Will this team win a game?

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Not one to make excuses, but....More freshman than Juniors and Seniors combined. Gray isn't a QB. move him to WR and turn Shortell LOOSE.
 

To Kill a Badger-

You need anger management or something. You appear to have too little idea about what is going on to be posting here...get a grip.
 

Valid question. Likley they will beat somone (Purdue looks most vunerable), but who knows. We do know we judge the coach with how the program looks after 3 years,a pass this year. We're awful.
 

Cobra said:
Maybe MNSU is better than everyone says.
This was like a bowl game for them & they came to play & left it all on the field.
That's why they play the games.
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Or maybe NMSU was only better than us. They will be hard-pressed to get more than 3 wins on the year. Granted, that likey will still be more than us.
 

#2Gopher said:
Let the program develop. Coach Kill said it was going to be tough. I believe in what he said, and I believe in him.
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Lots of lemmings believed in the last coach too. Today's performance worries me, because we looked completely unprepared again.
 


Sparlimb said:
Lots of lemmings believed in the last coach too. Today's performance worries me, because we looked completely unprepared again.
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Fair enough. But, there is a big difference: namely, that the current coach has a track record. And, that is just on the statistics side. Beyond that, the loyalty from former players, to the loyalty from his coaching staff, to the very high, sincere, opinions of nearly all football people that have experience with him, all are indications that this is not the same situation as with the last coach. I tend to believe we are just not that talented at the moment.
 

FKRitter11 said:
Fair enough. But, there is a big difference: namely, that the current coach has a track record. And, that is just on the statistics side. Beyond that, the loyalty from former players, to the loyalty from his coaching staff, to the very high, sincere, opinions of nearly all football people that have experience with him, all are indications that this is not the same situation as with the last coach. I tend to believe we are just not that talented at the moment.
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I agree Kill gets his full amount of time to turn this around. He definately has a track record like you said. It isn't a track record with a BCS team, although even if it was nothing is guaranteed. I'm hoping you're right and a little more talent and depth will make all the difference. It is going to be a long year, but Gopher fans are used to those.
 

SDSU is not the same team as they were the past 2 years. They lost a lot of very good players to graduation last season. I will say that I'm surprised at just how bad they got blown out, but still, it was a different team that almost beat Minnesota in 2009 and Nebraska last year.

tato2001 said:
Um, the Illini just trounced the Jackrabbits 56-3. We barely squeaked by them in 2009
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NewBerlinBucky said:
The coach you have now is legit. You can tell he's not taking shortcuts, and has the team focused on mastering fundamentals first. They're playing a more physical brand of football than they did under Brewster.
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im not sure i believe this. yesterday we looked like the 1-11 brewster squad. i dont see a win on the schedule at the moment. i want to see us open a game without a penalty, i want to see our defenders wrap up, i want to see our oline push around the dline. those are things i expected, i wasnt expecting dominance and a run at the big ten championship, but i dont buy this is a more physical team than brewsters...we look the same so far!

i liked hearing from kill and staff we would be "more disciplined" and we would be "competitive" but we have looked god awful in the first half vs usc and then even worse in the first half yesterday. i like the adjustments we have been making at halftime, but i dont understand a lot of the calls we make or the time outs we burn. i think kill deserves time but i dont want to hear "this will take time" etc when it comes to the new mexico states, ndsu's, and so on. "it will take time" vs michigan, wisky, iowa, but not weak non conf games. no matter how bad we are or are expected to be we should dominate teams like the aggies.
 



People are overreacting. In Kill's first season at So. Ill. they went 1-11. He did pretty well there.
 

if this team could win 3 games last year they should win at least 4 games this year imo. i dont think its an overreaction by our fanbase to question kill after losing to an inferior team. i expect to struggle in the big ten and vs usc and i expect to beat nmsu, miami(oh), and ndsu.
 


Well, it was certainly disappointing to see them lose a game pretty much everyone thought they could win. However, there are positives and negatives in every game. For me, I did not like how the offense sputtered but this was due to mental mistakes and other things that should get cleaned up. At the end of the day, with the size advantage, etc the Gopher front line had, you have to be able to pick up short yardage and time and again, we didn't. This is a mental toughness thing along with the coaches putting them in a position to make the play - quick hitting and dives vs. running for 4th and 1 out of the shotgun. I would have just put Gray under center and had him ride the center into the end zone. If a couple of these go the other way, we win and feel good about ourselves. Where my real concern is - as always as a Gopher fan - is our terrible defense. The QB for NMSU absolutely lit us up for the first half the game. Given this is about the 6th staff and our D still sucks, I am going to start blaming recruiting.

With all that said, I have much more confidence in Kill than Brewster. My issue is that my real hope is that Kill can bring us back to the Mason level of success - and that is a scary thought. I don't know who should be the starting QB, but I promise you that Gray will not be drafted as an NFL QB. If he wants to make it to the next level, he should be asking the coaches to switch him back to receiver.
 



To Kill A Badger said:
I was only kidding, thought we'd pull it out still. Worse loss than south Dakota?
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Absolutely not!

A) First year coaching staff, new offensive and defensive schemes, very vanilla play calling due to new schemes.
B) SoDak is isn't even D1, are they? Either way, NMSU is a better team than USD, and is in a better conference (NMSU, WAC; USD, ??
C) The only way this game is even in the running for 'worse loss than South Dakota' is because all our expectations have been risen thanks to the big showing against USC.
 

South Dakota was a new FCS team, and finished 4-7. They were ranked #171 in the country by Sagarin.
 

They came out flat against a team Anoka HS could beat. That raises a great concern for me as it did for the other fans in section 143.
 

EG#9 said:
This is the Toledo game, etc all over again.
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The 2001 Toledo team with Chester Taylor and a load of seniors that finished with 1 loss would have finished no worse than 3rd in the Big Ten that season. I went to every Gopher game that 2001 season...they were just as good as Big Ten champ Illinois, as good as Michigan, as good as Iowa & Ohio State.

That 2001 Gopher team also defeated Michigan State & Wisconsin.....if you're going to lump a "bad" Gopher loss, there are better examples to use.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
They came out flat against a team Anoka HS could beat. That raises a great concern for me as it did for the other fans in section 143.
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Wow.. Really? Typical panic button mashing rube.
 

Section 143 seems to be full of anxious people
 

I don't understand how you can call someone out for being concerned after that loss.
Yes, OF COURSE this team is going to get better as they learn the system and the coaches get more comfortable, recruit athletes that fit their schemes, etc. But there is no excuse for that loss. Given what little I know of New Mexico State, they are an all-around horrible team, over matched and poorly coached. This was, I believe, their coach's 5TH career victory. They've won two games in the WAC in the last two years. The coach I was sold on, with the players this team has, needs to soundly beat that team 99 times out of 100. Talent alone should win that game more often than not.
I'm not saying I don't think the team will improve. They will. But I also think it's fair to say that after what we saw this weekend, the coaching staff needs to work on themselves too. Contrary to what I had expected, they don''t look like a Big Ten caliber group of coaches to me.
 

It's possible the coaches are calling the correct plays 80% of the time but the players are not executing am well enough.
We better not have gotten Monson'd on the Kill deal. (hire the coach that beat us the previous year.)
 

Hate to bust your chops

Formo said:
Absolutely not!

A) First year coaching staff, new offensive and defensive schemes, very vanilla play calling due to new schemes.
B) SoDak is isn't even D1, are they? Either way, NMSU is a better team than USD, and is in a better conference (NMSU, WAC; USD, ??
C) The only way this game is even in the running for 'worse loss than South Dakota' is because all our expectations have been risen thanks to the big showing against USC.
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"...big showing against USC." The Gophers lost that game. As Coach Kill says, there are no moral victories. Once again, I will say to you my friend, don't buy into the mass hysteria. We have a lousy team. We have shortages of skill at every position and suggesting that we will be better is if we recruit better for next year. Oops. Not going to happen this year. So, now we wait for 2014 to get better.
 

wait!what? said:
It's possible the coaches are calling the correct plays 80% of the time but the players are not executing am well enough.
We better not have gotten Monson'd on the Kill deal. (hire the coach that beat us the previous year.)
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Oh, it is possible.
 

It's hard to find many positives after Saturday, but I still think we'll find a way to win at least 2-3 games.

You have the 2 upcoming games.....despite what has all happened, both are WINNABLE games.

Big Ten season, I think Purdue is winnable. I still think versus Michigan, Iowa, Northwestern & Illinois, we have a chip & a chance.

I'm going to let the season play out. What happens if Russell Wilson breaks his leg the first play of the game versus the Gophers? Yeah, they may still run the ball down our throats for the ensuing 59:40, but that's why the games get played out.

My educated guess, without knowing anybody on the team, is that the players thought they could walk in, show up, and win. It doesn't matter who the Gophers play; they aren't good enough to do that against anybody.

Enjoy the season....enjoy Saturday's...enjoy College Football!
 

Formo said:
Absolutely not!

A) First year coaching staff, new offensive and defensive schemes, very vanilla play calling due to new schemes.
B) SoDak is isn't even D1, are they? Either way, NMSU is a better team than USD, and is in a better conference (NMSU, WAC; USD, ??
C) The only way this game is even in the running for 'worse loss than South Dakota' is because all our expectations have been risen thanks to the big showing against USC.
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I gotta disagree with you on this Formo. South Dakota was a solid football team last year. NMSU is not a solid football team. They are terrible. We just got owned by a really terrible team. This loss is much-much worse than South Dakota last year. Let's hope the fellas can avoid feeling sorry for themselves and man-up next week.
 

I think they win this week, there is definately a problem with the personel in the program. Not sure why but they don't prepare the same for a big game and a lessor opponent. This has been happening for 5 years now. They don't have the personel to take anyone lightly and it shows up on game day against some of these opponents. I think they rebound and get focused this week. They have the talent to win, I think they do this week.
 

tikited said:
I gotta disagree with you on this Formo. South Dakota was a solid football team last year. NMSU is not a solid football team. They are terrible. We just got owned by a really terrible team. This loss is much-much worse than South Dakota last year. Let's hope the fellas can avoid feeling sorry for themselves and man-up next week.
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South Dakota wasn't a solid team last year. South Dakota was 4-7 last year. They were ranked #171 by Sagarin. The loss to South Dakota wasn't just a loss to an FCS team, it was a loss to a poor FCS team. This loss was bad, but not as bad as the loss to South Dakota.
 

I think this game kinda proves Kill's point that was mentioned in the USC game, about mistakes are what kill you, not necessarily matchups.

But what I came away very concerned about is out lines, both offensive and defensive. What makes teams good is beating teams in the trenches. When you can't get the necessary pressure on the QB, you will see what you saw last week. Any QB worth his salt is gonna do at least SOME damage when given a good 4-5 seconds to pick you apart. Why bad teams usually are bad, is because that QB is not given that time. That's why these "lower" teams are coming in here and lighting us up.

And on the offensive side, it seemed like there were too many times there were leaks in protection. Let alone the lack of rushing attack, and ability to gain short yardage against a supposed smaller d-line.

I don't think they necessarily took NMSU lightly. I think the game changed immensely when they botched up the opportunity to go up 14-7 and then got NOTHING and a pick. All momentum shifted, and they got tight. And without the ability to put pressure on their QB, he gained more and more confidence. They showed they can compete with decent teams last week, but when they have inconsistency on the lines, they will suffer. That has to be cleaned up before they can move forward and win games.
 

It is so much easier for the fans to just blame the coaching staff and ignore the deficiencies of the players. There is a lot of that going on here. This team doesn't have a lot of talent, and the talent it has is young.

This team is slow. The secondary especially is slow. If your secondary is slow, there is no coverage schemes that will save you. The only player with speed in the secondary (Stoudermire) is undisciplined--a common problem that I believe is a holdover from the previous regime. Throw in the fact that the defensive line can't pressure the QB, and you will have some real problems defending the pass. The staff could (and probably IS) attempting to put the players in the best position, but they aren't going to deviate too far from the schemes that they have had success with and are their identity. Claeys plays a lot of Quarters/Cover 4. An inexperienced player (Vereen) got worked on a post-corner (a Cover 4 beater). Would he have gotten burned had they played a vanilla Cover 3? Maybe not. But down the road, as kids learn and improve, he covers it better. Cover 4 also requires active/great safeties; we don't have that. It may hurt them this year, but this is a long term fix. The young kids will be playing the same schemes for 4-5 years. They will play the same schemes this year that they will play in 4 years, even if it means some struggles this year. That is the right thing to do.

Same goes offensively. They are going to run their schemes, even if the personnel is struggling to execute them. I'm sure Limegrover would have like to run the ball more often and effectively, but NMSU was stacking up the box. And he went to his game plan for that circumstance. I have a feeling that Gray was pretty miserable on Saturday in the passing game--even more than it appeared in real time. Additionally, while McKnight is very good, there isn't much else there that can present a mismatch against man coverage.

Kill and staff have proven that they can win. They've proven that they can beat teams with more talent. And he's certainly proven he can beat teams like NMSU. Even if they were "out-coached" on Saturday, he's got a track record that says it doesn't happen very often. Do not underestimate the value of continuity and consistency when dealing with 19-23 year old kids. That approach will bear fruit, but it may take some time. I think Kill has said something like that...
 

RodentRampage said:
South Dakota wasn't a solid team last year. South Dakota was 4-7 last year. They were ranked #171 by Sagarin. The loss to South Dakota wasn't just a loss to an FCS team, it was a loss to a poor FCS team. This loss was bad, but not as bad as the loss to South Dakota.
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I stand by my statement. NMSU won 2 games last year and gave up 40 or more points seven times. 50 or more three times. They have been as bad as any team in the country. For a team coming off of two victories and a close call to USC...we should have destroyed them.

South Dakota didn't give up 40 points once last year.

It really doesn't matter as both were horrifying losses, and I wish we didn't have the opportunity to argue which was worse.
 

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