Minnesota Gophers vs. South Dakota: Plenty to See, Plenty to Prove
by Jeffrick on Sep 8, 2010 9:15 AM CDT
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PrintOne of the many reasons I love college football more than the NFL is because of the lack of pre-season games. Other than the owners, no one loves watching four meaningless games before finally getting to the games that count (while I would love it if the NFL does drop two preseason games, I'm not sure adding two more regular season contests is really the answer. Well the answer is more injuries, and more meaningless end-of-season games when the Colts would have their division locked up four weeks early instead of two. So there IS an answer, it's just probably not the one people want).
However, with the advent of the 12th regular season game in college football a few years back, we're getting dangerously close to a preseason-type atmosphere in some of our non-Big Ten Games (in the Glen Mason Era we used to call this our "non-conference schedule"). Certainly I understand that a 12th game against a 1-AA creampuff was added for more money and an easy win, and considering how many athletic departments nationwide are running in the red, I suppose I can accept a cupcake game if it means my favorite sports stays alive and well.
Still, it's hard to get too jacked up for the game Saturday against 1-AA South Dakota because it feels quite similar to the NFL preseason games the Vikings just finished up with. Sure, the 11am contest this Saturday against the Coyotes certainly DOES count (just ask Ole Miss or Kansas how your season feels if you lose. Or, if you choose, remember back to 2007 and remember what it felt like to lose to NDSU. You're right, better to just ask the Rebels or Jayhawks because I don't want to relive that one either!!), and if we get this one we're only four wins away from bowl eligibility! Um yeah, but otherwise it has all the feelings of a preseason game for the simple fact that the only thing we can learn about the Gophers from a (hopefully) win over the Coyotes is negative.
Like in preseason games, your first teams are expected to do well. That's just a given. If they do, there's nothing gained by it, nothing really proven and nothing really to learn. But if your team performs badly, or if god forbid you lose, well then the sky starts falling and cats and dogs start sleeping together. It's pandamonium!
For me, there's still plenty of positives I want to see on Saturday- even if it's not supposed to mean much:
BLOW OUT THE YOTES
In the comments section of Rencino's post yesterday about USD, there was a discussion about the Gophers never having a comfortable, blow-out win under Tim Brewster. Say what? I checked some box scores from the past three seasons, and the biggest margin of victory in Brewster's tenure was the 42-17 win at Bowling Green in 2008. But as I was reminded by a few people, that was a close game heading in the 4th quarter before a few fumbles did in the Falcons (shouldn't Bowling Green be called the Bowlers? Or the Little Lebowski's Urban Achievers? Something else besides the Falcons). So it's true- the Gophs under Brewster haven't had a game that was already wrapped up by halftime. The only thing that really came close was the 35-20 win over Purdue last year, where Minnesota took a close game at the half and scored 21 in the third to pull away. Saturday would be a GREAT time to blow the doors off of South Dakota and dominate a game from start to finish.
DO IT AGAIN DUANE!
I don't forsee Duane Bennett gaining 187 yards again or getting 31 carries-I would hope the game is well in hand so we don't have to use him that much. But I do want to see another dominant ground performance from Bennett and the offensive line. 100 yards at the half for #22? I think that's a reasonable goal. I'll also be interested to see if Donell Kirkwood (or Kirkland if you're an E!SPNU announcer) establishes himself as the #2 back in this offense ahead of DeLeon Eskridge (Ok I'm not interested to see it happen- I WANT it to happen!).
I WANT TO LOVE ADAM WEBER
I'm sure this will warrant it's own post- or many- at some point this season, but for now, let me just say that I'm trying to join with GN to find some middle ground on our 5th year senior quarterback. I'm coming from a place of loathing him and counting the days until he graduates, but I'm trying to embrace him for what he is- an overachiever who will never be great (and who should have never won 2nd team All-Big Ten in 2008. Seriously, it's the worst thing to happen to him because it's made for unrealistic expectations. Well, that and if you look at things like the statistics from that season, he didn't deserve it. So either one), but can hopefully be um...(searching my Trent Dilfer dictionary for words to describe QB's who can't win games for you but you hope won't lose them)...serviceable. GN is correct in pointing out he was quite OK after a few early bad throws in the win over MTSU. I want to have more confidence in Weber, and I think Weber needs more confidence in Weber, so I'm hoping to see at least 200 yards passing, 60% completions and two passing TD's.
WIN ON 3RD DOWN
Of the many, many, many issues we had in 2009, for me the largest was our struggles on 3rd down. Offensively we might as well have just punted on 3rd down, while defensively we could not get off the field. In the win over the Blue Raiders, the Gophs showed massive improvements, converting 8-16 3rd downs on offense, and holding MTSU's offense to 1-8. Those kind of numbers need to continue for Minnesota to have a successful season, so let's see it continue against the Yotes.
STOP THE RUN BETWEEN THE TACKLES
Our defense did an excellent job in pursuit from sideline-to-sideline last Thursday, as the athleticism and speed of our defense was apparent in basically nullifying MTSU's option runs and screens to the outside. But the Blue Raiders still gutted us for 146 yards rushing on 6.6 per carry, a YPC number that needs to come down for us to have success in Big Ten play. We have some real good size up front at D-tackle, and while Gary Tinsley isn't a huge middle linebacker, he's still good enough to make plays there. Part of the issue here is definitely that we're missing our two senior safeties, so getting them back healthy and ready to go will hopefully make a big difference here.
GENERATE A PASS RUSH
Logan Kilgore was WAY too comfortable in his first start for MTSU last Thursday, as he completed 72% of his passes and was not sacked. Considering the inexperience of our secondary right now with Royston and Theret out, we NEED to get to the quarterback to help those guys out. The Gophs struggled to pressure the QB last year, and I'm hoping with some of the young blood on our D-line (especially that Hageman guy, who needs to start sooner than later) and linebackers, we SHOULD have the talent there to start getting some sacks.
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I think blowing these guys out is a must. We essentially stuffed and dominated the stat sheet last week against MTSU, but couldn’t finish enough drives to show it on the scoreboard. Even if Ellestad had hit those two very makable FG’s, the score would have ended 30-17… not quite blowout territory.
"We're talking about unchecked aggression here, Dude."
Off Tackle Empire
The Daily Gopher
don't forget
we did kneel on the ball with 1st and goal on the 4. In my world the game was really 31-17 even with the missed FGs.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you The Daily Gopher
by GopherNation on Sep 8, 2010 11:09 AM CDT up reply actions
And the two blunders that set up the field goal attempts
the false start penalty that backed us up, and Weber’s fumble on 2nd and short. Without those two it’s possible we get two more TD’s. Still, these did happen and we did miss FG’s, so I’d still like to see us really light up on Saturday.
Yep, I want to feel better about our offense
which is why to blow them out we need some passing TD’s.
Respect Every Opponent..
And we will do just fine. It is a good thing that we have an upset and a recent close game against an opponent like USD to keep the team more focused than the fans apparently. This business about a blowout or a waste is ridiculous. This team is young and needs real game snaps to get better. While the offense is more mature, we have new co-coordinators. This is the most critical game of the year until it ends. Like PSU against YSU last week, we have to take advantage of game snaps for our players to get better. We need to punt, kick extra points, field goals and overall play together in real games. So, I just want a win and that the team show continued improvement and development of our youthful roster.
I respect your respect of the respect of opponents
But why is it a bad thing as a Gophers fan to have a little confidence? Or to even WANT to have a little confidence? I liked a lot of what we showed in the win over MTSU, and I want to see that continue. I would also like to see us finish drives and score more points than we did last week, and for our defense to give up less against a 1-AA opponent we should beat. Why is that bad?
this may be our last chance to really be overconfident
what you say here can, and will, be used against you The Daily Gopher
by GopherNation on Sep 8, 2010 12:14 PM CDT up reply actions
I hope the coaches and players
aren’t thinking like you some of guys. It is very dangerous to go into a game with a “let’s blow them out” mentality. I’ve seen it too many times where a team that is just wondering how many points they can score, executes poorly. This game should be no different in that you play to win the game and take one play at a time. Injuries are another side effect of that thinking.
I don't believe the coaches or players will have this mindset
But as a Gopher fan I would like to see the end result of Saturday’s game as a resounding win against a 1-AA opponent. We haven’t seen that yet in the Brewster Era, and Saturday seems like a great time to change that. Again, why is that bad?
Why Is That Bad?
Actually, it isn’t Jeffrick. Shoot for the moon and in most cases you end up amongst the stars. I just was speaking in reality of where we are in developing a quite talented YOUNG team. Frankly, I would care less if we never blow a team out; I enjoy great team gameplans that are executed by the players, solid adjustments during the game and at halftime and finally a strong finish when closing teams out. Coach Brewster and his staff got an “A” from me last week. Was it perfect? Of course not. But I saw a clear and concise gameplan that was executed fantasticly and a team very much in control of the game throughout (even when they fell behind). By the way, if there is a blowout, it will likely be due to forced turnovers and continued success of nonstarters once the game is secured. The MTSU game confirmed that Coach Brewster is a classy coach that does not go out of his way to run up scores against opponents; and frankly, I really like that about him. The Big Ten is competitive enough; you shouldn’t go out of your way to create enemies.
We Agree and Disagree
I also enjoy seeing the Gophs play well and executing well. If that happens on both sides of the ball, we should beat USD pretty handily, right?
Unless we were watching different games, the Gophers had zero chance to blow out MTSU, and were lucky to win. They outplayed the Blue Raiders and did a great job of controlling the ball, but by no means did I think they were trying not to run up the score. They were just trying to hang on to win.
Let me correct myself- the Gophers weren’t lucky to win- They deserved to win and played well, but this was a close game down to the end.
A Close Game Down To The End...
that coule well have ended with an additional 11 points in the spread. The field goal to tie should have been a TD (thats 4 more points) and we ran out the clock after Watkins caused the forced fumble (we held it for about 3 minutes and was on the 4 yard line, 1st and goal (that is 7 more). Would 35 – 17 constitute a blowout; probably not, so let me correct myself as well. I’d say we were in control of the game from start to finish and left points off the board.
But...
…if MTSU had not fumbled the kickoff near the end of the game, it very well could have gone into overtime and we could have lost. The ifs can go the opposite way as well when the game is that close—and the game was as close as the score indicated.
I think we all want to see a blowout because Central Florida just proved that a non-BCS team is capable of treating the Coyotes like the Little Sisters of the Poor that they are. If the Gophers struggle in any way against USD, it is an embarrassment. Our players should all be bigger, stronger, faster, and better coached. There is no area where USD should have an advantage over us.
Of course, the Gophers should take this game as seriously as they do any other game. This is South Dakota’s highlight of the year. Many of them were probably recruited on the fact that this game is on their schedule—a game in which many of their friends and family may very well attend (assuming most of their players are from the upper Midwest). I want to see a 30 point victory, I just wouldn’t bet on it given our track record under Brewster.
Blowouts CAN happen from turnovers
…but as Central Florida proved against USD last week, you can just plain be better than the other team and dominate every facet of the game.
Are the Knights better than the Gophers? I would like to think not. But if we struggle against the Coyotes, I may have to rethink that. This game should not be close at halftime.
Close At Halftime?
Frankly, that does not matter and comparing prior opponents is not at all accurate. We beat Purdue and they beat tOSU last year. Any given Saturday rencito. The Gophers just need to improve and WIN. There are many ways to get that done this Saturday and I expect it to be quite entertaining regardless. Whether by one point or 31, the WIN is the goal. (2-0) heading into USC week is the objective.
True but...
You’re telling me the team and coaches would feel the same about a win over USD whether it was 16-13 awful-fest like the win over SDSU last year as they would a 42-3 stomping? Obviously winning is the goal and a W by 1 point or 31 counts the same, but it will say a lot about the Gophs if they struggle to beat USD instead of blowing them out.
#28
guess we were thinking along the same lines.
30.5 pt favorite
I am taking the points. I figure our defense is always good to give up 14 pts to anyone and our new offense is not geared towards scoring 45 pts a game.
Where are you getting that line?
Maybe you’re making it up? I haven’t seen any lines, #1, and #2, I didn’t think that lines existed for games between BCS and FCS teams?
"We're talking about unchecked aggression here, Dude."
Off Tackle Empire
The Daily Gopher
5Dimes.com
There are offshort betting sites that have lines for FBS-FCS games. Learned something new today, didn’t you?
Theret, Alford remain suspended
From Tim Brewster’s Tuesday afternoon press conference…
Brewster said senior tackle Dom Alford and senior safety Kyle Theret remain suspended indefinitely for violating team rules and will miss Saturday’s game.
Journalism. Enhanced.
Very disappointing
that 2 seniors aren’t playing and setting bad examples. I wonder what is going on??
Theret's suspension is for his DUI back in the spring
But I’m not sure what Alford’s wrongdoings have been. A DUI is not something to take lightly, so it’s good to see Brew making his discipline count, but you wonder how long the suspension is for?
If we have a big lead heading into the 4th quarter
I think we will see Gray. But then you won’t get to see him do much other than hand the ball off. Hopefully, the game against USC will be close and we won’t have to see Gray play when we are down 28 points.
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