Thank you for not sugar-coating it Souhan!

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re Souhan...

"Football is a game of preparation, athletic ability, skill, precision and decision-making, and Minnesota failed in all of those categories Saturday."

Souhan's IL grade for the Gs: F

Agreed..."rock-bottom" achieved...move on...off the bottom.
 

I agree. Next weekend until this weekend next year is where it should count for Brewster. I hope Maturi can make a decision during the first weekend of November when we're coming off the PSU and OSU games, and we will have played Wisconsin. Making the move one way or another during this weekend next year will allow Coach Brewster to keep his recruiting class together and add a few more playesr if he needs to with an extension, or it will allow us to be one of the first teams to be looking and make in-roads on the hot new names or those established coaches looking for a new place.
 

While there was some truth to this column, there was too much stupid stuff for it to qualify as journalism in any form.

Glen Mason's big 10 record in his six years was 2-6, 3-5, 5-3, 3-5, 4-4 and 3-5. Glen had two winning Big 10 records in his last six years. I like ignoring the first 4 years because this gives us an opportunity to assess Glen with his players, while many people want to judge Brewster with Glen's players and not give him the opportunity to play with his own players. Using Glen's overall record each year with horrible opponents is an obvious slant and bad journalism.

The team lost because it wasn't mentally focused. I don't fault Brewster for trying to stay positive and keep the team's confidence.

Souhan bag's on anybody predicting a 6-6 gopher season as improvement or success. There's no way any non-partisan person should have picked the Gophers to win more then seven games. Most non-partisan people likely picked the gophers to be 6-6 or 7-5. I can't believe how many people on this board picked them to have more then seven wins. It would be nice to Souhan to indicate what he predicted and why.

Souhan actually used a bullet to highlight nothing. He goes on about gumption to play well from the start. Apparently the editors were out drinking last night.

This is one of the worst columns Souhan has written.
 


From the article:

"Can we Taser anyone who suggests that a 6-6 record this season, given the mediocrity of the Big Ten, is an accomplishment, or a sign of progress?"


Gopherhole posters, READ THIS! Half of you would be dead because you would have been tasered to death.
 


GoldInDirt said:
While there was some truth to this column, there was too much stupid stuff for it to qualify as journalism in any form.

Glen Mason's big 10 record in his six years was 2-6, 3-5, 5-3, 3-5, 4-4 and 3-5. Glen had two winning Big 10 records in his last six years. I like ignoring the first 4 years because this gives us an opportunity to assess Glen with his players, while many people want to judge Brewster with Glen's players and not give him the opportunity to play with his own players. Using Glen's overall record each year with horrible opponents is an obvious slant and bad journalism.

The team lost because it wasn't mentally focused. I don't fault Brewster for trying to stay positive and keep the team's confidence.

Souhan bag's on anybody predicting a 6-6 gopher season as improvement or success. There's no way any non-partisan person should have picked the Gophers to win more then same games. Most non-partisan people likely picked the gophers to be 6-6 or 7-5. I can't believe how many people on this board picked them to have more then seven wins. It would be nice to Souhan to indicate what he predicted and why.

Souhan actually used a bullet to highlight nothing. He goes on about gumption to play well from the start. Apparently the editors were out drinking last night.

This is one of the worst columns Souhan has written.
Click to expand...

Large number of returning starters plus mediocre at best Big 10 should equal more wins than last season.
 

GoldInDirt said:
Souhan bag's on anybody predicting a 6-6 gopher season as improvement or success. There's no way any non-partisan person should have picked the Gophers to win more then same games. Most non-partisan people likely picked the gophers to be 6-6 or 7-5. I can't believe how many people on this board picked them to have more then seven wins. It would be nice to Souhan to indicate what he predicted and why.
Click to expand...


I'm not sure why so many people seem to think that meeting the expectations of prognosticators is the same as having a successful season. These are many of the same people that have a problem with the preseason top 25 rankings having too much of an impact later in the season after everybody has been watching the same games. A team's projected record can and should be changed week to week based on how well the team and their opponents are playing.

Michigan State and Illinois have underachieved this season, and the Gophers should have won both of those games. Everybody expected Iowa to be better than the Gophers, and they have been all season, but when Stanzi went down on Saturday that opened the door for a win in Iowa City. When a team plays poorly and doesn't meet its expectations, or an injury completely changes the makeup of a team you can adjust your expectations as a fan.

A win in Iowa City is still a good thing because the Gophers never win there, but even if they pull out a win saying this season is a success is nuts because the Gophers should have beat Illinois and finished with an 8-4 record. You can argue that 9-3 would have been the marker for a successful season as the Wisconsin game was very winnable.
 



Can't disagree with anything Souhan said. The proof was in the pudding.
 

chi-town gopher said:
I'm not sure why so many people seem to think that meeting the expectations of prognosticators is the same as having a successful season. These are many of the same people that have a problem with the preseason top 25 rankings having too much of an impact later in the season after everybody has been watching the same games. A team's projected record can and should be changed week to week based on how well the team and their opponents are playing.

Michigan State and Illinois have underachieved this season, and the Gophers should have won both of those games. Everybody expected Iowa to be better than the Gophers, and they have been all season, but when Stanzi went down on Saturday that opened the door for a win in Iowa City. When a team plays poorly and doesn't meet its expectations, or an injury completely changes the makeup of a team you can adjust your expectations as a fan.

A win in Iowa City is still a good thing because the Gophers never win there, but even if they pull out a win saying this season is a success is nuts because the Gophers should have beat Illinois and finished with an 8-4 record. You can argue that 9-3 would have been the marker for a successful season as the Wisconsin game was very winnable.
Click to expand...

Regarding prognosticators and success - Typically they look at schedule and quality of athletes. If you exceed their guesses you're over achieving and vice versa. A lot of people started raising their expectations during this season - I don't understand why.

You say Michigan St. and Illinois are underachieving this season, but I can't tell if you're implying that we're underachieving or if you think we're having a good season. If we're underachieving similarly to Mich St. and Illinois then maybe we split those two games. I think 9-3 would be a delusional record for anyone to expect. Previous threats have indicated we have the third or fourth worst talent in the Big 10 based on recruiting ranking. To expect we would beat everybody but the top two teams doesn't make sense.

A win against a team with only one current loss (Iowa) would certainly be a good thing. I would certainly trade an Iowa victory for an Illinois victory. I think a 4-4 Big 10 record would have been a success, and still do. I'm not happy about 3-5 but I don't think we should fire a brand new coach for it.

Swede said:
Large number of returning starters plus mediocre at best Big 10 should equal more wins than last season.
Click to expand...

I'll take the talent of Ohio St., Penn St. and Michigan any day over a bunch of average returning starters. Returning starters doesn't mean much. I expected us to beat Mich. St or Illinois. We've done that. Wisconsin was a wash in my expectation.

Handsome Pete said:
What about this is inaccurate.
Click to expand...

It doesn't have to be inaccurate to be a bad article. I think his use of records was greatly misleading and he just rambled on without making a point in other areas of the article.
 

GoldInDirt said:
Souhan bag's on anybody predicting a 6-6 gopher season as improvement or success. There's no way any non-partisan person should have picked the Gophers to win more then seven games. Most non-partisan people likely picked the gophers to be 6-6 or 7-5.
Click to expand...

The final overall record will be one thing, but how the team got to the record is another. Were there any over-achieving wins? Were there any losses to teams they should have beaten? Were the Gophers competitive against the better teams on the schedule?

We may not like the answers to the above questions but the answers do matter. The record is one thing - the story behind the record is far more important for a rebuilding program IMO.
 

chi-town gopher said:
I'm not sure why so many people seem to think that meeting the expectations of prognosticators is the same as having a successful season. These are many of the same people that have a problem with the preseason top 25 rankings having too much of an impact later in the season after everybody has been watching the same games. A team's projected record can and should be changed week to week based on how well the team and their opponents are playing.

Michigan State and Illinois have underachieved this season, and the Gophers should have won both of those games. Everybody expected Iowa to be better than the Gophers, and they have been all season, but when Stanzi went down on Saturday that opened the door for a win in Iowa City. When a team plays poorly and doesn't meet its expectations, or an injury completely changes the makeup of a team you can adjust your expectations as a fan.

A win in Iowa City is still a good thing because the Gophers never win there, but even if they pull out a win saying this season is a success is nuts because the Gophers should have beat Illinois and finished with an 8-4 record. You can argue that 9-3 would have been the marker for a successful season as the Wisconsin game was very winnable.
Click to expand...

No, I don't consider this season a "success", and I really don't think you will hear any of the players and coaches (when prompted off the record) proclaim it as such either. Brewster isn't the type to sit there and slam on his guys after a tough loss (not publicly), so I'm not sure what Souhan was looking for in this case. Maybe he thinks he should do that? I guess that's his opinion, but you aren't gonna hear that from Brewster in a post game presser.

On that note, I don't think this year's been an utter disaster like some seem to act like either. The team has had its ups and downs, and have pretty much proven what everyone thought of them: They are an average team. It would be nice to be that team that surprised and rose up and challenged for a title, but things happened to prevent that, and not just coaching. Sometimes things just don't work out. But I do think they are showing signs of getting better, and for that, I give Brewster time to do his thing. Sometimes things can click quickly, sometimes they can take a little time. With the coordinator switchup, that probably extended that time a little bit. I'd like to see the entire staff stick around, come into next year in cohesion, and then see what happens before I put the death knell on Brewster and this staff.
 



Swede said:
Large number of returning starters plus mediocre at best Big 10 should equal more wins than last season.
Click to expand...

Umm....this might make sense if if weren't for the fact that the two teams the Gophers didn't play last year finished 1st and 3rd in the conference respectively (Penn State and Mich State) while the two teams they don't play this year are going to finish in the bottom 2 or 3 of the conference (Michigan and Indiana)

So no Swede, you are wrong. Thanks for playing!
 

Monty519 said:
No, I don't consider this season a "success", and I really don't think you will hear any of the players and coaches (when prompted off the record) proclaim it as such either. Brewster isn't the type to sit there and slam on his guys after a tough loss (not publicly), so I'm not sure what Souhan was looking for in this case. Maybe he thinks he should do that? I guess that's his opinion, but you aren't gonna hear that from Brewster in a post game presser.

On that note, I don't think this year's been an utter disaster like some seem to act like either. The team has had its ups and downs, and have pretty much proven what everyone thought of them: They are an average team. It would be nice to be that team that surprised and rose up and challenged for a title, but things happened to prevent that, and not just coaching. Sometimes things just don't work out. But I do think they are showing signs of getting better, and for that, I give Brewster time to do his thing. Sometimes things can click quickly, sometimes they can take a little time. With the coordinator switchup, that probably extended that time a little bit. I'd like to see the entire staff stick around, come into next year in cohesion, and then see what happens before I put the death knell on Brewster and this staff.
Click to expand...

Good Post.

I like Brewster quite a bit, and I agree with you that the team needs to have the entire coaching staff come back so they don't have to learn a brand new offense again. However, I don't fault the fans that are frustrated with Brewster and his staff because he was the one that made the bad hires for his coordinators in the first place. When somebody makes a few bad decisions, and then asks people to be patient with his latest decisions because progress takes time, it is easy to lose faith.

In my opinion Brewster has been a breath of fresh air in terms of his excitement and promotion of Gopher football. I love the way he has connected the team to past Gophers, his scheduling philosophy, and the way he has upgraded the talent level as well. Even though there have been some off the field issues, every week at the games a player is highlighted for his community service, and I think he is really pushing his players to be more visible in the community and to get involved. He has done enough good things where I am willing to give him 2 more years as the coach to see if he can get it done.

At the end of the day, not everybody cares about that stuff and that is ok. At some point you have to hold Brew accountable for wins and losses. When they play like that against a bad Illinois team missing their starting QB, I think Souhan had to call out the coach on praising the effort. That isn't always enough. The team looked awful against Illinois, and that has to change in the next two weeks.
 

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