The Axe- What are we doing wrong?

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beat bucky

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I'm sure a few Gopher fans know that the last time we had the Axe was 2003. Jerry Kill hasn't won it, but he at least seems to understand that we "have to win it" to take the next step.
Since that season, these conference teams have beaten Bucky these many times...
Michigan State (5) Northwestern (3) Penn State (5) Michigan (3) Nebraska (1) Illinois (1) Ohio State (7) Iowa (4)
What have they figured out that we haven't?
 

beat bucky said:
I'm sure a few Gopher fans know that the last time we had the Axe was 2003. Jerry Kill hasn't won it, but he at least seems to understand that we "have to win it" to take the next step.
Since that season, these conference teams have beaten Bucky these many times...
Michigan State (5) Northwestern (3) Penn State (5) Michigan (3) Nebraska (1) Illinois (1) Ohio State (7) Iowa (4)
What have they figured out that we haven't?
Click to expand...
Don't make it more complicated than it is. Other than 2005 UW has simply been better than us for these 11 years while those other teams have been good a lot of those years therefore they were able to beat a good team like UW. Again, I don't think it's anything to "figure out." It's simply improving our program to a level that will consistently compete with UW.
 

beat bucky said:
I'm sure a few Gopher fans know that the last time we had the Axe was 2003. Jerry Kill hasn't won it, but he at least seems to understand that we "have to win it" to take the next step.
Since that season, these conference teams have beaten Bucky these many times...
Michigan State (5) Northwestern (3) Penn State (5) Michigan (3) Nebraska (1) Illinois (1) Ohio State (7) Iowa (4)
What have they figured out that we haven't?
Click to expand...

I think you know the answer, but here goes: The latter years of Mason (couldn't finish - cue Michigan), Brewster (no Trophy wins - NONE!) and the early Kill years (cleaning up Brewster's mess). On top of that, Wisconsin has fielded some very decent teams. 2015 is our year.

The conspiracy theory: Detlef's Beer Stein got stolen and we're cursed until it gets returned.
 

beatles said:
Don't make it more complicated than it is. Other than 2005 UW has simply been better than us for these 11 years while those other teams have been good a lot of those years therefore they were able to beat a good team like UW. Again, I don't think it's anything to "figure out." It's simply improving our program to a level that will consistently compete with UW.
Click to expand...

Alright but has Northwestern been better? has Iowa? has Illinois? Those also-rans have figured out ways to beat the stinkin' Badgers.
 

Lack of depth has certainly been a factor. I think we've played Wisconsin only in November since that last win. Depth is certainly as good this year as it's been in forever.

For the "also rans" Minnesota-Illinois 2014 comes to mind. I have no basis other than sometimes the "better" team does not win the day...which is why the game is played.

It is good that all the coaches are indicating getting The Axe is imperative this year. Completely in sync with the fans expectations.
 


BilldGopher said:
Lack of depth has certainly been a factor. I think we've played Wisconsin only in November since that last win. Depth is certainly as good this year as it's been in forever.

For the "also rans" Minnesota-Illinois 2014 comes to mind. I have no basis other than sometimes the "better" team does not win the day...which is why the game is played.

It is good that all the coaches are indicating getting The Axe is imperative this year. Completely in sync with the fans expectations.
Click to expand...

Lot of truth there. But my gut feeling is that the main reason is qb play. We just haven't had a crunch time guy that's been able to make the key plays late in games to put us over the top.
Oddly enough, it was the scrambling but passing-challenged Abdul-Khaliq that started the year we last won the Axe. That year, he actually threw for 700 more yds and 6 more tds than our qb did in 2014. Come to think of it, was it Benji Kamrath that played in that Wisconsin game?
 

beatles said:
Don't make it more complicated than it is. Other than 2005 UW has simply been better than us for these 11 years while those other teams have been good a lot of those years therefore they were able to beat a good team like UW. Again, I don't think it's anything to "figure out." It's simply improving our program to a level that will consistently compete with UW.
Click to expand...

We were also at least competitive the last 2 years. It isn't like they just have had our number like Michigan did forever. We had some truly terrible teams during this run, while they have had some really good teams.
 

We were also a better team in 2008. Unfortunately, the game that year was in Madison, our best playmaker was injured, and a Brewster team unsurprisingly crapped the bed down the stretch.
 

beat bucky said:
Lot of truth there. But my gut feeling is that the main reason is qb play. We just haven't had a crunch time guy that's been able to make the key plays late in games to put us over the top.
Oddly enough, it was the scrambling but passing-challenged Abdul-Khaliq that started the year we last won the Axe. That year, he actually threw for 700 more yds and 6 more tds than our qb did in 2014. Come to think of it, was it Benji Kamrath that played in that Wisconsin game?
Click to expand...

If you wanted to turn this into another anti-Leidner post, why didn't you just post this in your other BS "rating" thread.
 



beat bucky said:
Lot of truth there. But my gut feeling is that the main reason is qb play. We just haven't had a crunch time guy that's been able to make the key plays late in games to put us over the top.

Oddly enough, it was the scrambling but passing-challenged Abdul-Khaliq that started the year we last won the Axe. That year, he actually threw for 700 more yds and 6 more tds than our qb did in 2014. Come to think of it, was it Benji Kamrath that played in that Wisconsin game?
Click to expand...

Why is that odd? He was the starting QB in 2003. He got hurt in the Wisconsin game and Kamrath replaced him in the second half.

The "passing-challenged" Abdul-Khaliq had the best single season in history for a Gopher QB in completion percentage and and passing efficiency in 2003.
 



beat bucky said:
Lot of truth there. But my gut feeling is that the main reason is qb play. We just haven't had a crunch time guy that's been able to make the key plays late in games to put us over the top.
Oddly enough, it was the scrambling but passing-challenged Abdul-Khaliq that started the year we last won the Axe. That year, he actually threw for 700 more yds and 6 more tds than our qb did in 2014. Come to think of it, was it Benji Kamrath that played in that Wisconsin game?
Click to expand...

You're not even good at hiding your troll posts. You hate Leidner, we get it.

Wisky is in it's golden era right now, it peaked with it's rent-a-QB in 2010. We have been in arguably parts of our darkest, or at least moving into and out of a dark place in gopher history.
The blind squirrel = nut type upsets are rare, and I think the rivalry part of the axe game perhaps prevents the type of mental letdown most big upsets are born from.
 




Ole said:
You're not even good at hiding your troll posts. You hate Leidner, we get it.
Click to expand...

Get a grip. Leidner is just one guy in a long line of underperforming Gopher qbs. Nothing against Adam, who's a good guy, but when Adam Webber is the best your program has produced in a dozen years, well...that might partly explain the situation with the Axe.
 

beatles said:
Don't make it more complicated than it is. Other than 2005 UW has simply been better than us for these 11 years while those other teams have been good a lot of those years therefore they were able to beat a good team like UW. Again, I don't think it's anything to "figure out." It's simply improving our program to a level that will consistently compete with UW.
Click to expand...

Yea, beat bucky seems to have a hard time with simple things, but that seems to be true with most trolls..
 


Killjoy said:
Yea, beat bucky seems to have a hard time with simple things, but that seems to be true with most trolls..
Click to expand...

God, you half wits with this "troll" thing. You're like little kids who, when someone disagrees with them, scream out "You're mean! I'm taking my ball and going home! Waaaaahhhh!"
 

beatles said:
Don't make it more complicated than it is. Other than 2005 UW has simply been better than us for these 11 years while those other teams have been good a lot of those years therefore they were able to beat a good team like UW. Again, I don't think it's anything to "figure out." It's simply improving our program to a level that will consistently compete with UW.
Click to expand...
having a non-competitive AD and underpaid assistant coaches for a decade pre-Kill is a possibility. Hiring a recruiting coordinator as a head cpack is another.
Seriously, if you make screw ups of that magnitude, your opponents just have to be competent to win 75% of the time and Wisconsin has been better than competent.u
 



I think recruiting was a factor also. Especially on defense, where the Gophers were typically smaller and slower than a lot of their conference rivals- hence games like the Michigan and Northwestern meltdowns at the Dome.
 

beat bucky said:
Lot of truth there. But my gut feeling is that the main reason is qb play. We just haven't had a crunch time guy that's been able to make the key plays late in games to put us over the top.
Click to expand...

3. I was wondering how many posts you would make in this thread before you got the same drum out again.
 

Ole said:
Wisky is in it's golden era right now, it peaked with it's rent-a-QB in 2010. We have been in arguably parts of our darkest, or at least moving into and out of a dark place in gopher history.
The blind squirrel = nut type upsets are rare, and I think the rivalry part of the axe game perhaps prevents the type of mental letdown most big upsets are born from.
Click to expand...

This may or may not be true. But, I very much WANT to believe this so I am going to go with it either way. :)
 

beat bucky said:
I don't know. I guess when you think of big game winning qbs, the name Abdul Khaliq doesn't pop into your head???
Click to expand...
Here your showing your ignorance. Mason never made adjustments to the offense to counter other teams adjustments and the defense was marginal. Abdul Khaliq made some great individual plays that would have won games if the defense could have held. I asked a defensive player I knew on the team about why the offense never threw a quick slant to loosen up the eight and nine men in the box looks. His reply was that he had never seen the one thrown other than by the scout team. They not only didn't adjust they didn't even have quick slant and seam routes in the play book. The coach doesn't make adjustments to insure the offense maintains possession, it then stalls, then you put a marginal defense on the field continuously, it's not a great formula for winning.
 

nsmike said:
Here your showing your ignorance. Mason never made adjustments to the offense to counter other teams adjustments and the defense was marginal. Abdul Khaliq made some great individual plays that would have won games if the defense could have held. I asked a defensive player I knew on the team about why the offense never threw a quick slant to loosen up the eight and nine men in the box looks. His reply was that he had never seen the one thrown other than by the scout team. They not only didn't adjust they didn't even have quick slant and seam routes in the play book. The coach doesn't make adjustments to insure the offense maintains possession, it then stalls, then you put a marginal defense on the field continuously, it's not a great formula for winning.
Click to expand...

I don't disagree with those points.
 

A big part is the players, and the way those players have been developed throughout their college career (Wisconsin has had 22 players drafted in the first three rounds of the NFL draft since the 2003 season, Minnesota has had 5). Not to mention they've had a pretty darn good run of having really big-time star players on the team (Gordon, White, Ball, Wilson, Watt over the past five seasons - all record-setting or at least conference-leading performers).

Things are getting closer between the programs on the field but it's not a big mystery to me that we need the horses to get it done.
 

beat bucky said:
Alright but has Northwestern been better? has Iowa? has Illinois? Those also-rans have figured out ways to beat the stinkin' Badgers.
Click to expand...

Illinois went to the Rose Bowl the year they beat Wisconsin. As for Northwestern they've had a couple of good teams and upsets happen, that's why they're called upsets, weren't suppose happen, but they did. Northwestern beat them last year and they went into South Bend and beat Notre Dame. Gave us a scare as well.
 

bemidjigopher said:
Illinois went to the Rose Bowl the year they beat Wisconsin. As for Northwestern they've had a couple of good teams and upsets happen, that's why they're called upsets, weren't suppose happen, but they did. Northwestern beat them last year and they went into South Bend and beat Notre Dame. Gave us a scare as well.
Click to expand...

Also, Iowa hasn't beaten Wisconsin since 2009, when they went 11-2.
 

bemidjigopher said:
Illinois went to the Rose Bowl the year they beat Wisconsin. As for Northwestern they've had a couple of good teams and upsets happen, that's why they're called upsets, weren't suppose happen, but they did. Northwestern beat them last year and they went into South Bend and beat Notre Dame. Gave us a scare as well.
Click to expand...

That's all true but again my question is...why have we gone a dozen years without at least having one team that upset a slightly better Wisconsin team? Is it not having clutch players? coaching mistakes? just bad luck? 'Cause the 3 teams we mentioned aren't any better programs than Minnesota.
 

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