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GoldenRose

GoldenRose

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Not to start a "what-if" thread, but had the following three offensive plays beared different results, we could very well be celebrating a victory:

1) Moulton's drop that would have been six;

2) Bennett's fumble on the NW 25; and

3) Gray's INT in the NW end-zone.

Many times, only a few plays separate a winning team from a losing one, but the above mistakes were real costly, especially in light of a strong defensive performance the last three quarters.
 

Certainly those...also: MN 4 punts for 96 yards. NW 3 punts for 175 yards.
 

I like this thread because it highlights two big things:

1. Second-guessing playcalling is ridiculous. Everyone has an idea about what should be run. The difference is that Limegrover actually knows what he is doing, watches endless hours of film on the opponent, knows what his players do best, and has done it well for a long time. The fact that we can pinpoint a few individual plays means we were in good position.

2. The team has improved. We can't pinpoint a few plays from the Michigan or Nebraska games, but we can from the Michigan State and Northwestern games. The announcers said it more than once today: Kill has this team playing hard every snap. If for no other reason, it is fun to watch.

Someone wrote it previously on this board, and I agree: it is going to be a LONG offseason. I am fired up to see what they can do next year.
 

Moulton had 2 drops today that would have probably led to points. The passing game definitely needs to become sharper and we need 2 legitimate wideout threats w/ McKnight gone next year.

The run game was the best we've had this year. Bennett really had some nice running lanes and the offense moved the ball well, we just couldn't finish drives off due to dropped passes or turnovers.
 

The 12th Man said:
I like this thread because it highlights two big things:

1. Second-guessing playcalling is ridiculous. Everyone has an idea about what should be run. The difference is that Limegrover actually knows what he is doing, watches endless hours of film on the opponent, knows what his players do best, and has done it well for a long time. The fact that we can pinpoint a few individual plays means we were in good position.

2. The team has improved. We can't pinpoint a few plays from the Michigan or Nebraska games, but we can from the Michigan State and Northwestern games. The announcers said it more than once today: Kill has this team playing hard every snap. If for no other reason, it is fun to watch.

Someone wrote it previously on this board, and I agree: it is going to be a LONG offseason. I am fired up to see what they can do next year.
Click to expand...

Very well said. We also did rack up nearly 400 yards of offense and averaged around 5.5 yards a play. If people are going to criticize the play calling on a few plays, then you also have to recognize that the play calling might have something to do with our success as well.

We've seen improvement throughout the season, and that's a very good thing. After Michigan and Purdue, this team could have packed it in. But the fact that they are playing hard and getting better, we have something to build upon.
 


We have GOT to get more consistent punting even it it takes a new guy. Also our wide receivers dont seem to get open enough even when the protection is good. Yea i know. When they do get open they drop the ball too often.
 

I think year 2 in the offense will show a ton of improvement in the passing game. So much of it comes down to timing and trust. The QBs and WRs will be working all winter, spring, and summer on the same routes, and now that they can practice them based on their understanding of how/when they are used in games (unlike last offseason), the practice will have a greater sense of purpose. Again, I am excited to see what happens.
 

Doc1001 said:
We have GOT to get more consistent punting even it it takes a new guy. Also our wide receivers dont seem to get open enough even when the protection is good. Yea i know. When they do get open they drop the ball too often.
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That's something I don't understand as well. As much as Gray is running around in the backfield, you would think we would be able to complete a few more on those "scramble plays". Either our WR aren't doing a good job in the scramble situations or Gray isn't seeing the open receivers (or both).
 

The 12th Man said:
I like this thread because it highlights two big things:

1. Second-guessing playcalling is ridiculous. Everyone has an idea about what should be run. The difference is that Limegrover actually knows what he is doing, watches endless hours of film on the opponent, knows what his players do best, and has done it well for a long time. The fact that we can pinpoint a few individual plays means we were in good position.

2. The team has improved. We can't pinpoint a few plays from the Michigan or Nebraska games, but we can from the Michigan State and Northwestern games. The announcers said it more than once today: Kill has this team playing hard every snap. If for no other reason, it is fun to watch.

Someone wrote it previously on this board, and I agree: it is going to be a LONG offseason. I am fired up to see what they can do next year.
Click to expand...

The main point of this post is not to second guess the playing calling, it just points out a couple of missed opportunities. The OP does not criticize the run play where Bennet fumbled the ball or the pass play that was intercepted, he is merely pointing out how if these bad breaks would have went our way we could have won. I think the OP makes a good point.
 



John Galt said:
Moulton had 2 drops today that would have probably led to points. The passing game definitely needs to become sharper and we need 2 legitimate wideout threats w/ McKnight gone next year.
Click to expand...

I am very concerned about the WR corps next year. There are a lot of bodies but very little proven talent. DCT and Jones both have speed but haven't developed any sort of consistency. Moulten drops a lot of balls. Brandon Green needs to have a huge year next year and become a leader at WR but I am not positive he has it in him. At this point I have no clue who the go to guy for next year is when McKnight is gone.
 


If you had no intention of addressing what the OP wrote, why post it on this thread?
 




2 kickoff returns and a bad punt) gave NW great field position on all three of their first Q TD's.

Ouch!
 

It seems that the other team's receivers are often very very open and when we do complete a pass - we are just barely open. Let's send Illinois' coach out on his loss next week!
 

MNVCGUY said:
I am very concerned about the WR corps next year. There are a lot of bodies but very little proven talent. DCT and Jones both have speed but haven't developed any sort of consistency. Moulten drops a lot of balls. Brandon Green needs to have a huge year next year and become a leader at WR but I am not positive he has it in him. At this point I have no clue who the go to guy for next year is when McKnight is gone.
Click to expand...

DCT should have redshirted to get stronger and has shown to be very good for a true freshman, and Jones tore his ACL a few weeks ago. Those two should take some big strides next year though.
 

I bet McKnight wished he would have hauled in Gray's pass in the end zone too, although it was a good defensive play.
I still think our receivers need to be more aggressive and it will be interesting to see what Kill and crew can do to help them and the team this off season.
 

Kill addressed this in the post game show. Said they left way too many plays on the field. Dropped passes, missed assignments and bad kicking. Had plenty of chances to win the game.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Very well said. We also did rack up nearly 400 yards of offense and averaged around 5.5 yards a play. If people are going to criticize the play calling on a few plays, then you also have to recognize that the play calling might have something to do with our success as well. .
Click to expand...

This team rolled up almost 400 yards of total offense, on the road, with 3 RS FR on the offensive line (and a handful of drops). That is absolutely amazing in all honesty. 3 Redshirt Freshmen on the O-line? None of whom were starting at the beginning of the year?

There should be a pool on GH in the offseason; See if ANYBODY can accurately predict who starts on the O-Line down here in Vegas on opening night. AT this point, there could probably be a dozen combinations.

I'm also encouraged by the fact that, for the last few games at least, Gray is still looking downfield to make a play when he leaves the pocket. That virtually didn't happen ONCE in the nonconference schedule. The progress made there has been fantastic.

Even the defense played 3 decent quarters of football. And how about Wettstein? He just might make it tough for Hawthorne to win his job back in the fall. He's looked solid.

Lots of positives in all reality. Not sure if they can beat Illinois next week to close the season but I'm sure they'll put up a good fight!!
 

Flatfoot said:
I bet McKnight wished he would have hauled in Gray's pass in the end zone too, although it was a good defensive play.
I still think our receivers need to be more aggressive and it will be interesting to see what Kill and crew can do to help them and the team this off season.
Click to expand...

IMO the McKnight play was all on the good defensive play and the fact the pass wasn't good enough. The throw was short.

McKnight has saved many passes in his day as a Gopher-that play would have been another "save".
 

The coaches said earlier they like what they see in Moulton, well all I've seen is dropped passes and muffed KO returns. Both his drops today would probably been TD's. And if I'm not mistaken, this is his 3rd return screw up.
 

littlebigboy said:
The coaches said earlier they like what they see in Moulton, well all I've seen is dropped passes and muffed KO returns. Both his drops today would probably been TD's. And if I'm not mistaken, this is his 3rd return screw up.
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Yep, the drop off from Troy-Jones-Bennett to Moulton is incredible on kick returns. How can't Wright be a better option on returns?
 

I thought Moulton looked pretty solid in the first two games but his play has fallen way off as the season has progressed. He drops a lot of very catchable balls. The plus side is he does seem to get open from time to time which a lot of our other receivers don't seem to be able to do on a regular basis.

I hope I turn out to be wrong on Jones but from what I saw of him my prediction is he turns in to Stoudermire 2.0. He looks like a dynamic return man and someone that can be a weapon as a kick returner. However as a receiver I just didn't see it. He dropped a number of passes as well and you can tell it is not his natural position. Maybe they can turn him into a receiver but it won't shock me if in a year or so he is back in the secondary where he belongs. He even said in an interview at some point that he missed being able to hit people. Who knows how he will develop but if I was going to put money on it I would bet on him never becoming much of a weapon at receiver.
 

I agree with the OP as my take away from the game. The frustration and disappointement from this game was different from the Purdue/MI debacles. Several bad plays (2 punts, KO coverage, 10 Men on field, Bennett fumble, Pick in end zone, Moulton drops) that are correctable led me to think we are slowly getting better.

Still sick of losing - after watching some great upsets and football this weekend looking forward to our turn.
 

ButchNashGuy said:
I agree with the OP as my take away from the game. The frustration and disappointement from this game was different from the Purdue/MI debacles. Several bad plays (2 punts, KO coverage, 10 Men on field, Bennett fumble, Pick in end zone, Moulton drops) that are correctable led me to think we are slowly getting better.

Still sick of losing - after watching some great upsets and football this weekend looking forward to our turn.
Click to expand...

+1 Not embarrassed like some games or satisfied with a morale victory like against USC or MS. Just frustrated. At the same time, can see the progress. We actually had a running game.
 

Realism

From the Northwestern game, I simply dont understand how so many can be as down on yesterdays performance as they are. This thread gives some great examples for what good instances are taking place, but it seems like other threads and posts are not so thrilled by this team.

These are just a few things that really stand out to me in terms of positives:

-Like a poster said earlier, just look at the offensive line depth, we are playing with guys who couldn't see the field on almost every other big ten team. Not because of talent alone, but mainly due to experience and age development.

-Next just look at our depth across the board. The two game reassurance was wonderful, but in reality it could not be sustained. It showed what Kill is capable of doing with a motivated team, but it was clear last week, we just cant sustain that type of play yet with the bodies missing (Stuadamire, Gjere, Campion, Tomy-tank, jones) and the inexperiance in key areas (quarterback, de, wr, db's, te, and even running back other than Bennet).

-This game, other than the early strikes because of bad field position, was all Minnesota. Does not being able to punch it in a few times mean we had a bad day, when all other aspects of the game looked at least somewhat impressive? In my mind no, it had to do more with the inexperience again, and execution. Two things that take a little more time to develop.

-And lastly, so what if we would have won, ooooweee ! Great! we would have 3 wins now, instead of 2! Wouldn't that be so much better, and mean the season was such a success...... Lets be serious, no, it wouldnt matter. This season has been about improvement and development ever since the Michigan game, and thats what we have done just about ever since. Im liking what I see, some good signs, signs that were not here the 4 or so years prior.
 

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