Scoops's Extended Quick Hits: 10/15/07

It’s been a few weeks, I apologize. I’ll try to give anything & everything that comes to my mind. Another note: Pliers & I are going to try to start a chat every Thursday or Friday & we’ll post the chat transcript on the blog, so that should be of some entertainment. On to a two week edition of “Scoops’ Quick Hits”:
-Gophers: A rough two weeks. I was unable to view the Indiana game, but from the sound of it, I didn’t miss much. There have been some defections and a 21 point blown lead to Northwestern. Here’s my take:
-Offensively-They are getting better & showing signs of life, which is a complete positive. You want to see them take a step each & every week as an improvement. It’s hard to tell because NW is not a great D and they got blitzed by Michigan State the week before as well, but the offense is showing improvement. What I didn’t like was the 3rd quarter INT by Weber. The Gophers D actually came up big & got a turnover. A big 1st down, and Minnesota was up 35-14, in complete control of the game. I said to myself “get out of the 3rd quarter with the same score & at worst, NW having the ball in their territory to start the 4th quarter. But a crucial 1st down INT where Weber tried to toss it over the middle. I don’t get on playcalling that much, because it’s often judged on how successful it was (I’ll always remember when the Vikings in 1999 ran a 3rd & 35 draw to LeRoy Hoard up the middle and he rumbled for 40 yards to get the 1st down and everyone was talking about the brilliant play call because it caught the Broncos off guard. Are you serious? How many times have you seen that same call, which isn’t a bad call, you’re just not trying to turn it over, and it doesn’t work? I’d say about 90% of the time in those situations). But a 1st down, when Weber & Jay Thomas were having a lot of success running the ball, late in the 3rd quarter, a pass down the seam over the middle was not a correct play call. Weber shouldn’t have thrown it, and the play shouldn’t have been called. Other than that, a few blunders here & there, but you can’t expect anything more, at least I can’t. Weber is growing each game and should be a tough stop the last three games for Illinois, Iowa & Wisconsin. Big Wheel came up with is best game as a Gopher, which is good for him. He’s had a nice comeback year this year after being in Mason’s doghouse last year. With Decker only a sophomore, and others like Herndon, Spry & Howell (who didn’t play on Saturday), I like the direction. The short yardage needs to get better, but the offense is heading in the right direction. Improvement from one week to the next, that’s all I look for as a fan of amateur athletics. And the 2 point play was THE RIGHT CALL! Why go when you’re forced to go? And who says that the Gophers are absolutely going to score the next OT? By that line of thinking, the Gophers are absolutely going to score, why not do it when it’s in your control? I thought they would have a bit more savvy of a play, like some sort of option where the RB can toss it as well, but the play they called was a typical 2 point play, so I can’t say it was a bad call. The RT didn’t have his best block, and it looked like the jumped Decker, so I credit Northwestern for making a good play, but it was the right call. You may as well live & die with what got you to that point. One more point, I liked that Valentine & the TE’s, both Simmons & Tow-Arnett, got a bit more involved. Valentine on a few touches short yardage and as a 2nd back blocking, and some passes to the TE’s.
-Defensively: they have ZERO linebackers. It’s almost painful to watch. I think Hightower is the best of the lot right now, and he is the only LB making any plays, but he was completely fooled in OT. Shevlin: what can you say? This guy is awful. He makes bad reads, seems like he has no football sense, and is constantly overrunning & out of position. On the 4th down QB option play, he completely left his gap & overran and allowed the QB to run untouched. If he breaks down & stays at home, he at least has an opportunity to make a play. Along with the ugly LB’s is the fact that they get no pass rush whatsoever, and they have no depth at any position. Dominique Barber is making plays, and I didn’t think the secondary was awful as a whole considering the team they were playing and the pass rush that was provided. But the bottom line is the defense doesn’t have the athletes to make anything happen, mostly at LB, then at the CB & DE positions. And that won’t change until the recruiting aspect gets better. They need more athletes & more depth.
-Coaching: I’ve already touched on the 1st & 10 INT late in the 3rd quarter that was the turning point of the game, so no need to dive in to that anymore. The other questionable call I felt was the 3rd & 5 stretch with a little over 2 minutes left in the game. With 3rd & 5, I thought the right call was a QB draw. And it looked like after the pass routes somewhat broke down, Weber could have taken off and gotten close, perhaps not a 1st down, but no worse than a 4th & 2. But I would have not kicked the FG in that position. I know what Brewster is thinking….44 yard FG, a D-I kicker should be able to hit that, and you hit it, you ice the game. But I had absolutely zero confidence in Monroe or anybody on that team to make that kick. I thought going for it on 4th down was the better option. There was a better chance of lining up Wheelwright 1 on 1 and tossing him a jump ball than Monroe hitting that kick. You want to show confidence in a guy, but they just don’t have anybody that can make that kick. Those two were the only real beefs I had. They tried to blitz a lot, including the 4th down play in regulation, and the LB’s simply got stuffed. Especially Shevlin, it looks like he’s blitzing just to do it. If you’re going to blitz, there has to be a purpose to it, and he has no clue, going back to having zero football sense.
-Overall: If you bet on Minnesota, you made money this weekend, so from that aspect, you can look at the expectations. But this was a game they had won, and to quote the immortal Denny Green, “they let ‘em off the hook!” This program won’t change until the losing attitude & the deer in the headlights look changes. You know it was going through the heads of those players “here we go again” after the turnovers, the NW touchdowns, and the failure to make some plays. I credit the offense for getting back on track, especially in overtime. But you’re not only changing poor talent, you’re having to change a losing culture as well. And if I hear anybody talk about “16 starters back from a bowl team,” I’m going to jam a screwdriver into my ear. First off, they were replacing a new QB, an experience 3 year starting senior QB, with a redshirt freshman QB, putting in a new offense that was built on zone running to one with 3 & 4 wide receiver sets. They’re blowing the whole thing up, so the starters on the offense doesn’t mean that much to me. On defense, the starters were bad in the first place, and it got worse when Daniels, Massey & D Jones got booted off the team. Not only that, but the bad players are getting injured as well (Cooley, Steib & Sherels) so you’re now going to their backups. There is zero CB depth left, and they’re down to true freshmen next to Barber at safety. VanDeSteeg is the only DL player with any talent, and he’s limited right now, so a bad pass rush got even worse in the first place. This team was 6-7 last year with practically the best turnover margin in the country! That is amazing. They had about as efficient an offense last year as you could have, turnover wise, and they still lost more games than they won. Not only that, but they didn’t beat a Big Ten team with a winning record last year. For final proof, just look at the 2003 & 2004 recruiting classes.
2003:
Maurice Alexander
Neel Allen
Tony Brinkhaus
Samad Cain
Adam Galbreath
Paris Hamilton
Jamal Harris
John Jakel
Keith Lipka
Rhys Lloyd
Laurence Maroney
Pete Martinsen
Mark Mullaney
Brandon Owens
Logan Payne
Amir Pinnix
Stephon Rhea
Micah Rucker
John Scroggins
John Shevlin
Steve Shidell
Brian Smith
Desi Steib
Jeff Sundsmo
Justin Valentine
Ernie Wheelwright
Byron Williams

Let’s break it down: you have good players in Brinkhaus, Steve Shidell, Amir Pinnix & Wheelwright, a good player in Valentine that isn’t in a friendly offense, then you have contributors in Jamal Harris, Neel Allen, Desi Steib, & John Shevlin. That’s about it. Your seniors are supposed to be the lifeblood of your program, and this is what you have. They obviously lost Maroney two years ago, and Logan Payne graduated last year, and Brandon Owens had a chance to be good with an unfortunate career ending injury. But after that, look at those names.

2004:
Maurice Alexander
Dominique Barber
William Brody
John Carlson
Matt DeGeest
Adam Ernst
Jason Giannini
Deon Hightower
Leland Jones
Justin Kucek
Tommy Leavitt
Mike Maciejowski
Steve Moore
Tony Mortensen
Everett Pedescleaux
Gary Russell
Johnny Sampy
Sam Scroggins
Hussain Shakir
Jack Simmons
Andre Sloan El
Nhemie Theodore
Will VanDeSteeg
David Wess

I remind you, this is the next class AFTER a 10-3 season & beating a good Oregon team in the Sun Bowl, with Barber, Maroney & Tapeh making national names for themselves. In this class, you have Dominique Barber that is a great player, VanDeSteeg, Simmons, Hightower, & DeGeest contributing, and that’s about it. Russell left school, Mortensen is the backup QB, & John Carlson had a career ending injury. Also, Kucek is the teams current punter. But this is the true senior, redshirt junior class. Look at the names a second time.

In college football, recruiting is getting to be the name of the game and is the lifeblood of the program. You have a down class and it can kill you. You have two down classes, and you feel the effects a few years down the line….have multiple bad classes and you have a 1-6 football team when you’re trying to switch systems. Let’s look at the current verbals that Brewster has already gotten, with a 1-6 team mind you:

Jonathan Dandridge, DB, 6-1, 175, 4.48, Detroit, MI
Roszell Gayden, OL, 6-7, 285, 5.2, 5.5, Robbinsdale, MN
Ryan Grant, LB, 6-1, 215, -, 5.4, Eden Prairie, MN
Vincent Hill, WR, 6-0, 190, -, 5.8, New Berlin, NY
Brendan Kelly, DE, 6-6, 225, 4.69, 5.6, Eden Prairie, MN
Brandon Kirksey, DE, 6-3, 250, -, 5.3, St. Louis, MO
Eric Lair, TE, 6-3, 210, 4.56, 5.6, Houston, TX
Simoni Lawrence, DB, 6-1, 207, 4.45, 5.6, Upper Darby, PA
Sam Maresh, LB, 6-2, 240, 4.7, 5.8, Champlin, MN
John Nance, ATH, 6-4, 185, -, 5.4, St. Paul, MN
Shady Salamon, RB, 5-10, 175, 4.55, 5.5, St. Paul, MN
Padric Scott, DT, 6-1, 285, 5.2, 5.4, Tallahassee, FL
Gary Tinsley, LB, 6-1, 220, 4.6, 5.5, Jacksonville, FL
D.L. Wilhite, ATH, 6-4, 235, -, 5.4, Lexington, KY

Two 4 stars already in Vincent Hill & Maresh, with the possibility of landing Willie Mobley & Michael Floyd, no matter how long a shot they are. And they’re getting players at positions they need: Dandridge will most likely be playing next year as will Gary Tinsley. And the 2 stars they are getting are nice players. Come back to me in 2011 when you’re watching a Gopher game and the name “Padric Scott” gets mentioned as the “Chevrolet Scholar of the Week” during the game with his 3.89 GPA as a pre-dentistry major so you can tell me where you heard it first.

Overall, this is the state of Gopher football. Not a 1-6 record…not being unable to go to the Insight, Champs, or Motor City bowl game….not losing to Florida Atlantic (who game South Florida a game) or Bowling Green….not playing well with Ohio State for a stretch….and not the remaining games. Wins are good & losses are bad, let’s not forget that, but it’s the process I’m after, and it’s going to change only with recruiting, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

Other takes:
-Told you about Wisconsin that they were a mirage. And they still have Ohio State & Michigan coming up. And if Minnesota’s offense keeps improving, not even that game is a gimme. You’re looking at 4-4 AT BEST in the Big Ten for Wisconsin.
-Michigan is getting a bit better and may be the only shot to knock off Ohio State.
-Iowa beating Illinois surprised me. Illinois’ players aren’t ready to handle success. Iowa’s still not that good and a winnable game for the Gophers.
-LSU losing wasn’t the shocker of the world, but Kentucky putting up the offensive numbers they did against LSU’s defense was a shocker to me.
-Cal losing to Oregon State was a shocker. Crazy week of CFA.
-I think Ohio State should be in position to lock up one of the championship game bids by default. They haven’t played anyone, that’s the bottom line. But they also have taken care of their business, something USC & Oklahoma didn’t do. You can’t tell me Stanford & Colorado (although they’re slowly turning things around there, piece by piece) are that much better than Purdue & Washington. OSU has taken care of their end, that’s all they can do, and they may get rewarded for it.
-South Florida is a fun story, but they will lose at least a pair before it’s all said & done.
-What may not be certain is Boston College…I think they have the best shot of also going undefeated of the majors. Arizona State will drop one to either Cal, Oregon or USC, and Kansas will as well, to either Mizzou or Oklahoma with a Big XII title game.
-Pro Football: I casually watch the Vikings, but watching Adrian Peterson is FUN! The acceleration is the best in football. Other than Tomlinson, I wouldn’t have any other back in football right now. And think when he picks up the blocking & receiving aspect of the game.
-Hockey: Wild doing what they need to do, and good win for the Gophers this weekend. Those 2 wins will look nice when PWR season is playing out in March.