BowedButNotBeaten

55 minutes ago, Rochelobe said:

This is a good point.  SEC will drop all the3 and 4 stars like hot potatoes to get a full class of 5 stars.  Those kids will go elsewhere then, but it would leave the Big Ten with a talent deficit for a few years.

Why would recruits who would be freshmen for the fall 2021 season care about this fall being cancelled/postponed?

4 hours ago, onlyHskrfaninIL said:

I might go back and watch last years game tonite.  What impact newcomers does minny have this year? Or they pretty much the same guys?

Mostly a year older, some back from injury. This is a team that started freshmen at eight of the 11 positions on offense in the bowl game against Georgia Tech.

Antoine Winfield back from injury at safety, Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks back from injury at running back.

There's really no reason for this not to be a super tight game. Turnovers will be key, which is not exactly groundbreaking analysis.

21 minutes ago, Husker in WI said:

 

@everybody knows my name or @BowedButNotBeaten probably have a better sense since they're both Minnesota fans, but my sense is they're solid but not spectacular.

 

They've got a good pass rusher in Coughlin but all he can do is speed rush - a problem against Farniok, but he's not going to take over the game. A big DT transfer from Notre Dame, then a couple decent rotational pieces. LB, feels like the best guy is Kamal Martin who has been suspended off and on but I think will play this week. Overall nobody as good as Cashman was last year. They're a step down from the past two front 7s we've seen for sure, but they're not bad.

You did a nice job of summarizing. You've clearly watched Minnesota play this year. Indeed, the D-line is serviceable but not spectacular. They'll rotate lots of bodies in to stay fresh. Coughlin at DE will play in the NFL next year, but he's been bothered by a hamstring issue since training camp that has limited his effectiveness somewhat. The tackles haven't caused anyone's skirts to fly up yet.

Kamal Martin at LB is tremendous. He sat out one game for suspension and another for injury, but he's all over the field. Thomas Barber is the other LB, and he's been a bit underwhelming this year.

If you can, watch #11 Antoine Winfield because you'll appreciate how talented he is at safety. Both of the last two years he's suffered a season-ending injury against Maryland. When healthy, he's the key cog of the defense.

The Minnesota D has been decent with some significant lapses here and there. A mobile QB will give them problems.

I'm intrigued...who is Thurston from Pender and does he often drink on Wednesday afternoons?

Well, selfishly I was hoping Martinez would be on the shelf for this game. He's dangerous.

Is J.D. Spielman going to play? Never blamed the kid for leaving town for college. The media can be brutal on an NFL general manager, and that would be tough to listen to as a kid.

1 hour ago, Stone Cold said:

Hows the atmosphere.  Wanted to catch a game this year and wanted it to me Minn with my brother but i dont think hes going to make it.  If i went it would be solo.  Kinda would like to know what atmosphere im walking into.

It's fine, but it's nothing special. The stadium will be 30% Husker fans. The Twin Cities are quintessential pro sports towns - the Gophers are far behind the Vikings, Twins, Wild, T-Wolves. They're not that far ahead of Minnesota United FC and maybe even the Lynx.

That's ok. It is what it is. But the stadium is a cool-looking brick structure, the fans will be friendly, and you can buy beer. I hope you come and you'll have a good time if you do. Bring the Bits of Broken Chair with you, please.

59 minutes ago, Husker in WI said:

 

I assure you, your kicking situation is better than ours. 

...tempted to take that bet...

9 minutes ago, WyoHusker56 said:

 

This probably cuts down on the swirling effect though right? Seems like big stadiums get a swirl going and it's anyone's guess what happens when the ball is in the air.

That's a really good point. Kickers certainly haven't had too many issues being accurate at TCF Bank. That's good for us, because we trot out a freshman kicker who has had some success this year but isn't exactly battle tested (except for a big kick in the Fresno St. game).

11 minutes ago, 10_point_buck said:

Early forecast for the Twin Cities is cold, windy and maybe wet. Way too early to know if it will be wet or not, but the cold and windy are almost a given from what I have seen so far in the forecast models.  Wind will be similar to the game Saturday vs Northwestern, but I have no clue on how the stadium in MN is with wind as some are worse than others. (Hinze Field)

The stadium isn't tall (because it's not very big) so the wind can blow a bit more there than in larger stadiums.

Enough layers and it will be fine. Unless you're one of the shirtless students.

Dress warm if you're coming. Kickoff temp will be around 34 degrees with significant wind. If there's precipitation, and there's a 40% chance there will be, pray that the temperature dips enough to make it snow instead of a freezing drizzle.

The weather will have an effect, but I'm not sure in favor of whom. Last week, Tanner Morgan struggled a bit in the dampness and the Gopher receivers had some issues holding onto the ball. Thankfully, the somnolent running attack answered with vigor.

Any word on Martinez or Vedral? I suspect Frost will play it close to the vest all week.

1 hour ago, BigRedBuster said:

I’m putting it out there for discussion purposes. 
 

Northwestern has had the toughest schedule and the higher rated defense. That would indicate that their defense is probably pretty dang good and was possibly a major part of why we only scored 13 points. 
 

Minnesota, on the other hand, hasn’t played anybody good and they have the lowest rated defense. Which, is good for us because we might go into the game with a number of key injuries on our offense.  

Maybe, but yesterday the Gopher defense was stout. The Illinois offense scored three points. Their two touchdowns were a via a pick six and a scoop and score.

I don't mind that the Gophers have played a soft schedule so far. I'm enjoying the ride.

4 minutes ago, WyoHusker56 said:

 

I agree his passing was not near as bad as it could appear. I thought he looked pretty good overall. However, I think one big knock on him was his slow decision making on RPO. On multiple occasions it felt like he took way too long to keep or hand off the ball. Against a faster defense that will end really poorly.

Completely agree. It was so weird - like he and the back were glued together for a moment or two. Perhaps the sight of Jackrabbit linemen crashing through the slotted spoon of our offensive line confused him.

17 minutes ago, Husker in WI said:

 

I'm sure he knew you were referencing a different metric, just replying with one that doesn't favor your point. I think both ratings have issues, but the person defending Morgan's performance is going to prefer QB rating and someone criticizing it will prefer QBR. In either case he was somewhere above average to very good range, and I thought just from the eye test more towards good - very objective, I know.

 

Indeed. My only defense of last night's game is that I'd rather be 1-0 than 0-1, and that provides some solace.

Meanwhile, I expect Nebraska to have no such issues with South Alabama tomorrow. I'm still keeping alive the faint hope that both teams will be undefeated on October 12th when they play in Minneapolis.

3 hours ago, Husker in WI said:

 

Fixed it, still impressive but slightly less so. Morgan definitely wasn't the problem though, he looked pretty good. I still don't know what his ceiling is, but he's tough, mobile, and made some nice throws.

 

Question, I got the impression from the Minnesota board that drops aren't actually that unusual for Johnson - kinda the TO issue where he's really really good and makes crazy catches, but also randomly drops catchable balls. Is that actually the case or did the drops come out of nowhere?

Indeed, Tanner Morgan was a redshirt freshman. Good catch. That Jackrabbit game really has me rattled.

And yes, drops are a weird zit on Johnson's game. He's so gifted with route running, using his body as a shield, and yard after the catch. But 1-2 times a game he won't look an easy pass into his hands and doink it.

56 minutes ago, GSG said:

 

I didn't catch a lot of the game, but was your pass protection decent? Is Morgan going to be as effective if he's constantly running for his life or getting hit? 

Pass protection was hideous. SDSU was doing nothing but running simple stunts from their defensive line and Minnesota had no answers. That's why his stat line, which was pretty darn good, is even better in that light.

47 minutes ago, BlitzFirst said:

 

 

His QBR was 62.9 - see here:  https://www.espn.com/college-football/boxscore?gameId=401112229

 

Hardly great at all.  But I agree with you that he was efficient...more of a game manager than wow maker.

ESPN's QBR metric (which goes from 0-100) is different than QB rating, which was 161.6 for Morgan last night. There needs to be some kind of acronym reshuffle because it's very confusing.

That game did not go at all like I expected it to. My god, the offensive line looked constipated all night. The defensive line looked drugged. Tyler Johnson dropped two balls. I'm not sure we'll try a field goal all year because we don't appear to have a kicker who knows where the uprights are.

I will, however, disagree with some of you about QB Tanner Morgan. He continues to be sneaky efficient. His QB rating last year would have been top 30 in the country as a true freshman if he'd had enough attempts, and his rating last night was even higher. I think the Gophers need to throw the ball more.

On 8/21/2019 at 3:46 PM, knapplc said:

 

Minnesota is going 5-7 this year, 3-6 in conference. You guys finish with Penn State, Iowa, Northwestern & Wisconsin in four straight weeks, with no breaks. That's a rough stretch.

 

I've honestly got your game against Fresno State as a tossup, and I'm giving the nod to Fresno because they're at home and I don't like Minnesota because we are bitter Chair rivals.

It would be remarkable to have almost everybody back, return three stud players from injury (Smith, Brooks, Winfield), have an experienced quarterback rather than last year's two untested freshmen, have an easier conference schedule on paper, and still somehow manage to get WORSE? I don't think I'll side with you there.

I'm not buying Iowa and Wisconsin, and analytics suggest that Northwestern outperformed their expectation last year and should revert to the mean. I think the three likeliest candidates to win the West are Purdue, Minnesota and Nebraska.

Yes, Tyler Johnson is an NFL-bound receiver. But in the blowout wins over Purdue, Wisconsin and Georgia Tech, Tanner Morgan threw for 139, 124 and 132 yards.

Minnesota became primarily a power running team, and will continue to be that this season.

2 hours ago, Xmas32 said:

Unfortunate to hear about Annexstad's injury and I hope he recovers pain free.  If I remember correctly, Morgan got the majority of the snaps in the 2nd part of the season right?  I know Minnesota got some life against NU when Morgan came in at QB.

Morgan played really well the last six games of the season, which coincided with the Gopher resurgence. That said, the coaches saw something in Annexstad last year to give him the starting job until he was hurt, and there was a good chance he would have gotten the nod this year as well.

Either way, Minnesota is going to primarily be a power running team.

1 hour ago, runningblind said:

This is what it's about.  It's disappointing that even the B1G has forgotten what made these things great and have started manufacturing corporate BS trophies. 

 

The only one I recognize is that chair for Nebraska in the current conference.

It's simply one of the best, most organic trophies around, and a real callback to the trophy origin stories of old. I love The Chair.

And amidst all the talk about Northwestern and Iowa and Wisconsin, don't sleep on Minnesota. We have a lot of production coming back. I'll be in the stands for Gophers/Huskers on October 12th (doing a double header with the Vikings/Eagles on the 13th).

As Gopher fans we choose to remember the end of the year (beat downs of Purdue, Wisconsin, and Georgia Tech).

We also choose to ignore the middle of the year (beat downs by Maryland, Nebraska, and Illinois).

Either way, here's to hoping The Chair finds its way back to the hallowed halls of the U of M.

19 hours ago, brophog said:

 

 Had any other of the top 6 finished like that with their upcoming schedule, and maybe even Minnesota minus the tugboat captain at the helm....this is easily the consensus favorite. Nebraska has a favorable schedule, as does Purdue, but nobody has as soft of one as Minnesota.

 

The only thing I don’t like about it, particularly for Minnesota specifically, is that it’s backloaded. The last four are PSU/NW/Iowa/Wisc. What has happened the last few years is they play this super soft non-con, think they’re something, then crash back down to earth. 

 

I’ll say this about their finish last year: Yes, after the changes made after Illinois, they did play better. They also faced some teams where either injuries and/or apathy had set in. They were able to get into positions where they didnt have to throw the ball. They only had 1 turnover in the final 3 wins, while collecting 6. But there are two things that really make me question how much of this improvement they can take forward: opposing QB completion rate was still high (over 65% aside from the non-passers at GT) and they played against Purdue and NW whom neither could run the ball against anyone else. They improved those two areas to where they’d be expected to be, which is way better than it was, but maybe not necessarily a sign they’re about to take off.

 

Still, they’ve been playing with a lot of youth that will take that experience with them, making Minnesota a very interesting team this year.

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know about that. Last year's non-conference included a win over eventual 12-2 and #18 ranked Fresno State.