A veteran QB two years removed from one of, if not the best, season a Gopher QB has had in the last 50 years. The most experienced O-line we will likely ever have. A veteran D-Line going 8 deep. Talented transfers at WR and LB positions and what looks to be a future game-changer at CB. One of the best RBs we’ve had, with a ton of depth behind him where we can send in highly recruited players when he goes down.
Additionally, we dodge Michigan, PSU, MSU and play OSU the best time to play them – first game of the year and the first start for their QB. Also down years for our biggest rivals – we play Iowa while they have a QB making his first start ever, Wisky is experiencing in-season transfers and some QB issues, and Nebraska is a hot mess. NW is one of their down swings. Everything is set up for us to win the West.
We also have a coach who I believe wants to be here. He cares about the school, community, and our traditions. This isn’t Mason, who never really wanted to be here, and it showed when it came to his recruiting, his indifference towards the “trinket” games (his words, not mine), or the other teams fans tearing down our goalposts. To his credit, our coach has raised expectations and allowed us to get our hopes up about the Gophers in ways many of us haven’t done before.
Then we lose at home to 31 and 14.5 underdogs. We also refuse to win a game Iowa begs us to take.
Why? Not because we aren’t talented. Not because we are playing in an off-campus stadium devoid of any excitement. Rather our coach is maddeningly conservative and simply refuses to learn from previous gaffes.
The biggest game in his coaching career, with a chance to make a statement against WI, and he chooses to punt on 4th and 2 from the WI 37. He watches WI convert multiple 4th downs and go on to win the game. Did he learn from that? We have not had a lead against Iowa for 250+ consecutive minutes. We have a chance to break that streak early in the game on a 4th and goal from the 2. We elect to kick a FG to tie the game 3-3. Later, Iowa goes for it on 4-1 in their territory to extend a drive and kill more clock.
In a game against Maryland this year, we refuse to try to score a TD before the half and our coach admits to playing for a FG. He uses the same strategy against Iowa and those four points change the game. He admits in his post-game presser he was afraid of taking a sack and making it a longer FG attempt. Mind you, we were at the IA 15. A sack still leaves us well within FG range. The 32-yard drive took over 4 minutes before the half expired.
Against Bowling Green our best WR goes out of the game early, and our coach decides to “really simplify the game plan , really quick”, as if the difference in talent between the worst team in the MAC and the Gophers comes down to that one player.
While losing in the fourth quarter, we continue to bleed the clock to the point where we get a delay of game penalty. On 3rd and 2. On a must-have two-point conversion, we call a pass to a receiver short of the end-zone, giving us three trips into the red zone and a two-point attempt where we fail to even try to throw into the end zone. We consistently refuse to catch or field punts or return kickoffs, again fitting into an overall conservative mindset that permeates everything we do.
Even more maddening is this isn’t who our coach appears to be outside of gameday. He is energetic, creative, and isn’t afraid to put himself out there. Coming up with Row the Boat opens himself up to all kinds of criticism and pot-shots, but he isn’t afraid and steers into it.
Everything is there, with the exception of the easiest thing to have: the most basic in-game decision making. Problem is, it doesn’t appear as though it is ever going to change. PJ talks about his ACT score of 18, and how, while one of his players is going to be an actuary, he doesn’t know what an actuary is, or how another is planning to specialize in a specific branch of medicine, and he has no idea what it is and barely got by biology. I believe him. I have watched him refuse to learn lessons over and over and over again.
My wife, friends, girlfriends, regulars at the bar, etc. don’t want to hear me talk about this irrelevant team anymore. That leaves me with this message board and the fact I feel compelled to type this has me thinking I need to divest my investment in Gopher football. I did the same with the Vikings after 2009 and I am a free man at 4:00 EST today. I have already cancelled the family trip to Bloomington next week and am no longer holding off on travel plans to see where the team might be playing a bowl game. I am afraid we may have reached our ceiling with PJ. Bielema or Ferentz would have won these past two games with either team. It doesn’t appear having more talent and catching some luck (we caught some of that yesterday) is enough to overcome the decisions and mindset and nothing is going to change our coach’s ways. I have tickets for the WI game. Give me more proof you have taken us as far as you are capable of and I’ll have to find an EPL team to go in on. Soccer looks fun – well at least watching the game at the bar on Saturday morning looks fun.
and still has time to watch the gophs lol.
