Observations from section 143.

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1. Students were there in force, otherwise the crowd maybe touched 40,000
2. Loved the uni's, especially the big M
3. More, and better food and drink.
4. Offensive line very seldom got any push. At one point in the first half from what I could see Big Ed was having a serious conversation with them
5. The Bulls linebackers were very good on the run
6. Was somewhat amazed we didn't try to run more outside the tackles?
7. We had two runs of about 10 yards by Brooks and Smith. That was a surprise.
8. Both Croft and Rhoda could've made yards on the read option.
9. They were double teaming Richardson all night Gophers rotated 4 DT's
10. Stills? Watched him when he was in and he didn't finish off his routes very well and he should've caught the one one the sideline comeback route.
11. Both Douglas and Johnson were open all night. We tried too much pounding the rock.
12. I though they didn't rush Cashman enough?
13. Thumper and Winfield could play for anybody and start. Barber not too far behind.
14. Crapshoot on the QB. Both had misses, but Rhoda made the huge mistake on the interception. As bad as the OL is, I favor Croft.
15. I would like to see them put Winfield back there on punt returns
Summary: I humbly admit I picked the Gophers 47-0. So are we not very good, or are the Bulls better then we though? Maybe a combo of both. Either way we've one on the left side of the ledger. Btw....I may have to eat crow on that: "We will roll into Iowa City at 7-0 "
 

1. Students were there in force, otherwise the crowd maybe touched 40,000
2. Loved the uni's, especially the big M
3. More, and better food and drink.
4. Offensive line very seldom got any push. At one point in the first half from what I could see Big Ed was having a serious conversation with them
5. The Bulls linebackers were very good on the run
6. Was somewhat amazed we didn't try to run more outside the tackles?
7. We had two runs of about 10 yards by Brooks and Smith. That was a surprise.
8. Both Croft and Rhoda could've made yards on the read option.
9. They were double teaming Richardson all night Gophers rotated 4 DT's
10. Stills? Watched him when he was in and he didn't finish off his routes very well and he should've caught the one one the sideline comeback route.
11. Both Douglas and Johnson were open all night. We tried too much pounding the rock.
12. I though they didn't rush Cashman enough?
13. Thumper and Winfield could play for anybody and start. Barber not too far behind.
14. Crapshoot on the QB. Both had misses, but Rhoda made the huge mistake on the interception. As bad as the OL is, I favor Croft.
15. I would like to see them put Winfield back there on punt returns
Summary: I humbly admit I picked the Gophers 47-0. So are we not very good, or are the Bulls better then we though? Maybe a combo of both. Either way we've one on the left side of the ledger. Btw....I may have to eat crow on that: "We will roll into Iowa City at 7-0 "

good take
 

fair catch ever punt return? They need to find a new returner by next week.
 

Great post Ruppert. I was thinking to myself during this game "How did tOSU not find a scholarship for Winfield Jr?" If I remember correctly, he ran well at their camp so his only issue was size...just like his dad who turned out to a first round pick for them. Buckeye fans rarely have anything legitimate to complain about Urban Meyer, but they certainly would have a right to be upset about not offering Winfield Jr. We're lucky to have him, he might be our best CB in addition to our best S.
 

1. Students were there in force, otherwise the crowd maybe touched 40,000
2. Loved the uni's, especially the big M
3. More, and better food and drink.
4. Offensive line very seldom got any push. At one point in the first half from what I could see Big Ed was having a serious conversation with them
5. The Bulls linebackers were very good on the run
6. Was somewhat amazed we didn't try to run more outside the tackles?
7. We had two runs of about 10 yards by Brooks and Smith. That was a surprise.
8. Both Croft and Rhoda could've made yards on the read option.
9. They were double teaming Richardson all night Gophers rotated 4 DT's
10. Stills? Watched him when he was in and he didn't finish off his routes very well and he should've caught the one one the sideline comeback route.
11. Both Douglas and Johnson were open all night. We tried too much pounding the rock.
12. I though they didn't rush Cashman enough?
13. Thumper and Winfield could play for anybody and start. Barber not too far behind.
14. Crapshoot on the QB. Both had misses, but Rhoda made the huge mistake on the interception. As bad as the OL is, I favor Croft.
15. I would like to see them put Winfield back there on punt returns
Summary: I humbly admit I picked the Gophers 47-0. So are we not very good, or are the Bulls better then we though? Maybe a combo of both. Either way we've one on the left side of the ledger. Btw....I may have to eat crow on that: "We will roll into Iowa City at 7-0 "

Thank you. As I watched the game, your #6 and #8 came to my mind. Rhoda may not be nimble but he HAS to pull it out once in a while, just to help Brooks and Smith. No jet sweep? No stretch play? Maybe a reverse? Perhaps the staff is saving something? Are these kinds of plays off the table because our line is so inept/unathletic? A less imaginative running game could not have been exhibited. Warmath's running game looked positively dynamic by comparison.
 


1. Students were there in force, otherwise the crowd maybe touched 40,000
2. Loved the uni's, especially the big M
3. More, and better food and drink.
4. Offensive line very seldom got any push. At one point in the first half from what I could see Big Ed was having a serious conversation with them
5. The Bulls linebackers were very good on the run
6. Was somewhat amazed we didn't try to run more outside the tackles?
7. We had two runs of about 10 yards by Brooks and Smith. That was a surprise.
8. Both Croft and Rhoda could've made yards on the read option.
9. They were double teaming Richardson all night Gophers rotated 4 DT's
10. Stills? Watched him when he was in and he didn't finish off his routes very well and he should've caught the one one the sideline comeback route.
11. Both Douglas and Johnson were open all night. We tried too much pounding the rock.
12. I though they didn't rush Cashman enough?
13. Thumper and Winfield could play for anybody and start. Barber not too far behind.
14. Crapshoot on the QB. Both had misses, but Rhoda made the huge mistake on the interception. As bad as the OL is, I favor Croft.
15. I would like to see them put Winfield back there on punt returns
Summary: I humbly admit I picked the Gophers 47-0. So are we not very good, or are the Bulls better then we though? Maybe a combo of both. Either way we've one on the left side of the ledger. Btw....I may have to eat crow on that: "We will roll into Iowa City at 7-0 "

We've been diseased with this the past two plus years... and it staggers my mind. No outside runs with pulling guards? Just straight ahead into a pile..
 

Thank you. As I watched the game, your #6 and #8 came to my mind. Rhoda may not be nimble but he HAS to pull it out once in a while, just to help Brooks and Smith. No jet sweep? No stretch play? Maybe a reverse? Perhaps the staff is saving something? Are these kinds of plays off the table because our line is so inept/unathletic? A less imaginative running game could not have been exhibited. Warmath's running game looked positively dynamic by comparison.

Yeah, so much for that more spread out style offense...
and if they're hiding the playbook cuz it's Buffalo, i'm tired of this. We need to run those plays now and get them to work and spread the field.
Trying them later on without results will only end up us not running them again and have the same vanilla offense. It's what happened with Kill/Limey
 

Yeah, so much for that more spread out style offense...
and if they're hiding the playbook cuz it's Buffalo, i'm tired of this. We need to run those plays now and get them to work and spread the field.
Trying them later on without results will only end up us not running them again and have the same vanilla offense. It's what happened with Kill/Limey

This is exactly how I felt at the game...I don't understand how posters on this site are fine with or expected a vanilla/conservative offense for this game...It was 14-7 late in the 4th quarter...One fluke play on O,D or special teams and its tied.....Ridiculous game plan the entire second half.....An average Mason team from the early 2000s would have hammered this Buffalo team.
 

1. Students were there in force, otherwise the crowd maybe touched 40,000
2. Loved the uni's, especially the big M
3. More, and better food and drink.
4. Offensive line very seldom got any push. At one point in the first half from what I could see Big Ed was having a serious conversation with them
5. The Bulls linebackers were very good on the run
6. Was somewhat amazed we didn't try to run more outside the tackles?
7. We had two runs of about 10 yards by Brooks and Smith. That was a surprise.
8. Both Croft and Rhoda could've made yards on the read option.
9. They were double teaming Richardson all night Gophers rotated 4 DT's
10. Stills? Watched him when he was in and he didn't finish off his routes very well and he should've caught the one one the sideline comeback route.
11. Both Douglas and Johnson were open all night. We tried too much pounding the rock.
12. I though they didn't rush Cashman enough?
13. Thumper and Winfield could play for anybody and start. Barber not too far behind.
14. Crapshoot on the QB. Both had misses, but Rhoda made the huge mistake on the interception. As bad as the OL is, I favor Croft.
15. I would like to see them put Winfield back there on punt returns
Summary: I humbly admit I picked the Gophers 47-0. So are we not very good, or are the Bulls better then we though? Maybe a combo of both. Either way we've one on the left side of the ledger. Btw....I may have to eat crow on that: "We will roll into Iowa City at 7-0 "

Obviously you were leaning Croft heavily before the game, because nothing in the game suggested Croft gained ground Rhoda. He looked pretty poor, and anyone who thought he would take over the starter job soon and take 80% of the snaps this year is really overrating him.
 



Obviously you were leaning Croft heavily before the game, because nothing in the game suggested Croft gained ground Rhoda. He looked pretty poor, and anyone who thought he would take over the starter job soon and take 80% of the snaps this year is really overrating him.

Ok, Mr. Rhoda.

Spell it out for us. Maybe you're right but I didn't see that. Croft took what was there, had a bad throw, had some nice throws and nice runs. The offense seemed to move well

Each QB led a TD drive. Rhoda led a drive leading to a missed FG. Croft led two drives leading to field goal attempts. Rhoda had the really bad decision on the INT. Croft drives led to scores or scoring attempts on 3/5 drives. Rhoda on 2/7.

Rhoda wasn't allowed to run or chose not to run making it harder to move the ball on the ground.

I certainly didn't see enough to declare a winner.
 

Ok, Mr. Rhoda.

Spell it out for us. Maybe you're right but I didn't see that. Croft took what was there, had a bad throw, had some nice throws and nice runs. The offense seemed to move well

Each QB led a TD drive. Rhoda led a drive leading to a missed FG. Croft led two drives leading to field goal attempts. Rhoda had the really bad decision on the INT. Croft drives led to scores or scoring attempts on 3/5 drives. Rhoda on 2/7.

Rhoda wasn't allowed to run or chose not to run making it harder to move the ball on the ground.

I certainly didn't see enough to declare a winner.

Rhoda cannot run this offense as is....He would be fine in a power I type offense where the only running he would do is bootlegs off of play action...But running a shotgun spread offense with one RB and no threat of the QB run to the middle/outside will not work.....I hope PJ realizes this or we will be annihilated by good defenses in the B10.
 

I'm sure Rhoda can run at least in a serviceable fashion, but he didn't. Which makes me think maybe he was put on a leash for some reason. If not, that's troubling.

I agree with some of the other guys, with Big Ten linebackers and safeties taking cracks at these two we will likely need both to make it through the season.
 

Good take Rupert. I feel all your points. I would add one more...our secondary is close to second to none.


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Not sure 2 QBs is enough to get this team through the B1G season with a line like this. The 2 OL that transferred/quit hurt. Ruppert's points are all we'll taken.
 

Rhoda cannot run this offense as is....He would be fine in a power I type offense where the only running he would do is bootlegs off of play action...But running a shotgun spread offense with one RB and no threat of the QB run to the middle/outside will not work.....I hope PJ realizes this or we will be annihilated by good defenses in the B10.

What exactly do you think as-is is? You mean at its peak, like WMU was last year when their QB ran a total of 64 times (or an average of 4.5 per game)? Croft ran 6 times in less than half of a game. I'd guess most of those weren't in an option situation either, meaning you're overstating the importance of a mobile QB in this system and on those plays. The running is clearly not the most important skill for a QB in this system, or Croft would've won the job months ago.
 

#99 Stelter- SR only played a few plays. Better depth at D-Line than we thought?
 

1. Students were there in force, otherwise the crowd maybe touched 40,000
2. Loved the uni's, especially the big M
3. More, and better food and drink.
4. Offensive line very seldom got any push. At one point in the first half from what I could see Big Ed was having a serious conversation with them
5. The Bulls linebackers were very good on the run
6. Was somewhat amazed we didn't try to run more outside the tackles?
7. We had two runs of about 10 yards by Brooks and Smith. That was a surprise.
8. Both Croft and Rhoda could've made yards on the read option.
9. They were double teaming Richardson all night Gophers rotated 4 DT's
10. Stills? Watched him when he was in and he didn't finish off his routes very well and he should've caught the one one the sideline comeback route.
11. Both Douglas and Johnson were open all night. We tried too much pounding the rock.
12. I though they didn't rush Cashman enough?
13. Thumper and Winfield could play for anybody and start. Barber not too far behind.
14. Crapshoot on the QB. Both had misses, but Rhoda made the huge mistake on the interception. As bad as the OL is, I favor Croft.
15. I would like to see them put Winfield back there on punt returns
Summary: I humbly admit I picked the Gophers 47-0. So are we not very good, or are the Bulls better then we though? Maybe a combo of both. Either way we've one on the left side of the ledger. Btw....I may have to eat crow on that: "We will roll into Iowa City at 7-0 "

Thanks for that. Some good points IMHO at least.
 

Obviously you were leaning Croft heavily before the game, because nothing in the game suggested Croft gained ground Rhoda. He looked pretty poor, and anyone who thought he would take over the starter job soon and take 80% of the snaps this year is really overrating him.

Obviously 2/3 of the posters on this site must have been biased prior to the game as well then - based on an active poll residing on page 1 of this forum.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

#99 Stelter- SR only played a few plays. Better depth at D-Line than we thought?

Our DT position is deeper this year then anytime in recent memory. The concern is next year.


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I think our QBs kept the ball ONCE on a read option (Croft gained 6 yards)

I don't think we had one run designed to go outside.

Those are my two biggest gripes of the game.
 

I think our QBs kept the ball ONCE on a read option (Croft gained 6 yards)

I don't think we had one run designed to go outside.

Those are my two biggest gripes of the game.

True but probably by design.
 

Run "more outside the tackles"? I didn't see one play that was designed to run on the edges... Only when Rodney or Shannon did a jump-cut to the outside. I am also concerned with the corners. They played 8-10 yards off all game and rarely challenged the receivers or the underneath stuff.
 

I was at the game and haven't watched the recording yet but my quick observations as follows:
1. Why are we running a read-option with Rhoda and to a lesser extent Croft if they are never going to pull it down?! Buffalo had no respect for the option and it showed immensely.
2. Shenault got picked on a lot from what I could remember and it made me a little nervous. Wasn't their touchdown drive where he got thrown at twice and whiffed on that transfer receiver? If not a retract but Shenault still worries me.
3. Refs: Strangest game I've seen in a long time. They seemed confused on multiple calls. Also what was up with that touchback on the punt where it looked like they downed it on the one? Did the rules change? Am I confusing pro and college? It looked like a perfectly good play but they called out to the 20.
4. Agree with others that the play calling looked really vanilla.
5. Oline worries me unless Buffalo's Dline is that good.
 

This game is a wake up call. Regardless of whether Buffalo got better from last year or the Gophers showing their inexperience in implementing the new offense, there is still a lot of learning and executing to do. THis applies to both the coaching and the players.

We want to win as much as possible this year. However, what they do today is building up for next year.

Croft should be the starter to build to the future.

There are no gimmies this year as far as I am concerned. The team will learn from their mistakes and learn how to execute.

I was worried about the O-Line before the season. And I am worried about them even more now.We could have used Jimmie Terry and Eric Abojei.

What I hope is that they put up a fight this season to get better, and maybe there is hope and a chance that they will knock out some teams they are not supposed to beat later in the season.
 

I think the O-line becomes a top priority in recruiting.
 

1. Why are we running a read-option with Rhoda and to a lesser extent Croft if they are never going to pull it down?! Buffalo had no respect for the option and it showed immensely.

It's a RPO system, not a traditional read-option. The option isn't usually to hand off or for the QB to run it, but a choice to hand off or pass it.


I would think by now that most programs have RPO capability in their system, especially high-tempo teams where play decisions are made from the sideline. It becomes just a matter of whether or not the play is determined pre-snap by the OC or post-snap by the QB.

http://www.foxsports.com/florida/story/the-u-welcomes-dee-delaney-eager-for-miami-challenge-083117

Our QBs said after the game that the decision to run or pass is coming from the sideline, not from them after the snap.
 

3. Refs: Strangest game I've seen in a long time. They seemed confused on multiple calls. Also what was up with that touchback on the punt where it looked like they downed it on the one? Did the rules change? Am I confusing pro and college? It looked like a perfectly good play but they called out to the 20.

Ball just needs to break the plane in college.
 

3. Refs: Strangest game I've seen in a long time. They seemed confused on multiple calls. Also what was up with that touchback on the punt where it looked like they downed it on the one? Did the rules change? Am I confusing pro and college? It looked like a perfectly good play but they called out to the 20.

He was a good 2-3 yards into the end zone.
 

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It's a RPO system, not a traditional read-option. The option isn't usually to hand off or for the QB to run it, but a choice to hand off or pass it.


I would think by now that most programs have RPO capability in their system, especially high-tempo teams where play decisions are made from the sideline. It becomes just a matter of whether or not the play is determined pre-snap by the OC or post-snap by the QB.

http://www.foxsports.com/florida/story/the-u-welcomes-dee-delaney-eager-for-miami-challenge-083117

Our QBs said after the game that the decision to run or pass is coming from the sideline, not from them after the snap.

Thanks for the explanation. I think the question still stands however. Why run that system if you don't run the quarterback enough to make the defense respect it?
 





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