I love Kool-Aid, especially cherry. No fructose, you know. We used to mix up 2 quarts each morning during the summer, sometimes more. Drank it right out of the pitcher. Still drink it all these years later. Don't think I'm doing too bad for having drunk it. Maybe I'm delusional but I saw incremental improvement on offense. I saw some better passing and running by the quarterback. I saw a defense that made enough plays to keep us in the game until the forth quarter. I saw an opposing quarterback who was more accurate with his long passes. I saw an big receiver on the Michigan team who we could not cover. But I don't think the whole Gopher team is in disarray.
 

AgonyTrain said:
He is comparing partial year conference rankings with a full year SOS. If there was a SOS for the first six games his point would have some validity
Click to expand...

I think we're saying the same thing.

fryguy22's link was to a "season preview" 2013 (full season) strength of schedule article based largely on what teams did in 2012.

Sagarin's ratings are for the first six weeks of this season.
 

gopherfannnn said:
I love Kool-Aid, especially cherry. No fructose, you know. We used to mix up 2 quarts each morning during the summer, sometimes more. Drank it right out of the pitcher. Still drink it all these years later. Don't think I'm doing too bad for having drunk it. Maybe I'm delusional but I saw incremental improvement on offense. I saw some better passing and running by the quarterback. I saw a defense that made enough plays to keep us in the game until the forth quarter. I saw an opposing quarterback who was more accurate with his long passes. I saw an big receiver on the Michigan team who we could not cover. But I don't think the whole Gopher team is in disarray.
Click to expand...

I saw a team that looks like it will struggle to win another game this season.
 

die hard gopher said:
yes, we lost 42-13, yes, maybe the coaching staff was a little bit conservative but overall i am very pleased with what we saw and the progress we made and i believe we are light years ahead of where we were last week, the game was a lot closer then the final score, we were tied well into the second quarter and were in the game well into the third quarter, there are a few points i want to make

Offensively some of you may say we only scored 13 which is nothing special but you need to look deeper then that. Liedener went 14-21 as a freshman, accumulated over 200 yards of offense, i think he will be a very good QB in the future, possibly a top 3 QB in the conference by his senior year, he is just as good of a runner as Marqueis was with his combo of size and speed and will be a much better passer then Queis ever was, he did have 2 costly turn overs but he is a freshman and will learn. our O-line was actually capable of moving and clearing out some bodies and Roderick Williams had a few nice runs, and we got over 280 yards of total offense, that is 120 yards more then last week against a superior defense, we rushed for over 130 yards, while we only rushed for 30 yards last week, that is more then 4 times more yards then last week, and i think Maxx Williams will be a first team all B1G TE down the road, he showed what he is capable of and Wolitarsky will be a very good player as well,

defensively we held Fitz Touscant, a more talented back then Weisman to only 78 yards and held Michigan to 113 yards rushing, last week Weisman ran for 147 yards on us and Iowa as a team ran for 250 on us, that is huge progress, i felt like our Front seven played well stopping the run and Damien Wilson and James Manuel played well and did a nice job of shedding blocks and getting tackles, we held Michigan to over 100 total yards less then Iowa and Michigan is a much more talented, more potent offense then iowa is.

the only true negative for me were the secondary and maybe our lack of a pass rush, we also had a lot of uncharacteristic penalties that i was disapointed about, that is something i prided this team on and our discipline but Gardener is a very talented QB, he has had his ups and downs this year but he had a bye week to get some work done, i honestly believe he will be a top 5 heisman contender next year, kickoff and punt coverage were also great, and we only had one less first down them Michigan had, 17-16, overall i took away a lot more positives then negatives away from this game and i would think that more people would be able to realize this
Click to expand...

+1

also, DE play is weak... cant rush the passer, blown out on runs.. we need someone who can anchor the ends and blowup the pocket.

funny that the WR's had "separation all day long against Iowa" but were non existent against Michigan.... or is it that Nelson favors the WR's and Leidner favors the TE's?

When pressed, Leidner tucks and runs... with experience, he'll know where to look downfield and the O will move.

what killed me on Sat was what someone already pointed out..
1.) we dont fair catch that punt near the end of the half... or at least pick it up on a bounce or two and stop/drop/roll with it so we dont end up at the 1.
2.) no passes... so its a 3/out.
3.) bad punt... 38 yard line-drive.... 9 yard return.
4.) Mich takes over at our 38.

so two bad plays ( punt returner, punter ) and too-conservative play-calling and the game is over.

another posi is we had a 16 play drive in the big house. very few gopher teams in the last decade could do that...
 

die hard gopher said:
yes, we lost 42-13, yes, maybe the coaching staff was a little bit conservative but overall i am very pleased with what we saw and the progress we made and i believe we are light years ahead of where we were last week, the game was a lot closer then the final score, we were tied well into the second quarter and were in the game well into the third quarter, there are a few points i want to make

Offensively some of you may say we only scored 13 which is nothing special but you need to look deeper then that. Liedener went 14-21 as a freshman, accumulated over 200 yards of offense, i think he will be a very good QB in the future, possibly a top 3 QB in the conference by his senior year, he is just as good of a runner as Marqueis was with his combo of size and speed and will be a much better passer then Queis ever was, he did have 2 costly turn overs but he is a freshman and will learn. our O-line was actually capable of moving and clearing out some bodies and Roderick Williams had a few nice runs, and we got over 280 yards of total offense, that is 120 yards more then last week against a superior defense, we rushed for over 130 yards, while we only rushed for 30 yards last week, that is more then 4 times more yards then last week, and i think Maxx Williams will be a first team all B1G TE down the road, he showed what he is capable of and Wolitarsky will be a very good player as well,


defensively we held Fitz Touscant, a more talented back then Weisman to only 78 yards and held Michigan to 113 yards rushing, last week Weisman ran for 147 yards on us and Iowa as a team ran for 250 on us, that is huge progress, i felt like our Front seven played well stopping the run and Damien Wilson and James Manuel played well and did a nice job of shedding blocks and getting tackles, we held Michigan to over 100 total yards less then Iowa and Michigan is a much more talented, more potent offense then iowa is.

the only true negative for me were the secondary and maybe our lack of a pass rush, we also had a lot of uncharacteristic penalties that i was disapointed about, that is something i prided this team on and our discipline but Gardener is a very talented QB, he has had his ups and downs this year but he had a bye week to get some work done, i honestly believe he will be a top 5 heisman contender next year, kickoff and punt coverage were also great, and we only had one less first down them Michigan had, 17-16, overall i took away a lot more positives then negatives away from this game and i would think that more people would be able to realize this
Click to expand...


"Pessimism is just a name that scared men give to wisdom".

"Hey, we looked better this week. Maybe we're making progress" You see the glass half-full, which is admirable. And so have thousands of Gophers fans the past 40 years. But for whatever reason it never proved to be real.

Realists have seen this exact pattern play out over and over again. Unfortunately, our optimism is not going to make these hard working young players any more skilled. Progress is great, but these are just baby steps. We need "man steps".
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom