A brief look back and a look ahead
by GopherNation on Nov 15, 2009 3:13 PM CST
in Gopher Football
16 comments
A frustrating game yesterday and I don't recall ever being so disappointed in a win. But it was a win and we move on to Iowa week (aka Hate Week).
SDSU
Hats off to the defense who played well. A couple big plays were given up, but a handful of big plays were made and the defense gets the win.
None of the other units deserve a passing grade. Offensive Line played their worst game in a long time, Weber was Weber, the receivers didn't get open and dropped a few catchable balls, special teams played poorly but were saved a bit by Eric Ellstad. One can only hope that the lackadaisical play can be attributed to the team looking past the Jackrabbits and ahead to Iowa.
So let's do the same. SDSU is over and done. While we came close to losing to a second FCS team in three years, we didn't. Up next are the Hawkeyes. You may not know this but Iowa beat our Gophers in 2008 to the tune of 55-0. Now we'll get on the bus (literally) and head to Iowa City to face an angry Hawkeye squad.
The bad news? Iowa was once believing they had an outside shot at a BCS Title game (with some help), but consecutive losses have them out of that picture and this team is frothing at the mouth to get a win. A win secures them second in the conference with a very good shot at being a second Big Ten team in a BCS game. Having this game be a formality would have been more desirable for Gopher fans, but now Iowa has a significant reason to beat the Gopher and beat them soundly.
The Good news? Well, Iowa is not unbeatable. Don't get me wrong, I'm not predicting a win here. Iowa should be favored and they are the better team this year. But using some transitive logic there is no reason to believe that we cannot play with Iowa. Here are a handful of reasons why Iowa is human and therefor beatable.
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Northwestern beat them, we beat Northwestern.
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Michigan State led before a last second TD earned the W for Iowa, we beat Michigan State.
- Iowa has started slow and allowed nearly every team on their schedule the opportunity to beat them. They have earned many of those wins late, but play Russian Roulette long enough and bad things usually happen.
- Iowa is starting a freshman QB who played well at Ohio State but was terrible vs. Northwestern
Once again, I'm not calling this a coin flip or even that the Gophers are guaranteed to do anything. But after playing very well at Penn State and at Ohio State, despite the loss, the Hawkeyes have allowed every team on their schedule the opportunity to win. So what will the Gophers have to do? it comes down to two things.
- Weber needs to repeat Michigan State week. He needs to wear the same underwear, eat the same foods, kiss the same women, etc. Weber has been bad for much of the season, but he has shown flashes of carrying this offense. An average game, an inconsistent game, a typical 2009 Weber game will not cut it. He doesn't need 400+ yards but he needs 65% or higher accuracy and a few big plays.
- Defense needs to contain the big play. Make Iowa march down the field little by little. The Iowa offense is good and may be able to string together 10 play drives, but make them prove it over and over. Big plays cannot happen, especially with a freshman QB who may be prone to a mistake or two.
It would seem like just asking two things wouldn't be too much to ask, but I'm afraid it might be. But it brings me back to what we started with. The SDSU game was not pretty but maybe this team was looking ahead. A very dangerous and immature trademark, but just maybe they will learned a valuable lesson in focus and intensity for Iowa week.
If they need further motivation, dump the SDSU tape and show them 55-0.
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If they’re too down after the 55-0 film, we could always cheer them up by showing the team a video of Shonn Greene trying to read Hop On Pop.
Everyone fails. The successful learn from their failures. I just wish we'd quit giving ourselves so many learning opportunities.
by WhiteSpeedReceiver on Nov 15, 2009 3:17 PM CST reply actions
Gophers a beneficiary of bad timing. Gophers review: Need retooling for next season.
They faced three upper tier Big Ten teams after losses the previous week – Penn State after losing to Iowa, Ohio State after losing to Purdue, and now Iowa after a loss to Ohio State. What makes it worst is Iowa had two consecutive losses. Next weekend in Iowa City, the Gophers are walking into a hornet’s nest.
If it wasn’t for the Gophers Defense, all those losses would’ve been even more huge blowouts. Having completely new Offensive & Defensive coaches & schemes this season after the Brewmeister cleaned house does not help matters much. Weber used to be a scrambling quarterback last season. I am not sure he knows or have complete confidence in what to do.
The Offensive Line play is dismal and disappointing. Weber had constant pressure all season. Losing Jeff Tow-Arnett & Eric Decker compounds the problem. The OL needs to be retooled in the off season with more maturity & the addition of new recruits. We wish Seantrel Henderson will consider signing with the hometown team as a gesture of magnanimity.
The running game is almost nonexistent. The addition of new Offensive Linemen and Running Backs should help. On paper, they have a good group of linemen coming in next season with Josh Campion, Joey Searcy, and others. Running Back Josh Huff look promising. They ought to consider a bruising back. Wisconsin had Ron Dayne at 270 lbs. Now they have John Clay at 248 lbs. Someone like Cretin-Derham Hall’s Cameron Clarkson at 5’11", 270 lbs. would be nice. Maybe signing one of Seantrel’s team mates will help influence his decision.
Special Teams play is also writhed with holes. You can’t allow SDSU to gain so much yardage.
The team needs stability and continuity. All these point to coaching. Brewster needs to define his coaching philosophy instead of completely revamping it mid-term in his contract. This may have an influence in this season’s overall team play. I am not sure.
In my humble opinion, the Gophers have some of the best recruiting prospects in recent years for as long as I have been a Gophers fan. Good talent with the help of good coaching should start winning games for them.
I don’t think they are that far off. They’ve got two heartbreaking loses by three points to Wisconsin and Illinois. Having one more win this season would have emotionally turned the tide positively in Gopherland.
So, don’t despair. We have reasons to be optimistic for next season.
Next season is when Brewster will get his final report card. If he can’t put together a 7-5 season, we can consider it the end of his tenure at Minnesota.
Marques Gray will have a season’s worth of experience and will play more.
SD State Game
North Dakota State redux Saturday, wether Mason or Brewster, the same result. It seems a team of players who are not very athletic but very motivated can compete and play at the same level with the gophers, and yet the gophers can play with or win against mighty Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan State, Illioiw, Wisconsin. I am embarassed that our major university and big ten team cannot dominate what should be lesser teams with less able players.
Cretin vs East VIew high was a much better played football game Saturday night than what we saw at TCF Stadium. Cretin’s QB Alt has a strong arm and can fire the ball into the receivers hands all over the field, and he can run the offense as he is a leader. Nice to see. The gophers could use obviously some of Cretins winning talent, i.e. Clarkson, Henderson, Alt and others. Also, some great talent on East View. Good to see that high level of prep play here in Minnesota.
by bobbyspringfield on Nov 15, 2009 5:32 PM CST reply actions
disappointed in a win??
according the brilliant Jim Souhan who said “we are all giddy on the avenues of Gopher Nation at this latest sign of progress.” I can’t read that idiot anymore.
"they're calling insane hogs???"
But he has a point...
I almost wanted SDSU to win that game after such a lousy showing by the Gophers. Maybe it would have moved the “powers that be” to take some drastic action with Gopher football such as a coaching change. I am not one who is a chronic complainer and I’ve been supporting Brewster, but I have finally hit the point where I am giving up on him. Can we keep him as a full-time recruiter and get a new coach who isn’t losing his assistants or changing them every season. We need some stability.
I feel the same way, but I am willing to give Brew ONE MORE YEAR ONLY. The only way I could see firing him is if we could get a very successful coach to take his place, I just think no one is willing to come here because of our history of not being a winning program. My real point in my above point was that I can’t stand columnists who make crap up like we are “giddy” or that ANYONE is stoopid enough to think we are progressing after that win.
"they're calling insane hogs???"
I’m not trying to defend Souhan because he is a “jerk” (although not as bad as Reusse) but I believe it was a “tongue-in-cheek” remark on his part.
The problem
The problem is game planning. One thing that I consistently see is a lack of strategy from the coaching staff. Coaching is much more than calling plays. Every opponent you play is different and each game should emphasize our strengths and attack the other team’s weaknesses.
I don’t ever see that. All I ever see is the coaching staff calling one play at a time, one series at a time with no coherent strategy. That is why we never blow anyone out. Even Montana State played with us last year. These are teams we should paste every single time without exception. No game is or ever will be easy under this coaching staff. I can give Brewster one more year. If we don’t have a winning record in the Big 10 next year, he should be gone.
Middle Tennessee State, South Dakota (not SDSU), USC, and Northern Illinois await us next year out of conference. That should be three easy wins (but they never are). Northwestern, Penn State, Ohio State, and Iowa are all at home next year. Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue, and Wisconsin are all on the road. I’m not sure we are going to have a winning record in the conference next year.
Good Post rencito
I couldn’t agree with you more. I’m still not sole on the “one more year” concept because that can turn into another “one more year” and “one more year.” I’m fed up with a coaching staff that is in such flux. I want some stability.
One more year
My patience is growing short as well. Much like against North Dakota State in 2006 (when Mason was coaching) when we won 10-9 or something like that, this may as well be a loss. It counts as a win in the standings, but in reality it is a loss when you have that much more talent.
Speaking of talent, I think that this shows that talent alone doesn’t win games. There are many examples of teams playing with unity, cohesiveness, and the knack for winning. I think there are a lot of FCS schools that can play with the middling FBS counterparts. A disciplined, smart, well coached team that just is used to winning can win.
A performance like we just saw from the Gophers shows how we are lacking pretty much all of those successful ingredients.
The reason I say one more year has to do with the continuity you mentioned and the fact that maybe the coaching staff will learn from this. We are still winning Big 10 games and finishing in the middle of the pack, so all is not lost. But we fired Mason because middle of the pack wasn’t acceptable anymore. By year three, we are still about where I expected we would be, but the problem is that I see no sign of progress. He has one more year to show that. Plus, I don’t want to waste any more tax payers money on coaches buyouts. This is still The University of Minnesota and is bigger than football.
totally agree Rencito, unless Dungy is begging Maturi to coach this team, I don’t think we have any other choice but to give him one more year. If you don’t give him time with his recruits then, like others have said, a new coach won’t take this job if they are not going to be allowed time to make their system work.
"they're calling insane hogs???"
If not Dungy, who is capable & willing to come to Golden Gopherland?
Tony Dungy would be the consensus choice of avid fans. But, is there any indication that he wants to return to coaching?
Now that we have a marvelous football stadium on campus, maybe the next coach will have a better go at enticing good recruits. I am saying this because I am not confident that Brewster will be any more than a mediocre coach. I don’t know about his coaching background, but it shows he does not have a disciplined system in place. They certainly are not showing confidence in their young players. They need to develop those recruits and maximize on the strength of their abilities.
Look at the way Wisconsin recruits. They don’t necessarily go after the four star and five star players. Yet, they consistently put out a good season and play in the higher tier bowls. They’ve got a good system in place, and they know how to develop talent.
They keep winning year after year, and they seem to attract good players not necessarily the four and five stars.
Winning programs have good systems in place that provide good coaching. Something is aloof with the Gophers. I sometimes feel that Brewster doesn’t know how to coach. Sure, he can recruit. That is his true calling. I agree that talent alone does not win games.
Having Dungy come in even for four years, he can put a sound program in place like he did in Indianapolis. The same is true with the Steelers. The Rooney family were a good judge of talent. They picked Timlin as head coach, but left in place the entire coaching staff and a consistent winning program.
In fairness, I’d say give Brewster next year. And if he continues the trend of mediocrity waiting year after year won’t change anything. We need a program that the players believe in and have confidence in. Mason went to a tidy bowl seven out of his nine years and posted an overall winning record. If we booted him, then I think Brewster is not your Savior.
No way
Dungy is done coaching. He has said it over and over again. It isn’t going to happen. He wanted his life back and he is much happier now.
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