There were some really awful plays...

UpAndUnder43

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But honestly the Gophers played a lot better. So many backbreaking, game losing plays that weren’t backbreaking or game losing because they did enough on the rest of the plays.

Morgan was really good and he had a lot of dropbacks with a lot of time.

Offensive and defensive line were much better than the SDSU game. Not great, but much better.

DBs and linebacks were way better.

Bateman is a stud. CAB had a few catches and one insane TD. Play calling was better. RBs were better.

LANTZ!!!!! Game winning FG. DEAD CENTER.

Yes. A ton to clean up and be better at. Less dumb penalties (tripping, personal foul after a play, roughing the QB) and less turnovers (Ibrahim, Morgan, whatever the hell that punt situation was) but I really think these are easier to fix than what ailed is vs the Jackrabbits.

And its 3am or so. Bed time.
 


Big improvement over week 1 pretty much across the board. Most of the mistakes are of the very correctable variety (dumb penalties, bad snaps, ball security). Lots to work on before Big Ten play but there is something to be said for being tested in the non-conf season and finding ways to win.

Don’t get me wrong, would be thrilled with blowout wins, but with a still relatively young team, learning how to win those close games is huge as well and something this program has struggled with in the past.
 

We got a season's worth of really dumb, very costly, penalties all in that game last night.

First overtime, roughing the passer on third down.
Tear facemask off on third down.
Howden's questionable call on third down.

I'm probably missing some others, but these three were all big and I think they all resulted in three different TD's.
 

With the exception of last night, we have always been very disciplined under PJ. I’d be shocked if we repeated a game like that this year.

The “bad” from last night was much different from the “bad” against SDSU. I’m feeling good on my 9-win prediction right now.


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Howden's questionable call on third down.

I almost never complain about reffing because 1) I think that's loser behavior and 2) complaining about refs is a completely pointless exercise. Having said that, that call really got me. Maybe I couldn't see it as well as the ref, but what Howden seemed to do I've seen DBs do countless times and never get called.
 

I don’t know where to put this, but an underrated stat from last night -> Fresno State’s team rushing yards: 57. I’ll take that any week against any opponent.


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We got a season's worth of really dumb, very costly, penalties all in that game last night.

First overtime, roughing the passer on third down.
Tear facemask off on third down.
Howden's questionable call on third down.

I'm probably missing some others, but these three were all big and I think they all resulted in three different TD's.

I thought the holding call on Faalele was brutal too. The guy came at him, and the guy just sort of fell down in front of him. I had no clue how that was holding.

We couldn't get a call last night if our lives depended on it.
 

Through 2 games, this has been a real Jeckyl and Hyde team.

We get the Good Gophers, and then we get the Bad Gophers.

Despite all the bad, they have managed to win both games.

So, you can be positive and say they are 2-0, and still have a lot of room for improvement.

Or, you can take the other position, and say they may be 2-0, but if they keep making these mistakes, they are not going to be able to overcome the mistakes against better opponents.

Honestly, my #1 takeaway is that coming into the year, a lot of people expected the O-Line to be better and the running game to be a big plus. In the first two games, the run game has just been so-so. a lot of 1-yard and 2-yard runs or no-gainers. Very few big plays (10 yds plus) on the run game. That is the area the Gophers must improve on for the B1G schedule. The better they can run, the more room will open up for the receivers.
 



Through 2 games, this has been a real Jeckyl and Hyde team.

We get the Good Gophers, and then we get the Bad Gophers.

Despite all the bad, they have managed to win both games.

So, you can be positive and say they are 2-0, and still have a lot of room for improvement.

Or, you can take the other position, and say they may be 2-0, but if they keep making these mistakes, they are not going to be able to overcome the mistakes against better opponents.

Honestly, my #1 takeaway is that coming into the year, a lot of people expected the O-Line to be better and the running game to be a big plus. In the first two games, the run game has just been so-so. a lot of 1-yard and 2-yard runs or no-gainers. Very few big plays (10 yds plus) on the run game. That is the area the Gophers must improve on for the B1G schedule. The better they can run, the more room will open up for the receivers.


Too many inside zone runs into 8-10 men fronts
 

This had all the makings of another "classic" Gopher game, where we somehow manage to secure defeat against all odds.

Except this time we made the plays necessary to win.

Even though this team is nowhere near playing up to its capabilities, it gives me hope we really have turned a corner.

JTG
 

We got a season's worth of really dumb, very costly, penalties all in that game last night.

First overtime, roughing the passer on third down.
Tear facemask off on third down.
Howden's questionable call on third down.

I'm probably missing some others, but these three were all big and I think they all resulted in three different TD's.

But also keep in mind that Fresno had some costly penalties that led directly to us scoring tds too. They had that targeting penalty that kept a drive alive (I think our 2nd td). They penalty in OT for celebration that let us start on the 12.5 yard line was critical. That gave us the momentum back. So yes, we had killer mistakes, but so did they. It was a sloppy game and I still have no idea how we won.
 




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