Shama: Sky Not Falling on Gophers Football

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Shama:

Dark clouds above the Minnesota tundra are expected (as usual) this fall but that doesn’t mean the sky is falling on Gophers football.

The pessimists are all atwitter over the Gophers offensive miseries. Indeed, production has been awful. Through five games (four nonconference and one league game), Minnesota ranks last in scoring among Big Ten teams at 15.4 points per game. The Gophers are also last among the 13 other teams in rushing offense (141.2 yards per game) and tied for ninth with Michigan State in pass offense (195.4).

But more of the not so positive details later. The day brightener these days is the Gophers defense—a unit that, despite the loss of injured defensive backs, ranks fourth in the Big Ten versus the pass giving up 154.6 yards per game. The overall defense has lived up to the preseason hype of being among the best units in the Big Ten and although allowing an eighth-best 20.2 points per game the defense has sometimes been put with their backs near the end zone because of miscues not of their doing.

Jerry Kill inherited a mess, including personnel shortages, when he took over the program as Gophers coach after the 2010 season. He set a goal of fixing the defense first and he has done just that. He has also upgraded the kicking game with senior Peter Mortell being one of the nation’s better punters. Sophomore Ryan Santoso has a powerful leg and he has shown accuracy in his early career while both kicking off and booting field goals.

Kill is five games into his fifth season at Minnesota. His overall record is 28-28. In the last 29 years the Gophers have had two other head coaches who were around long enough to coach 56 games—Glen Mason with a 25-31 record and John Gutekunst, 26-28-2.

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!
 

I'm a little confused. We see these stories coming out defending Kill and acting like people are demanding he get fired and yet the only person high profile person I have seen say Kill should get fired is Kill himself in his post game news conference after Kent State.

The only thing I can think of is that people are making the assumption that the staff is so tightly knit that calling for any kind of coaching change means Kill would have to go even if the only potential coaching changes that need to be considered are on one side of the ball.
 


Each additional year that a staff is in place, the inherited part of the program becomes less relevant to the current situation...
I still have faith in Kill and staff, but as fans we do have the option of discussing and speculating because that's what fans do. So unless they are watching their young kids play, it's unrealistic to expect fans to either be cheerleaders or keep quiet. If we see storm clouds in the distance it is natural to think it might rain, etc. Talking about a storm should not actually make it happen any sooner - unless the storm happens to be listening and has hurt feelings.
 

Win Saturday. Back in the race with two tough, winnable sold out amazing atmosphere home games.
 


Each additional year away from inherited players helps, yet each additional year added to 50 or so years of mediocrity hurts

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 


I think what he is trying to say is that with our offense ranking 126 out of 127 in scoring that we have not yet hit bottom.
 

But that's just the problem - the defense is on the field to the point of exhaustion. The Gophers do not have a B10 QB or overall B10 offense this year - and both QB and offense have been a problem from year one. By the 5th year, they should have a decent QB, receivers, running backs, O-line, and more diversity in play-calling, even if favoring a run-first philosophy. Fans, gouged by ticket price rises, have reason to complain. Does anyone really think Kill's run-first approach will work against Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State or Wisconsin? Might not work even against Nebraska.
 



Great Plains Gopher said:
But that's just the problem - the defense is on the field to the point of exhaustion. The Gophers do not have a B10 QB or overall B10 offense this year - and both QB and offense have been a problem from year one. By the 5th year, they should have a decent QB, receivers, running backs, O-line, and more diversity in play-calling, even if favoring a run-first philosophy. Fans, gouged by ticket price rises, have reason to complain. Does anyone really think Kill's run-first approach will work against Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State or Wisconsin? Might not work even against Nebraska.
Click to expand...

It's like the world's full of soup and you're a man with a fork.
 


Great Plains Gopher said:
By the 5th year, they should have a decent QB, receivers, running backs, O-line, and more diversity in play-calling, even if favoring a run-first philosophy. Fans, gouged by ticket price rises, have reason to complain. Does anyone really think Kill's run-first approach will work against Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State or Wisconsin? Might not work even against Nebraska.
Click to expand...

I'm not directing this at you specifically, because I've seen numerous people say this the past few days: "By the 5th year...", and "It's year 5!". Man, that irritates me. 5 years is nothing in today's college football landscape when it comes to building depth. Where do you expect these top-rate QB's, O-Lineman, and WR's to come from? They have to be recruited, correct? Well what kind of players do you think a 1st year coach pulls in? None...they have only a month to recruit. 2nd year, they're recruiting in the midst of a horrible season, and following an even WORSE season. They basically get nobody with a P5 offer. 3rd year, they're recruiting after a 3-9 season, although showing progress on the field. They get a handful of players with P5 offers, although these are still mostly marginal guys -- and they're willing to commit to a losing program.

These are the guys who are now SR's and JR's on the 2015 Gophers. They all committed to a losing program, and the vast majority of them had no other P5 offers (unless they were a local recruit). Hel!, the fact these coaches won 8 games the past 2 years with this talent is 1) a tribute to their coaching, and 2) due to hitting big on a few marginal recruits AND developing others.

Bottom line is that you win B1G titles with talented JR's and SR's...especially on O-line and at QB. We've got some good players on O, but on the whole we lack elite talent. Period. Injuries expose the situation even more. There's no silver bullet. Recruit better = play better. I feel good about the last 2 recruiting classes (many players with other P5 offers), and even better about the 2016 class (creeping near top 30 in the country territory). Things are looking up, IMO.
 





Great Plains Gopher said:
But that's just the problem - the defense is on the field to the point of exhaustion.
Click to expand...

The only time you could make that claim this year is during the TCU game and the 2nd half of the NW game. In the other 3 1/2 games, the time of posession was either even or in our favor.

Does anyone really think Kill's run-first approach will work against Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State or Wisconsin? Might not work even against Nebraska.
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This year? Maybe not. But overall it can work because we saw it work in the past against these teams.
 

I don't think that the wheels are falling off, but they are as shaky as I have seen them since Kill got here. This is a great opportunity for Kill to right the ship and convince us all that the program is in good hands. Go Gophers!
 


I hope Mitch Leidner has a huge game this Saturday it is about time he stepped up.

GoldenRodents said:
Watch Mitch have a huge game this Saturday
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Everyone feeds off of the Quarterback on the field, confidence and effort wise both sides of the football.

If Mitch Leidner is one of the team leaders, and by all accounts according to coaches and players he is than he needs to step up his game, his confidence and start leading everyone with more effective play, and getting the team to move the football. If the QB is down and playing like crap without any confidence the rest of the team feeds off of that vibe and energy.
Football is supposed to be fun and it is supposed to be fun to kick your opponents butt. The line, the backs,wide outs all of it, and if there is not any confidence or success from your Quarterback what are you doing being a leader?

Getting really tired of all of the gloom and doom, most if not all of the Gophers stated team goals are there in front of them for the taking. It's time for Mitch to rally the guys against Purdue, and it is time for everyone to stop feeling sorry about last week, quit dwelling on it and focus on beating Purdue on Saturday. Pick them up Mitch, need you to lead big man and put the critics aside, and do what you do.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
Everyone feeds off of the Quarterback on the field, confidence and effort wise both sides of the football.

If Mitch Leidner is one of the team leaders, and by all accounts according to coaches and players he is than he needs to step up his game, his confidence and start leading everyone with more effective play, and getting the team to move the football. If the QB is down and playing like crap without any confidence the rest of the team feeds off of that vibe and energy.
Football is supposed to be fun and it is supposed to be fun to kick your opponents butt. The line, the backs,wide outs all of it, and if there is not any confidence or success from your Quarterback what are you doing being a leader?

Getting really tired of all of the gloom and doom, most if not all of the Gophers stated team goals are there in front of them for the taking. It's time for Mitch to rally the guys against Purdue, and it is time for everyone to stop feeling sorry about last week, quit dwelling on it and focus on beating Purdue on Saturday. Pick them up Mitch, need you to lead big man and put the critics aside, and do what you do.
Click to expand...

If you substitute Limey or Kill for Mitch/QB when reading this, it also makes sense. Let the team have fun. Put Mitch in a position to succeed. Telling them to have fun...I dunno. Are the boys on offense having fun?

Kick their butts and everyone feels better.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
Everyone feeds off of the Quarterback on the field, confidence and effort wise both sides of the football.

If Mitch Leidner is one of the team leaders, and by all accounts according to coaches and players he is than he needs to step up his game, his confidence and start leading everyone with more effective play, and getting the team to move the football. If the QB is down and playing like crap without any confidence the rest of the team feeds off of that vibe and energy.
Football is supposed to be fun and it is supposed to be fun to kick your opponents butt. The line, the backs,wide outs all of it, and if there is not any confidence or success from your Quarterback what are you doing being a leader?

Getting really tired of all of the gloom and doom, most if not all of the Gophers stated team goals are there in front of them for the taking. It's time for Mitch to rally the guys against Purdue, and it is time for everyone to stop feeling sorry about last week, quit dwelling on it and focus on beating Purdue on Saturday. Pick them up Mitch, need you to lead big man and put the critics aside, and do what you do.
Click to expand...

+1

We haven't lost a trophy game yet, so those are all still on the table, and we have plenty of games left to match/exceed our win total from last year. The team needs to get it in gear, but this is no time for them to quit or feel sorry for themselves.

Get the Axe.
 

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