MTSU victory = continued lack of respect

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Funny how the blurb on us doesn't mention the improved run game or dominating TOP. Who ever wrote this didn't actually watch the game. See below:

10. Minnesota (1-0) - It was far from a thing of beauty, but Thursday's win at Middle Tennesse was a win. The revamped defense looked much better than expected, although the performance did come against a non-BCS team missing its stud quarterback. The bigger question continues to be QB Adam Weber, who hasn't seemed like the same talent since his sophomore season.
Last Week: No. 11
Next Game: South Dakota, Sept. 11
 

Look at the positives: we moved up a spot! Yeah for #10! If we move up a spot each week, we're Rose Bowl-bound!
 

As long as the Gophers are 3-1 (or better) when Northwestern comes to town, I see no reason to think that the Gophers can't wipe the walls with those nerds.
 

I think many people here are ignoring how close we were to losing.

I'm pretty glad they fumbled.
 


This Is True - However

Studwell55 said:
I think many people here are ignoring how close we were to losing.

I'm pretty glad they fumbled.
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Being a realist, including trying to damp over-enthusiasm in our wins when it was not deserved:

- If Ellestad makes that 1st FG, it becomes 17-0, and their will may have begun to crumble. Note how the momentum swung, and how energized they became with the miss.

- Even if Ellestad makes one of those 1st 2, it is a double-digit win, and a 2-TD win if they let the big fellow score his 4th TD at the end

- As I posted earlier (somewhere), for years we have been pining for our Gophers to man up and win the 4th quarter, in opposition to years of coughing up large leads.

All in all, that was a pretty good win - and one could say we are ignoring how close we were to winning by a 37-17 score.

I will agree that I need to see a LOT more to feel better, and have them start passing the "eye test".
 

Studwell55 said:
I think many people here are ignoring how close we were to losing.

I'm pretty glad they fumbled.
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Me too, but they're pretty glad we missed two easy field goals and purposely didn't score at the end when we were on their goal line to make it 31-17. It could easily have been 37-17.
 

Two missed FG's

What nobody is saying about the missed FG's is what it also did for the morale of MTSU. They were dead in the water, toast, when Ellestad misses the first FG.

MTSU gets a little boost, drives in for a score, and grabs a little momentum, only to see the Gophers put themselves in position to score again.

Ellestad misses yet another FG, even further boosting the esteem of the home.


I'm just sayin', the missed FG's cost us a lot more than 6 points, not to mention what Ellestad will have to do to earn Brew's confidence over the next couple weeks. Those misses were not a good thing for Gopher fans to see.
 

You're funny.

Studwell55 said:
I think many people here are ignoring how close we were to losing.

I'm pretty glad they fumbled.
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I'm glad they fumbled too. I'm glad we controlled to clock 3 to 1, I'm glad that we held them to so many 3's and outs. I'm glad we did it with second stringers at the Safeties. I'm glad that Bennett ran for half of his total yards of last year. I'm glad that you are a tool.
 



Yeah, the CW is always predictably stupid. But again, I like the Gophers in the underdog role.

Big Ten teams that the Gophers looked better than this weekend:

--Purdue (Marve is far less worthy than Weber, at least based on week 1. No run game. The D aside form Kerrigan is BAD.

--Indiana played a squad with NO pulse, and still got outgained yardage wise.

--Northwestern (Vandy is worse than advertised)

close call--Penn State was unable to run the ball at all...against Youngstown State. D looked confused early.

Now before the random haters pile on, I'm not necessarily saying the Gophers are better than all of these teams, but they played better than them in week 1.
 

AhliBobwa said:
Yeah, the CW is always predictably stupid. But again, I like the Gophers in the underdog role.

Big Ten teams that the Gophers looked better than this weekend:

--Purdue (Marve is far less worthy than Weber, at least based on week 1. No run game. The D aside form Kerrigan is BAD.

--Indiana played a squad with NO pulse, and still got outgained yardage wise.

--Northwestern (Vandy is worse than advertised)

close call--Penn State was unable to run the ball at all...against Youngstown State. D looked confused early.

Now before the random haters pile on, I'm not necessarily saying the Gophers are better than all of these teams, but they played better than them in week 1.
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As an Iowa fan that is well aware of college football history, there is nothing wrong with flying under the radar. Based on what I watched and believe to be true about the big10 these are my power rankings.

1) Ohio State
2) Iowa
3) Wisconsin
4) Michigan State
5) Penn State
6) Michigan
7) Northwestern
8) Minnesota
9) Indiana
10) Purdue
11) Illinois
 

I'm glad they fumbled too, but who isn't glad when the opponent fumbles? We aren't ignoring anything. We were closer to blowing them away than we were to losing.
 

Anybody that would rank Purdue ahead of us after this past week is either an idiot or didn't watch both games. I agree with PapaHawk's list right now but we'll need to learn more in the coming weeks. Just remember, last year at this time Michigan was riding high after blowing out Western Michigan & about to beat Notre Dame while Iowa & Wisconsin were struggling with Northern Iowa & Northern Illinois respectively. There is a lot of football left to be played.

Realistically we have a 4 tiers that could shrink to 3 or grow to 5 over the course of the season
1. Ohio State, Iowa & Wisconsin
Big drop
2. Michigan State & Penn State
3. Michigan, Northwestern, Minnesota & Indiana
4. Purdue (admittedly maybe a tier 3 team) & Illinois

To me the most mystery is around the tier 3 teams and whether they belong with tier 2 or tier 4. It also remains to be seen whether OSU is in a tier by themselves.
 



I haven't seen the 2nd biggest play of the game (Weber 3rd and 12 conversion to McKnight being the biggest) brought up here at all yet. MTSU has the ball, up 3, final drive of their 3rd Quarter - facing a 3rd and medium from just outside the 35 of the Gophers. Kilgore finds a wide open Malcom Beyeh for a clear first down inside the Gopher 30 - and he flat drops a good throw.

Our D was reeling on that drive - and if he just catches the ball, it is likely they would have scored in some fashion on the drive. That was a huge play - and we got lucky. Between that drop and the fumble on the last kickoff, Beyeh was the best player on our team Thursday.
 

Until Brewster starts to beat teams of any significance it's going to be hard to get respect. Beating teams like MTSU without Dasher is nothing to brag about. I hope we don't see this same post if we beat South Dakota. Until we win some trophy games or beat teams like USC it's going to be hard to get respect. Look at Northwestern with coach Fitz, they are undefeated at Iowa ( 3-0). Brewster needs to start winning some games with significance this year.
 

gold04 said:
Until Brewster starts to beat teams of any significance it's going to be hard to get respect. Beating teams like MTSU without Dasher is nothing to brag about. I hope we don't see this same post if we beat South Dakota. Until we win some trophy games or beat teams like USC it's going to be hard to get respect. Look at Northwestern with coach Fitz, they are undefeated at Iowa ( 3-0). Brewster needs to start winning some games with significance this year.
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+ 1

We beat a decent team who was 10-3 last year but Sagarin ratings still had us 12 spots higher or something like that. Beating USD will mean nothing. Winning or hanging with USC will be something. If we can stay within a td of USC, then we'll get a little respect. We just need to win...
 

josh087 said:
I haven't seen the 2nd biggest play of the game (Weber 3rd and 12 conversion to McKnight being the biggest) brought up here at all yet. MTSU has the ball, up 3, final drive of their 3rd Quarter - facing a 3rd and medium from just outside the 35 of the Gophers. Kilgore finds a wide open Malcom Beyeh for a clear first down inside the Gopher 30 - and he flat drops a good throw.

Our D was reeling on that drive - and if he just catches the ball, it is likely they would have scored in some fashion on the drive. That was a huge play - and we got lucky. Between that drop and the fumble on the last kickoff, Beyeh was the best player on our team Thursday.
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They got lucky that we missed two field goals too. It usually evens out.

I would say our OL and RBs were out best players being that we absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage and time of possession, but what do I know.
 

IMO, you never have to apologize for a win, or have a moral victory in a loss- its all about the bottom line. I am happy they win, no matter how they do it, and unhappy if they lose, regardless of how.

I agree with an earlier post that the Weber pass on 3rd and 12 was a huge play.
 

Folks keep saying that MTS was missing Dasher but.....they fail to mention that we was missing our starting LT and SS do to suspension and our starting FS do to injury. On a defense only returning 2 starters from last season it's a pretty big deal when when those two don't play. Dasher is a dynamic runner and a decent passer, I said before the game I would rather have faced him than a passing QB.

Also we were playing a spread team with two first year players at the s position. I'll take this win anyway we could get it.....5 more wins and we are bowl eligible!
 

Sportsfan24 said:
Folks keep saying that MTS was missing Dasher but.....they fail to mention that we was missing our starting LT and SS do to suspension and our starting FS do to injury. On a defense only returning 2 starters from last season it's a pretty big deal when when those two don't play. Dasher is a dynamic runner and a decent passer, I said before the game I would rather have faced him than a passing QB.

Also we were playing a spread team with two first year players at the s position. I'll take this win anyway we could get it.....5 more wins and we are bowl eligible!
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+1

We had 11 new starters on D. It will be a huge help to get Kim and Kyle back to get the guys in the right position pre-snap. That was clearly the biggest difference maker against MTSU.
 

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