I thought I would jump on the site and see a lot of posts really happy with the Gophers today. The running game was improved and the Dline did a great job keeping Kafka in the pocket and shutting down any running game.
The 3rd down defense was atrocious as we gave such large cushions that 3rd down completions were uncontested.
Adam Weber- maybe I am being too harsh on the kid, but his field awareness seems to not be improving (and possibly even going backwards). On a few of those play action passes in the second half, Weber had an eternity to find an open receiver and threw in to coverage. It sure appears like Green and Stoudermire have talent...it's hard to believe they are never open.
I thought the strangest call of the day was not Brewster declining the holding penalty (My theory is that he believed they would spot the ball more favorably for the Gophers than they did), but the decision to throw the fade on the last drive. We were under a minute to play and Northwestern had used all their timeouts. A run up the middle could have resulted in a TD and, if not, the ensuing FG would have been kicked with little time remaining.
Can't say enough good things about Decker, Tow-Arnett, and Eric Small today.
How great was it to see a Gopher defense make plays at the end of a game for once?
I can see why many Nebraska fans ranted against Cosgrove's defense against the spread. We got very good Dlline play, but the rest of the defense appeared to play very passively.
I was disappointed to see that Cal got trounced by an Oregon team that looked absolutely pathetic against Boise State. The Cal loss coupled with the improved play of Wisconsin today has me less confident about the Gophers going in to the battle for the axe.
We will need the run game to produce at a similar level, the pass defense to improve significantly, and a big play out of someone not named Decker or Tow-Arnett to win.
The 3rd down defense was atrocious as we gave such large cushions that 3rd down completions were uncontested.
Adam Weber- maybe I am being too harsh on the kid, but his field awareness seems to not be improving (and possibly even going backwards). On a few of those play action passes in the second half, Weber had an eternity to find an open receiver and threw in to coverage. It sure appears like Green and Stoudermire have talent...it's hard to believe they are never open.
I thought the strangest call of the day was not Brewster declining the holding penalty (My theory is that he believed they would spot the ball more favorably for the Gophers than they did), but the decision to throw the fade on the last drive. We were under a minute to play and Northwestern had used all their timeouts. A run up the middle could have resulted in a TD and, if not, the ensuing FG would have been kicked with little time remaining.
Can't say enough good things about Decker, Tow-Arnett, and Eric Small today.
How great was it to see a Gopher defense make plays at the end of a game for once?
I can see why many Nebraska fans ranted against Cosgrove's defense against the spread. We got very good Dlline play, but the rest of the defense appeared to play very passively.
I was disappointed to see that Cal got trounced by an Oregon team that looked absolutely pathetic against Boise State. The Cal loss coupled with the improved play of Wisconsin today has me less confident about the Gophers going in to the battle for the axe.
We will need the run game to produce at a similar level, the pass defense to improve significantly, and a big play out of someone not named Decker or Tow-Arnett to win.
