It seems like the staff is getting better at making schematic adjustments in the games the last couple of weeks. For instance, Rodney Smith mentioned in his post-game interview after the Purdue game that in the second half, the team switched from more power formations to more spread formations, and that the change in formations helped open running lanes between the tackles. Also, Claeys and Sawvel acknowledged that in the second half the team changed formations to add safety help over the top. The schematic changes produced excellent second half results. Likewise, at Illinois, the team seemed to have much better schemes in the second half. The spur of moment decision making, like the throw before half, seems to be much more of a work in progress. Hopefully, Johnson as a beauty of a game plan right from the beginning against Nebraska, like Limegrover's 2014 plan.

He might also be fed up with the lousy "talent" of posters and gave up

Good evening Gophers!

Had the chance to review film of our newest DB commit Raheem Layne and here is the link to the breakdown!

Let me know your thoughts on his film! His senior mid season and junior year highlights are below.


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Link: Gophers in the Pros: Week 9

4th in run offense
2nd in sacks against

Help me out, what have we had for o-line pre-snap penalties the last couple games? I feel like its been cleaned up quite a bit, but I may be forgetting a few. Not too shabby after last year's mess of injuries and deflections coming into the year. Since its pretty rare that I hone in on individual line play, are there individuals you see that may be all-conference worthy? Pirsig seems to be playing at a high-level, surprised how well he got off the ball this week coming off the injury. Anyone else that's stood out to you?

Kudos to Claeys for bringing in the Bartster and snagging these juco linemen, they appear to be season saving signings.

Vikings trail 13-9. 8 minutes left in the game. Vikings passing at will, completing everything, move all the way down to the Detroit 7. All passing. 2nd-and-3. So what do they do? Run up the middle 3 times and get stuffed. Lose the ball on downs. That's 3 weeks in a row this exact same thing has happened.

Link: Jackson has Minnesota on top

what a bunch of ass clowns posting crap after a good win. I'll need to stay away from that forum after a loss

I thought it was a fire-able offense when he threw the ball...

Now knowing the background that they wanted 4 vertical routes and chuck one DEEP. If we threw it and it was incomplete or intercepted like a 40 yard punt with 6 seconds left...what would you think?

Not as bad for me.

I still run it or take a knee but had they chucked the bomb I think we would have heard more "I like the aggressive approach" comments

Throwing anything underneath is simple asinine

The communication issue will hopefully never happen again. Pretty egregious lesson

I'm super curious.

Some of the visitors stayed until today and the ones that didn't are in school now, so we unfortunately won't have stories with them until this evening. Here's an update in the meantime.

• Bryson Jackson - Jackson says Minnesota is his leader and that he's planning to make a decision soon. This is great news, as Jackson's the top linebacker target right now.
• Raheem Layne - Obviously his visit went very well as he committed. I really like how Layne looks on film. Not having a single other offer certainly jumps off the page, but I think we've all learned to trust Sawvel's evaluations.
• Joshua Croslen - No update yet, of course I assume it went well. Croslen is one who rarely talks to the media, but let's hope I have some luck.
• Bruce Judson - I wouldn't necessarily expect Minnesota to be super involved moving forward as he's probably not the best fit. Not too surprising given how the rest of his recruitment has played out.
• Elijah Teague - Like I posted earlier Teague picked up an offer on his unofficial visit. And remember, he's a 2018, not a 2019. He really, really enjoyed his visit and that bodes well as the sooner you can get on quality defensive line talent, the better. I expect Teague to have tons of power five interest in six months.

If fricking Claeys would wear his fricking head phones this grade school miscommunication would not happen

The Gopher ladies are Big Ten champions!

We were in November and controlled our own destiny? How awesome is that? Do we have some pretty significant issues? Yep. Did we lose two games we probably should have won? Yep.

Who cares.. It's November in the B1G and MN is relevant with a chance to win the West title. We have played down to our opponents, have shown signs of some solid play, we have shown signs of improvement, and it's all about the next game.. next 3...

I'm pumped to see if our boys seize their opportunity to do something special. They have earned this opportunity and now its up to them to play with no regrets and hold nothing back. Saturday cannot come quick enough! Go GOPHERS!

Cleays, if you are listening to me, please send the last game WI played, and send it to the B1G and point out that every snap the OL and FB are false starting. They are moving on every snap and it's a huge advantage. They are gently leaning forward before the snap.


If you don't want to send the tape, then please teach our OL to do it, or prepare our defense to point it out to the refs in the game so they are calling it.


Thank you!

Most recent from Omaha paper this morning.
http://www.omaha.com/huskers/footba...cle_2a028c88-a4a5-11e6-bb84-8f7a99d0944f.html

Within the article, some surprising stats about their passing game regardless of Armstrong. Some great athletes at the WR position, and Westerkamp has been a pain in the ass for years.

From the article:
Whether it’s Fyfe or Armstrong on Saturday, the Huskers will try to improve on a passing game that struggled at Wisconsin and Ohio State. Nebraska completed 32.8 percent of its passes in those two losses (21 of 64), with four interceptions and 279 total yards.

It has knocked NU down to No. 84 nationally in passing offense (214.6 yards per game), and its completion percentage dropped to No. 123 (49.2) — with Rutgers, Army, UNLV, Air Force and Tulane the only other FBS teams completing less than 50 percent of their throws.

These next 3 games will give us a better understanding of where we are. We've beaten the teams we're clearly better than (good thing) now let's find out if we can beat teams that are as good or slightly better.

Bob Blakley died this past week at age 79. Most posters are too young to recognize the name but in the mid 50's he played RB at the U. In high school, he was the premier RB in MN his senior year as well as a state champion and state record holder in the discus. He was good enough to play some pro ball after his Gopher career ended.

Here are the known times for the Nov. 19 Big Ten schedule:

• Ohio State at Michigan State: Noon ET on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2
• Iowa at Illinois: TBD
• Indiana at Michigan: 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2
• Northwestern at Minnesota: TBD
• Maryland at Nebraska: Noon or 3:30 p.m. ET on an ESPN network or Big Ten Network
• Wisconsin at Purdue: TBD
• Penn State at Rutgers: 8 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network

I would guess whoever wins NE/WIS gets 2:30 game on Nov. 19.

Check out how some of the Gophers 2017 commits and targets performed last weekend.

https://minnesota.rivals.com/news/friday-night-lights-creamer-puts-on-a-show-glover-near-perfect

Let's go!!!! With Iowa down 17 in the second half, it's safe to say we control our destiny getting to Indy

I've been specific with my critiques of Claeys but we have to reflect back on how far we've come as a program. A 7-2 record and a chance to win the West in the second week of November should be celebrated no matter what... Cheers!

The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team is 7-2 (4-2 B1G) and is currently on a four game winning streak in the Big Ten. Before we hear about the lack of quality opponents they have beaten, which is true, the fact of the matter is that this program is in a lot better place than it was a few years ago. A four game winning streak in the Big Ten is something that should never be taken for granted, especially since Minnesota has done that just twice since the 1970's (this year and 2013).

Also, a few facts about Minnesota through nine games this season:
-33.4 Points Per Game: 4th in B1G
-350.7 Yards Per Game Given Up: 4th in B1G
-210.3 Rushing Yards Per Game: 4th in B1G
-118.1 Rush Yards Given Up Per Game: 3rd in B1G
-8 Interceptions: Tied 6th in B1G
-16 Field Goals Made: 1st in B1G
-25 Sacks: 3rd in B1G behind Penn State and Michigan
-8 Sacks Against: 2nd in B1G behind Nebraska
-+12 Turnover Margin: 1st in B1G
-13 Fumbles Forced/Recovered: 1st in B1G, next closest team has forced and recovered 9.
-954 Rushing yards by Rodney Smith: 2nd in B1G behind only Saquan Barkely.
-13 Rushing Touchdowns by Rodney Smith: 1st in B1G
-5 receptions per game by Drew Wolitarsky: 3rd in B1G
-182 Points Scored in Conference Play: 1st in B1G West
-301 Points Scored through 9 games: 1st in B1G West. Next closest team is Nebraska with 259.

There are still three tough games left, but Minnesota is on pace to have the highest scoring offense in the Big Ten West this season. That is something that cannot be said about any other Minnesota offense in the last five years in the Kill/Claeys era. The offensive line has also done a nice job overall at opening holes in the run game, and they have given up just 8 sacks in nine games, which is second in the conference. Offensive line coach Bart Miller has done a fantastic job in molding this line in his first year. The future of the run game should be very bright with two sophomore running backs and an offensive line that loses only Jonah Pirsig after this season.

The defense has made notable drop offs in the secondary after the graduations of Eric Murray, Briean Boddy-Calhoun, and Antonio Johnson. Two of the three were elite Big Ten defensive backs and Johnson was a solid contributor and a three year starter. Add that to the suspensions of two of their top three corners in Buford and Hardin combined with the loss of projected starter Ace Rogers and they have been exposed at times this season (232.6 pass yards given up per game is 13th in the B1G). They have improved, however, and that has been noticeable after the benching of Ayinde and the strong play of Winfield, Hardin, Buford, and McGhee as of late. The pass rush was a huge area of concern coming into the season and thus far Jay Sawvel has found some creative ways to get to the quarterback, That has shown up in the statistics as Minnesota is 3rd in the conference in sacks with 25 (22 all of last year). The Gophers run defense has been admirable for the most part as well. They have given up just 3.3 yards per carry and just under 120 rushing yards per game, which is 3rd in the conference. After struggling to force turnovers last year, since Jay Sawvel has taken over this defense full time they lead the Big Ten in turnovers forced with 21 (13 fumble recoveries/8 interceptions). The next closest team is Ohio State with 18 turnovers forced.

Special teams has taken a little bit of a hit in the first full season in the Claeys era. They have struggled at times on kickoffs, with five that have gone out of bounds this season. Ryan Santoso's transition to punter has had its ups and downs. His net average is 36.9 yards per punt, which puts him squarely in the middle of Big Ten punters. 2014 Big Ten Punter of the Year Peter Mortell's Net Average was in the mid 40's, but he was an excellent punter so that is hard to live up to. The Gophers are 10th in the conference in punt return yards, but are sitting at 4th in kick return yardage thanks to Rodney Smith's 94 yard touchdown return against Rutgers. Emmit Carpenter has been outstanding kicking field goals this season. Thus far he is 16-18, which is 88.8%. He is 7-7 on field goals over 40 yards, with two field goals over 50 yards, both yesterday against Purdue. He is a Lou Groza award semifinalist and will be a top finalist for Big Ten Kicker of the Year.

a 2.4 acre site at 2901 4th st se. sold last month...this is a block east of University, right by the bus Transitway between St. Paul and Mpls campuses..where the light rail heading from TCF Stadium to St. Paul curves back to University...likely another 200 unit or so apt complex.

This is right next to that one that is going up right along University, right next to that train stop...that one has a Fresh Thyme grocery planned for street level...260 units.

I saw Veit is setting up to demolish the Steel Elevators east of SkiUMah...had some signs up on Saturday...hope they can add some more tailgating in that intramural/bubble field project planned for that spot somehow

if Gophers can some breakthrough success, it is set up so nicely now for big and enthusiastic young crowds at TCF with so many residential units so close to the Stadium...need another big destination bar and/or restaurant to locate in that stretch between TCF and Surly

http://www.startribune.com/another-...-promise-of-more-apartments-near-u/397802971/

This is beyond embarrassing. This is Brewster losing to USD bad. Rutgers is terrible. NDSU would beat them 42-0.

I like our roster. I hate our coaching.

Curious as to where people would fall in line