Larson Column: Inept coaching costs Gophers signature win for Kill

[BleedGopher]

per Tom Larson:

Saturday should have been remembered as the night the Gophers paid homage to the beloved Kill with a stunning upset of the No. 15 Wolverines, thereby keeping the Little Brown Jug at the U for a second-straight year for the first time since 1963.

Instead, it will be remembered for a thrill-ride Gopher rally in the final minutes of the fourth quarter before a rabid hometown crowd, and then several examples of the most mind-numbingly inept coaching Minnesota football fans might ever witness.

And poor Jerry Kill could do nothing but watch as this travesty unfolded in the hands of his long-time coaches who believe they should be considered rightful heirs to the program Kill built.

That wasn't a good way to impress the search committee.

In fact, it's three strikes against the coaching staff in those final seconds.

Strike One: In an age when technology is so prevalent in the game, if the Gophers don't have a coach whose sole game-day responsibility is to be on top of play reviews, then it's not a professionally run staff. If they do have such a coach and that coach didn't alert coordinators or head coach of an obvious overturn in a timely manner, that coach should be fired.

Strike Two: How could the staff not have enough awareness of the rule book to know that the clock would restart immediately on a play ended inbounds? And they had plenty of time during the review to thumb through the rule book and prepare accordingly.

Strike Three: What was that convoluted, time-consuming mess of shifts out of a power set as the clock ticked and ticked and ticked? Had Leidner pumped faked even once before lobbing an incompletion into the end zone with two seconds left, the game could have ended even more embarrassingly, with the Gophers having a timeout in their pocket.

http://www.wctrib.com/sports/colleg...ept-coaching-costs-gophers-signature-win-kill

Go Gophers!!

 

[GoldenRodents]

per Tom Larson:
In fact, it's three strikes against the coaching staff in those final seconds.

Strike One: In an age when technology is so prevalent in the game, if the Gophers don't have a coach whose sole game-day responsibility is to be on top of play reviews, then it's not a professionally run staff. If they do have such a coach and that coach didn't alert coordinators or head coach of an obvious overturn in a timely manner, that coach should be fired.

Strike Two: How could the staff not have enough awareness of the rule book to know that the clock would restart immediately on a play ended inbounds? And they had plenty of time during the review to thumb through the rule book and prepare accordingly.

Strike Three: What was that convoluted, time-consuming mess of shifts out of a power set as the clock ticked and ticked and ticked? Had Leidner pumped faked even once before lobbing an incompletion into the end zone with two seconds left, the game could have ended even more embarrassingly, with the Gophers having a timeout in their pocket.

http://www.wctrib.com/sports/colleg...ept-coaching-costs-gophers-signature-win-kill

Go Gophers!!

Yup.

 

[Spoofin]

per Tom Larson:

Saturday should have been remembered as the night the Gophers paid homage to the beloved Kill with a stunning upset of the No. 15 Wolverines, thereby keeping the Little Brown Jug at the U for a second-straight year for the first time since 1963.

Instead, it will be remembered for a thrill-ride Gopher rally in the final minutes of the fourth quarter before a rabid hometown crowd, and then several examples of the most mind-numbingly inept coaching Minnesota football fans might ever witness.

And poor Jerry Kill could do nothing but watch as this travesty unfolded in the hands of his long-time coaches who believe they should be considered rightful heirs to the program Kill built.

That wasn't a good way to impress the search committee.

In fact, it's three strikes against the coaching staff in those final seconds.

Strike One: In an age when technology is so prevalent in the game, if the Gophers don't have a coach whose sole game-day responsibility is to be on top of play reviews, then it's not a professionally run staff. If they do have such a coach and that coach didn't alert coordinators or head coach of an obvious overturn in a timely manner, that coach should be fired.

Strike Two: How could the staff not have enough awareness of the rule book to know that the clock would restart immediately on a play ended inbounds? And they had plenty of time during the review to thumb through the rule book and prepare accordingly.

Strike Three: What was that convoluted, time-consuming mess of shifts out of a power set as the clock ticked and ticked and ticked? Had Leidner pumped faked even once before lobbing an incompletion into the end zone with two seconds left, the game could have ended even more embarrassingly, with the Gophers having a timeout in their pocket.

http://www.wctrib.com/sports/colleg...ept-coaching-costs-gophers-signature-win-kill

Go Gophers!!

Strike 2 & 3 are basically the same. We still have 1 left.

 

[LesBolstad]

Which play should have been overturned?

 

[mkAz]

If the coaching was so inept, why were they even in game until the end? Apparently, it would have been better to some if they had been blown out. Weird.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

The only strike that counts is number 3. The coaches knew the clock was running, they just had a brain fart about the length of time it would run off the clock. That, and the snap count took a tick or two longer than it could have, and the pass rush made Mitch scramble, and theylost another few ticks.

It was a poor play call, the sneak wasnt a great formation. Valid points.

But, there is NO guarantee an extra play would have led to a TD, or OT would have gone our way. We'd like to think the game was in the bag but Mich is very tough in the red zone. It was going to be tough sledding.

Claeyes isn't dumb, he's just aggressive. Now limegrover, about that play call...

 

[bottlebass]

I would dispute strike 1. i was at the game and the gophers pulled their extra point team of the field and put leidner and the rest of the offense back out there at least 30 seconds before the refs announced the over turn.

Strike 2 and 3 are given the benefit of hindsight. Would I have liked them to reverse the two play calls and snuck on 1st down? Yep. But that's hindsight.

 

[walleyeking]

I would dispute strike 1. i was at the game and the gophers pulled their extra point team of the field and put leidner and the rest of the offense back out there at least 30 seconds before the refs announced the over turn.

Strike 2 and 3 are given the benefit of hindsight. Would I have liked them to reverse the two play calls and snuck on 1st down? Yep. But that's hindsight.

I agree also. They still ran 2 plays with 19 seconds. What's the problem with that? There would've been no time for 3 plays without a additional time out.

 

[bottlebass]

I agree also. They still ran 2 plays with 19 seconds. What's the problem with that? There would've been no time for 3 plays without a additional time out.

If we wouldn't have wasted so much time on the previous 4 plays we could have had time to run 3 plays on the goal line and kick a field goal. They still had horrible clock management. Including the 10 seconds that were wasted by the michigan "streaker"...

 

[Nax91]

I guess the question is, do the last 19 seconds of incompetence wipe out an otherwise well-coached game? With how stupid it was, I would lean on yes. But I'll give the staff a few more chances. Just feeling a little too numb after last night. I'm kind of at the point now where I'm hoping we can just pull off an upset and spoil another team's season. Winning against undefeated Ohio State or Iowa would be fun.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Good lord guys, how many poor coaching decisions have we seen under kill? Many. You're going to throw the baby out with the bath water. Not smart. I'm not sure the game would have been close under Kill. Sorry, but had to be said.

 

[cjbfbp]

I guess the question is, do the last 19 seconds of incompetence wipe out an otherwise well-coached game?

As heartbreaking as those 19 seconds were, I'd say no. This was the best effort by this team all year and before those 19 seconds, the least frustrating of any of our losses and even less frustrating than one of our wins (Kent St.).

 

[alchemy2u]

If the coaching was so inept, why were they even in game until the end? Apparently, it would have been better to some if they had been blown out. Weird.

+1. All the changes this week were bound to cause some confusion, but the team played to win.


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[GophersInIowa]

Strike one is flat out wrong. The team knew there was a good chance it was going to be overturned. Even I saw that on TV. The offense was lined up ready to go as soon as the ref started the clock. Being ready wasn't the issue. The play call in that instance was.

 

[GophersInIowa]

I agree also. They still ran 2 plays with 19 seconds. What's the problem with that? There would've been no time for 3 plays without a additional time out.

They could have run 4 plays if they wanted.

1st down, spike the ball
2nd down, run the play with all the shifts and throw the ball
3rd down, run the ball, call timeout
4th down, run a play or kick a FG

All could have easily been done in those 19 seconds.

 

[GopherOhana]

They could have run 4 plays if they wanted.

1st down, spike the ball
2nd down, run the play with all the shifts and throw the ball
3rd down, run the ball, call timeout
4th down, run a play or kick a FG

All could have easily been done in those 19 seconds.

Could have run a pass play on first down as well. Our coaches could have given the players 4 chances to win instead of two.

You only have to go back to that purdue game more than a decade ago to understand what a well prepared team can do in 19 second

 

[Sports_Realist]

I agree. The wasting of time in the closing seconds of that game was inexcusable. It's possible to give Claeys and company credit for how they did throughout the majority of the game without letting them off the hook for botching clock management when the game was on the line.

 

[GophersInIowa]

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Catechol]

I agree also. They still ran 2 plays with 19 seconds. What's the problem with that? There would've been no time for 3 plays without a additional time out.

If they were set coming out of the replay they could've run a pass play without motion (or spike the ball first), if incomplete then a running play followed by a timeout, then either a final play for TD or FG.

 

[Gopher028]

I still believe in Claeys, however, even though his play calling was very slightly better,
i'm still not happy at all with Limey.
I know Claeys is the HC and ultimately he's responsible, but look at the Vikings, coach
Zim is a defensive minded guy who helps the DC run the defense while letting a very
seasoned and proven OC run the offense, and we should be able to do that with Limey
who's done this at other levels for...20 years? But I look at this season, the play calls,
the players he's using and NOT using, and it boggles my mind.

Last night, 3 players ran the ball. Smith, Brooks, Leidner. No Maye, Edwards, Williams, etc.
Almost all his run except Leidner's read options were, again, between the tackles to no avail.
over and over and over and over. It's no secret, this o-line is terrible. Yes, they're hurt, patched
together, etc, but they're terrible and don't move anybody. All game long we run between the
tackles until the one time we should, then we get cute and cost the game.

 

[Some guy]

If the coaching was so inept, why were they even in game until the end? Apparently, it would have been better to some if they had been blown out. Weird.

It wouldn't have been better, but it would have been less bad.



There is no question in my mind if the current staff is kept we will continue to be competitive.

There is a major question in my mind if they ever get over the top due to many things:
Conservatism, game management, and quarterback development

These are the same three questions I still had of kill. Two of the three were brutal last night in a game where the gophers players were playing better than the Michigan players.

 

[Gopher2017]

I brought a buddy of mine to the game last night, a buddy who happens to be a former football coach at a small university out west, and he couldn't believe the lack of clock awareness from our QB and the poor decisions by our coach at the end of the game. He didn't say anything different than what we already know but it was cool to get the insight from another college football coach. He was nearly spot on regrading our play calling throughout the game. He would lean over and tell me what play the Gophers were going to run prior to the ball snap and sure enough he was right. Nearly every time. He couldn't understand why we continually ran it up the middle when nearly every time we would only get 1 to 3 yards out of it. At the end of the game when we only needed 1 yard, we first chose not to run the play we had been running over and over throughout the game.

For Mitch to not know the clock was still running was just typical of this QB. We can all make excuses for his poor play throughout the season but there's no excuse for a Big Ten QB to not know the rules and not know his surroundings. Amateur mistake. As for Claeys...He did a good job for the most part but one has to wonder how much of it was his coaching and how much of it was the team wanting to win for Kill. I've never thought once this season that Michigan was the 'real deal' and I still don't, so again not sure how much of a role Claeys played in this close game besides the obvious. Love a coach who has the guts to go for it but he clearly got out coached by Michigan at the end of the game.

They'll be some who will fight to the end to defend Mitch and/or Claeys in this game against Michigan and I'm more than willing to reserve judgement on Claeys until after the Ohio State and Iowa game. I have a feeling the Gophers were in this game due to Jerry more so than Claeys.

 

[GophersInIowa]

I brought a buddy of mine to the game last night, a buddy who happens to be a former football coach at a small university out west, and he couldn't believe the lack of clock awareness from our QB and the poor decisions by our coach at the end of the game. He didn't say anything different than what we already know but it was cool to get the insight from another college football coach. He was nearly spot on regrading our play calling throughout the game. He would lean over and tell me what play the Gophers were going to run prior to the ball snap and sure enough he was right. Nearly every time. He couldn't understand why we continually ran it up the middle when nearly every time we would only get 1 to 3 yards out of it. At the end of the game when we only needed 1 yard, we first chose not to run the play we had been running over and over throughout the game.

For Mitch to not know the clock was still running was just typical of this QB. We can all make excuses for his poor play throughout the season but there's no excuse for a Big Ten QB to not know the rules and not know his surroundings. Amateur mistake. As for Claeys...He did a good job for the most part but one has to wonder how much of it was his coaching and how much of it was the team wanting to win for Kill. I've never thought once this season that Michigan was the 'real deal' and I still don't, so again not sure how much of a role Claeys played in this close game besides the obvious. Love a coach who has the guts to go for it but he clearly got out coached by Michigan at the end of the game.

They'll be some who will fight to the end to defend Mitch and/or Claeys in this game against Michigan and I'm more than willing to reserve judgement on Claeys until after the Ohio State and Iowa game. I have a feeling the Gophers were in this game due to Jerry more so than Claeys.

Rodney Smith averaged 6.2 yards a carry running it up the middle. Plus, all those runs up the middle are a big reason Leidner was able to get big yardage on the keepers.

I just don't understand how anyone can be too critical of the offense last night. 461 yards of offense against one of the best defenses in college football. 20 first downs, 0 turnovers.

My guess is you are exaggerating how often he was right on predicting the play calls. We threw the ball a good amount on first down and did some creative things like throwing deep to Brooks coming out of the backfield. Ran a screen pass to convert a 3rd and long on the last drive.

 

[Section2]

I think people are getting a little too carried away here. The game was a gut punch. No doubt. But sorry, it's the head coaches job to manage the clock. I think we can forgive the staff for its poor management when the coach abruptly retires mid week. This is not the end of the world, doesn't prove they can never manage a game etc.
we outplayed Michigan and should have won. This hurts. The staff bears responsibility. Sounds like they are taking it. claeys should still be hired.

I'm actually more excited about our future after this game. I think we can play with anyone including OSU. I hope the players feel that way. Upset either Wisconsin or OSU and beat Illinois and the season is not a total loss. Have a lot of good players coming back next year. Exciting future.

 

[Gopher2017]

I will say that I was VERY impressed with our offense and Mitch throughout the majority of this game. It's just the poor play and decision making at the end that makes me and others forget how great they played at other times in the game. Had these poor decisions been made going into the half then we wouldn't be talking so much about it but because it happened at the very end and cost us the game, well, that's why we're upset and talking about it.

No, my buddy was spot on most of the time. He would even point out they type of play and which player would receive the ball. Not sure how he knew and when I asked, he said, "as a coach, I got paid to pay attention and you can get a sense of what's coming." Take it for what it's worth.

 

[GophersInIowa]

I will say that I was VERY impressed with our offense and Mitch throughout the majority of this game. It's just the poor play and decision making at the end that makes me and others forget how great they played at other times in the game. Had these poor decisions been made going into the half then we wouldn't be talking so much about it but because it happened at the very end and cost us the game, well, that's why we're upset and talking about it.

No, my buddy was spot on most of the time. He would even point out they type of play and which player would receive the ball. Not sure how he knew and when I asked, he said, "as a coach, I got paid to pay attention and you can get a sense of what's coming." Take it for what it's worth.

Fair enough, I just thought the offense played well. Need to end more of those drives with TDs instead of FGs but still a great effort against a very good defense.

 

[bottlebass]

Fair enough, I just thought the offense played well. Need to end more of those drives with TDs instead of FGs but still a great effort against a very good defense.

People need to remember our Offense put up 26 points against a defense that went something like 14 quarters without giving up a single point.

 

[die hard gopher]

If the coaching was so inept, why were they even in game until the end? Apparently, it would have been better to some if they had been blown out. Weird.

This

 

[Gopher2017]

Fair enough, I just thought the offense played well. Need to end more of those drives with TDs instead of FGs but still a great effort against a very good defense.

Agreed; the offense played very well. Just sucks we didn't win. There were three drunk Michigan fans sitting a few seats to our right and I wanted to win so bad because they were obnoxious and rude to Gopher fans once Michigan took the lead in the 4th. I wanted to have the last laugh but alas, we didn't.

 

[Ewert86PC]

They could have run 4 plays if they wanted.

1st down, spike the ball
2nd down, run the play with all the shifts and throw the ball
3rd down, run the ball, call timeout
4th down, run a play or kick a FG

All could have easily been done in those 19 seconds.

Hear! Hear!

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