one area in particular where i am frustrated w/ coaching staff's philosophy

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supadupafly

supadupafly

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they have to settle on either gray or shortell, imo. enough of this in & out stuff we have been seeing. imo, no real consistency and rhythm can be created on offense when the two are routinely coming in and out of the game for each other for various reasons and/or strategy. they have to just stick with one or the other to have a chance at any real success or team growth this season. IT CAN NOT BE BOTH OF THEM.

my personal opinion: i get that gray has been patient and waited his turn behind adam weber (we can debate whether that was the right move by the previous coaching regime in another thread and at another time), but i really do believe that shortell (even as a true freshman and even though gray can run outside of the pocket well) gives OUR gophers the best chance to win games THIS season.

i just don't know if gray has the passing skills to ever get other teams to HAVE TO respect that he might throw the ball downfield and connect and thus play their defenses accordingly. right now it seems that most teams do not believe that gray can pass downfield with any real consistency and are doing nothing but stacking the box on many plays. thus having the effect of making both our passing AND rushing games far less effective than i believe they could be if a true pocket pass like shortell was the one taking snaps under center.
 

Shortell's running is better than Gray's passing.
 


station19 said:
Shortell's running is better than Gray's passing.
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you may have just summed it up in one short sentence. have to agree here.

how does the team react and play if gray gets pulled for shortell? do they realize it is just part of the business of college football that wins matter the most in the end and play harder? or would some revolt?
 

McKnight would probably support the move.
supadupafly said:
you may have just summed it up in one short sentence. have to agree here.

how does the team react and play if gray gets pulled for shortell? do they realize it is just part of the business of college football that wins matter the most in the end and play harder? or would some revolt?
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I get frustrated watching the defense. If anyone watched the Pitt/Notre Dame game yesterday, you heard 100x that Pitt was ranked 119th against the pass. So how did they counter this? Disguising blitzes and making the ND QB have to over-analyze the situation. I have yet to see our defense create confusion. Even if we can't muster a pass rush, we can at least try and get into the opposing QBs head.
 

The only reason I like the switching of qbs is that I think it might be a bit too much for Shortell to take on at this point in the season. Hopefully with a couple more games Shortell will be very comfortable with the offense and can take over full time. I don't see the point of throwing Shortell in there full time at this point, the season is a waste at this point so we may as well give Shortell time to grow into the position.
 

GopherInPittsburgh said:
I get frustrated watching the defense. If anyone watched the Pitt/Notre Dame game yesterday, you heard 100x that Pitt was ranked 119th against the pass. So how did they counter this? Disguising blitzes and making the ND QB have to over-analyze the situation. I have yet to see our defense create confusion. Even if we can't muster a pass rush, we can at least try and get into the opposing QBs head.
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This is exactly right.

As to the QB situation, I actually like the dual QB format for now. Do we really think that if Shortell was named the full time started before the season, that USC and NDSU would have had such problems with him? No way! They prepared mostly for Gray, so its no wonder that a QB with an entirely different skillset would cause some confusion for the opposition.

That being said, the OP is generally right, two QBs is not a long-term answer, but a short-term one.
 



GopherInPittsburgh said:
I get frustrated watching the defense. If anyone watched the Pitt/Notre Dame game yesterday, you heard 100x that Pitt was ranked 119th against the pass. So how did they counter this? Disguising blitzes and making the ND QB have to over-analyze the situation. I have yet to see our defense create confusion. Even if we can't muster a pass rush, we can at least try and get into the opposing QBs head.
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I agree, but did you see the U do this last night? They missed the tackle of the QB and RB in the backfield many times or they lost containment. They were mixing it up.
 

Somebody posted yesterday that if Shortell were full time he would get killed back there with the way our oline is playing. I totally agree with this so maybe thats what the coaching staff is thinking.
 

Fuzzy Rumpton said:
Somebody posted yesterday that if Shortell were full time he would get killed back there with the way our oline is playing. I totally agree with this so maybe thats what the coaching staff is thinking.
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Why would he get killed back there?
 

When you have two quarterbacks, in reality you don't have any.

Whether Gray can become the passer we need is an open question. If memory serves, he was recruited to play in the spread, not to be a pocket passer. Kill's system requires more of the latter and less of the former than (for now) seems to be the best fit for Gray's skills.
 



I agree they need to settle on one and at this point from my POV it should be Shortell. I was in favor of seeing them split time until Big Ten season.

In the grand scheme of things I don't know if it will matter. I saw guys completely whiffing on blocks several times yesterday.
 

beat the dead horse party

Late to the beat the dead horse party. My first post here. I love the U. I wasn’t born in U.S. But I know one name before coming to U.S. This is Herb Brook! You can’t win the game without having confidence in your player period. That’s Borrk did. One thing that really ticked me off about this coaching stuff is pulling player confidence all the way to the center of the earth. Sorry to see that.
When you have Shortell who can throw, who has poise, and who can make big difference in passing game. God damn don’t give a S*IT about lack of talent. If I’m an coaching from opposite side, whenever I see Shortell I’ll tell my defense to concern more about passing, and if I see Gray, I’ll tell stack the box with 9 men. Are we that dumb? You can have excellent strategy for the long term revival of the program. You can also preach patient. If you’re incompetent tactician, all of your strategies will get you and your team (or army or business) no where. Hope this coaching stuff understands that having excellent plan and stable team is a great thing, but if your tactic is suck as H*LL, the end game will be disastrous outcome.
Going back my statement about Brook, he is not only a great strategist, but also a master tactician.
That being said no excuses to lose NDSU. If Brooks still alive today, he must be miserable to see the state of Gopher programs. Sad Sad days to be Gophers………
One more thing. When the roof is leaking, you can’t blame the wet floor. It is all about leadership. From Maturi to Kill to Smith to Lucia, they need to check themselves about their business plan. It is nice to hear about academic, student athletic, ..etc. End of the day, W or L is the one make big difference. It is all business.
 


Exactly! Ding Dinggg Dinggggg! One of my boss said to me once, if everyone is in charge, no one is in charge.
 


I don't think he would get killed at all. For one, he can actually complete a quick slant or screen passes for quick release, which would spread the defense out. That opens up opportunities for the long ball or for the run. With the entire opposing team's defense in the box, it is about quick releases. Gray seems unable to read the field and make those connections. He either holds onto the ball and runs, or he holds on and gets sacked. Many have already pointed this out...but you need a quarterback that the defense will respect. Then different options open up.
 

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