Adjustments - Rossi vs. Smith

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Does anyone really believe that the Gophers had an advantage in that weather yesterday? A lot of our guys are southern kids who practice indoors when the weather gets cold. For a few it might have been the first time they had seen snow yesterday (I don't know if that was the first Mpls snow this year or not)

Purdue is a cold weather team from a cold weather town that has a lot of southern kids too. I think our guys came out with more fire and pep and momentum is like wearing a space heater in your pants. I don't think most of our guys are a bunch of battle hardened cold weather veterans.
 

fmlizard said:
Does anyone really believe that the Gophers had an advantage in that weather yesterday? A lot of our guys are southern kids who practice indoors when the weather gets cold. For a few it might have been the first time they had seen snow yesterday (I don't know if that was the first Mpls snow this year or not)

Purdue is a cold weather team from a cold weather town that has a lot of southern kids too. I think our guys came out with more fire and pep and momentum is like wearing a space heater in your pants. I don't think most of our guys are a bunch of battle hardened cold weather veterans.
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I think their offensive style is less likely to succeed with non-professionals in weather like yesterday.
 

OddStack said:
I think their offensive style is less likely to succeed with non-professionals in weather like yesterday.
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This.

I don't think either team has a true advantage when it is that cold but it probably slowed their offense down some. That combined with a great effort from our Defense was enough to put us in the position to pull away in the second half.
 

I honestly think Smith completely lost the players...they no longer had confidence in his ability to coach them to success. All his schemes and reads only caused them to get inside their own heads and start to second guess what they were seeing. He simply lost them.
 

PMWinSTP said:
I honestly think Smith completely lost the players...they no longer had confidence in his ability to coach them to success. All his schemes and reads only caused them to get inside their own heads and start to second guess what they were seeing. He simply lost them.
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Yeah.

I remember seeing JG's post a few weeks ago and I couldn't help but agree. There is a difference between getting your tail kicked in and what was happening to us. We weren't just missing tackles, we'd miss one tackle and guys would go 80 yards untouched. That's just misalignment and certainly schematic.

It was also strange in that we gave a ton of cushion but still put our DBs in difficult positions on the deep balls.
 


fmlizard said:
Does anyone really believe that the Gophers had an advantage in that weather yesterday? A lot of our guys are southern kids who practice indoors when the weather gets cold. For a few it might have been the first time they had seen snow yesterday (I don't know if that was the first Mpls snow this year or not)

Purdue is a cold weather team from a cold weather town that has a lot of southern kids too. I think our guys came out with more fire and pep and momentum is like wearing a space heater in your pants. I don't think most of our guys are a bunch of battle hardened cold weather veterans.
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I think it's psychological. This is "home" for our players, even if from the south originally. Purdue, on the road, gets off the plane/bus yesterday and sees the weather and it starts to get in their heads.

I have seen it enough times over the years that I think it's a real phenomenon.
 

fmlizard said:
Does anyone really believe that the Gophers had an advantage in that weather yesterday? A lot of our guys are southern kids who practice indoors when the weather gets cold. For a few it might have been the first time they had seen snow yesterday (I don't know if that was the first Mpls snow this year or not)

Purdue is a cold weather team from a cold weather town that has a lot of southern kids too. I think our guys came out with more fire and pep and momentum is like wearing a space heater in your pants. I don't think most of our guys are a bunch of battle hardened cold weather veterans.
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Fleck was somewhat, what's the word...adamant?....that this is the weather they like to play in. Liked hearing that. Said something like, "We want more games at home in November in this kind of weather. We practice outside in it".... Paraphrasing. (Plus he went with the bald pate uncovered. Brohm was bundled. Which means not much at all.)
 

PMWinSTP said:
I honestly think Smith completely lost the players...they no longer had confidence in his ability to coach them to success. All his schemes and reads only caused them to get inside their own heads and start to second guess what they were seeing. He simply lost them.
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The truth is somewhere in the middle.

While our defense, or basically any P5 defense, couldn’t be as bad as what we saw at Illinois and Nebraska, the change in scheme definitely helped.

College football also lends itself to a few games a year when one team is emotionally ready to play, and another is flat. Controversy within a team can at times make you play with your hair on fire. With all we’ve been through, this was one of those games. Just like Washington St in 2016, Iowa when Horton was the HC, etc.

Hopefully we can maintain a similar intensity for the next 2 weeks.
 

Word said:
I think it's psychological. This is "home" for our players, even if from the south originally. Purdue, on the road, gets off the plane/bus yesterday and sees the weather and it starts to get in their heads.

I have seen it enough times over the years that I think it's a real phenomenon.
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I would agree. We have quite a few players from MN on the roster that grew up with this weather. And those from the south become acclimated to it over time.
 





Spoofin said:
I suspect it was more the determination of the players after being embarrassed, but can only praise Rossi and Fleck for any and all impact they had on this dramatic turn around. Build off it the next 2 weeks and bring the F’ing axe home.


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So you really think that the reason the Illinois RB's were so wide open on their many long TD's were that the player's weren't determined enough to tackle them? I think the players played just as hard in both games, they were just better prepared for Purdue and that comes from coaching.
 

alchemy2u said:
So you really think that the reason the Illinois RB's were so wide open on their many long TD's were that the player's weren't determined enough to tackle them? I think the players played just as hard in both games, they were just better prepared for Purdue and that comes from coaching.
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Yep, I saw more effort from the D yesterday than I had in a couple games. Is that really a controversial idea that sometimes players & teams come more ready to play some days than others? As I’m sure you noted in my post you quoted, I gave praise to the coaching staff as well - they had to play a role as I agree the team was better prepared and put in better positions to succeed - I think both aspects factored.


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PMWinSTP said:
I honestly think Smith completely lost the players...they no longer had confidence in his ability to coach them to success. All his schemes and reads only caused them to get inside their own heads and start to second guess what they were seeing. He simply lost them.
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I think it's b/c they are GHers and reading posts. :p
 

Spoofin said:
Yep, I saw more effort from the D yesterday than I had in a couple games. Is that really a controversial idea that sometimes players & teams come more ready to play some days than others? As I’m sure you noted in my post you quoted, I gave praise to the coaching staff as well - they had to play a role as I agree the team was better prepared and put in better positions to succeed - I think both aspects factored.


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PJ (and I) thank you for your support!

:drink:
 

Face The Facts said:
PJ (and I) thank you for your support!

:drink:
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I appreciate that. This is a tough crowd to please. If I don’t say something positive about the coaches then that is wrong. If I do say something positive, it isn’t positive enough so still wrong. Your gratitude helps lift my spirits.


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Spoofin said:
I appreciate that. This is a tough crowd to please. If I don’t say something positive about the coaches then that is wrong. If I do say something positive, it isn’t positive enough so still wrong. Your gratitude helps lift my spirits.


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My point was about not about praising the coaches, it was the assumption that the players weren’t playing as hard (determined) on the defense in those loses. It isn’t hard to accept that players can have up or down days, but I find it hard to believe that players were not as determined in any of those games. As someone pointed out, they seemed to attack more than sit back. It could be that change in attack mode that you are interpreting as being more determined.


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Do the gophers not release a list of snaps per player after games?
 

alchemy2u said:
My point was about not about praising the coaches, it was the assumption that the players weren’t playing as hard (determined) on the defense in those loses. It isn’t hard to accept that players can have up or down days, but I find it hard to believe that players were not as determined in any of those games. As someone pointed out, they seemed to attack more than sit back. It could be that change in attack mode that you are interpreting as being more determined.


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I think Spoofin saw what I did in the I'll and Nebby games...players that looked confused, lost, and defeated at times. Those two games stood out.
 

Seemed like aggressive play out players in the best position(s) to make plays and execute tackles.
 

caliGopher said:
Attacked vs sat back.


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First thing I noticed. During Smith the LBs and DBs would often stand pat and let the runner come to them, whereas now, they went to the ball carrier and eliminated YAC.
 

So where does Robb Smith land?
Won’t be a P5 DC, but he will land somewhere.
MAC? Position Coach?


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Spoofin said:
So where does Robb Smith land?
Won’t be a P5 DC, but he will land somewhere.
MAC? Position Coach?


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Washington St? Special Asst to the DC?


Or WaterBoy at Louisiana A&M?
 


caliGopher said:
Attacked vs sat back.


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Agreed. The defense under Smith was in a perpetual prevent scheme. A lot of times, only six in the box so no one was free to make the tackle until ten yards past the los. Then if the DB whiffs, it's an easy house call. We see more free LB in position to make the tackles when we play tighter on the los and get better pressure on the QB. Win or lose, this scheme gives us the best chance of winning the rest of the way.
 


alchemy2u said:
My point was about not about praising the coaches, it was the assumption that the players weren’t playing as hard (determined) on the defense in those loses. It isn’t hard to accept that players can have up or down days, but I find it hard to believe that players were not as determined in any of those games. As someone pointed out, they seemed to attack more than sit back. It could be that change in attack mode that you are interpreting as being more determined.


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It’s also not hard to get to the point of the players being allowed to play. I can be as determined as I want to be in any task I take on, but if I’m offered a million bucks to dunk a basketball, no matter how determined I am, I’ve been asked to accomplish something I won’t be able to do.

That said, if you’ve been embarrassed by three of the games you’ve played in conference, and your DC has been fired. And the new coach pulls the right levers to make it clear this is their chance to show people what happened was not on them, yeah. I can see them being more determined.

The change in aggressiveness was a change in scheme for the game. It was what most of these kids were recruited to, and they fit the mold for that better, so effort is the same, determination is higher, and coaching is better (use the players you have to their specific skill sets) and your set up to perform better.

Throw in a better matchup (non-spread offense with mobile QBs) and the weather you have a total beat down that didn’t fall apart in the 4th quarter.

A very good situation all around.


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Rossi had the element of surprise the 1st game. NW and Wisky will have tape on us now, let's see how we play these next two before anointing him the 2nd coming of Tracy Claeys...
 

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