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As I started to write this, I seriously considered copying and pasting my halftime thoughts. Because ultimately the story of the first half was the story of the second. The Gopher offense did enough to get a win if the defense could tackle. The refs continued to be horrible, often in baffling ways (the "no good" Iowa FG that might have been good, the holding on Lingen that was the kind of blocking you see all game long).
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Brooks to Woli halfback pass just happened!
Brooks to Woli! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! https://t.co/oNUflLFxz1
— Chris H. (@GoAUpher) November 15, 2015
Ok, back to recapping. Breathe. No one can say this game lacked for exciting moments.
Thoughts
- Minnesota's offense: Mitch was solid. Not perfect, but he did more than enough to win. If you're complaining about Mitch tonight then frankly I'm probably going to start questioning your critical reasoning abilities.
- Offensive playcalling: Minnesota took what Iowa was giving them, but in a way that allowed them to capitalize and put points on the board. VERY HAPPY with that.
- Refs: I'm sorry, but no. That Lingen holding penalty? Just go eff yourself with that nonsense. They let more egregious stuff (including outright tackles) by Iowa's OL go uncalled but at a critical junction (3rd and short) they pull out the laundry. Especially when THIS happened on the "dagger" TD for Iowa:
@GopherFootball @GopherHole @GopherSports missed hold on that last touchdown..... pic.twitter.com/IGv9Oua7LE
— Mike Koren (@mkoren53) November 15, 2015
Lingen's hold? His hands were inside the numbers and his elbows were in. Simply atrocious. And yet, still not the reason Minnesota lost. The bigger reason?
- WHAT WAS WITH THE TACKLING? I mean...no. Just...no. So very, very bad. We all know Minnesota is battling injuries, but c'mon. You can't have a performance like this with the missed tackles.
The Takeaway?
Iowa is a paper tiger. They are not a Top 5 team. Iowa fans won't (and shouldn't) care. But it's still the truth. Minnesota probably wins this game if they can tackle like they usually do. Or if they tackle a little bit better and the refs get their heads out of their rears. No matter how you look at it, Floyd is not coming back to Minnesota tonight.
Boo.