Something is up with Rodgers and thought this theory was interesting

https://www.google.com/amp/nesn.com...ers-started-to-decline-after-deflategate/amp/

Link: Claeys reflects on Rutgers win

dont wait till end of the year...even if they come back to win

I think Claeys contract status gets lost in all of this. He is in a unique situation. The vast, vast, vast majority of first year coaches are not in a situation where they need an extension after year one. The contract was written to allow Coyle to decide if He wants Claeys to be football coach or if he wants to go a different direction. The university may get to the end of the year and think "we haven't seen enough to extend" which would mean they have to move on as nobody wants a lame duck. It might not be that they really want to "fire" him but they may not want to commit long term either. Time will tell either way.

Gopher volleyball on right now. Btn vs nebraska.

I somehow missed that score Saturday. I just assumed Ohio State won. Then I saw the Big Ten standings, and I saw they had a loss. We should've beat Penn State. How in the world did they beat Ohio State? The Michigan/Ohio State game just got a whole lot bigger and more interesting. I might have to watch, even though I hate them both.

The thing that stands out from this scrimmage was the sloppiness and poor shooting. That sounds terrible, but I don't mean to harp on the team and I think it's expected in a preseason scrimmage.

There was a decent-sized crowd. I'd estimate about 1500-2000.

The scrimmage was very short, just two seven minute halves. Gold beat Maroon 22-15. Gold was McBrayer, Coffey, Hurt, Curry, Diedhiou, and Sharp. Maroon was Mason, SPrings, Gilbert, Murphy, Konate, Rudrud, and Haugh.

Notes on the players:

• Coffey - Looked kind of nervous and like he was thinking a lot, which should probably be expected of a true freshman. He missed a lot of jumpers and missed a layup after deciding last second not to dunk. I thought he could have been a little more aggressive, as a couple times he passed up open jumpers. His length gave him a steal that led to a fastbreak. He also moved well off the ball and had several nice cuts to the basket. He passed the ball really well, too.
• Curry - Didn't get a lot of touches. He took a couple mid-range jumpers, which he missed, but looked comfortable taking them. He made both free throws that he took. He's athletic and I thought worked hard.
• Gas - I liked that he talked and was calling out screens. He also had a nice move where he backed down a smaller defender (I don't remember who) and finished. In the second half, he was fouled and missed both free throws. The low point for Gas was airballing a seven-foot shot.
• Gilbert - Made a three in the second half. He worked hard to get defensive rebounds, and had a nice take to the basket that just missed.
• Hurt - Missed several jumpers and had a turnover. He played hard and I think was just a little nervous playing in front of fans at Williams for the first time.
• BK - He had a nice dunk. I thought he played good defense. Hands are still an issue.
• Nate Mason - Clearly the best player on the floor in this short game. Very composed and in control. He had a couple nice threes. He had a nice drive or two to the hoop that he wasn't able to finish on, but still had one of the better shooting percentages. Also had a really nice pass to a cutting Dupree.
• Dupree - Had some excellent takes to the hoop and finished once in a really crafty manner. I liked his aggression.
• Murphy - Pretty quiet game for him as he didn't get a ton of touches. He missed several shots close to the hoop but played good defense.
• Springs - Didn't get a whole ton of quality looks. He had to take two contested deep shots because the shot clock was running out. He was vocal and active on both ends. I liked what I saw from him in practice, too.

Points: Mason (8), McBrayer (6), Gilbert (5), Murphy (4), Konate (4), Curry (4), Coffey (3), Diedhiou (2). Springs, Hurt, Sharp, and Haugh didn't score.

Obviously you can't judge much (or at all) off of a 14 minute scrimmage. I think there were some nerves, especially for the freshman, and overall the purpose of this was to smooth the rough edges.

Link: Mafe closing in on a decision

The Wyoming site recently wrote the linked article above on Mafe. If he's closing on a decision, it has to be Minnesota.

reported on gopher hole to bad it was a pick 6 for his fricking 1st TD pass. Brutal

I really liked Jay Johnson's game plan on Saturday. I thought the Gophers were at there best when both Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks were on the field together. I like the multiple formations but I also like having a single formation that you can run all of your best concepts from. I think the Jet sweep, Fake Jet/ Inside zone coupled with Play Action Sprint Right Option and some form of swing screen would be a solid foundation for a Jet package. The Gophers ran a Sprint Option on Saturday but for some reason they ran it to the left (tendency breaker?). Typically if you have a right handed QB you want to Sprint out to the right so the QB has the option to run if the receivers are covered. I picked Singleback Dice formation as an example because I like being able to isolate my best receiver to the left of the QB for other concepts. Login to view embedded media Primary Receiver would be the Y, with a read of shallow to deep.

Big Ten teams in the polls:

• #2 AP/#2 coaches Michigan
• #6/8 Ohio State
• #7/6 Nebraska
• #11/11 Wisconsin
• #24/rv Penn State

Minnesota is #39 in the S&P+ ranking and #31 in the F/+ ranking. That's much better than I think most fans would have guessed or feel the team has played.

Remaining schedule:

• #85 S&P+/#89 F/+ Illinois
• #112/113 Purdue
• #22/14 Nebraska
• #57/43 Northwestern
• #10/11 Wisconsin

If you were totally objective what is your opinion on the status of MN Football? We came into this season with lots of reasons to be optimistic. We were coming off a bowl victory, we return 2 very talented RB's, we have a 5th year Senior QB, a solid defense and a new OC that was advertised as a guy with a willingness to really open it up. Well, 7 games in where do we stand? We're 5-2 which ultimately is all that matters. Should we be 7-0? Probably. But this is the Big 10 and crazy things happen. I.E. Penn State beating the Buckeyes. My concern is how we got to this point and WHY we're NOT 7-0.

1. Smith/Brooks have been phenomenal! What else can I say. Can you imagine the year they'd be having with a decent offensive line?

2. Mitch Leidner has been terribly inconsistent! Simply not acceptable for a 5th year senior. This is not High School FB. If he's not getting the job done he needs to be replaced immediately. There's no loyalty when his poor play starts to snowball to other players. Quite frankly he's become a liability. The coaching staff flat out blew it this week by starting Leidner. It was the perfect storm. You had Rhoda coming off a respectable start and WIN on the road and your next opponent is the worst team in the league at home. A perfect opportunity to give Leidner another week to prepare to come back. This staff decides to rush Leidner back for his final Homecoming game and it's a disaster. Yes he started out great but then his inconsistency raised its ugly head. I don't care what anyone says, Leidner is at least 2-3 steps slower than his Freshman year. You can't continue to run the read/option with a QB that is no threat to run. Nice kid/great captain but for any success the rest of this season he needs to step aside.

3. Defense has been ok. Certainly not the level we've come to expect from this staff. They've been hit with injuries and suspensions which certainly doesn't help. Hardin, Celestin, Lynn and Windfield have been tremendous.

4. Jay Johnson. I was ecstatic that Tracey had the balls to fire Limegrover right off the bat. Was super excited about our new OC. Giant disappointment! This offense is so bland and so predictable. The play calling is abysmal. Makes absolutely no sense what he's even trying to accomplish. 4th and 1 with our backs and your in the shotgun? WTF that's basic Football. Smith or Brooks will get you 1 yard every time. You can see during the game his play calling is sucking the life out of this team. Very disappointed with this hire.

5. Head Coach. Listen I'm a Tracey guy. I was pulling for him to get the job. Now that I've seen what he offers as a head coach it's time to go another direction. I've never seen a more undisciplined team in my life. That's a direct reflection of the coach. The off the field stuff is also an issue. Never had these issues under Kill. Tracey is an introvert. That's no secret and there's nothing wrong with that. Perfect for his personality as a DC but not head coach. These are young impressionable men that like to get excited and show their emotion. It's all stifled by a 400 lb head coach that has little to nothing to say to them. These kids need fire in their belly and need a coach that will instill that in them.

This team is in trouble. Before the season many said an 8 win season would NOT be a successful season. Tracey even said this himself. I'm having a tough time coming up with 3 more wins. Maybe Illinois next week and maybe Purdue at home although they just gave Nebraska a game in Lincoln. NW is on fire and we never play well against the Cats. Nebraska is a loss and we have no chance upsetting Bucky in Madison. Final record.....7-5 and another middle of the pack bowl game. Another year of mediocre FB season at the U of M. And on and on it goes.

...want more refugees to come in this country un-vetted just for the sake of putting them on their voting roles to try and obtain power from here on out. If any of these refugees are terrorists and commit a terrorist act, God forbid, then maybe one of their family members will be affected and then maybe we'll see a change...I highly doubt it since their power means everything to them. 62 ISIS attackers and 'plotters' in year...

KenPom released his preseason rankings and has Minnesota 71st (up from 192 last year) overall in the country (in a virtual tie for 10th with Illinois in the Big Ten). Those rankings are determined by Adjusted Efficiency Margin (AdjEM), which represents the number of points the team would be expected to outscore the average Division 1 team over 100 possessions. In 2016, Minnesota had a AdjEM of -2.75, but have jumped up to a projected AdjEM of 8.59 at the start of the year, accounting for a AdjEM difference of 11.34 points.

The 121 spot jump in rank is the third highest in all of Division 1, behind La Salle (166) and Rice (127). Only one other Power 6 school has a jump of more than 100 spots, and that is St. John's jumping 103 spots from 211 to 108.

The 11.34 increase in AdjEM is also the third highest in D1, behind La Salle (14.33) and Bradley (11.47). No other school from a Power 6 has more than even an increase of 10 (Ohio St. improves the second most among Power 6 schools at 9.41).

These are the rankings for the Big Ten. In parenthesis, the first number is their 2017 projected AdjEM, the second number is the difference between the 2017 and 2016 AdjEM (positive number indicating improvement), and the third is their national rank (out of 351 teams) in terms of improvement in AdjEM.

8. Wisconsin (23.32, 6.80, 23)
13. Ohio St. (19.4, 9.41, 8)
14. Michigan St. (19.32, -8.61, 340)
15. Purdue (19.27, -4.60, 295)
16. Indiana (19.09, -3.93, 282)
31. Michigan (16.28, 2.12, 116)
48. Maryland (14.05, -6.20, 321)
55. Iowa (13.04, -7.21, 331)
61. Northwestern (10.35, -0.71, 196)
70. Illinois (8.59, 4.68, 57)
71. Minnesota (8.59, 11.34, 3)
87. Nebraska (6.58, -2.27, 236)
98. Penn St. (5.45, 2.86, 96)
191. Rutgers (-1.54, 9.07, 9)

In terms of other Big Ten schools, Ohio State surprised me with them being in second, as most places I've seen kind of have Wisconsin/MSU/Purdue/Indiana the top four in some order. Also, while Penn State has been getting some hype as a sleeper to perhaps threaten the bubble (or at least the NIT), KenPom has them falling back to next to last in the conference. He seems to have Minnesota where most people have Penn St. (in that tier with Northwestern and Illinois), and has Penn St. where most people have Minnesota.

Not going to go through too deeply with these, but these are the national rankings for our toughest NC foes:

40. Florida St.
53. Arkansas
64. Vanderbilt
67. UT-Arlington
108. St. John's

Just thought this would be of some interest for those looking forward to basketball season.

Last week this team played on the road and played a very good solid game. The QB hit the passes he needed and pretty much played error free. This week we bench him and go with our 5th SR and our QB is throwing behind and over the receivers, and doesn't really show any spark to get these guys playing hard.
When Liedner ran unto the field there were a lot of moans in the stands, for this reason.

Minnesota blasted Rutgers off the field for the entire first quarter. Then, the Gophers took their foot off the gas and got sloppy---then there was a series of Rutgers just *barely* converting every 3rd down punctuated by mind numbing mistakes like the wolitarsky fumble.

For those of you who played football: Teams can get fat and happy when they dominate early on in a game--especially a team playing a lot of new guys.

Am ugly win can be the greatest motivation there is. I would wager anything that the team will be focused this week and will play a better game next Saturday.

If we lose to Illinois, and it appears the season and Claeys might be in big trouble....I have an idea for Claeys. He should get a restraining-order slapped on himself. That would be the most hilarious thing in the history of college football. It would be on every TV news show. Not only have 7 (or more) players been banned from home games....but now Claeys is banned too. He can only coach the away games. He should confront the girl....not be mean to her....but just do enough so she slaps an RO on him.

Claeys can't be a master motivator. That's not his image. He has to be a lovable underdog type. Imagine his image plastered on every news show. And he should act like he was surprised by it all. No one's gonna think he's a thug. He's just sticking up for his players. It would be the most hilarious thing ever.

And this would change him from a no-name to a big-name. Once it all got cleared-up, maybe I'd want him for a 2nd year....to see if he could take advantage of his newfound fame. Now granted, this plan might backfire. But there is big potential. What do you think??

What is the extension going to look like? How many years? How many millions? What's the buy out? (Not that we need one).

Sunday Night OT with Tracy Claeys 10-23-2016


**Quotes are not verbatim**


General thoughts about the game…

To get back to .500 in the conference and 2-2 was important. We always say we have to win in October to have a chance to be in it in November, and to mean something. We want to have an opportunity in November. Also, if you lose a game at home you have to get a couple on the road, so we have to do that to get back to where we want to be.

Losing our edge after going up 21-3 in the first quarter…

Part of it is playing against teams with certain records, we came out great and thought “since they haven’t won a Big Ten game they’ll give in”. So we started missing a few tackles in the 2nd quarter, missed a few blocks, and dropped some balls. We lost our edge a bit. They came back and put some points on it, and we weren’t able to get any in the 2nd quarter which would’ve helped. In the 2nd half they made it a game, we threw a pick six, and that gave them some life. Every time we’ve gotten in that situation our kids have made the plays we needed to make to give us a chance to win. For our defense to keep them to only 3, and then the good return on the kickoff, we did a good job getting down there and putting us in a position to win. It may have been closer than it should’ve been, but that’s football, sometimes it takes all 60 minutes to win.

Talking about Rodney Smith a lot each week now…

He had the big return for a touchdown after Mitch’s interception. In the return game he had a big day, he caught a big ball in the 1st quarter for us. A lot of what we do is built around him and Shannon. Our return game did well all game long except for the one muffed punt.

Special teams were all over this game, three phase game…

No question. You take out the missed field goal early, we told him to go through his same routine and it’s the next play mentality. He did a good job, they tried to ice him, and he put it though. We had some injuries on the offensive line in the 2nd half, which made it tough. Offensively we have to be better in short yardage situations. Defensively we had a little trouble stopping the run. When the other team moves the chains yard by yard at a time, it makes it a bit uneasy for you. It’s all a learning experience and it’s always better to learn when you win.

Third downs coming from the couple down success…

Yeah, and the missed tackles. The first guy misses the tackle, and you think you have them in 2nd and 3rd and long, then all of the sudden it is 3rd and 2, which is a total different ball game. The odds are then against you. We got a little sloppy, and hopefully we’ll learn from that. I was happy with how we prepared, hopefully we prepare the same, and come out early against Illinois.


Final drive strategy…

I told Coach Johnson, let’s move the chains. For us we try to get to the 30 yard line. I would like for it to be a bit closer, but that’s where we want to get to. Rodney was able to bust one on 3rd and short, which gets it to a short distance. Then the next play was to get it to the middle of the field. We’ve done a pretty good job in those situations, and having opportunities to win games.

How do you think the young guys played this week…

Tyler Johnson had a big catch, he played well. On the defensive side, our young guys continue to improve and make big plays for us. That’s why I get excited. Our older guys are playing well, and the younger guys are starting to as well. We’re going to fill a lot of holes next year with guys that have played, and played well. The future is pretty bright for us.

What adjustments need to be made to get the defense back on track…

Defense now a days, 9 of those were not on the defense. The muffed punt, we stop them to a field goal. The interception for a touchdown isn’t on us. We gave up 23 a game, and we were missing some guys, which we need to get back. Had it not been for the one 90 yard drive, I would’ve said that we played pretty well. We have things to work on, more the missed tackles than anything. We’ve held people under 30 points for the most part, if you do that you have an opportunity to win each week. It’s not like we are playing bad.

Jonah (Pirsig)’s status…

He’s progressing well. We’ll get to Tuesday, and see how he is. This week may be a stretch, but definitely next week for sure. He’s feeling good, but it’ll probably be another week. The good thing is Donnell Greene comes in and has played a bit, so we’re starting to build some depth there, which is good. Jonah has traveled and I told him to be Donnell’s coach. Every now and then I’ll take a couple upperclassmen that can help on the sidelines, so that’s why Jonah has been coming along.

What would you say is the first thing that offense must fix before next week…

Short yardage. We have to get better in the short yardage. We have to use better cadence as well, to keep them off balance. We have to be better on 3rd and short, especially after doing well on 1st and 2nd downs. That was the biggest thing that stood out. When we threw the interception that was a short yardage played that we rubbed each other off. So we need to spend more time on that stuff in practice.

Does offensive line take it personal if they do not get it on short yardages…

Especially in fourth quarter, that’s when you try to do some of those things. Not all of it is the kids fault, since they did move around a bit on the d-line. But it is body on a body, and our backs are good enough to get the yard as long as we don’t let anyone through.

What to expect from Illinois…

Lovie Smith is a very successful NFL coach. Like anybody in their first year, it has been up and down. They handled Rutgers pretty good, so we’ll have a battle on our hands. They try to have a solid running game, and play good defense like us. They have had some quarterback injuries so I’m not exactly sure what to expect there, it’ll be a big challenge on the road, and we’ll have to make sure we’re prepared and ready to go.

Gophers led 5-2 in the third period. Lose 6-5 to scsu in OT.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but holy hell, Trump got taken to the woodshed. That wasn't a debate, it was a public beating. Clinton kept baiting Trump over and over and he took it every time.

And then his dumb ass called her a 'Nasty woman' AND said he might not accept the election results if he wins. And his comment about potentially not accepting the election results drew criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike, plus it became the headline in just about every newspaper.

Roger Ailes quit as Trump's advisor over the weekend. Ailes reportedly said that Trump 'refused to prepare for the debate'.

I just...so Trump only prepared for the 2nd debate? The guy, by the reports from HIS OWN CAMP, refused to prepare for the 1st or 3rd debates.

I just...we may never again see a presidential candidate enter multiple debates entirely unprepared.

This whole election has been a farce from the rigged primaries to the ugly finish.

They get Michigan next...
They still have Ohio State on the schedule

This sounds crazy to say (due to their great recent success) but with Michigan and Ohio State building national powers, will MSU survive this next year and behond?

Penn State hasn't arrived yet but big win last night...

Will Harbaugh take all the in-state and some top Ohio talent?

Does MSU rebound to anything close to where they were previously next year and beyond? Will they just fight for 3rd or 4th in their division going forward?

Our defense simply isn't the same without Hardin

3rd down they just go after Shenault with ease
3rd down for us Leidner stares at Wolitarsky every time

4th and 1 lateral run by Leidner to allow penetration?
4th and 1 run behind Chad Fanning?
Leidner with the sneak is unstoppable...what happened to it?

Not a good game at all

That idiot announcer said Lynn hit the quarterback with his helmet. Either I'm blind or that sure looked like a shoulder pad to me and he didn't hit him in the head. That ref looked at it about a hundred times. I don't think he saw enough to overrule the decision. If that was targeting, we have turned into a bunch of wimps. Typical home game where it looks like we're playing someplace else. Good forbid we get any home cooking.You can tell the difference by a mile when we're on the road.

Alright, if there is a game that we can't lose its this one...

Which, as a lifetime Gopher fan, scares the shit out of me!

But, I am going to be hopeful.

We are going to play conservative. Rutgers is going to play as if they have nothing to lose.

Halftime :

Gophers 17
Rutgers 14

The 2nd half is better as we make a few big plays on O and D.

We run for a total of 275 yards and we force 2 turnovers.

Final:

Gophers 31
Rutgers 21

What say y'all?