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With the non-conference part of the schedule complete, the Gophers are?...
With the non-conference part of the schedule complete, the Gophers are?...
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Ski-U-Ham
Who hates Iowa?
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There were question marks all over the place coming into the season (and there still are). Cal would've been a good win. I think they'd (Cal) be in the competitive tier of the B1G this year. They (MN) could still end up better or worse than they are, but this is about what I expected.
GopherMenace
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They’re slightly worse than I was expecting. Overall I think the team is solid, but the receivers, oline, and our superstar have been disappointing.
caliGopher
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Coming into the season, the QB, O-line, and Receivers were unknowns/concerns. I was also concerned about the corners, just because we were replacing both, but they were a lesser concern.
After three games, Drake is the real deal. He has upside but has shown a lot to be excited about through the first three games.
The O-line has been a little worse than I had hoped. They're not coming together as quickly as we needed them to. At times, they've looked on par with last year, and at times worse. The problem is that last year's line wasn't all that good. Still concerned as we move into playing teams with bigger and better defensive lines, but still would grade as incomplete so far.
The receivers have been disappointing. Geers recovered from the early drops, but Smith looked good in the first game and hasn't had a catch since. Brockington looked great against Cal (thankfully) but didn't do much against Buffalo. Tracy doesn't look like a #1 receiver, and Loya is what I expected, which wasn't much. The question is, can more than one receiver shine in a game? Is it the game plan, or is Drake not settled with the WRs yet? The group has shown promise at the top (Brockington, Smith), and they have a nice complement in Geers, but what else do we have? I am not sold that we have a solid group that can get separation and make a difference if teams focus on the top receiver of the week.
Corners - looked good against Buffalo, but struggled against Cal. Not sure if this group is an issue, but I still give them an incomplete. We will play better QBs, O-lines, and receivers than we've seen so far.
To get to the level Fleck talked about, we needed to hit on all three of the top concerns. I didn't expect us to, particularly the O-line. With what we've seen so far, I think we're a little bit behind what I expected, but there is time. We'll see what the coaching staff can do now that the schedule gets tougher (mostly).
After three games, Drake is the real deal. He has upside but has shown a lot to be excited about through the first three games.
The O-line has been a little worse than I had hoped. They're not coming together as quickly as we needed them to. At times, they've looked on par with last year, and at times worse. The problem is that last year's line wasn't all that good. Still concerned as we move into playing teams with bigger and better defensive lines, but still would grade as incomplete so far.
The receivers have been disappointing. Geers recovered from the early drops, but Smith looked good in the first game and hasn't had a catch since. Brockington looked great against Cal (thankfully) but didn't do much against Buffalo. Tracy doesn't look like a #1 receiver, and Loya is what I expected, which wasn't much. The question is, can more than one receiver shine in a game? Is it the game plan, or is Drake not settled with the WRs yet? The group has shown promise at the top (Brockington, Smith), and they have a nice complement in Geers, but what else do we have? I am not sold that we have a solid group that can get separation and make a difference if teams focus on the top receiver of the week.
Corners - looked good against Buffalo, but struggled against Cal. Not sure if this group is an issue, but I still give them an incomplete. We will play better QBs, O-lines, and receivers than we've seen so far.
To get to the level Fleck talked about, we needed to hit on all three of the top concerns. I didn't expect us to, particularly the O-line. With what we've seen so far, I think we're a little bit behind what I expected, but there is time. We'll see what the coaching staff can do now that the schedule gets tougher (mostly).
btowngopher
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About what was expected. I think Cal was definitely better than I expected after the transfers they had.
About the same. I expect the Cal qb to be the best we'll face the entire season and also expect Collins to bounce back and the defense to get back into its typical top 25 form. Need the offensive line to get it figured out come next week, because the games really matter now.
We also need PJ to be okay with the idea of flinging it 35+ times a game and making that adjustment early if it's very clear the run game isn't functioning. Drake is good, and the staff needs to show him this team is his and let him loose not only so he gets better, but so he wants to hang around next year. If we continue to commit to using the run to dominate TOP in games where the outcome is in flux, particularly when the run isn't working for shit, Drake is going to leave regardless of whether we win 6 games or 10.
Let's lean on our offense, not our defense, to win some games this year.
We also need PJ to be okay with the idea of flinging it 35+ times a game and making that adjustment early if it's very clear the run game isn't functioning. Drake is good, and the staff needs to show him this team is his and let him loose not only so he gets better, but so he wants to hang around next year. If we continue to commit to using the run to dominate TOP in games where the outcome is in flux, particularly when the run isn't working for shit, Drake is going to leave regardless of whether we win 6 games or 10.
Let's lean on our offense, not our defense, to win some games this year.