Just waking up and coming to grips with the fact that last night actually happened.
What's sad is that the Gophers came out on the first drive of the game and essentially imposed their will on the Bison. As Jeffrick texted me "It's almost like we're bigger and more talented than they are." The running backs got going, Gray ran when he needed to, and he was pretty effective throwing the ball too. A 13 play, 6+ minute drive, capped of by a Donnell Kirkwood 4 yard TD run.
On the drive Gray was 3/4 for 31 yards, and ran 3 times for 13 yards. Bennett ran twice for 7 yards and caught a 9 yard pass from Gray. Kirkwood ran 4 times for 18 yards, and scored the drive capping TD.
It was a textbook drive. Balanced, time-consuming, effective.
And then the Gopher defense showed up and gave up the kind of drive that their offense had just orchestrated.
And here we are on a Sunday morning left trying to figure out what happened.
To any NDSU fans who are showing up at TDG this morning to enjoy seeing us in our meltdown mode... welcome. Congratulations, you beat a horrible football team that you had two weeks to prepare for.
Yes the Gophers, at least on paper, should be bigger and more talented than an FCS team, but the fact remains that we aren't good. We get beat on very basic plays, and we give up big plays. We can't stop anyone on 3rd down (the Bison were 6 of 9), and we have no identity on either side of the ball. And to top it all off, we might have a QB controversy.
This isn't self-deprecation on behalf of the Gophers. It's a fact. We are a BAD football team. And except for an 8 game run at the beginning of 2008 when Tim Brewster had everyone completely snowed, we have been a bad football team since before NDSU came to the Metrodome in 2007.
You know who I really feel bad for this morning? Miami (OH). They actually lost to this team.
Now for the Gopher fans.
Last night was horrible. It was painful, it was ugly, it was embarrassing, and it was strangely familiar. I hope you drank yourself into oblivion after the game (/points at self) and got all the piss and vinegar that built up during that 3-hour debacle out of your system.
You good?
Take a deep breath. Pour yourself a cup of coffee. Now pour some bourbon in that coffee cup. Once it hits your lips... it tastes so good.
Okay, ready?
Yes, the sky is falling. Yes, things are bad. Yes, you're going to feel that pit you felt in your stomach last night somewhere between 6-8 more times this season.
But if you believe that Coach Kill has the ability to turn this program around, then you have to believe him when he has said from day one that his coaching staff has a plan for how to turn it around, but that this team has a long way to go.
Sweet sassy molassey do they ever have a long way to go.