Why such college football ignorance in the TC area? Fixes?

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The Minnesota bandwagoner reputation isn't entirely true. Its not that people only become fans when a specific team does well, its that they move onto the next sport when a team is doing poorly. With the amount of pro and college sports in the Twin Cities, theres always the next sport to start cheering on.

Starting in the fall, you have Gopher football and the Vikings starting to play, so people will be paying attention to whichever is doing better. If/when they disappoint, then the Wolves, Wild and Gopher basketball and hockey start for the winter season. As you can see right now, the Wolves Wild and Gopher basketball aren't doing so hot, so youre going to see the Twins grabbing a lot of headlines over the next month and a half unless one of those three winter teams step up. Once baseball season starts they will be the primary focus until they are out of playoff contention...which would just so happen to coincide with the Vikings and Gophers starting football training camp in August.

Its not that people are bandwagoners in the sense that they aren't fans unless the team is winning, its that they move their attention onto the next sport when the last one disappoints. It just so happens that in Minnesota basically every team is disappointing, and therefore people are continually moving on.
 

GophersInIowa said:
As already mentioned, every fan base has bandwagon fans. I've lived a few different places around the country and I think there's just a general difference in what fans do once they are off the bandwagon.

Most places, when a fan jumps off the bandwagon, they just don't care that much anymore. They're almost more indifferent.

In MN, fans generally go from being a fan to actually enjoying a team's failures. This way they can enjoy the team when they are winning and call themselves a fan, and then enjoy the team sucking during the bad times because it's easy to pile on when things aren't going well.
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I also don't think that's abnormal at all, but I'm originally from Cleveland, where making fun of your team is a way of life.
 

Gopherprof said:
I also don't think that's abnormal at all, but I'm originally from Cleveland, where making fun of your team is a way of life.
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Making fun is one thing. Even I'll make fun of my favorite teams from time to time. I just think a lot of people get joy out of seeing some teams do poorly. It's almost like if they're not going to be great, then they hope they're awful.
 

SMU GOPHS FAN said:
I do think it is lazy reporting. Reps from Rivals, Scout, or whichever service you are talking about, all flat out admit the truly elite players are easy to figure out but after that it is simply a crapshoot. So why such an emphasis on it all? Because it sells. It is no different then Mel Kiper. Does anyone truly believe Kiper is a "draft expert"? He would be running his own team is he truly was. It is made for TV drama. If all of us stopped paying attention and reading the different recruting sites, it would all go away and the media wouldn't be able to point at it any longer.

We all know the haves select, they don't recruit. The rest have to recruit and develop. Kill chooses to recruit players that fit his system and develp them. Brewtser wanted "stars" and he got them, he just forgot or didn't know how to develop. The local media forgets to mention Brewster had such a highly rated class and still failed. But it is sure easy to point at Kill and say 12th out of 12 teams. Let's also not forget Brewster completely effed over the one true potential program changer this program has had in a long time.

Also, why doesn't local media ever bring to light that Wisconsin doesn't bring in top recruiting classes year in and year out, yet they have been to three straight Rose Bowls. Same thing with Iowa when they were rolling a few years back. They recruit to their systems and they develop. It's easy and lazy reporting by the local media to simpy point directly at the "rankings" as to why the Gophers haven't turned the corner. Their is so much more at play than that.
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SMU, this may be spiraling out of control. :)

The local media pointed out Brewster's failures all the time. Gleefully even. If you remember they first tried to deny and downplay the class ranking and then they spent years ridiculing it's lack of success. Though they, and people on here by the way, also conveniently forgot when they praise this year's Defense that most of the impact players were Brewster's recruits. They got better coaching to be sure, but they weren't picked-out by Kill.

As for Iowa and Wisconsin, maybe you've done the research because I truly haven't. How many of their successful teams were composed of bottom ranked recruiting classes? I'm guessing not many, but I don't know.

Honestly, wouldn't you be a lot happier if this year the Gophers had a Top Twenty Class AND it was going to be coached by Kill and Company? I know I would. Oh, and anybody who heard Claeys or Kill talk yesterday and thinks that they WOULDN'T have wanted to get some of those 4 or 5 Star players wasn't listening.

Here's to hoping for the best. :drink:
 

kasu327 said:
The Minnesota bandwagoner reputation isn't entirely true. Its not that people only become fans when a specific team does well, its that they move onto the next sport when a team is doing poorly. With the amount of pro and college sports in the Twin Cities, theres always the next sport to start cheering on.

Starting in the fall, you have Gopher football and the Vikings starting to play, so people will be paying attention to whichever is doing better. If/when they disappoint, then the Wolves, Wild and Gopher basketball and hockey start for the winter season. As you can see right now, the Wolves Wild and Gopher basketball aren't doing so hot, so youre going to see the Twins grabbing a lot of headlines over the next month and a half unless one of those three winter teams step up. Once baseball season starts they will be the primary focus until they are out of playoff contention...which would just so happen to coincide with the Vikings and Gophers starting football training camp in August.

Its not that people are bandwagoners in the sense that they aren't fans unless the team is winning, its that they move their attention onto the next sport when the last one disappoints. It just so happens that in Minnesota basically every team is disappointing, and therefore people are continually moving on.
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Pretty damn good first post. :clap:
 


GophersInIowa said:
Making fun is one thing. Even I'll make fun of my favorite teams from time to time. I just think a lot of people get joy out of seeing some teams do poorly. It's almost like if they're not going to be great, then they hope they're awful.
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It's not just sports. It's in politics, business, fellow workers etc. There just seems to be a strain of Minnesotans who take delight in the failure of others. That's ANOTHER good reason not to listen to talk radio or read comments sections.
 

diefirma said:
During Barreiro's interview with Coach Kill last night, Barreiro asked if the Gophers would ever consider running the read option play like the SF 49ers do with Kaepernick? OMG I was simultaneously embarrassed for Barreiro and his stunning ignorance of Gopher football and furious that he was so stunningly ignorant. It is not just that the local media are ignorant of Gopher recruiting but obviously Barreiro never watched a game or, if he did, he had no idea of what was going on. For the most part, I think Barreiro is representative of the media in this town.
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Danny B knows absolutely nothing about sports. You would think that after being a sports columnist and sports talk show host that he would be a sports expert. The truth is his knowledge is less than that of the average male who watches sports causally eack week on TV....YET his opinions reach out and influence tens of thousands on a weekly basis.
 

Iceland12 said:
SMU, this may be spiraling out of control. :)

The local media pointed out Brewster's failures all the time. Gleefully even. If you remember they first tried to deny and downplay the class ranking and then they spent years ridiculing it's lack of success. Though they, and people on here by the way, also conveniently forgot when they praise this year's Defense that most of the impact players were Brewster's recruits. They got better coaching to be sure, but they weren't picked-out by Kill.

As for Iowa and Wisconsin, maybe you've done the research because I truly haven't. How many of their successful teams were composed of bottom ranked recruiting classes? I'm guessing not many, but I don't know.

Honestly, wouldn't you be a lot happier if this year the Gophers had a Top Twenty Class AND it was going to be coached by Kill and Company? I know I would. Oh, and anybody who heard Claeys or Kill talk yesterday and thinks that they WOULDN'T have wanted to get some of those 4 or 5 Star players wasn't listening.

Here's to hoping for the best. :drink:
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Iowa's 2009 orange bowl was preceded by:
2005:11th nationally, 3rd in conference a peak year for them
2006: 39th , 7th
2007: 28th, 6th
2008: 53rd , 9th
2009: 63rd, 11th

Wisky's 3 year flawed run in 2010-2012
was preceded by
2005:33rd, 7th
2006: 40th, 8th
2007: 34th, 7th
2008: 41st, 6th
2009: 43rd, 8th
2010: 87th , 11th
2011: 40th, 7th
2012: 56th, 8th

Basically besides 2005's Iowa class both programs have been right in the middle of recruiting.
 

Thanks, had a hunch that they weren't ranked 11 or 12 in the Conference very often but didn't know.
 



diefirma said:
During Barreiro's interview with Coach Kill last night, Barreiro asked if the Gophers would ever consider running the read option play like the SF 49ers do with Kaepernick? OMG I was simultaneously embarrassed for Barreiro and his stunning ignorance of Gopher football and furious that he was so stunningly ignorant. It is not just that the local media are ignorant of Gopher recruiting but obviously Barreiro never watched a game or, if he did, he had no idea of what was going on. For the most part, I think Barreiro is representative of the media in this town.
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What was Kill's answer?
 

highwayman said:
He said "we were 12, 12, 11 and that team went to the Orange Bowl". He was referring to NIU as a program.

MAC Rank:
2006 11th
2007 11th
2008 12th

Since it's your first post, I suggest that you be kinder...
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I suggest you get better at math.

The NIU players in this year's Orange Bowl were in the 2009-2012 recruiting classes. NIU had 8 RS-Seniors on their roster this year and only one of them was part of that 12th ranked class in 2008. The rest were walk-ons or transfers.
 

diefirma said:
During Barreiro's interview with Coach Kill last night, Barreiro asked if the Gophers would ever consider running the read option play like the SF 49ers do with Kaepernick? OMG I was simultaneously embarrassed for Barreiro and his stunning ignorance of Gopher football and furious that he was so stunningly ignorant. It is not just that the local media are ignorant of Gopher recruiting but obviously Barreiro never watched a game or, if he did, he had no idea of what was going on. For the most part, I think Barreiro is representative of the media in this town.
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I am going to do something that is not going to be popular on this board...defend Barreiro. Barrerio DID NOT ask Kill if he would, "ever consider running the read option." Barreiro asked Kill, "when your offense is going good, how much of the zone read do you like to use?"

IMO that is a HUGE difference. This is not Barreiro not knowing what Kill likes to run. It is Barreiro asking that coach whent he offense is running how he would like it to run, how much zone read is involved. I think it is a recognition by Barreiro that the offense was not where the coaching staff wanted it last year due to 3 different starting QB's with 3 different skill sets and a bevy of offensive line injuries.

Also, I am going to disagree 100% with SportsFan24. Barreiro knows sports. Is college football at the top of his list? No. Is he sarcastic? Yes. Is he snarky? Yes. It is funny that you completely rip him but are a semi regular caller into his show...
 

Unregistered User said:
What was Kill's answer?
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Basically that it was a staple of his offense going back to his very first HS job even.
Danny B basically admitted right there he hasn't watched any gophers football in the past 2 years. Gray ran that play almost every other down when he was playing. Nelson ran it about 15 times against wisky, etc.

Stan, he had no clue this has been a extremely common play in college football for a decade, to him it was some unknown making the scene in the NFL from the depths of college football mordor.
High schools run that offense and have for 15 years. Dan B has no clue.
 



Well, after those two posts we've got things all straightened-out huh? :)
 

Ole-

If that is what you think, you were only hearing what you want to hear. Was Dan's question and line of thinking akwardly presented? Yes. I just re-listened, nowhere did he say he has not watched Gopher football. Again, the question was framed as "when the offense is going how you like it to go how much read option is involved." That is completely different than how the original commentor presented Barreiro's question. I will say it again, 3 QB's and a ton of OL injuries limited the offense and the offense the coaching staff truly wanted to install and run.

If you think High Schools have only run the option for 15 years, I have some swampland in Florida for you...
 


Of course they would want those type of players, who wouldn't? But we are all kidding ourselves if we think the Gophers are just going to all of a sudden start pulling in 5-star blue chippers every season. Look at all of the heat Ole Miss is getting right now. Their coach had to stop in his press conference to say they didn't cheat to get the players they got.

I'm not saying this class is going to be the greatest thing ever. I'm also not saying it won't turn out great. We won't know for two-three years. My point is these so called "experts" admit after the elite recruits it is a total crapshoot on how any of them will turn out. My personal opinion is it is dumb to have these so-called rankings and they aren't worth paying attention to.
 


Ha. Just thought I would present the tape. Who knows, maybe it would make unregistered user break down!
 

SMU GOPHS FAN said:
Of course they would want those type of players, who wouldn't? But we are all kidding ourselves if we think the Gophers are just going to all of a sudden start pulling in 5-star blue chippers every season. Look at all of the heat Ole Miss is getting right now. Their coach had to stop in his press conference to say they didn't cheat to get the players they got.

I'm not saying this class is going to be the greatest thing ever. I'm also not saying it won't turn out great. We won't know for two-three years. My point is these so called "experts" admit after the elite recruits it is a total crapshoot on how any of them will turn out. My personal opinion is it is dumb to have these so-called rankings and they aren't worth paying attention to.
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Didn't mean to imply that you did but if you read the boards the last couple of days a whole lot of people have made that (ludicrous) implication. You've got to much credibility for that - the "Brewster criticism" thing aside. :)
 

Stan The Caddy said:
Ole-

If that is what you think, you were only hearing what you want to hear. Was Dan's question and line of thinking akwardly presented? Yes. I just re-listened, nowhere did he say he has not watched Gopher football. Again, the question was framed as "when the offense is going how you like it to go how much read option is involved." That is completely different than how the original commentor presented Barreiro's question. I will say it again, 3 QB's and a ton of OL injuries limited the offense and the offense the coaching staff truly wanted to install and run.

If you think High Schools have only run the option for 15 years, I have some swampland in Florida for you...
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It really wouldn't be all that much effort on Barrerio's part to have done some research when Kill was hired and looked into Kill's background, including his offense at NIU and SIU. The read option is and has been a staple of Kill's teams for a long time.
It was a dumb question used to bring the NFL into the conversation.

I know HS football has run the option for maybe near 60 years now, but the shotgun snap, read as Kapernick/RGIII/Wilson did it this year is a newer wrinkle.

I seriously have doubts as to Barrerio's college football knowledge, he would struggle to name 5 guys on the team and has no clue as to the inner workings of college sports. Likely he doesn't care enough to.
 

Iceland12 said:
Didn't mean to imply that you did but if you read the boards the last couple of days a whole lot of people have made that (ludicrous) implication. You've got to much credibility for that - the "Brewster criticism" thing aside. :)
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Yes, the local media has had their fun with Brewster and rightfully so. I guess what I was trying to say in regards to the Brewtser criticism is no one locally yesterday or today mentioned Brewster and his famed class and how it basically flamed out for a myriad of reasons. If I was the one reporting on the recruiting story I would have used that counter-point to try and show this isn't an exact science and the "rankings" don't tell the entire picture. There is so much that goes into recruiting but all people see if the star ranking and overall ranking. Maybe they did mention this and I missed it but all I saw or heard was the 12th out of 12. 12th out of 12. 12th out of 12 drumbeat.
 

SMU GOPHS FAN said:
Yes, the local media has had their fun with Brewster and rightfully so. I guess what I was trying to say in regards to the Brewtser criticism is no one locally yesterday or today mentioned Brewster and his famed class and how it basically flamed out for a myriad of reasons. If I was the one reporting on the recruiting story I would have used that counter-point to try and show this isn't an exact science and the "rankings" don't tell the entire picture. There is so much that goes into recruiting but all people see if the star ranking and overall ranking. Maybe they did mention this and I missed it but all I saw or heard was the 12th out of 12. 12th out of 12. 12th out of 12 drumbeat.
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Can't speak to the media as a whole but Zulgad, Dubay and Rosen mentioned that class yesterday and the defenders of Kill's class certainly mentioned it. I don't remember which one but it was also referenced in the radio interview with Claeys or Kill.

To be fair to the kids involved, Traye Simmons, Gray, Brock, Cooper, Stoudermire, McKnight, D.L. Whilite, Tinsley and to lesser degree Green certainly did make the field and in various degrees contributed well to the Gophers.

Did they get the Gophers to where we all wanted them to get to? No, certainly not, but the hatred people seem to display for Brewster carries over to those kids and it just doesn't feel right. Brewster proved he was a lousy Head Coach. What we don't know is what would have happened to those teams if he could have kept Everett Withers to stay on a Defensive Coordinator rather than head for North Carolina and than on to tOSU. And/Or if he could have stayed with Dunbar and his Offensive Coordinator and kept the spread rather than dumping them both. Don't know how much better they'd have been but they'd have been better.

Here's a another question. Kill and company's success this year on Defense was largely based on Brewster's recruits. What do you think would have happened if Kill had those kids for four years?

NOT directed at you SMU, but people should think of that before they blithely talk about how lousy that class was.


http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/021908aaa.html
 

Sorry Stan - I think you are wrong

Stan The Caddy said:
I am going to do something that is not going to be popular on this board...defend Barreiro. Barrerio DID NOT ask Kill if he would, "ever consider running the read option." Barreiro asked Kill, "when your offense is going good, how much of the zone read do you like to use?"

IMO that is a HUGE difference. This is not Barreiro not knowing what Kill likes to run. It is Barreiro asking that coach whent he offense is running how he would like it to run, how much zone read is involved. I think it is a recognition by Barreiro that the offense was not where the coaching staff wanted it last year due to 3 different starting QB's with 3 different skill sets and a bevy of offensive line injuries.

Also, I am going to disagree 100% with SportsFan24. Barreiro knows sports. Is college football at the top of his list? No. Is he sarcastic? Yes. Is he snarky? Yes. It is funny that you completely rip him but are a semi regular caller into his show...
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Sorry, I guess we disagree.

Barreiro asked "The stuff I'm talking about now (In his setup to the question he mentioned Kaepernick and that some peaple say this stuff is coming out of college) how much of any of it is what ... when you have it going good .. you'd like to use? that would be incorporated? Any of it? How much of it?"

For Barreiro to ask coach Kill how much "would be incorporated? Any of it? How much of it?"" tells me that Barreiro knows nothing of the Gopher offense and for Barreiro to state "some people say this is coming out of college" tells me Barreiro knows little to nothing of college football. About 75% of all college teams have a read option in their offense and have had for years.

Others, who probably listen to KFAN more than I, have also pointed out Barreiro doesn't follow / knows little about Gopher football.
 

diefirma said:
Sorry, I guess we disagree.

Barreiro asked "The stuff I'm talking about now (In his setup to the question he mentioned Kaepernick and that some peaple say this stuff is coming out of college) how much of any of it is what ... when you have it going good .. you'd like to use? that would be incorporated? Any of it? How much of it?"

For Barreiro to ask coach Kill how much "would be incorporated? Any of it? How much of it?"" tells me that Barreiro knows nothing of the Gopher offense and for Barreiro to state "some people say this is coming out of college" tells me Barreiro knows little to nothing of college football. About 75% of all college teams have a read option in their offense and have had for years.

Others, who probably listen to KFAN more than I, have also pointed out Barreiro doesn't follow / knows little about Gopher football.
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What frustrates me the about Dan B's show is how JG doesnt correct him at all or defend the gophers all that much and he is the sideline guy. I mean he never slams them but just kinda sits back and lets Dan go. I do love thier Brewster cheap shots though. I'd say nobody on KFAN is really huge gopher supporter. Dubay is probably the biggest fan, he doesnt hessitate to rip them but you can tell the passion is there. I usually just kinda roll my eyes when they talk Gopher football. True fans know the best place to go for spot on gopher football anylisis is www.gopherhole.com :cool:
 

B1GSportsGuy said:
Coach Jerry Kill was quoted on KFAN yesterday as saying that Northern Illinois had classes ranked 11th, 11th, and 12th in the MAC and those kids ended up in the Orange Bowl this year.

Some simple fact checking revealed the following about NIU's recruiting classes from the past 4 years in the MAC.

2009 - 7th
2010 - 3rd
2011 - 2nd
2012 - 4th

I realize Coach Kill is downplaying the importance of recruiting rankings, but he shouldn't be making things up.
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Kill at NIU: 2007-2010

NIU MAC Recruiting Rank per Rivals:

2007 11th
2008 12th
2009 7th
2010 3rd
 

I would also agree that there are many, particularly in the talk radio circuit (of which I've never listened a day in my life, but see things elsewhere) that make it a career to do nothing but take potshots at the Gophers. If you look at the comments section of anything, anywhere, it's going to be filled with mostly vitriol. That doesn't mean that every comment they make is necessarily wrong. The recruiting does need to improve. Hopefully this is all part of laying the groundwork so that the better recruits come later,

This is exactly what Coach Kill made a point to talk about at the Sota Social. He asked for our help. The tide needs to turn regarding this team and program and we all need to do our part to keep positive and stand up for this coach and this team/program. Positivity creates energy and builds momentum, and then it snowballs. We need to reach that tipping point, where the positive takes over. Progress is being made, embrace it, be a part of it.
 


B1GSportsGuy said:
Correct. But the 2007 and 2008 classes were not part of the team that played in the Orange Bowl.
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Also, Kill wasn't there for the 2007 class and was hired a few weeks before the 2008 class signed, so it's difficult to discern how much (if any) credit he gets for the latter.
 

Now is the time to start judging Kills 1st class, it is impossible to judge this class for 3-4 yrs.
 

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