Shotgun thoughts of this afternoon's game - Indiana

by GopherNation on Oct 4, 2008 9:02 PM CDT Comment 10 comments

5-1 feels really good doesn't it? I know that leading up the the Illinois game we'll hear that we haven't played anyone or beat anyone, but at this point I really don't care. The five games we won would have been losses a year ago. The fact is we are 5-1 losing only to Ohio State on the road. This team is more fun to watch and being only a game from being bowl eligible gives us something to look forward to the rest of the season.

What I Didn't Like...

Offensive line is the first thing that stands out. Weber was under pressure all afternoon. I personally saw two plays where Spry was wide open and Weber saw him but the pocket collapsed and he had to get away from the pressure. In addition to the lack of protection, we were unable to control the line of scrimmage in the running game. It took 44 carries to get to 109 yards. I realize these guys are young but we need to see some improvement here more than we need to see from any other position group on the team.

Thigpen's big play for a 77 yard touchdown. As I was watching at the Dome it looked like Hightower was covering Thigpen out of the backfield and was just out run. But after reviewing on TiVo I'm pretty sure it was zone coverage and the safety was jut out of position. While the defense was stout all afternoon, this was blown coverage leading to six. We've been better at not allowing this to happen but it was disappointing to see this afternoon. .

Not being able to find the endzone bothered me. Maybe I was spoiled through the first four games, but notching 22 first downs and only one touchdown is a bad ratio. We moved the ball very well but this game should not have been this close and it was within one score until the final 30 seconds.

Three fumbles. The Weber option pitch was really bad as it not only gave them the ball but they gained about 25 extra yards as the ball fumbled downfield. DeLeon was carrying the ball in the wrong hand and the muffed punt is just inexcusable. We lost two of the three and need to make sure this doesn't happen next week if we are going to play with the Illini.

What I Liked...

This list is much easier to come up with as there was a lot to like, especially about the defense.

First, the offense. We complain a lot about the fact that Weber only has eyes for Decker. But Decker was incredible today. If we know that a Gopher tendency is to throw to #7, you can be certain Big Ten defensive coordinators know it as well. The first play of the game Weber faked to Eskridge then pitched to Weber who was immediately met by two Hoosiers. This made it pretty clear they were keying on Decker, yet the rest of the game he was able to get open on a regular basis.

I liked just about everything from the defense. I'll handle this one player by player.

Garrett Brown and Eric Small - both have pleasent surprises this year and today was no exception. They really stuffed the middle taking away any thoughts of rushing there.
Willie VanDeSteeg - got pressure on Lewis and had his best game of 2008. Led the team in tackles and got two sacks. Very nice.
Lee Campbell - a fumble recovery, a great intercpetion and six tackles.
Marcus Sherels - The play he was injured on was fantastic coverage. One on one down the sideline and if anybody was going to catch that ball it was going to be #24 wearing maroon.
Tramaine Brock, Kyle Theret and Traye Simmons - none really stood out but it was obvious they were avoiding these guys whenever they could. Theret knocked down a pass on a great play where he broke on the ball from behind the receiver and knocked it down reaching around him.

The defense was fun to watch today and this was the best defensive effort we have seen in years. You can take away the 47 meaningless, hail-mary yards and 246 total yards given up looks very nice.

Bigger than the yards allowed was the points allowed. Indiana isn't going to finish near the top of the Big Ten but this is a high scoring offense. This is a team that has averaged 31.5 points per game over the last two seasons. And it took a 77 yard blown assignment to get any points on the Gophers this afternoon.

Two other stats that I was thrilled about. The defense allowed only 1 third down conversion out of 10 attempts. And we committed one penalty the entire game. Both of those stats greatly contributed to this solid performance by the defense.

I'll have a more comprehensive review early this week but these are my initial thoughts. What do you think? Likes? Dislikes?

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I'm sure fundamentals will be stressed this week

like holding onto the football. I think that the turnovers and breakdown of fundamentals(dropped passes/laterals) as well as an overall conservative playcalling are what kept us from running up the score. I mean, I understand all the running calls- trying to keep the other offense off the field. And I think had it not been for those fumbles, we would have won more convincingly. Not to mention the injuries took their toll. Turnovers will be a huge part of whether we could have a chance of beating Illinois next week.

by MinnMarchDTF on Oct 4, 2008 9:49 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Thoughts

- I would like to see more receivers get involved
- Ryan Collado isn’t very good – I hope Sherels is okay
- The dome was only half full but the crowd did make noise
- I was pretty worried about how our defense would handle the no huddle but they did great – we didn’t seem panicked at all out there
- The O-line didn’t play well either run blocking or pass blocking – that’s a big concern for any future success this year
- Illinois looked pretty good against Michigan
- We lead Wisconsin in the Big Ten standings!!

by FishingMN on Oct 4, 2008 10:26 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Indiana Game

I was at the game and, truthfully, the high point for me was watching the Gopher bench on the 4th down play where Kellen Lewis punted the ball. All of the players, staff, and coaches were raising their arms and swinging towels to get the crowd to cheer louder. I was great to see that sort of entusiasm and connection with the fans which, in my opinion, was missing throughout Glen Mason’s tenure.

Aside from that, I think today was a solid step forward. We’re still 1-3 years away from seriously contending for the Big Ten championship, but we’re certainly moving in the right direction. The defense is far and away better than last year’s (I think it’s easy for us to forget how bad last year’s defense really was), Weber has limted his propensity to make ill-advised throws to covered WRs, and we’ve got a crop of young freshmen who will be there to contribute later in the season and in the future, but on whom we haven’t been dependent to go 5-1 to start the year. If we can beat Iowa to end the season (which should be doable, given their quality of play thus far), I’d have to consider this season a wild success. Any other wins (I think NW and Fcuk Michigan are both winnable games) would be gravy,

by Rooney09 on Oct 5, 2008 2:01 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

O-line

While I remain optimistic, the o-line is one reason for caution. If Weber is going to be successful in the Big Ten, he is going to need more time to find receivers and let some of their misdirection plays unfold. In his on-field postgame interview, Brewster mentioned how poorly they played, so it is good to know he will be on them this week in their preparation for Illinois.

Also, have you ever seen a team so riddled with injuries? That is one big reason for the o-line struggles. Did Alford ever return after he got hurt? It seems like each week we have another lineman down. I hope Sherels will be okay. I saw he had his arm in a sling—so at least that is better than a leg injury. During the course of the game, Weber, Decker, Alford, and Sherels all were down with an injury of some sort. That is scary.

by rencito on Oct 5, 2008 9:47 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Alford

did not return as far as I saw. I didn’t look every play but everytime I checked he was not at LT.

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

by GopherNation on Oct 5, 2008 10:04 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

good stuff

besides the offensive line and red zone play this game was pretty good for the gophers
vandesteeg looked awesome most of the game which the rest of the defense fed off of
its going to be interesting to see how we handle illinois

other remarks:
lee campbell’s fumble recovery seemed to me to be another interception… I know it was a ruled fumble but it was popped out of Lewis’s hand as he was in a throwing motion and campbell snagged it out of the air… whats the official rule that makes that a fumble rather than an interception because it never hit the ground and the reaction campbell made to it warrents an INT on the stat sheet

I personally would have rather seen the badger (who I detest to the fullest extent) win that game against ohio state… I don’t want to hear the media and ohio state fans talk about how they should be in the BCS championship the rest of the year and that is unfortunately the road that we are going down if we continue to win, at least if wisconsin had won they wouldn’t be overhyped and I just hate the buckeyes and their pompous fan base hopefully they’ll lose to penn state or illinois because if they stumble their way into anyone championship game I’m going to throw up

by tubbytime20 on Oct 5, 2008 11:47 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I hate Wisconsin

If I have to choose between Ohio State and Wisconsin going to a BCS game, I will choose Ohio State 100% of the time.

by rencito on Oct 5, 2008 2:03 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Blown Coverage

It looked like Theret double-teamed the receiver that Simmons was covering leaving Hightower one on one with the other. Seems like the missed assignment was on Theret. Losing Sherels was an enormous loss. Collado played very soft and gave up a ton of yards. He did have a nice strip of the ball though to his credit. I hope we get Sherels back next week as we can’t afford to lose our best defender.

by Narby on Oct 5, 2008 4:33 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Eskridge

He runs left and holds the ball in his right arm, then he runs right later and holds the ball in his left arm. Maybe he doesn’t know his right from his left, but I’ll bet Hammock works on that in practice this week.

Scary game with injuries to Weber, Decker, and Sherels.

Weber missed Green twice when he was open, had to be frustrating for Green.

This is the worst offensive line we have had for a long time, they need to pick it up in a big way if we want to have a chance at beating any of the Big Ten’s better teams. They simply aren’t giving Weber time or opening holes.

Almost all of Indiana’s yards came in the 2nd half, with the exception of the 77 yard TD. Collado’s coverage was very soft and he gave constant first down up to his man. The drop-off from Sherels to Collado is ridiculous.

by Narby on Oct 5, 2008 4:47 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Negatives
People have touched on this already, but I think the two reasons the offensive line is not playing well is injuries/new mates and youth. It’s hard to gain any coheisiveness when there never seems to be the same five. Tow-Arnett, Tavele and Alford as well as Davis have missed time.

Where is Jack SImmons? He has not been used nearly enough.

E-Ridge seems to have hit a bit of a wall. I’d still like to see more of some of the other guys – most notably Salamon. Teams are not fooled by running out of the shotgun.

Positives
Anytime a Gopher kicker makes 3 of 4 FGs – you have to be happy. Kucek is also punting the ball pretty well.

Liked the defense especially VanDeSteeg and Campbell yesterday.

Special teams is doing a great job on coverage – minus that one TD earlier this season.

by HutchLeaderGuy on Oct 5, 2008 6:22 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs