Golden Gophers

[JBMasterAngler]

Things are looking good for the gophers. Sure we're 2-0 against not so good teams, but we're still undefeated! And still very early in the rebuilding process. Holding onto the ball definitely needs to be addressed in practice next week! I would've liked to have seen them work on Grey's throwing more today, and give Shortell a bit more time in the game. I'm liking what I see though. 4-0 looks to be very realistic in non conference play. We could end up in a pretty decent bowl game this year!

[zepman]

It's nice to see them beat a team like they're supposed to. Another step forward...

[JBMasterAngler]

EXACTLY!!! Should be the same next week against western michigan. Syracuse could be trouble though. They might be the best winless team out there.

[lawdog]

Kill has them going in the right direction but they have a LONG way to go. I give him credit, but on the other hand, there was only way to go from Brewster's rock bottom!

[SkunkedAgain]

At the game on Saturday I saw very little push from our offensive line. That is very concerning. Our only running game primarily came from Grey. There are some pieces starting to come together. I see us sweeping the non-conference with another 1-2 Big 10 wins for a 5 or 6 win season. A respectable increase in Kill's second year.

We would have lost to the nuns of Western New Hampshire a few years ago. At least we are starting to play decent football against the teams we should be killing.

[Stcloudangler]

Quite honestly, as bad as the big 10 looks this year, I wouldnt say a 7-5 record is out of the question. The gophs look to actually have some playas on defense and really, Gray is going to get his legs and get better...

You just watch.

[JBMasterAngler]

Well, a win is a win. I didn't like seeing the gophers letting them back in the game. What is the extent of Grey's injury? Either way, put Shortell in at QB!!! The offense looked so much better with him under center. Syracuse looked better in their 2 losses than they did in their win today, but I still think it will be a toss up next week.

[zepman]

I agree. Shortell is fun to watch and can put points on the board. Being from Mankato, I'm hoping to see Nelson under center next year but Shortell is going to make it very difficult for him to get there.

The team plays offense better when Shortell is in the game. Grey will get a shot in the NFL next year at either WR or TE...that's where he should have stayed.

3-0...it's been a while.

[LMITOUT]

[Huskie]

I was at the W.Michigan game on Sat. and it looked to me that they were the more physical team, we got beat up a little. We had a number of players laying on the ground after the whistle on numerous plays. I am a Gray fan, but Shortell came in and did a nice job. He has his chance now to play one or two games before Gray heals up and if he can do the job he'll probably keep starting. I do think they'll need both guys going forward, especially with the offensive line that they have. I'd hate to see one of the freshman have to step in and lose a year just to fill in here and there, they both need to be redshirted for the benefit of the program.Next week will be tougher yet, thank goodness we have them at home, them Iowa. I'd take a split there--but the rest of the Big Ten.....ouch. But it is getting better.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

Shortell did look good and he should be better this year as a sophmore. He had his moments last year too. But if I remember right he was pretty bad quite often last year too. I know the oline and wr's werent very good last year, but I need to see more then a good game vs. w mich....

It does look the program is moving in the right direction. The gophs do have a few more guys that can actually play a little on offense and D this year. It was pretty hard to get any worse then where Brewster had it though

It will be interesting to see how they fare in a mediocre at best big ten this year

[Triple_D]

While I much prefer Kill, I have to stick up for Brewster a little bit here. Most of this year's impact players were all brought in by Brewster: Gray, Shortell, AJ Barker (walk on that Brewster gave a chance, same can be said of the kicker Wettstein who Brewster let walk on), Hageman, Crawford-Tufts, Michael Carter, etc. were all brought in by Brewster. It just took Kill to coach them up the right way to play and make them better players, which includes big advances through the strength and conditioning program of Kill.

Kill found Wells who has been huge, along with Kirkwood and a few others....but you can't deny that a lot of the players can be credited to Brewster.

Go Gophers. I've been to the last 3 games and if any of you guys are looking for a good time check out a game this year, the beer lines are a good addition and move pretty quick. The student section is starting to get into it and be a factor, at the end of the games they have been chanting, JERRY, JERRY, kinda cool to see.

[SkunkedAgain]

Well that was the main problem with Brewster. He was a fantastic recruiter for Mack Brown at Texas, and was a pretty good recruiter for the no-name UofM. The problem is that he had ZERO clue how to coach high schoolers into good college players, and apparently even lacked the ability to select position coaches who could do it for him. Therefore, his 3 star recruits essentially regressed because while other schools developed their recruits into gamers, our guys still played at the high school level. All it took was a real coach like Jerry Kill to turn them into players.

I'm excited for the Syracuse game. Hopefully Kirkwood can get the running game going because that's where Grey excelled. He was the Gopher's running game for the most part. Shortell will need a ground game to keep Syracuse and eventually the Big 10 from concentrating on the pass.

[zepman]

Of course most, if not all, the players currently playing on the Gophers are from the Brewster era...do you expect the freshman Kill brought in to be on the field already??

The only credit I'll give Brewster is taking this program backwards.

[RiverFish]

The only credit I'll give Brewster is taking this program backwards.

I would say he hit rock bottom with the Gophers. They were ranked outside of the top 100 teams. You have to work hard to be ranked outside the top 100.

[JBMasterAngler]

The only thing I miss about Brewster are his famous sound bites! hot chilli, killing bears, the loud sound of silence, etc, etc, etc.

[LMITOUT]

Just for old time's sake:

[vman11]

That guy was the master of lip service.

How much did he have to pay that theater/speech professor???

[toughguy]

Is your Chili hot?

[RiverFish]

Is your Chili hot?

Dag gum hot! LOL, I love it!

[JBMasterAngler]

Gophers still haven't even cracked the honorable mention of the AP rankings. Hopefully a big road win against iowa will really get things going. Nothing about iowa shows me they are a good team, but it should still be a very tough (and quite possibly, ugly) game.

[BEEFEATER]

Huge games on saterday. GO GOPHERS and don't forget about those undefeated UMD BULLDOGS

[Scott M]

Beat Iowa away and upset a sneaky-good Northwestern team at home and then we can talk. Big Ten is down so maybe they can make some noise, I see them as 6-6 or 7-5.

[Musky Buck]

So Jerry Kill, the bluecollar, put in your work, don't talk like you're a phenom etc. is working out pretty well, the guy is simply a football coach, no rah rah stuff, I like him a ton, it's easy to wish him well and I think the guys are responding, he's their guy and those guys are his guys, the team is in very good hands, go gophers !

[LMITOUT]

Gophers get completely dismantled by Iowa.

I guess this means the cream puff schedule is over and reality finally slaps Gopher fan square upside the head.

...it's real, it's raw and sometimes it's real raw.

[JBMasterAngler]

Well, aside from that nightmare 2nd quarter, the gophers didn't do too bad. They shot themselves in the foot a lot on offense. I think after watching shortell today, it's clear that the gophers' offense will have to mix in the 2 QB's (once grey is healthy) every game...neither is a complete starter.

Our running defense definitely needs work. It is concerning to lose in such a manner to an iowa team that is not that good. Even though it sucks to lose floyd, I still think we can beat northwestern next week. They put up alot of points, but they don't have a physical in your face offense. They will probably be ranked next week too, so that would be a big boost too.

[zepman]

Gophers get completely dismantled by Iowa.

I guess this means the cream puff schedule is over and reality finally slaps Gopher fan square upside the head.

...it's real, it's raw and sometimes it's real raw.

Were you expecting a Rose Bowl this year...this was a 3 win team last year.

Troll on....

[jigginjim]

The Gophers may have gotten beatin up Saturday, butmaybe this will bring them down to earth that they need to work even harder. I hope this will put a real fire in the belly to not look like a poor team as last year.

[JBMasterAngler]

Northwestern only climbed to 24 in the rankings. But nonetheless, they are ranked. Would be a big win for the gophers. Our receivers are going to have to do a better job of getting to the long ball, because we definitely will need some big plays on both sides of the ball.

[Big Dave2]

You guys should pick a real college football program to follow.