GiantsOfTheNorth
Passionate Member
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- Oct 24, 2011
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LONG VERSION:
So I've been lurking on here for a few years, only posting a handful of times, so I thought I'd do a first "formal" post. I've been a lifelong Gopher fan, and listened on the radio with my dad and brother to all the Gopher games growing up. My grandfather on my dad's side of the family was a huge fan as well, often fondly recalling the glory days of the 30's and 40's - his favorite Gopher memory a goalline stand against Pittsburgh in 1934 to preserve a 13-7 victory, which he listened to on the radio when he was 15 years old. My great-grandfather on my dad's side was a reporter for the Gopher football team in the years before and during Bernie Bierman's tenure, having 50-yard line seats in Memorial Stadium during the glory years. One of my family's most cherished heirlooms is a press pass from the 30's signed by Bernie Bierman himself! My grandfather always told the story about how my great-grandfather gave "Bronko" Nagurski his nickname (although I suspect some embellishment!). My grandfather also reminisced about time he spent in his youth at a summer camp in northern Minnesota, where Bronko was working as a counselor. He said that when his new boots were rubbing and his feet were sore, Bronko carried him back to the camp. He also talked about a boat oar (which my dad later showed me) that Bronko engraved with my grandfather's name, saying he always wished Bronko would have engraved it with his own name. My grandfather on my mom's side of the family is also a huge Gopher fan, having attended the famous snowy victory over USC in 1955, as well as the 16-0 trouncing of #1 Michigan in 1977. He has been retired for years but currently works on the Event Staff and thus attends every home football game.
Beating Ohio State in Columbus for the first time in 53 years is my best Gopher memory, when my dad, brother, and I were listening to the game on the radio and then decided to go to a restaurant to watch it on TV. There was one other Gopher fan there and we were all going crazy! I'm as big of a Gopher fan as anyone, and many of my best childhood memories are of Gopher football games listened to with my family. Even when the Gophers were awful on the field, I always looked forward to every season. The common love for the Gophers always superseded differences and brought my extended family together.
I attended the game on Saturday and had a blast experiencing the atmosphere even with the loss. I was also at the 2003 Michigan debacle when I was 10 years old, and 10 years later I think there is a completely different, hopeful feel about Gopher football. Before and during Saturday's game, I was thinking about how fortunate we are to actually have an on-campus stadium once again - people quickly forget that we could still be in the Metrodome. We have 4 rivalries with some of the most storied programs in college football, which include (in my opinion) the three best travelling-trophies in sports. 7 national championships, 18 Big Ten titles (good for third-most of any team in the conference), and a Heisman winner are all things other programs would kill for.
As for the AXE GAME...
First off, the defense played very well, especially considering wisconsin (I refuse to capitalize this word, or words related to it) had the ball for over 11 minutes more than the Gophers did. We held them to their lowest point total all season, as well as second-fewest rushing yards (only Ohio State held them to less). After the 49-yard run by White, during which we had chances to down him at least twice near the line of scrimmage, we held him to only 76 yards on the ground. What was most encouraging about the defense was that Hageman didn't make all the plays by himself. In fact, he has been relatively quiet statistically since the Nebraska game. The linebacker corps has been a very pleasant surprise this year and was a big part of our solid defensive play on Saturday. Damien Wilson was again very active, and is emerging as possibly our best run-stopping linebacker for some time. This is very encouraging considering linebacker was most likely the biggest defensive question coming into this season. The defensive line made a herculean effort against sconnie's monster o-line, keeping at bay arguably the best (and easily the most well-known) rushing offense in the country. The defensive backs as a unit played average, providing decent enough coverage and good run support but also drew several pass interference calls and had their backs turned to an errant Stave pass into the end zone that would have been an easy interception.
Believe me, I'm the first person wishing we would have executed better on offense and beat the bucking fadgers. However, we started two freshman WRs and a frosh tight end, in addition to missing our leading receiver because of injury. Our leading rusher wasn't even on the depth chart at the beginning of the year, our leading rusher from last year was a total non-factor this season due to injury, and our only running back with top-end speed (Berkley Edwards) never saw the field. Our biggest home-run threat at this point in the year is probably Donovahn Jones and he was a non-factor until the Nebraska game. Don't forget how the departure of our leading receiver last year, Barker, impacted both the stability of the team and offensive production this season. Even worse, we lost arguably our best recruit and top Minnesota prospect in Andre McDonald.
Sure, we dropped balls and Nelson made some poor decisions, but we were going up against a defense that ranked in the top 5 nationally in certain defensive statistical categories, as well as near the top of the Big Ten (second to MSU). Furthermore, Borland tied the NCAA-record for career forced fumbles by stripping Cobb in the second half - he's an amazing football player and had 12 tackles. The fumble by Nelson in the first half was clearly the turning-point in the game, and was the result of a very poor decision by Nelson to hold onto the ball for too long. He had an open target on that 3rd and 10 that would have been a first down if caught, but decided to wait and go for a bigger gain - underclassman mistake - and that split-second hesitation resulted in a fumble. That said, we have a large number of underclassmen overall, but especially at the offensive skill positions. I'm not one to usually complain about officiating, but there were several times when I thought defensive pass interference could/should have been called on the badgers. As for the Top 25 ranking we earned this season, in my opinion our team was profoundly lucky to achieve this considering the adversity we have faced this season, particularly regarding Coach Kill's health.
As for our fairly anemic offense against becky (talent of opposing defense, adverse weather conditions, and youth aside), I would much rather develop a strong defense first and fill-in the offense second. It seems to me as if Gopher fans have an incredibly short memory regarding the painful effects of the offensive-defensive imbalance in the coaching philosophies of Brewster, Mason, and Wacker. Look at Illinois and Indiana - both teams have highly potent offenses early in their coach's stint (2nd year for Beckman, 4th year for Wilson). They obviously have developed offense first and are struggling mightily because of essentially nonexistent defense.
At the end of the day, we are 8-3 in Year 3 of the Jerry Kill era, with an outside chance at only our second 10-win season since 1905. The badgers have been building their program since 1990, when they (1) decided they wanted to be good in football and (2) got very lucky in acquiring once-in-a-lifetime coach Alvarez. That's a big advantage, and we still gave them a ballgame with all of their size and talent - ultimately beating ourselves. We have gotten progressively closer to beating wisky every year of Kill's tenure: 42-13 in 2011, 38-13 in 2012, and now 20-7 in 2013. We gave up 197 yards rushing to wisky on Saturday, compared to 337 in 2012, and even in 2011 Kill's squad showed tenacity by still fighting after going down 21-0 at home to the Russel Wilson dream team. I'm not trying to make excuses and search for moral victories, but I'm the most excited I've ever been about Gopher football. For the first time in 60+ years, we have the backing of the University with Kahler, the Board of Regents, and Teague all firmly behind Gopher football. I know I haven't seen 40+ years of disappointment like a lot of fans on here, but I've seen my fair share and a true fan supports their team nomatter what - although our greater fanbase will return with winning. Call me an eternal optimist, but mark my words, Jerry Kill will have a bronze statue outside the Bank one day - hopefully next to one of Bronko Nagurski holding up the plow.
TLDR VERSION:
Lots of closet/dormant Gopher football fans across the state that have turned off emotionally due to our inconsistency, but these can be nearly instantly reclaimed by winning and the football program finally has genuine backing from the University of Minnesota - the future is bright for long term competitiveness and success on the field.
So I've been lurking on here for a few years, only posting a handful of times, so I thought I'd do a first "formal" post. I've been a lifelong Gopher fan, and listened on the radio with my dad and brother to all the Gopher games growing up. My grandfather on my dad's side of the family was a huge fan as well, often fondly recalling the glory days of the 30's and 40's - his favorite Gopher memory a goalline stand against Pittsburgh in 1934 to preserve a 13-7 victory, which he listened to on the radio when he was 15 years old. My great-grandfather on my dad's side was a reporter for the Gopher football team in the years before and during Bernie Bierman's tenure, having 50-yard line seats in Memorial Stadium during the glory years. One of my family's most cherished heirlooms is a press pass from the 30's signed by Bernie Bierman himself! My grandfather always told the story about how my great-grandfather gave "Bronko" Nagurski his nickname (although I suspect some embellishment!). My grandfather also reminisced about time he spent in his youth at a summer camp in northern Minnesota, where Bronko was working as a counselor. He said that when his new boots were rubbing and his feet were sore, Bronko carried him back to the camp. He also talked about a boat oar (which my dad later showed me) that Bronko engraved with my grandfather's name, saying he always wished Bronko would have engraved it with his own name. My grandfather on my mom's side of the family is also a huge Gopher fan, having attended the famous snowy victory over USC in 1955, as well as the 16-0 trouncing of #1 Michigan in 1977. He has been retired for years but currently works on the Event Staff and thus attends every home football game.
Beating Ohio State in Columbus for the first time in 53 years is my best Gopher memory, when my dad, brother, and I were listening to the game on the radio and then decided to go to a restaurant to watch it on TV. There was one other Gopher fan there and we were all going crazy! I'm as big of a Gopher fan as anyone, and many of my best childhood memories are of Gopher football games listened to with my family. Even when the Gophers were awful on the field, I always looked forward to every season. The common love for the Gophers always superseded differences and brought my extended family together.
I attended the game on Saturday and had a blast experiencing the atmosphere even with the loss. I was also at the 2003 Michigan debacle when I was 10 years old, and 10 years later I think there is a completely different, hopeful feel about Gopher football. Before and during Saturday's game, I was thinking about how fortunate we are to actually have an on-campus stadium once again - people quickly forget that we could still be in the Metrodome. We have 4 rivalries with some of the most storied programs in college football, which include (in my opinion) the three best travelling-trophies in sports. 7 national championships, 18 Big Ten titles (good for third-most of any team in the conference), and a Heisman winner are all things other programs would kill for.
As for the AXE GAME...
First off, the defense played very well, especially considering wisconsin (I refuse to capitalize this word, or words related to it) had the ball for over 11 minutes more than the Gophers did. We held them to their lowest point total all season, as well as second-fewest rushing yards (only Ohio State held them to less). After the 49-yard run by White, during which we had chances to down him at least twice near the line of scrimmage, we held him to only 76 yards on the ground. What was most encouraging about the defense was that Hageman didn't make all the plays by himself. In fact, he has been relatively quiet statistically since the Nebraska game. The linebacker corps has been a very pleasant surprise this year and was a big part of our solid defensive play on Saturday. Damien Wilson was again very active, and is emerging as possibly our best run-stopping linebacker for some time. This is very encouraging considering linebacker was most likely the biggest defensive question coming into this season. The defensive line made a herculean effort against sconnie's monster o-line, keeping at bay arguably the best (and easily the most well-known) rushing offense in the country. The defensive backs as a unit played average, providing decent enough coverage and good run support but also drew several pass interference calls and had their backs turned to an errant Stave pass into the end zone that would have been an easy interception.
Believe me, I'm the first person wishing we would have executed better on offense and beat the bucking fadgers. However, we started two freshman WRs and a frosh tight end, in addition to missing our leading receiver because of injury. Our leading rusher wasn't even on the depth chart at the beginning of the year, our leading rusher from last year was a total non-factor this season due to injury, and our only running back with top-end speed (Berkley Edwards) never saw the field. Our biggest home-run threat at this point in the year is probably Donovahn Jones and he was a non-factor until the Nebraska game. Don't forget how the departure of our leading receiver last year, Barker, impacted both the stability of the team and offensive production this season. Even worse, we lost arguably our best recruit and top Minnesota prospect in Andre McDonald.
Sure, we dropped balls and Nelson made some poor decisions, but we were going up against a defense that ranked in the top 5 nationally in certain defensive statistical categories, as well as near the top of the Big Ten (second to MSU). Furthermore, Borland tied the NCAA-record for career forced fumbles by stripping Cobb in the second half - he's an amazing football player and had 12 tackles. The fumble by Nelson in the first half was clearly the turning-point in the game, and was the result of a very poor decision by Nelson to hold onto the ball for too long. He had an open target on that 3rd and 10 that would have been a first down if caught, but decided to wait and go for a bigger gain - underclassman mistake - and that split-second hesitation resulted in a fumble. That said, we have a large number of underclassmen overall, but especially at the offensive skill positions. I'm not one to usually complain about officiating, but there were several times when I thought defensive pass interference could/should have been called on the badgers. As for the Top 25 ranking we earned this season, in my opinion our team was profoundly lucky to achieve this considering the adversity we have faced this season, particularly regarding Coach Kill's health.
As for our fairly anemic offense against becky (talent of opposing defense, adverse weather conditions, and youth aside), I would much rather develop a strong defense first and fill-in the offense second. It seems to me as if Gopher fans have an incredibly short memory regarding the painful effects of the offensive-defensive imbalance in the coaching philosophies of Brewster, Mason, and Wacker. Look at Illinois and Indiana - both teams have highly potent offenses early in their coach's stint (2nd year for Beckman, 4th year for Wilson). They obviously have developed offense first and are struggling mightily because of essentially nonexistent defense.
At the end of the day, we are 8-3 in Year 3 of the Jerry Kill era, with an outside chance at only our second 10-win season since 1905. The badgers have been building their program since 1990, when they (1) decided they wanted to be good in football and (2) got very lucky in acquiring once-in-a-lifetime coach Alvarez. That's a big advantage, and we still gave them a ballgame with all of their size and talent - ultimately beating ourselves. We have gotten progressively closer to beating wisky every year of Kill's tenure: 42-13 in 2011, 38-13 in 2012, and now 20-7 in 2013. We gave up 197 yards rushing to wisky on Saturday, compared to 337 in 2012, and even in 2011 Kill's squad showed tenacity by still fighting after going down 21-0 at home to the Russel Wilson dream team. I'm not trying to make excuses and search for moral victories, but I'm the most excited I've ever been about Gopher football. For the first time in 60+ years, we have the backing of the University with Kahler, the Board of Regents, and Teague all firmly behind Gopher football. I know I haven't seen 40+ years of disappointment like a lot of fans on here, but I've seen my fair share and a true fan supports their team nomatter what - although our greater fanbase will return with winning. Call me an eternal optimist, but mark my words, Jerry Kill will have a bronze statue outside the Bank one day - hopefully next to one of Bronko Nagurski holding up the plow.
TLDR VERSION:
Lots of closet/dormant Gopher football fans across the state that have turned off emotionally due to our inconsistency, but these can be nearly instantly reclaimed by winning and the football program finally has genuine backing from the University of Minnesota - the future is bright for long term competitiveness and success on the field.
