We're pessimistic because we see a team that does not have talent that exceeds that of any of our B1G opponents, at least not by any significant margin; however we have a coaching staff that employs an extremely conservative gameplan that would only be useful if we did.
Furthermore, the coaching staff refuses to take any risks to score, no matter the situation, no sense of urgency, no sense that victory in THIS week's game is important. They employ few changes to the original gameplan even when it's obvious the original gameplan is failing miserably.
See, it's somewhat understandable to have lesser talent than a U of Michigan, an Ohio State U, a U of Nebraska. It's not understandable to not try at the end of a first half; it's not understandable to give up and not use your final chance to win the game with 7 minutes left on the clock.
Let's put it this way - our favorite team is so predictable that I told my non-Gopher friend, who was over watching the game, that the following would happen; tied 7-7 at that point and the ball downed inside the 1:
1. The Gophers would be conservative and run the ball 3 straight times. It would be predictable enough that there was almost zero chance to get a first down. They'd do this while wasting clock, not realizing that their strategy of run, run, run, punt was almost guaranteeing a Michigan score which would leave too little time on the clock to wander their way back downfield to rebound and get a score of their own to end the half.
2. The Gophers would get the ball back and run out the clock to end the half without so much as an attempt to move the ball downfield, and regardless of the fact that they'd be kicking to begin the second half.
3. Because Michigan had retaken full momentum to end the half, the game was basically over. Michigan would score to open the second half and the game would be as good as over.
When each happened, my buddy just chuckled and said "obviously you know your team."
I know opposing football coaches are generally not geniuses, but our gameplan and lack of risk-taking is not going to fool anyone. THIS gameplan is designed for superior athletes to dominate the line of scrimmage and own an opponent as if they were the bigger badass playing a game of rugby. It's simply not the case and Kill and Co. cannot recruit well enough to make it such. Thus, pessimism abounds.
