The Daily Gopher - Minnesota Loses At Northwestern, 27-0: Post-game Reaction, Recap, Final Score, VideosYour online home for Minnesota Golden Gophers football, basketball and hockey.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/49211/daily-gopher-fave.png2015-10-03T20:09:43-05:00http://www.thedailygopher.com/rss/stream/91909762015-10-03T20:09:43-05:002015-10-03T20:09:43-05:00Gophers Dominated by Northwestern in B1G Openener
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<p>The 16th ranked <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.insidenu.com/">Northwestern Wildcats</a> were not friendly hosts today as they thoroughly dominated the Golden Gophers 0-27 in each team's Big Ten Opener.</p>
<p>A close game early with both teams managing decent drives on their respective opening possessions. The Gophers took the ball first, got into Northwestern territory but failed to convert a manageable third and three before having to punt. Northwestern took the ball, converted a couple long third downs en route to a field goal and a 0-3 lead. The rest of the first half saw these teams trading punts with both defenses winning until Miles Schuler returned a <span>Peter Mortell</span> punt 55 yards setting up the Wildcats with first and goal from the Gopher 5. On the very next play, Caleb Thorson ran it in for an NU 0-10 lead shortly before halftime.</p>
<p>No big deal right? The Gophers make some adjustments at halftime, the offense manages to cobble together a couple series that result in points and we are in this thing till the very end right? Nope. Northwestern controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, dominated the time of possession and the game en route to a 27-point shutout. Not much else to say about the game. It was completely controlled by the Wildcats, they won all three phases and for the entire second half the only thing left to see was if the Gophers would manage a point or not. Spoiler Alert: They did not.</p>
<p>What went wrong? Well, it is all the same things we have seen throughout the year at various times. Injuries and lack of depth has hurt the defense. The offensive line has been pretty bad. The quarterback was awful. The game-plan and plays-calling was uninspiring. Receivers were still unable to get any separation. And special teams, particularly punt coverage today, was a problem as well. Not much went right.</p>
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<p>"We got a lot more problems than just the quarterback. I mean, everybody wants to blame the quarterback they need to blame me, I'm fine with that. The quarterback understands that he's going to get blamed but the bottom line is that we've got a lot of other issues that we need to solve on the offensive side of the ball."</p>
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<p>Finally, in the fourth quarter, Jerry Kill benched Leidner and gave the final four series to the true freshman, Demry Croft. His first snap as a collegiate quarterback was an 11-yard scramble. He mixed in a few very nice throws with at least a couple that were bad and very nearly intercepted. The end result was no different. Northwestern blitzed him, the offensive line was unable to pick it up, the play-calling was ultra-vanilla and very few yards were gained.</p>
<p>It is hard to put much of the blame of this loss on the defense, they were not perfect but it is hard to pin more than 13 of the Cat's total points on them. One was a 5-yard field and the other was an offensive turnover. There should be a reasonable expectation of putting up at least couple touchdowns against most Big Ten defenses.</p>
<p>But hats off to Northwestern. As I said they dominated the line of scrimmage, their team was more prepared to play in all phases, they executed on third downs and were never really threatened. I am not sure how much of their great game was due to awful execution by the Gophers or maybe they are just really good. I think it is more the former but certainly somewhere in the middle.</p>
<p>The Gophers have a lot of questions to be answered, more than they began the season with. Up next is another road game. A trip to Purdue is looming and the Boilermakers should be feeling good about themselves when they watch the film from this afternoon.</p>
https://www.thedailygopher.com/2015/10/3/9446855/minnesota-gophers-dominated-by-northwestern-in-big-ten-opener-mitch-leidner-benched-jerry-killGopherNation2015-10-03T14:03:00-05:002015-10-03T14:03:00-05:00RAPID REACTION: The worst loss since 2013...
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<figcaption>Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>The most demoralizing loss since 2013.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Most demoralizing loss since Iowa ’13.</p>
— Cash4Claeys (@MVofDT) <a href="https://twitter.com/MVofDT/status/650371965782376449">October 3, 2015</a>
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<p>Yep. This one was bad. The improved offense we saw last week that gave us hope was nowhere to be found. The more creative playcalling from last week felt like it was left back in Minneapolis. The defense had to spend far too much time out on the field and the result was predictable. The result is a game where everyone leaves feeling pretty terrible.</p>
<p>Honestly, that's underselling how horrible this game feels. What can I say, I'm an optimist at heart.</p>
<p>Normally I try to recap a game in 3-5 bullet points. Not today. I'm going to go much more free-form today. I'd like to say you'll enjoy the change, but you probably won't.</p>
<h4>Where do we go from here?</h4>
<p>It's easy to call this a lost season already. I wouldn't blame you. Plenty of frustrating things going on here. The team's strength, their defense, is the hardest hit by injuries. And while it's easy to stop with that statement, the fact is the offense is killing the defense by not sustaining any drives. But throwing in the towel on the season isn't anyone's favorite choice given that this is a competitive sport. So what's the answer?</p>
<p>Before I go any farther I'm going to make one thing clear. <b>THERE IS NO ONE THING WRONG.</b> Days like today don't happen because of one player, one scheme, etc. The struggles you see are pretty all encompassing and whatever the team chooses to do from here on out could fail for a variety of reasons. If it was easy, it would probably be fixed already.</p>
<p>All that said, it certainly feels like there are two choices.</p>
<p><b>1) Muddle through:</b> You keep playing Mitch and you try to get healthy. There are actually some arguments to this approach. They are not easy or fun to make, but I'm going to try. First, this team is good enough to win as they are. They just aren't consistent about how they play. This approach is betting that things will be good more often then they are bad. Second, if the defense can get healthy it has the ability to keep this team in the games it can win (let's not be crazy here, Ohio State is out of reach). Third, this protects the health and psyche of the team's future. When argument #1 is that this team COULD be good enough to win more as it is built right now, there is an unspoken assumption that there is still plenty wrong with the Gophers. Putting Demry into that could result in the Gophers ruining their "QB of the future" before the future is even here. Honestly, of the 3 the third might actually be the strongest. It's also the least satisfying.</p>
<p><b>NOTE:</b> While I was in the middle of writing about choice #1, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.thedailygopher.com/2015/10/3/9446393/gophers-sub-in-demry-croft-offensive-struggles-continue?_ga=1.137474032.1165146626.1415757432">Coach Kill pulled Demry Croft's redshirt</a> and he has played 3 series so far. None of them have been overly impressive. What this means for next week and beyond is unknown. We have reached DEFCON 1 for #QBGAZE2015.</p>
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<p><b>2) Play for the future.</b> This is the "bench Mitch and play Demry the rest of the way" option. The upside is the hope that the offense with Demry is better than with Mitch. There is really no way to evaluate that yet, though the early returns against Northwestern aren't promising. The downside is that you risk hurting Demry's health and development/psyche all to watch the Gophers only win 6 games or lose as many as they would have with Mitch. We'll have lots more to discuss on this front in the coming days, but for now I'm going to say I hope that what we say in the 4th quarter today is not a sign for the rest of the season if this is the option the coaching staff chooses.</p>
<p>This was a bad game. Let's be good to each other and hope it gets better.</p>
https://www.thedailygopher.com/2015/10/3/9446299/northwestern-beats-minnesota-final-score-27-0-offensive-struggles-mitch-leidnerGoAUpher2015-10-03T13:43:07-05:002015-10-03T13:43:07-05:00Gophers sub in Demry Croft; offensive struggles continue.<h3 class="link-title"><a rel="nofollow" href="https://twitter.com/RyanBurnsMN/status/650378460246896645">Gophers sub in Demry Croft; offensive struggles&nbsp;continue.</a></h3>
<div class="description"><p><p>Demry is playing. It didn't change much yet. 0-2 while taking a sack. I hope it gets better today, but it probably won't.</p></p></div>
https://www.thedailygopher.com/2015/10/3/9446393/gophers-sub-in-demry-croft-offensive-struggles-continueGoAUpher2015-10-03T12:53:17-05:002015-10-03T12:53:17-05:00VIDEO: Northwestern fans have a sad at this incompletion.<h3 class="link-title"><a rel="nofollow" href="https://twitter.com/GoAUpher/status/650366684465876992">VIDEO: Northwestern fans have a sad at this&nbsp;incompletion.</a></h3>
<div class="description"><p><p>Northwestern though the had an amazing touchdown (<a href="https://vine.co/v/e2aYzP3j3tP" target="new">see video</a>). They were wrong. This is a small consolation given the score however.</p></p></div>
https://www.thedailygopher.com/2015/10/3/9446207/video-northwestern-fans-have-a-sad-at-this-incompletionGoAUpher2015-10-03T12:33:57-05:002015-10-03T12:33:57-05:00HALFTIME THOUGHTS: THIS. IS. NOT. FUN.<img src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rd1DtBRQ9_X0zOrr2kuWD7XPltc=/410x410/cdn.vox-cdn.com/fan_shot_images/401450/giphy.gif" />
<div class="source source-img"><p><p>These halftime thoughts are going to be more angst filled than normal.</p>
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<br />- Special teams errors are so frustrating.<p></p>
<br />- Calling the playcalling today conservative would be polite. I think I get what they plan is...play close to the vest, rely on your defense to get it done, strike when the best opportunity presents itself. In other words, it's Kent State, Part Deux. The problem with this plan is that a single mistake (/waves at special teams) is enough to blow that plan up. That is why it works against Kent State and not against the Big Ten.<p></p>
<br />- Against the wind, I can see going full #RUTM and hoping for the best. I mean, I can't really see it but I'm being kind here. But with the wind the Gophers hung it up and said they were content to go to halftime with 5+ minutes left. NO.<p></p>
<br />- I'm ok with seeing Croft. If this season has proven anything it's that I'm not knee jerk reacting to the QB situation. And yet I just said I'm ok with playing the backup. If you trust Mitch so little today that your are going full #RUTM with the wind then play Croft. At least I can use the minions GIF more if he plays well.<p></p>
<br />Let's hope it gets better. GO GOPHERS!</p></div>
https://www.thedailygopher.com/2015/10/3/9446003/halftime-thoughts-this-is-not-funGoAUpher2015-10-03T12:18:17-05:002015-10-03T12:18:17-05:00The injury woes continue for Minnesota<h3 class="link-title"><a rel="nofollow" href="https://twitter.com/andygreder/status/650356713774780416">The injury woes continue for&nbsp;Minnesota</a></h3>
<div class="description"><p><p>Stop. Stop. We're already dead in the secondary.</p></p></div>
https://www.thedailygopher.com/2015/10/3/9445947/the-injury-woes-continue-for-minnesotaGoAUpher2015-10-03T11:30:12-05:002015-10-03T11:30:12-05:00Good news from College Gameday!<h3 class="link-title"><a rel="nofollow" href="https://twitter.com/GoAUpher/status/650339825732726785">Good news from College&nbsp;Gameday!</a></h3>
<div class="description"><p><p>Novel picking concept from the weather guy, but I like where his head is at. More importantly (ok, not at all important but go with it) is that 3 of the 4 Gameday picks went Minnesota's way (Lee went "not so fast" for Northwestern).</p></p></div>
https://www.thedailygopher.com/2015/10/3/9445737/good-news-from-college-gamedayGoAUpher2015-10-03T10:00:02-05:002015-10-03T10:00:02-05:00Gophers at Northwestern to Open B1G - OPEN THREAD
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<figcaption>Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><table style="margin-bottom: 0px;" class="sbnu-legacy-content-table" align="center" bgcolor="#ffffff" border="1" width="454"> <tbody> <tr align="center"> <td bgcolor="#59118e" width="192"><font color="white"><strong>NORTHWESTERN WILDCATS</strong></font></td> <td bgcolor="#000000" width="85"><font color="#ffffff"><strong>Game 5</strong></font></td> <td bgcolor="#7a0019" width="192"><font color="#ffcc33"><strong>MINNESOTA GOPHERS</strong></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" width="192"><img src="https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/blog/sbnu_logo/246/large_inside_northwestern_full.18716.png" height="227" width="244"></td> <td style="font-size: 23px; vertical-align: middle;" align="center" bgcolor="#d4d4d4" width="70"> <br><h1>vs</h1> <br> </td> <td align="center" width="192"><a target="_blank" href="http://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/assets/2407443/large_thedailygopher.com.full.png"><img style="vertical-align: middle;" src="http://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/assets/2407443/large_thedailygopher.com.full_medium.png" class="photo" alt="Large_thedailygopher.com.full_medium" height="200" width="250"></a></td> </tr> </tbody> </table>
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<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><table style="margin-top: 0px;" class="sbnu-legacy-content-table" height="146" align="center" bgcolor="#ffffff" border="1" width="546"> <tbody> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#eeeeee"> <td bgcolor="#d4d4d4" width="95"><strong>Date:</strong></td> <td width="140">October 3, 2015</td> <td bgcolor="#d4d4d4" width="106"><strong>Location:</strong></td> <td width="127">Evanston, IL</td> </tr> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#eeeeee"> <td bgcolor="#d4d4d4" width="95"><strong>Time:</strong></td> <td width="140">11:00 AM Central</td> <td bgcolor="#d4d4d4" width="106"><strong>Stadium:</strong></td> <td width="127">Ryan Field</td> </tr> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#eeeeee"> <td style="vertical-align: middle;" bgcolor="#d4d4d4" width="95"><strong>TV:</strong></td> <td style="vertical-align: middle;" width="140">Big Ten Network</td> <td style="vertical-align: middle;" bgcolor="#d4d4d4" width="106"><strong>Radio:</strong></td> <td width="127">KFAN 100.3<br><a href="http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/gopher-football-radio.html" target="_blank">Gophers Radio Network</a><br><br> </td> </tr> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#eeeeee"> <td style="vertical-align: middle;" bgcolor="#d4d4d4" width="95"><strong>Internet Stream:</strong></td> <td style="vertical-align: middle;" width="140">BTN2Go</td> <td style="vertical-align: middle;" bgcolor="#d4d4d4" width="106"><strong>Know Thy Foe:</strong></td> <td style="vertical-align: middle;" width="127"><a href="http://www.insidenu.com/" target="_blank">Inside NU</a></td> </tr> <tr align="center"></tr> <tr align="center"> <td bgcolor="#000000" width="95"><font color="#ffffff"><strong>Weather:</strong></font></td> <td colspan="3" bgcolor="#000000"><font color="#ffffff"><strong>55, windy and rainy</strong></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align: center;" bgcolor="#ffffff" width="95"><strong>Line:</strong></td> <td style="text-align: center;" colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff">Northwestern by -4.5</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>
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<p align="center"><strong><u>3 Keys, 2 Players to Watch, 1 Prediction</u></strong></p>
<p><strong style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><img style="float: left;" alt="Maroon_key_medium" class="photo" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/3109073/maroon_key_medium.png"></strong><span><strong> Now Put it All Together </strong></span>- The defense and special teams were outstanding against Kent State while the offense really struggled. Then the following week the offense was on track while the special teams nearly cost us the game and the defense was battered & bruised. Time to put all three phases together. This is a key Big Ten West game for both of these teams. The Gophers need to play well in all three phases to make the trip home a happy one.</p>
<p><strong style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><img style="float: left;" alt="Maroon_key_medium" class="photo" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/3109073/maroon_key_medium.png"></strong><strong> Run the Ball, Stop the Run</strong> - Today is supposed to be wet and windy, going to need a solid ground game today. Last week was a pretty nice improvement from the OL, especially run blocking. Need more of that and then the freshmen backs need to make some noise with their legs. On the flip side, <span>Justin Jackson</span> is second in the Big Ten in rushing, we need to stop their run game cause their pass game might be worse than ours.</p>
<p><strong style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><img style="float: left;" alt="Maroon_key_medium" class="photo" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/3109073/maroon_key_medium.png"> Turnovers -</strong><span> Always an important factor but when both teams have offensive struggles, a bad turnover or two is likely to be all the difference. Fumbles when deep in your own territory or interceptions that result in a big field-position flip (or worse)...cannot have those. So far Leidner's two interceptions were deep balls, one-on-one coverage on third and long, essentially an equivalent to a punt. Cannot have a bad one today, and time for the Gopher D to make a huge play or two when <span>Clayton Thorson</span> gives them that opportunity.</span></p>
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<h4>OPPOSING PLAYERS TO WATCH</h4>
<ul> <li> <strong>#18 - QB - Clayton Thorson</strong> - Hey, maybe a worse Big Ten quarterback then Leidner (they do exist). Thorson has 3 picks on the year while throwing only roughly 95 passes. The box will be stacked to stop <span>Justin Jackson</span> and hopefully Thorson has a bad day.</li> <li> <strong>#18 - LB - <span>Anthony Walker</span></strong> - Active linebacker for the Cats, Walker has 7 tackles for loss, 2 pass breakups and leads his team in tackles. </li> </ul>
<h4>PREDICTION</h4>
<p>I think that Northwestern is a good team, much better than I anticipated they would be. But they have some issues on offense as well. If the Gophers play well (not elite, but just play well) in all three phases I think we pull out a close win. Likely a low-scoring affair that really could come down to a defensive or special teams touchdown, much like last year. I'm not terribly confident that we come up happy with this one but I think now that we have hit Big Ten play the playbook may be opened up a little, the offense is coming in with confidence and special teams will be on point today. The biggest question is health on defense.</p>
<p>There are two Big Ten teams that the Gophers have a .600 or better win percentage against. Both are from Chicago but one no longer fields a D1 football team (U of Chicago). Ultimately I think Thorson throws a couple picks today and the Gophers come away with a win, making it three in a row over Pat Fitzgerald and the Wildcats.</p>
<p>Minnesota - 20<br>Northwestern - 13</p>
https://www.thedailygopher.com/2015/10/3/9401151/gophers-hit-the-road-to-face-northwestern-in-big-ten-opener-openGopherNation