Gophers Football

[Badsmerf]

Ball was thrown absolutely terrible. Brutal effort by the play calling and execution from leidner. After watching that final drive it is very evident if leidner actually gives these guys balls to catch the passing game would be just fine. Those receivers aren't superstars, but if the qb doesn't even give them a chance they are an easy excuse. Embarrassing game. At least the defense id's looking better.

[Badsmerf]

Honest question. What happened to Demry Croft? Why doesn't he play?

 

Probably trying to redshirt him. Not sure it matters with green on the roster. Hopefully he is able to step in next year. I have a hard time believing any good high school qb in Texas wouldn't outplay leidner.

[BeenHazy]

 

Probably trying to redshirt him. Not sure it matters with green on the roster. Hopefully he is able to step in next year. I have a hard time believing any good high school qb in Texas wouldn't outplay leidner.

Green is the one they're redshirting, which is smart.  Croft has slipped down the depth chart under Rhoda presumably for football reasons.  He's not going to save this season because he's simply not good enough to do it.

 

Leidner is the best QB on the roster by a pretty comfortable margin.  He's an above-average P5 conference QB, which means he'll still have some ugly games.

[Badsmerf]

Green is the one they're redshirting, which is smart. Croft has slipped down the depth chart under Rhoda presumably for football reasons. He's not going to save this season because he's simply not good enough to do it.

 

Leidner is the best QB on the roster by a pretty comfortable margin. He's an above-average P5 conference QB, which means he'll still have some ugly games.

Name a p5 qb he is better than. No possible way he is an above average p5 qb. He's easily a below average qb regardless of conference, and one of the worst p5 qbs. It's not even close.

[USAFChief]

Green is the one they're redshirting, which is smart.  Croft has slipped down the depth chart under Rhoda presumably for football reasons.  He's not going to save this season because he's simply not good enough to do it.

 

Leidner is the best QB on the roster by a pretty comfortable margin.  He's an above-average P5 conference QB, which means he'll still have some ugly games.

It's a shame this team has been tied to Leidner for so long. What a series of wasted opportunities.

 

Above average?? What?

[Mr. Brooks]

Green is the one they're redshirting, which is smart. Croft has slipped down the depth chart under Rhoda presumably for football reasons. He's not going to save this season because he's simply not good enough to do it.

 

Leidner is the best QB on the roster by a pretty comfortable margin. He's an above-average P5 conference QB, which means he'll still have some ugly games.

If he's above average for p5 then he should have quite a few great games for each ugly one.

I don't think he's had more than 2 or 3 great games his entire career, and most of the rest are ugly.

If he is really the best QB on roster then that is a huge stain on the Kill/Claes legacy, not that it didn't have enough already.

Leidner has no business playing QB in Division 1 football.

This team is easily 5-0 with even competent, let alone average QB play.

[BeenHazy]

Leidner has been very good since the Purdue game last year.  He's been very good at the end of close games throughout his career, today excluded obviously.

 

Many Badger fans hated Stave.  Iowa fans whine about Beathard, and before him Rudock and Vandenberg and Stanzi...all good QBs.

 

Plenty of Gopher fans found fault with Weber, Gray, Sauter, Cockerham, Abdul-Khaliq and Cupito as seniors, and all of them were better than average.

 

Good college QBs still make a lot of mistakes and have bad games.  If you think he's not above average, your expectations are too high.

[Badsmerf]

Wow. Out of all the qbs you listed, the highest grade i would give any is average. I would take every single one of the non Minnesota qbs over leidner. I'd include gray, Weber, and Abdul khaliq. Your bar is set way too low for an average qb. Most big time teams don't settle on a guy like leidner just because he has the most experience. I'm just hoping the future is bright with green.

[TheLeviathan]

Leidner gets more excuses and cover for his failures than any other QB I've ever seen.  At least that I can recall.

 

I thought him being a fifth year senior, totally healthy, was all it was going to take?  Why is there always a new excuse?

[biggentleben]

So, seriously, what is defensive pass interference?

 

It was called on plays that seemed like it shouldn't have been and not called on plays it should have been. I don't get it. At least the bad officiating on catches can be overturned by replay (as in the final drive), but you can't protest a penalty being called or not.

[TheLeviathan]

If they had thrown a flag on that for PI, I'd be asking the same question: "What the hell is a cornerback supposed to do?"

 

He had body position...is he supposed to step aside so the WR can go around or through him to the pass?

 

Sorry, but if that ball is placed towards the pylon or the back corner of the endzone, it's a touchdown or a legit call.   That isn't a bad call by the officials, that's a bad throw by the QB.

[BeenHazy]

 

If they had thrown a flag on that for PI, I'd be asking the same question: "What the hell is a cornerback supposed to do?"

 

He had body position...is he supposed to step aside so the WR can go around or through him to the pass?

 

Sorry, but if that ball is placed towards the pylon or the back corner of the endzone, it's a touchdown or a legit call.   That isn't a bad call by the officials, that's a bad throw by the QB.

That's why the "uncatchable ball" portion of the rule exists, to give the defense a break in the case of a bad throw.  But that last pass was catchable if the DB doesn't run the receiver off of the ball.  Smith even got a hand on it in spite of heavy contact that began a full five yards upfield.  The receiver was making a play for the ball, the DB was not.

 

The officials can't presume to know where the ball is supposed to be thrown.

[Vanimal46]

I've seen enough of Tracy Claeys running this program. There was a sliver of hope that Kill would be the guy to take the program to the next level... Claeys is certainly not the guy to do that. They're going to have to massively overpay a Les Miles type to come on board. Or throw another dart for a coach at a smaller school (maybe the NDSU coach?) and cross fingers it works.

 

As far as the game yesterday, the offense was abysmal. It's borderline criminal to have Leidner throw 33 passes, and only give the ball to Brooks 10 times. Embrace who you are, a heavy run team, and give Brooks/Williams the damn ball.

[TheLeviathan]

 

That's why the "uncatchable ball" portion of the rule exists, to give the defense a break in the case of a bad throw.  But that last pass was catchable if the DB doesn't run the receiver off of the ball.  Smith even got a hand on it in spite of heavy contact that began a full five yards upfield.  The receiver was making a play for the ball, the DB was not.

 

The officials can't presume to know where the ball is supposed to be thrown.

 

The corner did not run him off the ball.  The ball was thrown inside of the two players and the corner had inside position.  He literally would have had to stop playing defense and move aside or allow the receiver to run over him because of the position of the throw.  He had his head turned, looking at the ball, and held his ground.  He's allowed to do that.  

 

The refs don't have to know where the ball is supposed to be thrown, they just have to know that the corner is entitled to hold his ground too.

[USAFChief]

So, seriously, what is defensive pass interference?

 

It was called on plays that seemed like it shouldn't have been and not called on plays it should have been. I don't get it. At least the bad officiating on catches can be overturned by replay (as in the final drive), but you can't protest a penalty being called or not.

It wasn't PI.

 

But let's grant that it was.

 

It only mattered because the Gophers spent 59 minutes not playing offense, behind a stupid game plan executed by a poor QB, wasting a pretty good defensive effort.

 

Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

That's the takeaway. Not a call that can be quibbled over.

[biggentleben]

I was not only referring to that last play. There were PI calls on the day with much less contact. There were plays with more contact not called. It's just crappy that inconsistent calls can influence the games the way they do. I have no assumptions the final play would have been called, though it typically is due to contact before looking for the ball. The issue is that lesser contact was called on a crucial 3rd and long on one of Iowa's FG drives, and both were going for the ball with equal right to it where the ball ended up thrown.

 

Both teams wanted badly to lose yesterday, though. The Gophers just had more desire!

[TheLeviathan]

I would agree that PI has become muddled nonsense at all levels.  

[Badsmerf]

I'm in agreement that officiating was not very good or consistent. That said, i don't have a problem with that last play not being pi. At real speed i thought it was, but the replay showed a different story. It was a borderline call imo.

 

I find out pointless to worry about that call because that isn't the reason they lost the game. Another big ten loss and the division title how is over. From the gamelans so far, they are going to struggle to win many more games. The talent is there though. Brooks is a fantastic back and the defense has had some good moments. If there is a coaching change at the end of the year, the rebuild shouldn't take all that long.

[Badsmerf]

Just saw that Rhoda is now starting Saturday. Is it fair to ask if this team is going to win a single conference game? Rutgers, Illinois, Purdue should all be easy pickings.... but so should have Iowa been. Regardless, this team will be lucky to make a bowl game. What will it take to get a new coach though? And will the gophers finally hire a big name to at least try and win?

[Badsmerf]

Just saw that Rhoda is now starting Saturday. Is it fair to ask if this team is going to win a single conference game? Rutgers, Illinois, Purdue should all be easy pickings.... but so should have Iowa been. Regardless, this team will be lucky to make a bowl game. What will it take to get a new coach though? And will the gophers finally hire a big name to at least try and win?

[Vanimal46]

It would take multiple Brinks trucks full of money to get a big name coach to Minnesota... For a guy like Les Miles to take this job, maybe $7 mill a season? I just don't see it.

 

They're going to need to take a chance on a coach at a smaller school again. Perhaps the NDSU coach would be interested.

[Vanimal46]

Oh boy! The Gophers beat up on a very bad team again! Should be able to do that again next week against Rutgers, who have been outscored 174-14 in 4 Big 10 games. 

[Mike Sixel]

CBS has them 49th in the nation......is that really that bad? It isn't great....but is that bad?

 

The FPI has them 54th....

Edited October 17, 2016 by Mike Sixel

[Vanimal46]

 

CBS has them 49th in the nation......is that really that bad? It isn't great....but is that bad?

 

The FPI has them 54th....

Maryland was ranked 49th? I guess I just assumed Maryland was a bad team if the Gophers beat them... 

[Mike Sixel]

 

Maryland was ranked 49th? I guess I just assumed Maryland was a bad team if the Gophers beat them... 

 

No, MN has those rankings....

[BeenHazy]

 

CBS has them 49th in the nation......is that really that bad? It isn't great....but is that bad?

 

The FPI has them 54th....

There are only 64(?) Power 5 teams, so a ranking in the low 30s would be about average.  54th means they're behind a number of Group of Five schools.  Not good.

[Vanimal46]

Didn't watch a second of the game on Saturday, but it sounds like a disappointment, even though it was a win. Rutgers came into this game being outscored 174-14 in 4 Big 10 games, and they score 32 against the Gophers? Yikes. 

On a positive note, RB Rodney Smith is a stud. He should be the next Gophers high draft pick in the NFL.  

[TheLeviathan]

 

Didn't watch a second of the game on Saturday, but it sounds like a disappointment, even though it was a win. Rutgers came into this game being outscored 174-14 in 4 Big 10 games, and they score 32 against the Gophers? Yikes. 

On a positive note, RB Rodney Smith is a stud. He should be the next Gophers high draft pick in the NFL.  

 

The DT whose name I can't remember is a better pro prospect IMO.

[biggentleben]

This is the way the team needed to play all season. Leidner didn't blow anyone away, but he was efficient and made the passes needed, the run game did what it should, and the defense played like they could. Yes, it was Illinois, but last week was Rutgers, and I'd say Rutgers is quite a bit worse than the Illinois team that they stomped on the road today.

[bluechipper]

 

This is the way the team needed to play all season. Leidner didn't blow anyone away, but he was efficient and made the passes needed, the run game did what it should, and the defense played like they could. Yes, it was Illinois, but last week was Rutgers, and I'd say Rutgers is quite a bit worse than the Illinois team that they stomped on the road today.

Leidner was 10/19, and many of his completions were inaccurate enough that it didn't allow for any yards after the catch. I wouldn't call him efficient today.

 

Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks are such a great tandem, I wonder what they would look like with a good quarterback.