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Minnesota vs. Rutgers Film Review

Minnesota vs Rutgers Film Review


Positives:


-The game started with a very impressive first drive that ended in a Shannon Brooks one yard touchdown run.

-The very first play was a perfectly executed play action and the offensive line gave Mitch Leidner time to throw and he laid one out there on a wheel route down the right sideline to Rodney Smith for a 27 yard gain.

-Minnesota’s offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage and got significant push to give Smith and Brooks plenty of room to operate. As a team Minnesota rushed for 243 yards and three touchdowns on 55 carries.

-Rolling to his left on the Gophers second drive, Leidner threw a beautiful back shoulder fade to Brian Smith for a 34 yard gain that moved them to the Rutgers 30 yard line.

-The play-calling was excellent in the first quarter and everything seemed to be clicking. Leidner connected with Wolitarsky four times in the first two drives, including a perfectly thrown slant route for a nine yard gain to keep the drive going on third down.

-Senior leaders Jalen Myrick and Damarius Travis came up big in the secondary and had interceptions. Travis capitalized on a poor throw from Rutgers signal caller Giovanni Rescigno and picked him off in the end zone right before halftime.

-Jonathon Celestin had 12 tackles to lead the team in that category once again. He was all over the field on Saturday and also had his second sack of the season. Without a doubt he has been the Gophers best linebacker this season. He has 55 tackles on the year, which is 13th in the Big Ten.

-Tyler Johnson had his first catch in the past three games. He ran a seam route down the field and Leidner hit him perfectly for a 34 yard gain in the first half.

-Duke McGhee had his most impactful game as a Gopher on Saturday from his safety position. The redshirt junior had nine tackles in the win.

-Steven Richardson continues to be Minnesota’s best defensive lineman. He had four total tackles and a sack on the day. When he isn’t double teamed he causes big time problems in the backfield.

-Rodney Smith continues his stellar redshirt sophomore season by rushing for 111 yards and a touchdown. His 94 yard kick return touchdown in the third quarter flipped the momentum back to Minnesota after Rutgers had a pick six that brought the score to 24-23. Minnesota does not win this game without the outstanding performance from Smith.

-Defensive End Hank Ekpe played perhaps his best game of the season. He had six total tackles and three tackles for loss. He also had his first two sacks of the season against the Scarlet Knights. He also forced a fumble on his sack in the first quarter that led to a Mitch Leidner touchdown run a few plays later.


Negatives:


-Rutgers is not a very good football team at this point, and they played the Gophers toe-to-toe after falling behind 21-3 after the first quarter.

-The Gophers allowed the Scarlet Knights to have 372 total yards, just two weeks after they were beat 78-0 by Michigan at home in New Jersey. Rutgers had 22 total yards in that game.

-The defense was not at full strength because of the restraining order placed on the six Gophers players this week, and once again there was a noticeable drop off in performance. KiAnte Hardin has been sensational this year when he has been available to play, and he was missed yesterday. Sophomore corner back Antonio Shenault struggled throughout the game to stick with the skill players for Rutgers, and he was attacked multiple times. Ray Buford, who also couldn’t play Saturday due to the restraining order, would have certainly helped in Minnesota’s nickel package as well.

-Junior quarterback Giovanni Rescigno was given his first career Big Ten road start, and he made the most of it. He outplayed Leidner, going 22-38 for 220 yards and three touchdowns. He played with a mostly clean pocket throughout the afternoon and showed strong poise, nearly leading Rutgers to the upset over Minnesota.

-When you play young guys, there are going to be plenty of ups and downs. Antoine Winfield Jr. has been playing very well this season, but he was exposed in coverage a couple times. He was burned badly on third down by Rutgers receiver Jawuan Harris for a touchdown in the third quarter on a short dig route, and Harris outran Winfield the rest of way for an 18 yard touchdown. Winfield did have six tackles on the day, however.

-Drew Wolitarsky muffed his second punt of the season on Saturday, and it nearly cost Minnesota the game as Rutgers took over at the Gophers 20 yard line. The muff led to a field goal, which put Rutgers up 32-31. The senior has to be better than that, especially since it was a very routine catch to make at a crucial time of game.

-3rd down defense was poor once again. Rutgers converted on 10 of their 19 third down conversions as the Gophers really struggled to get off of the field. Getting Hardin and Buford back this week should definitely help in that aspect. The Gophers are 11th in the Big Ten at giving up third down conversions, allowing opponents to convert 41.5% of the time.

-More injuries. Right Tackle Garrison Wright suffered a foot injury and will be re-evaluated early this week. Walk-On Chad Fahning replaced him during the 2nd half and did a decent job, but Wright is really a quality lineman and will be missed. Guard Vincent Calhoun also continues to suffer from a turf toe injury.

-Junior tight end Brandon Lingen just has not been able to catch a break this year. Many expected him to have a breakout year after going for almost 500 receiving yards last fall. After returning from a broken collarbone injury two weeks ago, he limped off the field with a foot injury Saturday. This looks like a it could be a lost season for the junior from Wayzata.

-Leidner didn’t play bad on Saturday, but sometimes the stats don’t tell the full story. On a third and ten in the second quarter he had Wolitarsky wide open over the middle for what would have been a first down. There was a clean pocket and plenty of time, but instead he checked down to Brandon Lingen for a three yard game and the Gophers were forced to punt.

-Receiver Rashad Still has been a non-factor this season. After receiving a lot of hype throughout camp, he has just four catches for 68 yards on the season. He will need to step it up down the stretch to help this offense balance things out.

-Untimely pre-snap penalties. In the fourth quarter Minnesota had a 4th and 2 at the Scarlet Knights 45 yard line. They called a timeout to talk it over, then right out of the timeout they had a false start on the offensive line. That brought it to 4th and 7, where of course they had to punt. These pre-snap penalties continue to be a recurring theme and they just can’t seem to get them figured out.

-Rutgers beat Minnesota up front on two consecutive drives to get off the field on 4th and short. The Gophers were down two starting linemen at the time, but Rutgers isn’t exactly rock solid up front on the defensive line. Have to convert on those plays.


Going Forward:


-It was far from pretty, and it was evident at TCF Bank Stadium that fans were unhappy and what they saw on Saturday. At the end of the day, winning ugly is a lot better than losing pretty, and the Gophers were able to get to 5-2 on the season and get to .500 in the Big Ten heading into two winnable games against Illinois and Purdue.

-Getting Hardin and Buford back in the secondary next week will be crucial. The defensive performances against Iowa and Maryland were significantly better than the ones against Penn State and Rutgers, and having these two in there definitely helps.

-A strong performance is needed next week on the road to get things back on track. After a much more convincing win on the road at Maryland, Minnesota seemed to regress this week and nearly lost to a bad Rutgers team in their homecoming game.

-Feeding Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks is essential. The carry split was dead even at 22 carries a piece, and they combined for nearly 200 yards. Smith has been especially brilliant this year as he leads all Big Ten players in total yards with 1,008 this season. They are the best weapons on offense, and it’s clear the offense is at its best when these two are involved.

-Set Mitch up for success. The first two drives were executed perfectly yesterday. It was great to see the mix of plays that were called, especially when Rutgers tried to load the box to stop the run and Wolitarsky caught a couple bubble screens on the edge to pick up 5-7 yards.

-Minnesota has a chance to reach bowl eligibility for the fifth straight season next week when they travel to Champaign. The Illini are coming off a 41-8 loss at Michigan last week, and are starting a true freshman at quarterback in Jeff George Jr.

-So many fans are upset with how Minnesota has sputtered at inopportune times this year and how they have underachieved against opponents that they should be able to beat handily. This has definitely concerning, but it could definitely be a lot worse as these close wins could have been losses.

-This team is 5-2 with a couple winnable games coming up before the tough three game stretch against Nebraska, Northwestern, and Wisconsin. These next two games at Illinois and back home against Purdue will be crucial for ironing out the kinks and playing their best football heading into the final stretch of the season.

-Starting middle linebacker Cody Poock should be full go by next week, as should starting right tackle Jonah Pirsig, who sat out the past two games. Of course Hardin and Buford will be back in the secondary as well. The health of the team right now is much better than it was at this point last year.

Gophers Add BYU and Colorado to Future Football Schedules

From the U:

The University of Minnesota football program has agreed to future home-and-home series with BYU and Colorado.

The Gophers will host BYU at TCF Bank Stadium on Sept. 26, 2020. Minnesota will then travel to Provo, Utah for a game on Sept. 20, 2025. This series will mark the first time that Minnesota and BYU will meet on the football field.

Minnesota and Colorado will play in 2021 and 2022. The Gophers will play at Colorado on Sept. 18, 2021, and then will host the Buffaloes on Sept. 17, 2022. Minnesota is 0-3 all-time against Colorado, as the teams met in 1972, 1991 and 1992. The most recent meeting between the two schools resulted in a 21-20 Colorado win in Minneapolis.

Power five programs without a QB commit

Link: Still searching: Programs looking for 2017 QB recruits

Woody Wommack wrote the story linked above on power five programs without a QB commit. Here's the quote I gave him that he didn't include: "With quarterback as somewhat of a position of need in 2017, the Gophers may take a junior college or graduate transfer quarterback to start next year -- or at the very least, compete. Minnesota has been in weekly contact with New Mexico Military Institute's Jordan Ta'amu, but no other junior college players. The Gophers are also trying to flip College Park (Ga.) Woodward Academy quarterback Ryan Glover, who would come in as a freshman. Glover took an official visit to Minnesota this past weekend and is friends and was on the same 7-on-7 team as Minnesota commit Javan Hawes."
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Scoreboard

Our stadium had the best scoreboard in the nation in 2009 when we opened up.

It's 2016, its outdated, its pixilated, and opposing kickers aren't missing FG's because you can't even tell its a Gopher on the screen.

We should have negotiated an updated screen from the Vikings before they left.

Is there any discussion of fixing that bad boy?

Targetting

I truly understand the rule against helmet to helmet contact in the open field. But what about along the line? Doesn't the o-line and d-line engage in helmet to helmet contact on virtually every play? I know that when I played center, every play began with a helmet crash and then hand play to try to direct the d-lineman in the direction that the play required. A flag could be thrown on every offensive play.

When a linebacker or d-back hits an offensive player, who may be ducking or juking the defender, and the hit is delivered toward the body and ends up in the in the helmet region, what is the difference?

A deliberate head first attack on a receiver or running back (spearing has been around for ages, defined as leading with the helmet) should be cause for penalty and ejection, but there are collisions incidental to the play that are being so closely called that perhaps flag football should become the norm in college football.

Not every tackle can be choreographed to an imaginary perfection. Intent is obvious. Incident is observable.

I want wins as well but I give Pitino this much credit up to this point.

I think Richard is a standup guy in interviews. I feel he addressed that Springs' tweet issue just fine.. From hearing Springs though, he said the comments were taken out of context.. I am still wanting to know what context he meant the comments but it really is not important now as it should just blow over.

I think Pitino is honest about the team to the press and the fans. Probably well aware that wins are the key this season. Interesting in his press conference that he mentioned Louisiana Lafayette and Texas Arlington. I think he wants his guys to focus so he made a little comment that they were pretty good. Keeps the guys from thinking they can sleepwalk through the first couple games. I do agree with him that if Lynch has not played on the court in awhile plus playing at a higher level, that it may take a bit of time to adjust. I think he will have to adjust to not reach nor even to be overly aggressive to get in foul trouble.. Springs got there in August and there has to be a time of proving himself... This season is about getting wins, no doubt. I agree Pitino needs to make better decisions during games.. I am willing to bet he would agree with that, in retrospect. He has to get big production from the 4 new players but regardless of that, I do appreciate his candidness to the fans and press.

Depth chart for Illinois

Subject to change (and change greatly), as always

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Remember you can click on the image to expand it.

Notables:
  • Dovich listed as backup LG
  • Oseland listed as splitting backup RT tackle duties with Fahning
  • Brandon Lingen is out, Joe C. reporting he's out for the year
  • Amoako backing up Myrick. I think that's what was listed on last week's depth chart too but we never saw Amoako
  • Hardin back on the depth chart, as expected. He's playing in road games.
  • Lynn is listed as a backup linebacker because he has to sit out the first half because of the targeting penalty
  • Jerry Gibson listed as backup defensive end

Gophers vs Vikes

http://www.startribune.com/5-1-vikings-vs-5-2-gophers-a-massive-gap-in-perception/398358371/

I found this in the ST. If you look at the comments at the end, they're just about like on here.
I think it's fair comparison. The Gophers really haven't looked all that great this year. Yup we're 5-2, and will more than likely qualify for a bowl game this weekend, but we do have more problems, than we should have at this point in the season.
We just got our NEB. tickets and it's interesting when you go to their website to see how much ticket taxes and ticket prices they pay. We're getting a bargain.

Basketball Media Day: Takeaways from Pitino presser

  • Excited to be past the offseason and get going.
  • Lafayette and Texas-Arlington are really good.
  • Akeem tweet about nothing. Pitino talked with Akeem about it, and he said it was about nothing.
  • Akeem has been an awesome teammate, a great leader. "He's about winning."
  • Reggie's going to have to understand he hasn't played in a long time. Really going to be able to help but there will be an adjustment period. Also have to remember he's coming from the Missouri Valley.
  • Perimeter shooting is a concern. Thinks Nate will make a jump. Dupree has improved his shooting. Akeem has shown he can shoot. Hurt and Gilbert are good shooters, and it's something we've addressed. Hard to say who the best is.
  • Team is bought in now but adversity hasn't hit yet. Team seams eager to move on from last year, though.
  • "I want our fans to be proud of what we're doing...we've got great fans."
  • Davonte provided great length, now have to play smaller, which might hurt from a defensive perspective.
  • Dupree is the backup point guard.
  • Amir Coffey is a "tremendous" passer and better defender than he thought he'd be. Always worried about if he's ready physically, but he's ready.
  • Lynch participated in 15 minutes of contact drills recently.
  • Curry's "really, really talented. Everyone talks about Amir, but Eric and Michael are really talented as well." Curry runs really well and rebounds at a high rate. Makes good moves but needs to finish better. Great passer. Pretty developed physically, will be ready to go. "He has no idea how good he can become, and that's exciting."
  • Kids make mistakes, you have to educate them and hold them accountable.
  • Ed, Kimani, and Ben complement each other. Ed has fresh ideas.
  • Murphy has worked on getting crafty and finishing around the rim. He's undersized and will have to be a Paul Millsap-type player.

Derrick Rose found not liable in civil lawsuit.

Thoughts? Bradt??

All I ask....is that we admit that most of the time, the accused players are not guilty. That's all I ask.

Yes, yes, sometimes they are guilty. Guilty players should be imprisoned and sued. But more often than not, these cases are nothing more than money-grabs.

And I ask that once and for all, we all agree that it's despicable to suspend a player because of an allegation. When time and time again, the allegations turn out to be false.

NOTE: The Rose case is pretty seedy, I admit that. I'm not holding Rose up as a good role-model. But....it wasn't rape. Most of the accused college players like Lynch just meet a girl at a bar in a normal way. They don't have millions of dollars to arrange the kind of hook-ups that guys like Rose do.

Minneapolis questions for visitors....

Hope everything is well with everyone! I'm coming in for the Rutgers game in late October with two friends (we're all in our mid-30's) from Thursday morning till Sunday. None of us have been to Minneapolis before, so instead of Googling info for bars/restaurants, I figured I'd come here and ask. We're looking for fun (happy hours, good food, fun crowds) so any suggestions you have, I'll take. And our hotel is in Downtown. Thanks!

4 things that are not being talked about...

1) what did y'all think about the way Lynn left the field after the ejection ?

2) is Carpenter ok after being tackled by Moore after the FG ?

3) do you love putting our starting RB's back in kick return.

4) I actually see a little bit of why Woli gets so many passes. He actually runs good routes. They even replayed his route on the broadcast. Brian Anderson may be a good recruiter, but should he be replaced as the WR coach ?

These questions (except #2) may seem like loaded questions. They are not. I just want to see if others think the same as me.

Main points from Tuesday presser

Mitch Leidner
  • The fast, high-scoring first quarters this year have been a result of bringing energy to practice and building up excitement for games. It starts in practice.
  • Both mind and body feel good. Foot's held up well.
  • Illinois plays a lot of cover one and Tampa 2 on third down situations. Do a good job of disguising things and have good defensive ends.
  • Hungry to redeem the Illinois road loss. Motivation won't be an issue.
  • Terrible to see Lingen go down. Great person and player. When he played against Indiana State, it was amazing how things opened up more because of his route running. "It's definitely too bad."
  • Lingen is probably a better route runner and faster than Maxx when he was here, although Maxx was a more complete player and had better hands.
  • Not sure if Rhoda expected Mitch to start or not.
  • Wakes up at 6:20 AM for 11:00 games.
  • Really helps the team to see Rodney and Shannon be such good friends considering both could be the alpha. "Everyone around that can feed off their relationship."
  • Now that it's certain he'll be starting, he gets about twice as many reps as Conor Rhoda in practice.
Hank Ekpe
  • Been best year statistically speaking individually, and that's a result of better play. That's a result of him preparing and practicing better this year.
  • Focused a lot on the little stuff and fundamentals. Phelps is big on fundamentals.
  • Having two backs like Shannon and Rodney causes preparation nightmares for other teams. Have to be aware of both of them, where they're lining up, etc.
  • Illinois is a physical team.
  • Illinois has great skill players and a good offensive line. Run a lot of formations and personnel sets.
  • Defense won't change with Jack Lynn sitting out. "Next man up."
  • Post-grad plans could be working with kids or a career in marketing. Has a major in business marketing. Also considered sales but decided he liked marketing better. He also wouldn't mind being involved with kids at a place like Hope Academy, a private Christian school in Minneapolis.
  • Haven't seen a lot of Jerry Gibson but he's working hard in practice and making the most of his opportunities.
Jared Weyler
  • When you're the swing guy, you have to switch your stance and steps.
  • Takes a lot of time in the film room to be the swing guy. You have to really understand the game, and I take a lot of pride in that.
  • Under Miller, we really focus on getting the most power we can out of our steps. Of course, the mental aspect has been the biggest difference under Miller.
  • The Cup for must knockdowns is a pretty close race.
  • Need to be more focused and clear with calls up front to combat stemming. We've had problems with jumping.
  • Other guys have had to step up as leaders with Pirsig out.
  • Run blocking has improved since the start of the year.
  • Illinois' defensive line gets penetration and plays physical. They have some young talent.
  • Every week, we set a goal to get 300 rushing yards.
Tracy Claeys
  • Richardson is on the concussion protocol.
  • Doesn't know for a fact that Lingen will be out the rest of the season.
  • Getting bowl eligible for the first time was special, that happened at Illinois.
  • Thinks there's less parity in college football among the power five than a few years ago thanks to recruiting. There's more information out there than there used to be. Kids are being trained better in high school and stronger.
  • Done a good job in pass protection this year, haven't given up many sacks.
  • With Hardin back, not sure if he'll take Myrick's spot returning kicks, like against Maryland.
  • Illinois has good running backs and a good, physical receiver. They've used three quarterbacks so we'll have to find time in practice to prepare for that.
  • Didn't comment on whether the players with restraining orders have to come him for support or with questions.
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