I was prepared to see the Gophers lose to North Dakota State today. I mean, the Bison are the No. 1 team in the nation at their tier of schools -- formerly Division I-AA, now the Football Championship Cul-de-Sac. And the Gophers are truly bad.
But I was not prepared to be so frustrated with the way the Gophers lost. Maybe I haven't watched enough of their games lately. Maybe they've been playing this way all year. But I don't think so. They were flat-out embarrassing today. There's no other way to describe it.With 30 seconds left in the first half, they were tied 14-14 and I thought that was about as it should be -- a bad D1 team is about equal to a great D1-AA. But then the Gophers allowed a slow, slower and even slower glorified fullback to scamper up the gut for 70 yards, setting up a free field goal.
Then the second half started, and the mistakes mounted. They could have downed a punt at the NDSU 2-yard line, but Steve Davis couldn't catch a ball that was falling softly into his hands on the bounce with nobody around him (in part, because he inexplicably leaped into the air like he was going for a rebound). They dropped passes. They couldn't tackle. They committed penalties. They threw interceptions. And finally, they roughed the punter when they had one last chance to save their own butts.
People are already saying the teams were equal, or that the Bison had better talent. I'm not buying it. That lets Tim Brewster off the hook too easily. This team has been ill-prepared all season, no more glaringly so than today. They let the Bison gain almost 40 yards on the ground. And despite what the morons in the booth were saying all game, that Roehl kid is NOT fast! You don't have to be fast to gain 15 yards when you aren't touched until you're 12 yards past the line of scrimmage. The defense was out of position all game. The line couldn't get off their blocks, the linebackers were clueless, and the secondary was nowhere to be seen.
The offense wasn't much better. The D couldn't catch its breath in the second half because the offense kept going 3-and-out. But the blame for this one falls squarely on the shoulders of the coaching staff. If you get beat because both teams played well and the other team just scored more points, I can accept that. But NDSU missed two field goals, coughed up a fumble that led to a Minnesota TD, and roughed the passer to extend another Gopher TD drive. They didn't play particularly well.
And when a Division I-AA team leaves the door open for their opponent to beat them, and Division I team should take care of business with ease. Even a terrible Division I team.
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4 comments:
Would you rather have your team lose 38-0 to USC on national television and be the butt of late night comedy?
It's a toss-up, actually. I mean, you've got the realistic hope that this is but a one-year blip, while I've got 40 years of terminal mediocrity that has driven my alma mater straight out of the public's collective consciousness.
You've had many, many good times, including a national championship during your years on campus, so you can curl up with them and keep warm this winter. I've got memories of a Sun Bowl win over Oregon, and multiple showings in the Music City Bowl.
You've got Regis. I've got Yanni. Again, I'd call it a toss-up.
Is Yanni a Gopher?!
Sadly, yes. I think he started at left outside linebacker for their last Big Ten championship team.
No, that last part was a joke, but yes, Yanni did attend the U of M.
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