Gopher thoughts

[gopherbill]

Was your experience before or after the game a good one? Any troubles parking? Any thoughts on TCF Bank stadium? Did you tailgate or hit the bars? I hope you were treated well and would consider returning.

SDSU's defense was excellent.

Why do the Gophers always end up having to play top 10 FCS teams? Why didn't we get to play NDSU this year? Is USD going to be top 10 next year or will we get a break?

I was not warned about SDSU's kick returns, where did that come from?

SDSU's front 7 was very solid and gave Weber problems all day.

Gophers play calling baffled me. SDSU's front 7 were great, but we had good success making quick throws to the edges and using our speed guys against SDSU's corners but we never stuck with it. We kept trying to run up the middle, but SDSU's front 7 wasn't having any of it.

It rained last night, and I think the field was a little slippery. I saw the Gopher RB's slip a couple times and SDSU's QB slipped at least once at a crucial time. I think that might have stopped some of Minnesota's speed advantage, but hard to know.

Red zone offense was bad on both sides. Gophers could have gone up 14-0 early, but settled for 2 field goals. That gave SDSU the opportunity to get some confidence which is exactly what we didn't want. Late in the game, SDSU also had a chance for a TD but settled for 3.

[zooropa]

Re: Gopher thoughts

USD is not a top ten team this year, and won't be next year either.

At least your AD learned not to schedule the same FCS school in back to back years. If SDSU were going to Minnesota again next year, they'd be taking along a lot more confidence than they brought to the game today.

[gopherbill]

Re: Gopher thoughts

USD is not a top ten team this year, and won't be next year either. At least your AD learned not to schedule the same FCS school in back to back years. If SDSU were going to Minnesota again next year, they'd be taking along a lot more confidence than they brought to the game today.

It's hard to say how good both teams will be next year. I assume your comment regarding back to back scheduling was a joke so I won't comment on it.

[zooropa]

Re: Gopher thoughts

It's hard to say how good both teams will be next year. I assume your comment regarding back to back scheduling was a joke so I won't comment on it.

No, I wasn't joking. They scheduled NDSU two years in a row, and the Bison wanted that win in '07 so bad they could taste it. They didn't get 35k fans into the Metrodome in '06, they got them in there in '07 because everybody knew the Bison were good enough to beat the Gophers. Craig Bohl is, in general, a lousy coach, but he's coached some dang good games against FBS schools.

And trust me, USD is -not- going to be top ten next year, not even top 25. If they've beaten one FCS team on the road, they haven't beaten two.

SDSU and USD are not interchangeable; it's not as though USD will easily vault into the FCS top ten just because SDSU was there this year (isn't now).

[yoteforever]

Re: Gopher thoughts

USD is not a top ten team this year, and won't be next year either.

At least your AD learned not to schedule the same FCS school in back to back years. If SDSU were going to Minnesota again next year, they'd be taking along a lot more confidence than they brought to the game today.

How do you know?

[zooropa]

Re: Gopher thoughts

How do you know?

If you asked those players walking off the field whether they wanted another shot at Minnesota, what do you think they'd say?

Those guys would have jumped at the chance to play Minnesota over again, right there on the spot.

You don't give a good team a chance to come back and finish the job, and that's exactly what Minnesota did in '07

Or were you referring to the comment about USD being in the top ten?

Well, I guess, technically speaking, I don't -know- that the sun's coming up tomorrow morning, but it's a pretty easy conclusion to draw based on my experiences over the last couple days.

Do you think that FCS football is so uncompetitive that USD can jump from midpack to the top ten based on one recruiting class? Sorry. Not buying it.

[yoteforever]

Re: Gopher thoughts

If you asked those players walking off the field whether they wanted another shot at Minnesota, what do you think they'd say?

Those guys would have jumped at the chance to play Minnesota over again, right there on the spot.

You don't give a good team a chance to come back and finish the job, and that's exactly what Minnesota did in '07

Or were you referring to the comment about USD being in the top ten?

Well, I guess, technically speaking, I don't -know- that the sun's coming up tomorrow morning, but it's a pretty easy conclusion to draw based on my experiences over the last couple days.

Do you think that FCS football is so uncompetitive that USD can jump from midpack to the top ten based on one recruiting class? Sorry. Not buying it.

I was referring to the USD comment to be honest. Next year is year 3 for us and who knows. Don't assume USD is crappy. We just beat a team you didn't last month.

All that being said, I am still cheering for you to make the post season, so let's not argue or fight. Just don't throw USD in the dumpster. I was impressed with your game today, it would have been awesome to get the win.

[gopherbill]

Re: Gopher thoughts

No, I wasn't joking. They scheduled NDSU two years in a row, and the Bison wanted that win in '07 so bad they could taste it. They didn't get 35k fans into the Metrodome in '06, they got them in there in '07 because everybody knew the Bison were good enough to beat the Gophers. And trust me, USD is -not- going to be top ten next year, not even top 25. If they've beaten one FCS team on the road, they haven't beaten two. SDSU and USD are not interchangeable; it's not as though USD will easily vault into the FCS top ten just because SDSU was there this year (isn't now).

You said our AD "learned" not to schedule them back to back as if it was a strategic decision, but it's simply a numbers game with only 4 free dates every year and lots of schools to play. NDSU two years in a row was unusal and I think one of those games was scheduled at the last minute because another team had a conflict. If we played teams back to back like that all the time, it might be 8 to 10 years before another date opens up to play them again. Some home and home games are back to back like USC the next 2 years, but even the home and home games against Cal weren't in consecutive years.

I know USD and SDSU are not the same, I was joking that it would be nice to finally play an FCS team when it's NOT having a top 10 season, like NDSU this year.

[zooropa]

Re: Gopher thoughts

You said our AD "learned" not to schedule them back to back as if it was a strategic decision

I don't think he realized what he was setting himself up for, and with >100 FCS programs, he could have found some team willing to come in '07, if he knew what was going to happen (which is what I meant by 'learned').

I think NDSU back to back was an 'easy' solution to a problem. NDSU as a Great West team had a lot more scheduling flexibility (only 4 conference games), and SDSU didn't have a fully funded team, so they would've been a non-counter. After '07, I think Maturi will make sure it never happens again.

[zooropa]

Re: Gopher thoughts

Don't assume USD is crappy.

I'll only say this in response: Don't assume that anything less than Top 10 is 'crappy' for a program that is only halfway through transition.

[launcher46]

Re: Gopher thoughts

USD is not a top ten team this year, and won't be next year either.

At least your AD learned not to schedule the same FCS school in back to back years. If SDSU were going to Minnesota again next year, they'd be taking along a lot more confidence than they brought to the game today.

I don't think the guys could have brought more confidence into the game today. They went into this game fully expecting to win. After the game they were devasted. Both the players and coaches expected nothing less than a win today. Stig's speech after the game was pretty blunt. He basically said the fans are going to tell you how good you are because you almost beat the University of Minnesota... but we didn't get the W so that doesn't matter... it's going to go in the record books as a L... when they say that simply say next time we are going to win this game.

[zooropa]

Re: Gopher thoughts

I don't think the guys could have brought more confidence into the game today.

Okay confidence = poor choice of words. How about 'hunger'?

[launcher46]

Re: Gopher thoughts

Okay confidence = poor choice of words. How about 'hunger'?

Yeah, I can live with that. That's probably a good choice of words. The players definitely realize how badly they let the gophers off the hook today.

[zooropa]

Re: Gopher thoughts

Yeah, I can live with that. That's probably a good choice of words. The players definitely realize how badly they let the gophers off the hook today.

Yeah, I was waiting for Stig to go all Denny Green in the press conference, but he didn't

[launcher46]

Re: Gopher thoughts

Do you know if there is a video of the press conference anywhere? I heard what he said to the team after the game and am interested to see how that differentiates from what he said to the media afterwards. Based on your Denny Green quote i'm guessing he controlled himself pretty good haha.