What an incredible win

by GopherNation on Oct 12, 2008 11:02 AM CDT Comment 28 comments

I was unable to watch the game yesterday so I'm spending this morning examining the box score and reading as much as I could. Here are a few of my thoughts and I'd love to hear what you all thought as well.

We gave up a lot of yards and first downs but two stats really stood out to me. First was five sacks. That is a lot and at some point I'd like to know if Juice has ever been sacked five times in one game before. But the radio guys were commenting on how he appeared beat up in the last few minutes.
The second stat was related to yards but we only gave up 88 yards on the ground! For a team that just ran for 191 against Michigan last week that is incredible.
We finally ran the ball! Eskridge with 124 yards, a TD and from I have read broke off a few nice runs.
A goal line stand that really sent a message. I haven't seen it yet but I cannot wait to see this goal line stand.

Kent Youngblood of course had nothing but good things to say but this comment sums it all up for me.

The 27-20 victory was a testament to big plays by a cohesive team with an iron jaw that kept the Gophers standing where they might have fallen in the past.

I am so excited bythis win and we'll talk more what this means as well as what our expectations should be for the rest of the year.

Editors of The Daily Gopher retain the right to remove posts deemed excessively offensive or grossly inappropriate. Keep it clean and don't be mean.

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Congrats from a PSU fan

I am a current PSU student, and longtime PSU fan, but Minnesota has always been one of my favorite teams in college football. I spent some summers in Bemidji, and always looked out for how the Minnesota teams were doing. Congrats, and keep it up. Also, I have Adam Weber in my fantasy league, so keep it up Adam.

by DevonEdwards on Oct 12, 2008 11:53 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm glad we avoid you guys this year!

And I hope you win out, then destroy some SEC or Big 12 team. For some reason I have a much easier time rooting for you guys in bowl games than Ohio State or Michigan. Not to mention the dreaded Hawkeyes and Badgers. I still bring myself to do it – WI in particular has some nice recent wins against SEC teams – but man it’s hard.

by plinytheelder on Oct 12, 2008 12:16 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why did you not watch the game?

Maybe, I should say, how could you miss it?

Based on another post, I would hope that you are not one of those guys who has kids, stops going to games and ditches your buddies because of family time.

Tipsy, Lloyd and I have a pact; Gopher Football is King.

by Kelly Leeks on Oct 12, 2008 12:08 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

it was kids

my wife went into labor and had a baby at 4:30 am Sat morning. If the hospital would have had ESPN I would have watched it. I hadn’t missed a Gopher game this year until that one.

what you say here can, and will, be used against you

by GopherNation on Oct 12, 2008 1:55 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

holy crap congrats!

by plinytheelder on Oct 12, 2008 6:18 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Huuuge Win!!!!

For once, I’m glad to be living closer to the Rose Bowl than to the TCF staduim! Go Gophers!

by Gopherfornia on Oct 12, 2008 1:22 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Kelly

See the newest member of the Gopher Nation thread to your right for his reason for absence.

1. We honestly had chances for 10 sacks, GN. Juice is really shifty, and yes, we missed a few tackles. Still, it was a great effort up front. Juice looked gased at the end, despite us having an advantage in time of possession.

2. Hard to run the ball when you never lead. They were down 14 at one point and at least 7 for most of the second half. They had success through the air, so they didn’t run much after the first quarter.

3. Take away the long one and E-Ridge’s day wasn’t that spectacular. He had a fair amount of carries to get that number. The problem with running out of the shotgun is that you have plays of negative yards. That hurt us at times on drives. We’re not a great 2nd and 10 or 3rd and 8 team. I’d like to see some Shady. Miss up the pace.

4. That goal line stand was unbelieveable. The Gophers of the past don’t make those plays.

by HutchLeaderGuy on Oct 12, 2008 1:23 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Eskridge?

I’m only looking at the box score but he had 125 yards gross and only carry for a loss, for a net of 124. Unless that is incorrect that shows he only lost yards on 1 carry. I want to do some extensive research and see what exactly our short yardage success rate is compared to other B10 teams. I am willing to bet it is as good as the rest of the leagues’.

what you say here can, and will, be used against you

by GopherNation on Oct 12, 2008 1:58 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Esk

He never had any room to run. Part of this can be blamed on the ineffective, inexperienced, and injured offensive line. The other part is that Esk himself is inexperienced. He runs right into the pile rather than trying to bounce it outside when there is clearly nothing in front of him.

Take away the long run, which was nice and showcased his speed and ability, and he was at 3.1 yds/carry. And 3.1 yards is pretty much what he had every carry. So it was frustrating watching him run into the pile on 2nd and/or 3rd down and getting stuffed for much of the afternoon when Illinois couldn’t stop the short passes.

Still, Esk does deserve credit. He protected the ball and kept grinding. There were several times where he needed 2-3 yards for a first down, was stopped short, but was able to fall forward to pick it up. He also kept going and finally broke one, so he came up big when we needed it most.

Also, Weber deserves some credit as well. Much like against Indiana, he didn’t have much time, but completed nearly 70% of his attempts. The point is that Decker had 9 catches and the rest of the team had 9 as well. So Weber is finding Decker and others and didn’t rely on one OR the other. Decker is our best weapon, so if Weber doesn’t find him, we’re going to lose (OSU). At the same time we need other weapons because Decker can’t do it himself (too close against Indiana).

I really think we would be even better if we still had Bennet. Bennet was a threat running or catching. Esk is an option to catch passes, but isn’t really a threat like Bennet. So this brings up an interesting topic. What is going to happen next year? We are really going to have some depth. Assuming Bennet makes it back from his injury, Esk will have nearly a full year of experience under his belt, Salamon will be hungry, and we have two freshman who are highly touted in Lipscomb and Stevens.

by rencito on Oct 12, 2008 3:44 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Weddings and births can be planned

and neither should happen during college football season.

by Kelly Leeks on Oct 12, 2008 4:24 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Big win for the Gophs, Negativity on the Poll Front

Only get 44 Votes and aren’t Ranked, I’m Calling Shenanigans.

by Tony_O on Oct 12, 2008 3:57 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I prefer not to be ranked......and Eskridge....

Going to PU it can be one more week of the underdog. A win there and we will ranked and favored for NU.

DeLeon……this guy has taken a lot of crap from fans. The reality is that he is a true freshman starting in the B10. OSU has backs that were recruited by every team in America and see how “great” they looked filling in for Beannie? Eskridge will be a star in this league when he is a junior. He lacks experience, not talent or work ethic.

by Kelly Leeks on Oct 12, 2008 4:23 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

he also lacks

an offensive line right now.

what you say here can, and will, be used against you

by GopherNation on Oct 12, 2008 10:51 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's too bad we had to vote on names for "daily gopher fix" earlier

otherwise after this game I’d have suggested “Gopher Hot Chili”

by MinnMarchDTF on Oct 12, 2008 5:42 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

what is this Gopher Hot Chili that you speak of?

Some sort of wacky Brewster quote?

by Lloyd on Oct 12, 2008 10:20 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm pretty sure

MinnMarchDTF is referring to Brewster’s pre-game comments to the players. “Gey your daygum chilli hot, boys, get your daygum chilli hot.”

Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room.

by PJS on Oct 13, 2008 7:42 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Chili must be gotten from the "Chili Guy"

He hangs out right near Fenway. He is a local celeb in Boston on an afternoon drive show.

He offers a lot of advice such as, “1 Beers, 2 Beers, go f___ yourself”. When asked how much cash he has, he onced said, “About one hundred million eights”. Finally, he recently traveled to Kansas in the city near Italy, where he is the governor’s assistant.

by Kelly Leeks on Oct 13, 2008 7:09 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

The link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jEDW6TdB6A

by Kelly Leeks on Oct 13, 2008 7:10 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Coming into the season

I would have said 6 wins would be a huge improvement… now I will be pissed if they don’t get to 8 (could and should get more). Things are on the up & up and next year should be even better! I feel like I am a huge rube, but it’s easy to be optimistic right now. Go Gophs!

by GreasyLlama on Oct 12, 2008 6:04 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

6 wins is great ..

.. but in order for this season to be a success now, the Gophers have to win games they are expected to win. We’ll be favored probably in every home game. 9 wins at this point should be the expectation, IMO.

Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room.

by PJS on Oct 13, 2008 5:25 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

E-Ridge

By no way am I diminishing his contributions. He has been outstanding since Duane went down. I agree, he is just a true FROSH. He is definitely getting better each week.

GN – I forget that refs are generous and mark forward progress at about the line of scrimmage most of the time. I bet he had 4-5 zero yard carries.

by HutchLeaderGuy on Oct 12, 2008 6:05 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

hey all im new on here, but live in MN and watch almost every gophers basketball and football games

i love the gophers and having big time recruiting coaches in brewster and smith things are really looking up for both programs, also how in the hell arent the gophers ranked? just stupid by the voters that they barely even recognize us

YOUR 2008 AL EAST DIVISION CHAMPIONS.... THE TAMPA BAY RAYS!!!

by RaysOfHope on Oct 12, 2008 7:02 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Eh..

by FishingMN on Oct 12, 2008 7:42 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

You’re not ranked yet because expectations were low to start with (one reason I hate preseason polls, but that’s a separate rant) and this is the first good win you have (beating Indiana by 8 at home is not that impressive). You could make an argument for being ahead of Pitt or TCU (each of whom is ranked in one of the two main polls), but otherwise I don’t see who you’d knock out.

by SpartanDan on Oct 12, 2008 7:55 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Pitt lost, at home, to BGSU, whom we demolished, on the road, and yet Pitt is ranked instead of us? Does that seem right to you?

by dpodoll68 on Oct 13, 2008 12:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Pitt also has a win over South Florida, which is a better win than any you can claim at this point by a fairly wide margin. The one loss is pretty clearly worse than yours as well, so it’s a pretty close call. As I said, you can make an argument for being ahead of them – I don’t think it’s an obvious decision either way. (The actual decisions of the voters probably had more to do with preseason expectations, which is wrong. But I don’t think Pitt ahead of Minnesota is indefensible at this point – debatable, but not indefensible.)

by SpartanDan on Oct 13, 2008 11:53 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Eh..

Rankings aren’t that meaningful at this point – just keep winning and that will resolve itself

by FishingMN on Oct 12, 2008 7:42 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Good stuff in Trib

Here is a note on Weber from Youngblood:
Gophers quarterback Adam Weber played Saturday’s game against Illinois just days after having arthroscopic knee surgery.

Gophers coach Tim Brewster confirmed after the game that Weber, who has taken every snap at quarterback this season save for a two-point conversion at Ohio State, had the surgery last Sunday. It came one day after the Gophers’ 16-7 victory over Indiana.

Also, VanDeSteeg was given national defensive player of the week honors by the Walter Camp something.

by HutchLeaderGuy on Oct 12, 2008 9:56 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs