Northwestern @ Minnesota - What we learned

Another loss piled on to an already swiftly sinking season.  Of course, some may have already declared the season officially ‘sunk’.  I hadn’t prior to this game, but I’m almost out of buoyancy.  That is to say the season hasn’t completely gone below the waterline for me, but its damn close.  Getting blown out at Wisconsin this week could be the final torpedo to put my last modicum of hope under.  Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.  I don’t want to think about how tough it will be to get excited for the Purdue game the following week if we’re 1-5 and axe-less.  On a fun Gopherhole.com thread started last week, someone asked what movie quote best described the Gopher’s football program over the past several decades.  My response?

Gopher fans - "I think you know how this is going to end.  Don't you?"
- Anton Chigur (Javier Bardem) from 'No Country for Old Men'

Despite a good chance to win against Northwestern, didn’t the whole thing go down just the way you figured?  I know it did for me. And sadly, that’s the exact feeling I started to develop at the back half of the Mason era, but really you could apply it to just about any full season under his tenure.  Now that feeling has crept in to my mindset in the Brewster era. 

The undefeated Wildcats came in and showed themselves to be who we thought they were (and we let ‘em off the hook), a vulnerable and beatable team that was still relatively untested.  A team that Minnesota could best, if only a few things went our way.  And this time, a number of things indeed did go our way – primarily the turnover margin, but also a missed XP, frequent Wildcat penalties, and some blown coverage in the Northwestern secondary. 

The Gopher defense was again overmatched across from the skilled Dan Persa, but they managed to turn over the ‘Cats enough at the right times to allow for the offense to keep pace. Persa was able to do damage with his legs, but the Wildcat RBs were largely held in check.  The front four (Smash Bros. et al) did generate some pressure, but Persa is very quick to flee on the first sign of pocket collapse and run.  Definitely a strength for him in the college game, but it will be considered a weakness come draft day for him, as he didn’t seem to be willing to stand in the pocket and deliver the ball as coverage breaks down.  Cosgrove dialed up some appropriately timed blitzes, (maybe too few?) and the one that resulted in a TD was simply tough luck as Ebert managed to muscle the ball from Collado on what appeared to be in near perfect 1-on-1 coverage.    

Pre-game at the Stub & Herbs's back alley - photo by TKL

And with 2 minutes to go, even a freakily fortunate forward fumble advanced by the Gophs to the 40 (which the TV broadcast crew spent surprisingly little time looking at) still wasn’t enough good fortune to put the Gophers over the top.

The Gopher offense rediscovered their competence for nearly the entire game.  Adam Weber was again secure with the ball, and DeLeon Eskeridge was the prime ballcarrier de jour, with some hard running and nice sidesteps on interior runs that earned him extra yardage.  And it was nice to see the offensive line regain some of their confidence back, and actually started laying wood on some purple jerseys. 

But sadly, all these things listed above were for naught.  With 2 minutes to go, even a freakily fortunate forward fumble advanced by the Gophs to the 40 (which the TV broadcast crew spent surprisingly little time looking at) still wasn’t enough good fortune to put the Gophers over the top.  Incompetence set in for those final 2 minutes, and it was just enough to ensure another loss.  Obviously, based on the ‘Crew’s Brew of the Week’ posted earlier this week, I was surly and furious (pun intended) about the way the last possession went down.  The Strib’s Phil Miller did a nice job breaking down the final 8 plays, coupled with Brewster’s post-game press conference remarks regarding some of the specific play calls.  Read, and you’ll surely find a new irritation for Brewster/Horton (it’s still not clear who’s calling plays in these situations) and their crunch time way of thinking.  I realize it’s easy to say in hindsight, but I think I could have come out of this loss feeling much better if we at least had been able to attempt a field goal or take a last second stab down the field.

It’s simply amazing to me to see how the Gophers fail to execute time and time again in the big moments of the game. Is it inexperience? Coaching? Are they actually overachieving in these close games (I shudder to think if this is true)?  A combination of all these?  I’m sure I don’t know, but losses like these continue to pound nails into the Brewster regime’s coffin.  To come out prepared and able to give a quality Big Ten opponent the fight of their life, and shoot yourself in the foot with a chance to win in the closing moments has got to hurt the psyche of a probably already mentally fragile team. 

The 'Block M', from the NW corner -  photo by TKL

And what was learned from this, yet another tough loss?  Well, the Wildcats apparently don’t care too much about ball security.  They also still don’t have any running backs that could start on any other Big Ten team.  But then the Gophers don’t seem to care about laying a proper block in crunch time either and that’s what in the end really counted.  And finally, I learned that even though I let a well-behaved fan and friend who roots for the other team into our stadium with tickets to my seats, I still feel a little guilty about it.    

This coming Saturday’s prospects? With the Badgers coming home off a tough road loss to the Spartans last week, I feel a Camp Randall spanking coming on.  Then again, the Gophers have always played the Badgers tough and close (but always lost) under Brewster’s tenure. Vegas has the line opening up in the 20-21 point range which seems a smidge too high to me, I think +14.5 is more appropriate for the Gophs, but that line may shrink over the week.

Preview coming on Thursday night, along with Badger alum Roger Murdock’s take on the game.