MNVCGUY
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Let's put a few things to bed. Kill is going to get multiple years to try and turn things around as he should. The offensive struggles to this point shouldn't surprise anyone, we have two inexperienced QB's, and O-Line that can't block anyone, no elite talent at RB, and one proven receiver who lately has been having a tough time hanging onto the ball. On top of that the only other weapon we have at WR isn't playing the position. Marcus Jones may be crazy skilled as a return guy but he his hands leave a lot to be desired to this point.
The thing that concerns me going forward and something I have not really seen much mention of is Coach Claeys and his ability to design a Big Ten Caliber defense. In two conference games we have given up 103 points and had both Michigan and Purdue kept going that number could be significantly higher. Yes the offense and special teams play into some of those points but the bottom line is that opposing offenses are having no problem figuring out where the soft spots in the defense are and attacking them.
During the NMSU game they ran the same pass play over and over again and the defense couldn't/didn't adjust. In the Miami game that W could easily have been flipped to an L if their QB had been more accurate and managed to hit many of the open receivers he had all over the field.
Lack of depth and talent gets pointed to and I will go with it some on offense but on defense there are decent players that have logged quite a bit of time on the field. We were not going to beat Michigan but there is enough talent there that we should at least have been competitive with Purdue and there is certainly enough talent there to keep a team like NMSU in check.
Kill is extremely loyal to his staff and I don't know that he would ever consider getting rid of any of them, but I wonder if the blow-outs continue through this year and significant improvement is not shown on the defensive side of the ball next season if behind the scenes it will be recommended to Claeys that it might be time to try his hand as a head coach.
The athletic department botched the hiring process about as badly as they could have but in the end probably landed on the right coach. Now the question becomes are his long time assistants good enough to make it at this level or are they guys better suited for the dimmer spotlights of a place like Northern Illinois.
The mess that this season has become can't totally be blamed on the players...I see some coaching deficiencies there as well and it will be interesting to see how Kill addresses them in the years to come.
Go Gophers!
The thing that concerns me going forward and something I have not really seen much mention of is Coach Claeys and his ability to design a Big Ten Caliber defense. In two conference games we have given up 103 points and had both Michigan and Purdue kept going that number could be significantly higher. Yes the offense and special teams play into some of those points but the bottom line is that opposing offenses are having no problem figuring out where the soft spots in the defense are and attacking them.
During the NMSU game they ran the same pass play over and over again and the defense couldn't/didn't adjust. In the Miami game that W could easily have been flipped to an L if their QB had been more accurate and managed to hit many of the open receivers he had all over the field.
Lack of depth and talent gets pointed to and I will go with it some on offense but on defense there are decent players that have logged quite a bit of time on the field. We were not going to beat Michigan but there is enough talent there that we should at least have been competitive with Purdue and there is certainly enough talent there to keep a team like NMSU in check.
Kill is extremely loyal to his staff and I don't know that he would ever consider getting rid of any of them, but I wonder if the blow-outs continue through this year and significant improvement is not shown on the defensive side of the ball next season if behind the scenes it will be recommended to Claeys that it might be time to try his hand as a head coach.
The athletic department botched the hiring process about as badly as they could have but in the end probably landed on the right coach. Now the question becomes are his long time assistants good enough to make it at this level or are they guys better suited for the dimmer spotlights of a place like Northern Illinois.
The mess that this season has become can't totally be blamed on the players...I see some coaching deficiencies there as well and it will be interesting to see how Kill addresses them in the years to come.
Go Gophers!
