USC @ Minnesota: What we learned

The GEGH crew sets up in the Ski-U-Mah Lot - photo by JT

This Saturday gave us yet another beautiful day at The Bank, and with a quality if not villainous opponent in USC coming to town, most Gopher fans that attended seemed able to put aside last weeks horrid loss and rally behind the Gophs for another game.  A win over the rule breakers from SoCal would go some significant distance in helping rerail the season.  The pre-game tailgating scene in the Ski-U-Mah Lot was terrific, and there were plenty of smiling faces, back slapping, and booze to go around.  Gopher Tailgate Nation was out in force again, and happy to be there, despite our recent woes.  Our GEGH group assembled a 3-State alumni contingent, and had a terrific time eating, drinking, and carousing.  I was, in particular, happy to spread the joy that is Cuervo 1800 Reposado with my colleagues (listen up Cuervo, you can advertise on here for free as far as I'm concerned).

With the exception of one irritable dude wearing a nice Chris Darkins, Jim Wacker-era jersey who rebuffed us for our "Darkins! Darkins! Darkins!" chant, most everybody rolling thru the lot appeared to be in good spirits (whatever, the guy obviously didn't know who #44 actually was). Most were expecting the worst and hoping for the best.  It seemed like almost a given that the Gophers would be down multiple touchdowns early, and it would get worse from there.  I was scoffed at by many for my bold (but ultimately foolish) 31-30 Gophers victory prediction.  And during the game, there seemed to be some in attendance that were actually rooting for a blowout loss, so they could feel more validated in their "Fire Brewster Now!" position.  But more importantly, the vast bulk of fans that attended the game were clearly here to support the Maroon and Gold for better or worse.

The ladies love themselves some Gopher Tailgating - photo by Mar

The game itself was pretty entertaining, at least for 3 quarters.  The Gophers hung tough for much of the game, over came some ill-timed mistakes (and flukey bad luck).  But it could only last so long. USC had the superior talent, and eventually found a way to overcome their own assemblage of mistakes (penalties and interceptions).  I read somewhere out there in the blogosphere that this game felt like the Cal game last season.  I'm inclined to agree.  Everyone's favorite 'close personal friend' of a columnist, Sid Hartman suggested that the loss hinged on 3 plays.  I'd suggest that it was really just two plays though; 1) The Jewhan Edwards facemask on the 3rd and long sack, and; 2) rather than the 97-yard kick return TD, the Gophers complete inability to answer that counter-punch with a score of their own following it (another 3-and-out).  That 3-and-out was particularly damning, as it came AFTER Kirkwood gained a tough 8 yards off right tackle on 1st down.

But for once this season, I was not completely mortified by the pass defense.  Yes they gave up 2 big TD passes, but for them to hold Matt Barkley, a shoe-in top 5 NFL draft pick, to under 200 yards in the air and pick him off twice was an accomplishment.  No doubt Kyle Theret's return to the starting lineup was a big reason why.  Unfortunately, once Kiffin figured out that running repeatedly with big back Allen Bradford was the way to go, we were already down and had to play catchup.  My worry earlier in the week had been proven out.  Recent history indicates that these bigger running backs seem to give us trouble, and Bradford and his line had their way with the Gophs through the latter stages of the game.  This was culminated by the 56-yard touchdown run Bradford had for USC's final score, where he dashed down the north sideline completely untouched from start to finish.  Obviously, the run defense really struggled, especially up front later in the game, hardly getting a hand on Tyler or Bradford on several runs.

Barkley wings his first TD of the game - photo by JT

The offense had its moments, but the running game disappointed me.  Bennett tweaked his ankle early and had no impact on this game.  DeLeon was who he always seems to be, a ball-secure first guy without great burst or vision.  Donnell Kirkwood had a few nice runs, but they came too infrequently to allow for the ball-control that Brewster and Horton were clearly seeking with their gameplan.  What really bothered me though wasn't the perceived 'over-commitment' to the run, but rather the lack of creativity and variability in the run calls.  After re-watching the game, I noticed that about 80% of the runs seemed to be between the tackles, and most often just simple dives.  No counters, very little trap blocking, and we didn't see much of the shovel and screen passes either.  Was there something in the scouting report that told the staff that running up the gut was the way to make hay against this squad?  Not sure, but we sure did like the dive play.  The other thing that struck me was that none of our 3 running backs seemed to really even look to make a cut or

Weber again completed a little over half his throws, and did his usual of making just enough good plays in between the bad ons to keep me from being completely frustrated with him.  His interception right before the half was ridiculously bad, as was best served to just throw the ball out of bounds (has Weber EVER done that?) even if it was 3rd down. MarQueis and McKnight looked pretty good when Weber managed to find them.  If McKnight can make that over the outside shoulder catch on the sideline routinely, then he needs to run that route more often in games.

Favorite play on offense:  The great catch in my corner of the endzone by McKnight was the BEST play of the day for the Gophs, but it wasn't my favorite.  That honor goes to the Kirkwood 15-yard run at midfield that might have resulted in a TD had he been able to put a move on his closest defender.  The left side of the O-line opened up a HUGE hole (see photo), and Donnell had lots of green in front of him.  Instead he initiated contact and bowled over the safety.  At the time (early 2nd quarter), I liked the message it sent. In hindsight, he's gotta come up with a Playstation move to freeze that guy.

Look at that hole - how did Kirkwood NOT score - photo by JT

Favorite play on defense:  Manuel's interception of Barkley to end USC's opening drive of the 3rd quarter.  Anthony Jacobs applies the pressure up in Barkley's grill, and Manuel comes over to the TE down the seam and snatches the wobbler out of the air to send the momentum back to the Gophers.

So what did we learn in this, the 3rd week of a still young (yet already exhausting) season?  Many things as usual, perhaps the most important being that tailgating for an afternoon game is preferably to the 11AM starts.  No need to get up at 7AM.  You can leisurely get up at a sane hour and make your way down to Stadium Village with plenty of tailgating hours in front of you. I learned that MarQueis Gray appears to be the go-to receiver for Weber already.  What that means for MG's QB career is unknown, but right now Gray looks like he might become too valuable at WR to become our starting QB if (and only if) Moses Alipate is game-ready in 2011.   I learned that Kyle Theret was definitely missed, perhaps more than I wanted to believe.  I learned that Horton still really does want to keep running the ball, but not in any real creative fashion.  And finally, I learned that handing out a free magazine in the student section is a bad idea.  How we didn't get penalized for all the mags that landed on the field (even during play) was beyond me.  Chalk that one up to having a Big Ten ref crew, I guess.

NIU preview will be up late tomorrow/early Friday, and although I called for the let down loss after USC, I feel a win coming on before plunging into the Big Ten season.