Which would you prefer against New Mexico State

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husker70

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A defensive effort that shuts out New Mexico State, gets a couple sacks, and a couple turnovers. The game is played on the New Mexico State side of the field. The offense is crisp, sustains long drives, and puts up 3-4 TD and a field goal or two. In short, the final score is 34-0.


Or, The offensive broadens the playbook, Gray is unstopable on the perimeter, the offense runs up the score, Shortell comes in the third quarter and we end up with 6 TDs and 2 Field goals. New Mexicio State has a couple big plays and nets 3-10 points.
The 48-10 screnario.

No picking this, chosing that. And finding a 48-0.
 

This program should worry about winning games first regardless of the margin of victory. How many times have we seen this movie before where people debate about how bad they're going to blow someone out and they go lay an egg. We saw one terrible half and one decent half on Saturday. Which half better represents this team? Who knows at this point. The adjustments and focus after halftime were nice to see for once. We talk about miscommunication on the sidelines as a crutch or excuse for the early struggles yet if it weren't for the exact same miscommunication, the USC center doesn't prematurely snap the ball over Barkley's head as the Trojans were marching effortlessly down the field for a 26-3 lead. That 14 point swing was huge and the only reason they had a chance at the end. We need to see a punishing ground game vs. NMSU and the DE's need to wake up and get some pressure on a QB for once. Barkley barely got touched on Saturday and NMSU can supposedly throw the ball a bit.
 

For me that's an easy choice.

I always go with the stronger D play. We need a D that can keep us in the game and a chance to win at the end if behind. Plus a D that can hold a lead.

From what I have read, NMS will test our pass D once again. It wouldn't surprise me to see them throwi it up over 50 times after watching the USC tape.
 

Art Vandelay said:
This program should worry about winning games first regardless of the margin of victory. How many times have we seen this movie before where people debate about how bad they're going to blow someone out and they go lay an egg. We saw one terrible half and one decent half on Saturday. Which half better represents this team? Who knows at this point. The adjustments and focus after halftime were nice to see for once. We talk about miscommunication on the sidelines as a crutch or excuse for the early struggles yet if it weren't for the exact same miscommunication, the USC center doesn't prematurely snap the ball over Barkley's head as the Trojans were marching effortlessly down the field for a 26-3 lead. That 14 point swing was huge and the only reason they had a chance at the end. We need to see a punishing ground game vs. NMSU and the DE's need to wake up and get some pressure on a QB for once. Barkley barely got touched on Saturday and NMSU can supposedly throw the ball a bit.
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Art Art Art, you might want to rethink that remark.
 

I would love to see a very strong defensive showing. It has been so long since we have had a respectable defense. A strong defense seems to keep you in games that you don't belong in.
 


I will take the 48-10 scenario. Know one could touch Barkley throwing 3 step, 2 second passes. I watched the NMSU tape on espn3. No fan support, this is a poor team that will be used as a tune up. I think Kill could hang 60 if He wants to. He will work on different aspects and not show too much to Miami. Final score 44-6.
 


This thread reminds me eerily of one I read prior to the South Dakota game last year.

I really want this next game over and done with, ha. All I want is to win.
 

Strong defense and strong run game. I could care less what the score is as long as the good guys have more than the bad guys.

But I want to see a strong defensive and running games.
 




I want to see us dominate someone. It's been awhile and NMSU does not appear to be a good team.

A close win would be a 'moral loss' as much as USC was a moral victory. Speaking as a fan of course.
 

station19 said:
Potential 14 pt swing, maybe.

The Gophers did not score on the play and USC was in a 4th down situation.

The result of the play was 40-45 yd change in field position.
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I think by "14 point swing," he meant the Gophers scored 14 points in the second half, which is 100% true. I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at, if you'd care to clarify.
 

Most fans, like Coach Kill and every other CFB coach, want to see improvement in all facets and not one specific area.

And while we don't know much about our team based on 2 completely different halves, we do know that we will have a team that makes effort to play hard and is held accountable in doing so. I've said all along to my family that I don't want to see kids "quitting" on the football field and with a Coach Kill led team, I don't think we will see that.

As for the South Dakota comparison, I don't think that is fair. We are coming off a loss, not a win. The mentality / mind-set in preparation will be completely different. We have a head coach that has prepared for 201 collegiate football games over an 18 year span (with stability in staff) and not a 3 year coach with a 14-24 career (and revolving staff door).

Emphasis this week, like any week, will be about improving skill sets, techniques, having discipline, and working hard. If they don't perform and improve, there will be accountability.
 



Cayman said:
I think by "14 point swing," he meant the Gophers scored 14 points in the second half, which is 100% true. I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at, if you'd care to clarify.
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By the context of the message, I took it (and so did station) as he meant USC would roll down the field and score a TD (the 26-3 comment). The other 7 points were us not scoring as a result. I love how 'Gopher fans', like Art, throw out hypotheticals to make the game look worse than it was. What happened, happened. Now if people would stop quoting Art, I wouldn't have to read his remarks. I love the ignore feature.

Oh...Art, I wouldn't say that we had a terrible half followed by a decent half. I'd say we had a fairly bad half (feeling out process) and a damn good half. We outplayed USC in the 2nd half.

To get back to the OP...I'd much rather have the D dominate. Having said that, we need to walk before we run. I just want a victory, where both sides of the ball look crisp and prepared. Stop laying eggs against bad teams.
 

Cayman said:
I think by "14 point swing," he meant the Gophers scored 14 points in the second half, which is 100% true. I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at, if you'd care to clarify.
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I'll try.

...USC center doesn't prematurely snap the ball over Barkley's head as the Trojans were marching effortlessly down the field for a 26-3 lead. That 14 point swing....

The '14 pt swing' seems to refer to the high snap play. There were no points scored by the Gophers on the play and there is no asssurance USC would even have gotten a first down much less a td.

If he is talking about a 14 pt swing of the entire second half, said play would be one(yes a big one) of many plays.

A 14 pt swing would be if usc was virtualy in the endzone and the Gophers took a fumble or a pick back for a td.(make that a 12-16 pt swing if Kiffin were coaching both teams).:)
 

I hope to see the Gophers RUN the ball on offense and...

STOP the run on defense. That will mean that the offensive line is working on their run blocking and that the running backs are learning how to be Big Ten running backs. Pound the ball. Control the clock Force the opponent to put 8 or 9 in the box and still pick up some first downs on the ground. Then, make 'em pay for selling out to stop the run with some slants and quick hitting passes. Let's see some tight ends on the field...blocking and catching the ball. It is time to start working on PHYSICAL football. The ONLY way to learn how to do that is just to DO IT! It doesn't have to be cute and it doesn't have to be fancy. This should be the perfect game to "try on" the physical style of football that any and every Big Ten Team NEEDS to be able to play when the cold winds of late October and November arrive as they surely will arrive in TCF BANK STADIUM and in stadiums from Lincoln to State College, PA and in every Big Ten stadium in between, that last half of the Big Ten Season!

And by stopping the run, the front 7 will be learning the tricks of the trade for Big Ten front 7s. Put 7 or 8 in the box until the opposition is FORCED to pass. Then, tee-up on the qb and force the issue. Dictate to the opposition's offense what they will need to try to do to move the ball. Then learn how to get to the quarterback.

Dictate how the game will be played and then do what needs to be done. The only way to learn how to do that is to DO IT.
 

Art Vandelay said:
This program should worry about winning games first regardless of the margin of victory. How many times have we seen this movie before where people debate about how bad they're going to blow someone out and they go lay an egg. We saw one terrible half and one decent half on Saturday. Which half better represents this team? Who knows at this point. The adjustments and focus after halftime were nice to see for once. We talk about miscommunication on the sidelines as a crutch or excuse for the early struggles yet if it weren't for the exact same miscommunication, the USC center doesn't prematurely snap the ball over Barkley's head as the Trojans were marching effortlessly down the field for a 26-3 lead. That 14 point swing was huge and the only reason they had a chance at the end. We need to see a punishing ground game vs. NMSU and the DE's need to wake up and get some pressure on a QB for once. Barkley barely got touched on Saturday and NMSU can supposedly throw the ball a bit.
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I don't agree with you often Art, but you're dead nuts on. It seems that pre-hype came up before the first NDSU game. I will say this, Barkley ran mostly quick rhyem passes. Pretty hard to get to the QB when you're doing that.
 

Art, nice to see you paroled, cured, released, found, reinstated, whatever. Haven't heard much from you lately, and GH hasn't been the same without your positivity. Actually have to agree with you on the lets just get a win first, preferably with a lot of improvement . This program isn't in the position where we should be debating how we want the victory to look.

The snap over the head "what if" could be applied to every play of a football game and is a silly argument to use which is why Ruesse's column was such poor one. Are you also from Fulda by any chance?
 

I want to see a win. I won't even mind if we struggle some, as long as we win. I would like to see our running game click and a couple of sacks of their QB would also be nice.
 

I'd rather the shutout, but as long as the Gophers have one in the W column by Saturday night I'll be happy.
 

ButchNashGuy said:
I would love to see a very strong defensive showing. It has been so long since we have had a respectable defense. A strong defense seems to keep you in games that you don't belong in.
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We have a winner!
 

Agree with Art. Winning the game is the first order of business and I'll settle for a win of any kind.

What I'd like to see is a game where we play crisply with few mistakes and, for lack of a better term, a "forward" lean.
 

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