0-1 How feel you?

[MNfootballfan]

Won’t win a game with defensive performances like that. Can’t say I feel good about any position on that side of the ball.
I think we will be alright on offense as the o line gels together. Way to many targets to Kieft and Witham and not enough balls to Bateman and CAB.

 

[gopherjay]

Lets see what happens when we have a punter and more game experience. Tough night for a new MLB.

 

[Plato]

At the very beginning of this attempt to play BIG football I mentioned that the virus would expose a lack of depth more than injuries do and not to get too emotional involved.
The loss of special team players to the virus was and some OL to presumed injuries were obviously not the sole reasons MN was thrashed but they contributed to it.
The defense lacks skilled players and the depleted OL allowed Morgan to be tossed around like a rag doll. The first hit on him that caused a fumble and MI TD affected him physically and mentally throughout the game.
Rush the passer and double team number 0 and hope the sole MN running back does not hurt you while you score easily will will be the plan for opposing teams all season.

 

[btowngopher]

Yeah well, maybe Winfield, Coughlin, Barber, and Martin weren't factors, but that didn't appear to be the case tonight.

Of course they were factors, but they grew a ton under Fleck and were seasoned veterans. None of Flecks guys have had much more than a year of run. It’s tough to win as a developmental program without a strong contribution from veteran players.

 

[Face The Facts]

Yeah well, maybe Winfield, Coughlin, Barber, and Martin weren't factors, but that didn't appear to be the case tonight.

We had games against Maryland and Nebraska like this just a couple years ago. I believe they were juniors then.

 

[RogueGopher]

Maryland bounce back game on Friday night. Easy win. Get our specialist back for the Iowa game.

 

[cjbfbp]

It was one game. We all knew the defense would need a little time. I was just hoping with a new qb he would throw us a few picks.

Sure, but it was the rushing defense that is giving people nightmarish visions of two years ago when we would get absolutely stomped by teams (including Illinois and Maryland) who racked up big rushing yardage in part because we couldn't contain long runs. Michigan got 253 yards rushing last night. The differential in team speed was glaring.

Other than the fact that we got little pressure on their QB most of the game, the pass defense wasn't horrible.

 

[cjbfbp]

That was very disappointing but I don’t feel as bad as the Wisconsin game last year.

Well, we had a 10-1 record at that point so I feel worse after this one.

 

[cjbfbp]

The defense lacks skilled players and the depleted OL allowed Morgan to be tossed around like a rag doll. The first hit on him that caused a fumble and MI TD affected him physically and mentally throughout the game.

Rush the passer and double team number 0 and hope the sole MN running back does not hurt you while you score easily will will be the plan for opposing teams all season.

Good explanation in the first paragraph. As for the second, man that is depressing. I will say, though, that through most of the middle of the game, the pass protection was better. It was in the beginning and late stages of the game where the line was like a sieve.

 

[IceBoxGopher]

Obviously disappointed, not the way to start. Man, Michigan just seems to have our number, even their 08 team beat us.

Problems to solve for sure. Have to hope we can get our offensive line back to full and the unit is able to develop. I still think Tanner will have success. Bateman, Mo and Autman-Bell are all good offensive weapons.

The defense didn't have a great game out there but maybe Michigan has found their stride offensively with Milton. I'm not saying it should be a moral victory, but if Michigan goes on to have a terrific season with their offense it will at least be understandable as to why the defense had struggles.

Regroup and onto the next game. We've seen Fleck's teams bounce back well after losses so hoping that will be the case again.

 

[denguegopher]

Not good. I wish that we could recover a freaking fumble. Why do we look slow and clumsy while trying to grab a fumble? Because we are, or because we a tentative and hesitant? Frustrating to watch.

 

[MplsGopher]

Wins over Wisconsin and Iowa will help make this sour taste in my mouth go away.

Well .... Iowa I think is still very much on the table. For now.

 

[skiumah1]

CAB

Specifically this man needs to see the ball come his way A LOT more.

 

[LakevilleBro]

We looked slower and smaller than Michigan. I hope Michigan is really good this year, or it could get ugly.

 

[tpbeight]

The offense is reliant on 2 players. CAB barely got a look. Are we looking at Keift as a playmaker? I hope not. BSF...if he’s 3rd on the depth chart at TE, that tells me he may not be the next Kellen Winslow. However, could we not even TRY a fade to him? Where was Seth Green? Bad news: the D has even bigger issues. Let’s hope the coaches can get some things straightened out. I would have liked to see them use more players last night, especially in the 4th quarter.

 

[MplsGopher]

Specifically this man needs to see the ball come his way A LOT more.

Every team we play is going to be spying Bateman with 2 men, as much as they can.

If we can't make them pay with healthy doses of CAB, Mo, and others, that is gonna be a huge problem.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

As to how I feel -

after Saturday night, this looks like a 5-3 or 4-4 type of team.

UNLESS the defense can make huge strides over the course of the season.

out of the three phases of the game - offense - defense - special teams - the Gophers are adequate on offense, with concerns over the OL. On Defense and special teams, at this point they are way below adequate, with too many concerns to mention.

but they will still win more games than the Vikings.

 

[Bad Gopher]

I feel like I got run over by a big quarterback.

 

[Chico Gopher]

I was only able to watch the first half. What stood out to me is that Michigan dominated both the offensive and defensive fronts. Of course, we were missing a couple of OL starters and people were shifted around. They did manage a few highlights, but overall, it felt like their defense was pushing our offense around. On the other hand, our defensive front looked very overmatched most of the time. In addition to being out-muscled, we sure had a lot of missed assignments that resulted in big lanes with nobody home. At least those mistakes can be fixed. I'm sure they'll get better as the year goes on, but last night was a big time wake-up call.


I honestly thought that 70 yard run to tie the game early was one of the 2 key moments in the first quarter. Seemed like the Michigan offense got their Mojo after that.

Great example of why, especially when you have a bunch of new faces, you like to have a couple of games against non-ranked opponents before you line up against the big boys. I'm not one of those guys for whom the first game against a really good opponent dictates what the rest of the season is going to be like. I see lots of room for improvement, but one of the things I've noticed about Fleck is that he has the ability to coach people up during the year. I'm still pretty confident about the Gophers having a winning season.

 

[GibsonSG]

We looked slower and smaller than Michigan. I hope Michigan is really good this year, or it could get ugly.

Looking at 247sports, Michigan has 30 consensus 4 and 5 star recruits in the last 2 recruiting classes. The gophers have 2 total. That might have something to do with it.

I hope so too.

 

[GopherNtn]

We should win the next two games against Maryland and Illinois. Hopefully those two games are confidence builders for the defense. With special teams being out and us relying on the holder to punt and a kicker that couldn’t put in 30 yds down field it’s tough to get fair assessment of the defense.

 

[GFBfan]

Every team we play is going to be spying Bateman with 2 men, as much as they can.

If we can't make them pay with healthy doses of CAB, Mo, and others, that is gonna be a huge problem.

Which is why I don't understand the reason he lined up in the slot almost exclusively. So much easier to double cover (and even have a third guy help some) him in the slot as you naturally have a safety over the top. Put Bateman out wide and it is a little bit harder to double him and should open up more of the field for others.

 

[GophersInIowa]

I honestly thought that 70 yard run to tie the game early was one of the 2 key moments in the first quarter. Seemed like the Michigan offense got their Mojo after that.

I would add that the inexcusable penalty by CAB that erased the Mo TD was big also. Could have tied it up at 14 after the strip sack TD. Instead had to settle for a FG.

 

[HoustonTXGopher]

This game went much like I thought it might, to my own dismay. Our defense lost so much from last year that I wasn't surprised we looked like so many Gopher defenses of old. No containment, missed assignments, Michigan was just better than we were.

On offense Mo is everything I thought he would be and is really going to go off against some weaker defenses. Our O-Line just wasn't very good at protecting Morgan, hopefully they improve quickly.

I think this team can go 5-3 and undefeated on Friday nights.

 

[upnorthkid]

Which is why I don't understand the reason he lined up in the slot almost exclusively. So much easier to double cover (and even have a third guy help some) him in the slot as you naturally have a safety over the top. Put Bateman out wide and it is a little bit harder to double him and should open up more of the field for others.

As a WR, it is easier for him to isolate his guy on short routes given the defender doesn't have the advantage of the boundary (which is maybe what they were looking for given the lack of deep shots downfield-perhaps as they knew the OL was going to struggle)

 

[cncmin]

I wasn't following happenings closely enough to realize that our K, P, and two biggest (best?) offensive linemen would be out. As soon as I heard that, I knew - given Michigan's great defense, their top quality of athleticism, and so much turnover in our own defense - that we were going to have a tough night. It went only a bit worse than I expected after I learned about our missing starters, perhaps a bit worse than expected on D. I was pleasantly surprised that we moved the ball as well as we did on the ground. I was also surprised that we didn't pass more often. I hope that is not an indication that our new O coordinator wants to go Jerry-Kill-RUTM-to-the-extreme, as a big departure from last year's offensive schemes would be (in my opinion) a tragic mistake.

 

[upnorthkid]

I have to disagree on this grade.

They all seemed super slow..always chasing, put themselves in wrong positions, can’t tackle, they all just seemed small, slow, and just bodies out there.

St-Juste I swear is a mole, didn’t think he was that great last year and last night he was atrocious.

Nubin didn’t do much either....always two steps behind

I was scoring Nubin as a S and he was definitely struggling to fill and to cover. I thought St Juste was fine, but i may have missed some things

 

[Some guy]

I feel ELITE that losing to a top 15 Michigan team is cause for extreme disappointment rather than apathy

 

[Some guy]

Which is why I don't understand the reason he lined up in the slot almost exclusively. So much easier to double cover (and even have a third guy help some) him in the slot as you naturally have a safety over the top. Put Bateman out wide and it is a little bit harder to double him and should open up more of the field for others.

There were some odd game plan things I didn’t really like. I didn’t like all the 2 and 3 tight end sets since they were kicking our ass in the box.


would’ve rather spread them out.




But still...300 yards and 24 points against a likely top 15 defense and we feel disappointed is a good sign for what the expectations should be

 

[Mohawk72]

Well the defense has a lot of film to look at. And lots to try and correct. Pretty disappointed how badly we were hammered.