I know what you're thinking - DWG doesn't cover football after TRE quit like a little girl. And you're right, we generally don't and that's only because I don't know what I'm talking about - not really. The only football preview I think I've ever written here was this year's Iowa game and that's because I was feeling all #HATEWEEK-y and then I didn't even watch the game because I was at a Meat Raffle in Aitkin. But this week I stumbled into some tickets and will be taking my son to his first Gopher Football game (he's 3 so he won't remember it anyway) but since I'm going I'm also going to write some kind of a short preview because then I will at least know more players on Nebraska than just Taylor Martinez who is actually hurt according to the internet so that sucks I guess.
Despite the Martinez injury which sounds made up, the Huskers are still an eleven point favorite even on the road against your favorite team. That's because even without Martinez they've been killing teams - really bad teams (So Dak State, Illinois, and Purdue) - but even so killing is killing as Jason Voorhees always says. Mainly they've been able to kill teams because they have an awesome rushing attack and they have two back-up QBs who can both play. Looks like the Huskers generally just play both until they figure out which one sucks and then they let the other one finish out the game. And again, it doesn't really matter who is at QB because they're just going to give the ball to one of their three awesome RBs over and over again. The Huskers are like the Gophers in that they want to run the ball like, all the time, and only pass when absolutely necessary, except the Huskers are the varsity version of that while the Gophers are the junior high squad.
And.......I'm already bored with this. I hope the Gophers win but they probably won't because Nebraska is a lot better even without their QB. I think I heard Leidner has a tummy ache so that means Philip Nelson will start which is probably good because even though Leidner is like giving the ball to an alligator Nelson is better thrower guy which the Gophers will need against Nebraska. Probably. I don't know. I'm more of a David Cobb guy. Starting to look awfully shifty out there. Is he the next Gary Russell? Yes, clearly.
- Real quick, the Cardinals are looking an awful lot like the 2006 Tigers tonight. You remember 2006, a magical season when Justin Morneau won the AL MVP, and how the Tigers looked to have the World Series wrapped up before it even started. St. Louis snuck into the playoffs with just 83 wins but then outlasted everybody else to make the World Series while the Tigers won 95 games and went 7-1 against two other 93+ win teams to make it and looked poised to stomp the Cards. Then the games started (because they aren't played on paper you know, nerd) and then in the five games the Tigers made at least one error in every game and had two games with 2 or more errors, throwing the ball all over the place, giving easy runs to the Cards, and ended up losing to an inferior team by playing like idiots.
Now the Cards have already made two errors with plenty of other mistakes including a pop-up that didn't make the pitcher's mound that fell in for a "hit." It's a total repeat of 2006 except instead of a somewhat likeable team being the beneficiary of the meltdown instead this time it's Satan's team.
Even better? In 2006 I bet on Detroit. In 2013? I bet on St. Louis. Gambling is so stupid and I hate it and you and your family.
Showing posts with label philip nelson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label philip nelson. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Morneau, Gopher Football, Hoops recruiting, and stuff
Plenty of stuff happening out there. Crazy world.
1. Justin Morneau traded to Pittsburgh. I know trading Justin Morneau makes your heart hurt and I get it. He's been a Twin forever and for you people with human emotions it makes you sad that he's gone. Just look around at all the Twins' blogs and newspapers and there are nothing but heartfelt good-byes, and with good reason. But objectively, trading him was the correct move because he won't be around to be part of the team when they're good again, he's not that good anymore (although a hot August is probably what got him traded), and it made sense to try to get something for him rather than nothing when he walks at the end of the year.
What they got was actually better than I had expected, but isn't a team builder kind of a trade which just tells you how much Morneau has slipped since that damn concussion. The Pirates sent the Twins back of Alex Presley, a definite major leaguer but more of a depth/4th outfielder type, and rp Duke Welker, who is a fireballer with little idea where it's going after it leaves his hand, making him an intriguing lottery ticket.
Presley is 28 and still doing the bounce around from AAA to the majors thing for the Pirates, but he should slot in nicely for the Twins since he can play all three outfield positions and has a little bit of speed and a little bit of power. He's not much of a walker (which you know the Twins love) and so far this year he has 19 strikeouts against just one walk which is not real good but he's an ok player even with limited upside.
More upside comes from Welker, who is 6-7 and throws in the mid-90s and strikes out about a batter per inning but also walks more than 4 batters per 9 (that's really shitty for a reliever). His other numbers look pretty good - 2.29 ERA, 1.24 WHIP - and he already hit the show for a bit with the Pirates (4 batters faced, 4 outs, 1 K) so he could be ready by next year (or even this year). The Twins pride themselves on getting their pitchers to throw strikes, right or wrong, and if they can help Welker out with his command without hurting his stuff or going with the "pitch to contact" nonsense he could be a nice middle reliever.
Yes, it sucks that the Morneau era ended and how it ended. He went from one of the best hitters in all of baseball to a below average first baseman, hitting .286/.358/.511 prior to that stupid concussion and .256/.317/.412 after, essentially become a league average hitter which becomes well below average when you're playing at a premium offensive position. It's hard to believe a concussion could have that kind of impact on someone's ability, but it's not like it's unprecedented and the Twins' training staff has proven itself to be pretty much incompetent over the years so, you know. I was already going to be rooting for the Pirates, but this gives me a little more incentive.
Also, if you have found yourself saying, "Well he's a free agent after the season the Twins' could just resign him" please go ahead and hit yourself in the nuts with a pitch fork.
2. Gopher football is undefeated. Even if the win was only over UNLV a win is a win and Gopher football needs to take whatever they can get (especially since I bet on the OVER 5.5 season wins). It wasn't exactly an impressive win, and Philip Nelson's QB style seems to be making one read and either forcing it to that read whether he's open or not or just pulling the ball down and running. Luckily, UNLV's quarterback seemed to come from the same QB school. The Gopher gameplan was also less than imaginative and looked like something out of Tecmo Bowl (not Super Tecmo Bowl, just regular Tecmo Bowl) but the Rebel's offense looked more like they were drawing the plays up in the dirt while in the huddle so the Gophers had the advantage there too.
I'm no football expert, but it looked to me like the Gophers have a really crappy offense, a decent defense, and ended up blowing UNLV out thanks to three big plays (kick return TD, Interception TD, and blocked kick TD) that are non-repeatable in any meaningful way. That's a clear indicator of an overstated spread (they're favored by 17 pts) in their next game against New Mexico State, so go ahead and join me in betting against the Gophers because there's no way they should be favored by 17 on the road no matter who they're playing.
3. A whole lot is happening recruiting-wise, and we're still waiting to hear any good news. Kyle Kuzma committed to Utah. Wade Baldwin signed up with Vanderbilt. Quentin Snider dropped the Gophers out of consideration. J.P. Macura, who was supposed to be a sure thing, keeps doing things like visiting Purdue and Xavier. Rakeem Buckles didn't get his waiver to play immediately and will remain at FIU. And Lourawls Nairn visited this past weekend and left without committing to Pitino, even though he's explicitly stated multiple times he was going to take all 3 of his planned official visits (Oklahoma, Indiana) before making a choice we're all panicking anyway.
There remain enough intriguing options and realistic possibilities that there's really no reason to panic, but the raging optimism from a month or so ago has certainly flagged. Along with Nairn and Macura there's still some optimism around Isaiah Whitehead, even if he hasn't yet set an official visit here, there's a realistic shot at two of the local kids (Travis and Vaughn), and Paul White, Josh Martin, and Marial Shayok are taking officials to the U. I'm not worried at this point, but I would like it a whole lot if somebody, anybody, would just make a verbal to the Gophers. Just so I know it's possible.
4. I discovered Breaking Bad. You know how when everybody is saying something is awesome it almost always sucks like Rudy or Glee or Jennifer Lopez? Well this is the opposite of that. Everyone who watches the show says it's pretty much the best show ever, and they're right. If you're not watching it yet, start. If you are, you know what I'm talking about. You just never know what's going to happen next and it's never boring. It's been like a week since I started watching and I'm on Season 3, Episode 5 already. Sure, I'm ignoring my family and haven't gone to work in a week, but at least I'm catching up on my pop culture and will be able to act all snooty to people who haven't watched this show yet. "I mean really, Audrey, you can't talk about great TV if you've never watched Breaking Bad." *rollseyes *sipsbrandy
5. Josmil Pinto made his major league debut, going 2-4 with a double. This is significant to me because with Morneau now on the Pirates and Chris Parmelee proving to be terrible the door is wide open for Joe Mauer to move to first base full-time, and after this concussion mess it seems more likely than ever the Twins will go in that direction. The question then becomes who is the catcher of the future, and it's probably either Josmil Pinto or Chris Herrmann.
They're both considered around the same prospect level (Gleeman has Herrmann at #20 and Pinto at #37, John Sickels has them both in his OTHERS TO CONSIDER which means just outside the top 20). Herrmann's been up since July, and although he hasn't been great he hasn't been terrible either, showing a pretty good batting eye and some decent pop in his bat while being a halfway decent defensive catcher and outfielder, although Pinto's minor league numbers were much better this year than Herrmann, hitting .309/.400/.482 between New Britain and Rochester.
Neither Herrmann nor Pinto is likely to become a big-time impact player, but both are likely to become useful players and either (or both) has a chance to evolve into a full-time starting catcher and hold down the job for a while. Pinto probably has the better bat, but Herrmann is much better defensively and offers the additional benefit of being able to play the outfield competently while Pinto is either a catcher or DH. While the Twins have tons of questions and not many answers with the squad right now, catcher is one where they can probably feel good - Mauer or no Mauer in the mix. Seems weird.
6. Johnny Manziel can play some football. I know everybody likes to jump on Johnny Football and tear him apart for doing things like going to a casino and watching a basketball game because everyone is jealous and people generally suck, but let's not forget that this dude can play some fucking football. After he served his weirdo 1st half suspension, he came in for the second half and went 6-8 for 94 yards and 3 TDs as the Aggies beat Rice 52-31. Watching the highlights made it clear Manziel is one of the best Qbs in the country, as if winning the Heisman last year didn't prove that already. 80% of college QBs can make one read and then it's time to run (like P. Nelson), and another 15% can go all the way to a second read and that's it. There's only like 5% who can play QB like a real, actual QB, and that's why it's so much fun to watch guys like Manziel and Andrew Luck back when he was in college.
7. Not how I'd get fired up for the NFL season, but over at the blog Pat is Crazy long-time friend of the blog Joe U. (that's his quote up on the banner) decided to re-watch the 1998 (or 1999 depending on how you want to define it) NFC Championship game, also known as the game that destroyed the ability to actually enjoy sports for many, many Minnesota sports fans. And he blogged it, live blog style. Don't make his pain meaningless, go read it.
1. Justin Morneau traded to Pittsburgh. I know trading Justin Morneau makes your heart hurt and I get it. He's been a Twin forever and for you people with human emotions it makes you sad that he's gone. Just look around at all the Twins' blogs and newspapers and there are nothing but heartfelt good-byes, and with good reason. But objectively, trading him was the correct move because he won't be around to be part of the team when they're good again, he's not that good anymore (although a hot August is probably what got him traded), and it made sense to try to get something for him rather than nothing when he walks at the end of the year.
What they got was actually better than I had expected, but isn't a team builder kind of a trade which just tells you how much Morneau has slipped since that damn concussion. The Pirates sent the Twins back of Alex Presley, a definite major leaguer but more of a depth/4th outfielder type, and rp Duke Welker, who is a fireballer with little idea where it's going after it leaves his hand, making him an intriguing lottery ticket.
Presley is 28 and still doing the bounce around from AAA to the majors thing for the Pirates, but he should slot in nicely for the Twins since he can play all three outfield positions and has a little bit of speed and a little bit of power. He's not much of a walker (which you know the Twins love) and so far this year he has 19 strikeouts against just one walk which is not real good but he's an ok player even with limited upside.
More upside comes from Welker, who is 6-7 and throws in the mid-90s and strikes out about a batter per inning but also walks more than 4 batters per 9 (that's really shitty for a reliever). His other numbers look pretty good - 2.29 ERA, 1.24 WHIP - and he already hit the show for a bit with the Pirates (4 batters faced, 4 outs, 1 K) so he could be ready by next year (or even this year). The Twins pride themselves on getting their pitchers to throw strikes, right or wrong, and if they can help Welker out with his command without hurting his stuff or going with the "pitch to contact" nonsense he could be a nice middle reliever.
Yes, it sucks that the Morneau era ended and how it ended. He went from one of the best hitters in all of baseball to a below average first baseman, hitting .286/.358/.511 prior to that stupid concussion and .256/.317/.412 after, essentially become a league average hitter which becomes well below average when you're playing at a premium offensive position. It's hard to believe a concussion could have that kind of impact on someone's ability, but it's not like it's unprecedented and the Twins' training staff has proven itself to be pretty much incompetent over the years so, you know. I was already going to be rooting for the Pirates, but this gives me a little more incentive.
Also, if you have found yourself saying, "Well he's a free agent after the season the Twins' could just resign him" please go ahead and hit yourself in the nuts with a pitch fork.
2. Gopher football is undefeated. Even if the win was only over UNLV a win is a win and Gopher football needs to take whatever they can get (especially since I bet on the OVER 5.5 season wins). It wasn't exactly an impressive win, and Philip Nelson's QB style seems to be making one read and either forcing it to that read whether he's open or not or just pulling the ball down and running. Luckily, UNLV's quarterback seemed to come from the same QB school. The Gopher gameplan was also less than imaginative and looked like something out of Tecmo Bowl (not Super Tecmo Bowl, just regular Tecmo Bowl) but the Rebel's offense looked more like they were drawing the plays up in the dirt while in the huddle so the Gophers had the advantage there too.
I'm no football expert, but it looked to me like the Gophers have a really crappy offense, a decent defense, and ended up blowing UNLV out thanks to three big plays (kick return TD, Interception TD, and blocked kick TD) that are non-repeatable in any meaningful way. That's a clear indicator of an overstated spread (they're favored by 17 pts) in their next game against New Mexico State, so go ahead and join me in betting against the Gophers because there's no way they should be favored by 17 on the road no matter who they're playing.
3. A whole lot is happening recruiting-wise, and we're still waiting to hear any good news. Kyle Kuzma committed to Utah. Wade Baldwin signed up with Vanderbilt. Quentin Snider dropped the Gophers out of consideration. J.P. Macura, who was supposed to be a sure thing, keeps doing things like visiting Purdue and Xavier. Rakeem Buckles didn't get his waiver to play immediately and will remain at FIU. And Lourawls Nairn visited this past weekend and left without committing to Pitino, even though he's explicitly stated multiple times he was going to take all 3 of his planned official visits (Oklahoma, Indiana) before making a choice we're all panicking anyway.
There remain enough intriguing options and realistic possibilities that there's really no reason to panic, but the raging optimism from a month or so ago has certainly flagged. Along with Nairn and Macura there's still some optimism around Isaiah Whitehead, even if he hasn't yet set an official visit here, there's a realistic shot at two of the local kids (Travis and Vaughn), and Paul White, Josh Martin, and Marial Shayok are taking officials to the U. I'm not worried at this point, but I would like it a whole lot if somebody, anybody, would just make a verbal to the Gophers. Just so I know it's possible.
4. I discovered Breaking Bad. You know how when everybody is saying something is awesome it almost always sucks like Rudy or Glee or Jennifer Lopez? Well this is the opposite of that. Everyone who watches the show says it's pretty much the best show ever, and they're right. If you're not watching it yet, start. If you are, you know what I'm talking about. You just never know what's going to happen next and it's never boring. It's been like a week since I started watching and I'm on Season 3, Episode 5 already. Sure, I'm ignoring my family and haven't gone to work in a week, but at least I'm catching up on my pop culture and will be able to act all snooty to people who haven't watched this show yet. "I mean really, Audrey, you can't talk about great TV if you've never watched Breaking Bad." *rollseyes *sipsbrandy
5. Josmil Pinto made his major league debut, going 2-4 with a double. This is significant to me because with Morneau now on the Pirates and Chris Parmelee proving to be terrible the door is wide open for Joe Mauer to move to first base full-time, and after this concussion mess it seems more likely than ever the Twins will go in that direction. The question then becomes who is the catcher of the future, and it's probably either Josmil Pinto or Chris Herrmann.
They're both considered around the same prospect level (Gleeman has Herrmann at #20 and Pinto at #37, John Sickels has them both in his OTHERS TO CONSIDER which means just outside the top 20). Herrmann's been up since July, and although he hasn't been great he hasn't been terrible either, showing a pretty good batting eye and some decent pop in his bat while being a halfway decent defensive catcher and outfielder, although Pinto's minor league numbers were much better this year than Herrmann, hitting .309/.400/.482 between New Britain and Rochester.
Neither Herrmann nor Pinto is likely to become a big-time impact player, but both are likely to become useful players and either (or both) has a chance to evolve into a full-time starting catcher and hold down the job for a while. Pinto probably has the better bat, but Herrmann is much better defensively and offers the additional benefit of being able to play the outfield competently while Pinto is either a catcher or DH. While the Twins have tons of questions and not many answers with the squad right now, catcher is one where they can probably feel good - Mauer or no Mauer in the mix. Seems weird.
6. Johnny Manziel can play some football. I know everybody likes to jump on Johnny Football and tear him apart for doing things like going to a casino and watching a basketball game because everyone is jealous and people generally suck, but let's not forget that this dude can play some fucking football. After he served his weirdo 1st half suspension, he came in for the second half and went 6-8 for 94 yards and 3 TDs as the Aggies beat Rice 52-31. Watching the highlights made it clear Manziel is one of the best Qbs in the country, as if winning the Heisman last year didn't prove that already. 80% of college QBs can make one read and then it's time to run (like P. Nelson), and another 15% can go all the way to a second read and that's it. There's only like 5% who can play QB like a real, actual QB, and that's why it's so much fun to watch guys like Manziel and Andrew Luck back when he was in college.
7. Not how I'd get fired up for the NFL season, but over at the blog Pat is Crazy long-time friend of the blog Joe U. (that's his quote up on the banner) decided to re-watch the 1998 (or 1999 depending on how you want to define it) NFC Championship game, also known as the game that destroyed the ability to actually enjoy sports for many, many Minnesota sports fans. And he blogged it, live blog style. Don't make his pain meaningless, go read it.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Game Preview: Gophers vs UNLV Runnin' Rebels
Pop Quiz Hotshot. Who are the best UNLV Runnin' Rebels football players of all time?
Give up?
They have one number retired and it's Randall Cunningham. He was pretty f'n good. They also had Ickey Woods and Keenan McCardell. They had music mogul and Vanilla Ice Dangler Suge Knight play for them a bit. Kenny Mayne apparently was a quarterback there too, which gives us some insight into recruiting strategy. Check out super-sized Ickey doing the Ickey Shuffle below:
Current alumni that are in the NFL include: Isaako Aaitui, Joe Hawley, Frank Summers, Martin Tevaseu and Eric Wright. Never heard of them except for Wright.
Coach Bobby Hauck has set a team goal for UNLV to play in their first bowl game since the year 2000. Sophomore QB Nick Sherry is excited about the offense saying they'll be "fun to watch and fun to play." I have no information on how much purple drank each consumed prior to that statement. The team does return 19 starters from last year. Besides Sherry, the team relies on running back Tim Cornett to provide punch on offense. The senior is just 700 yards away from the all time school record of 3,149 yards. He ran for over 100 yards in eight games last season. Cornett also takes care of the ball; he has just one fumble in his career. Junior left tackle Brett Boyko returns after an injury riddled season last year where he played only 4 games. For the seven minutes of the game that I'm sober enough to pay attention, I'll watching how Boyko (6'7", 310) holds up against our defense.
On the defensive side for UNLV, end Sonny Sanitoa had 5 sacks and 28 tackles in 9 games as a redshirt freshman last year. He's Samoan, so you know he's good. Senior Tim Hasson (6'2", 215) is an undersized linebacker that is the leading returning tackler. His half brother Tahj is nearly as big as him (6'1", 195) and is one of the starting corners. Look for the Gopher offensive line to frequently get to the second level and mow over these dudes.
Here's a strange and interesting story I found on the Las Vegas Sun UNLV blog: Their starting right guard is a converted tight end named Nick Gstrein. That in and of itself isn't super odd, but he got there by speaking to Hauck in the spring and asking where he could get more play time. Hauck tried him at guard, center and HALFBACK, but eventually the 6'4", 285 Gstrein landed the starting job at right guard over last year's starter, Ron Scoggins. That's just...odd.
UNLV Roster All-Namers
#68 Tui Fakauho
#32 Mike Horsey
#57 Roscoe Kalilikane
#66 Bryson Mook
#63 J'Ondray Sanders
#42 Peni Vea
Some impressions from watching video of their fall scrimmage:
- Lots of multiple wide receiver shotgun sets shown.
- Nick Sherry is prone to a (more) horrible pass when he goes to a second receiver.
- No fans are in attendance. Hot sun watching crappy football or deliciously cool casino playing cards? That's no choice at all.
- When they did manage to complete a pass, the tackling was miserable. Now imagine the bowling ball Kirkwood is running at them.
- I found myself staring at the mountains in the background a lot.
- Jerry Rice Jr. is on the team I guess. Not a starter. The video I watched called a pass out flat to Rice by Herring that he broke two tackles on and turned it into 15 yards the "offensive play of the day".
Prediction
If I felt completely comfortable with our passing game I would say this is a 50-10 type of game. While I like how Nelson has been throwing the ball in practice, I need to see it in a game before I jump in with both feet. That being said, I didn't think much of UNLV before watching some video and reading up on them and I actually came away thinking they were worse than I originally thought. The Gophers should be able to run at will and the defense shouldn't struggle too hard with Sherryball. That poor converted tight end might have to go up against Hageman for the few plays he's able before his chest is caved it. I'll say Gophers 34, UNLV 13.
What Others are Saying
Give up?
They have one number retired and it's Randall Cunningham. He was pretty f'n good. They also had Ickey Woods and Keenan McCardell. They had music mogul and Vanilla Ice Dangler Suge Knight play for them a bit. Kenny Mayne apparently was a quarterback there too, which gives us some insight into recruiting strategy. Check out super-sized Ickey doing the Ickey Shuffle below:
Current alumni that are in the NFL include: Isaako Aaitui, Joe Hawley, Frank Summers, Martin Tevaseu and Eric Wright. Never heard of them except for Wright.
 |
| Sherry's lips do look a little purple here. Just sayin' |
Coach Bobby Hauck has set a team goal for UNLV to play in their first bowl game since the year 2000. Sophomore QB Nick Sherry is excited about the offense saying they'll be "fun to watch and fun to play." I have no information on how much purple drank each consumed prior to that statement. The team does return 19 starters from last year. Besides Sherry, the team relies on running back Tim Cornett to provide punch on offense. The senior is just 700 yards away from the all time school record of 3,149 yards. He ran for over 100 yards in eight games last season. Cornett also takes care of the ball; he has just one fumble in his career. Junior left tackle Brett Boyko returns after an injury riddled season last year where he played only 4 games. For the seven minutes of the game that I'm sober enough to pay attention, I'll watching how Boyko (6'7", 310) holds up against our defense.
On the defensive side for UNLV, end Sonny Sanitoa had 5 sacks and 28 tackles in 9 games as a redshirt freshman last year. He's Samoan, so you know he's good. Senior Tim Hasson (6'2", 215) is an undersized linebacker that is the leading returning tackler. His half brother Tahj is nearly as big as him (6'1", 195) and is one of the starting corners. Look for the Gopher offensive line to frequently get to the second level and mow over these dudes.
Here's a strange and interesting story I found on the Las Vegas Sun UNLV blog: Their starting right guard is a converted tight end named Nick Gstrein. That in and of itself isn't super odd, but he got there by speaking to Hauck in the spring and asking where he could get more play time. Hauck tried him at guard, center and HALFBACK, but eventually the 6'4", 285 Gstrein landed the starting job at right guard over last year's starter, Ron Scoggins. That's just...odd.
UNLV Roster All-Namers
#68 Tui Fakauho
#32 Mike Horsey
#57 Roscoe Kalilikane
#66 Bryson Mook
#63 J'Ondray Sanders
#42 Peni Vea
Some impressions from watching video of their fall scrimmage:
- Lots of multiple wide receiver shotgun sets shown.
- Nick Sherry is prone to a (more) horrible pass when he goes to a second receiver.
- No fans are in attendance. Hot sun watching crappy football or deliciously cool casino playing cards? That's no choice at all.
- When they did manage to complete a pass, the tackling was miserable. Now imagine the bowling ball Kirkwood is running at them.
- I found myself staring at the mountains in the background a lot.
- Jerry Rice Jr. is on the team I guess. Not a starter. The video I watched called a pass out flat to Rice by Herring that he broke two tackles on and turned it into 15 yards the "offensive play of the day".
Prediction
If I felt completely comfortable with our passing game I would say this is a 50-10 type of game. While I like how Nelson has been throwing the ball in practice, I need to see it in a game before I jump in with both feet. That being said, I didn't think much of UNLV before watching some video and reading up on them and I actually came away thinking they were worse than I originally thought. The Gophers should be able to run at will and the defense shouldn't struggle too hard with Sherryball. That poor converted tight end might have to go up against Hageman for the few plays he's able before his chest is caved it. I'll say Gophers 34, UNLV 13.
What Others are Saying
UNLV #Rebels at Minnesota #GoldenGophers 8/29/13 - Free #CFBPicks & Odds http://t.co/QzBMOfgWssThese guys are saying it will be close and to take the +14 based on last year's game. They don't know about #YEAR3 I guess.
— ctsportspicks (@ctsportspicks) August 29, 2013
In exactly 24 hours, UNLV football takes the field. In a 'Now or Never' situation, these boys are choosing the 'NOW'! #winwinwin! #unlvfb
— Runnin Ramble (@RunninRamble) August 28, 2013
UNLV's only football tradition is losing. @PatrickReusse on the #Gophers first opponent: http://t.co/2EiKoPi0YJ #B1GOur guy Reusse keeping it classy.
— Star Tribune Sports (@StribSports) August 26, 2013
Our @ronkantowski sees a ray of hope for UNLV football. Does that make him an optimist or an idiot? http://t.co/RyNIne9ajbSo is he an idiot? Here's his picture, decide for yourselves:
— Review-Journal (@reviewjournal) August 29, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
Minnesota Gophers Football: QB 2013 Preview
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| Strev-Mitch-PhillyDawg |
In 2012, the Gophers started the season in a somewhat comfortable position. With senior QB MarQueis Gray back at quarterback there was hope that he would live up to high expectations and have a big final season with the Gophers. Of course, it all went to hell and we ended up with true freshman Philip Nelson picking up the pieces and starting in his first bowl game; a very close loss to Texas Tech.
Injuries forced Jerry Kill to adjust and thanks to a solid defense and some early wins, the Gophers ended up 6-7. In the end Philip Nelson got 7 games under his under his belt and gained valuable experience. This is especially important since the Red Romper Max Shortell decided to transfer to Jacksonville State when he saw that he wasn't Chandler Harnish-y enough.
| 2012 Passing | ||||||||
| Player | GP | ATT | COMP | PAC% | PAYD | PAYA | INT | PATD |
| Peter Mortell | 2 | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 5 | 5.0 | 0 | 0 |
| MarQueis Gray | 11 | 59 | 34 | 57.6 | 472 | 8.0 | 2 | 5 |
| Max Shortell | 7 | 116 | 65 | 56.0 | 853 | 7.4 | 5 | 6 |
| Philip Nelson | 7 | 152 | 75 | 49.3 | 873 | 5.7 | 8 | 8 |
| KJ Maye | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
Nelson led the Gophers in passing yardage, TDs and INTs despite completing just 49.3% of his passes. Nelson also ran for 252 yards (184 net) which is an important piece of Matt Limegrover's offense. Last year we saw him Leroy Hoard his head into the line repeatedly like a fullback.
His consistency obviously needs to improve in order for the Gophers to reach new heights in 2013. At times his touch was immaculate and he was able to put the ball right in the receivers hands. Check out the touch on these long passes against Purdue last season:
Ah glory day - man they were great that game. By all accounts Nelson has been a leader in the off-season and continues to improve in practices. Kill mentioned that with Nelson getting some experience last year and Mitch Leidner and Chris Streveler behind him, "[W]e feel good about our quarterback situation and we feel like that's going to be a strength down the road here." Nelson was on point in the Gopher spring game, completing 10-10 passes in the first half and 13-17 for the game (thanks to some awful drops). His 179 yards passing exceeded each of his last 4 starts in 2012. He also ran for 31 yards int he spring game.
Red-shirt freshman Mitch Leidner is the back-up to Nelson. He's listed at 6'4" and a beastly 233 pounds out of Lakeville, MN. Leidner is a guy that gets a ton of credit from coaches for his work ethic and ability in practice.
Matt Limegrover describes Leidner's improvement in the running game (source): "But he's a great example of a guy who, if you just looked at the stopwatch, you would not think he's a very good runner," Limegrover said. "Mitch is that rare case when he puts the pads on he maintains if not gets a little (faster). I can't explain it. He knew to be able to run our offense he had to be able to run and be more athletic. I give him credit because he really worked on it."
Recently the coaching staff has given more and more indications they want to use Leidner from time to time in games. "You don't want your starter getting hit all the time," coach Jerry Kill said at his pre-camp news conference Tuesday. "If there's a deal where you can sprinkle somebody in there, then that helps you later on down the road." Henceforth, we shall call Mitch "The Sprinkle".
It gets a little murky after the top two. Freshmen Chris Streveler and Donovahn Jones are possibilities, but they are also going to be tried at WR. This scares me for our WR group considering we have several with experience that are seemingly brushed aside. Streveler is a 6'2", 209 lb dual threat type QB out of Marian Central Catholic in Illinois. As a senior he combined for 48 total TDs with just 4 INTs. He had 1200+ rushing and nearly 2700 passing yards. At this point he's more of a runner than QB, but he's a freshman.
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| Streveler at the Spring Game |
Donovahn Jones is a 6'3" 190lb quarterback out of Stockbridge, GA. Jones is also a 3 star guy according to Rivals and a dual threat QB. He had 1600 passing and 600 rushing as a senior. He also caught a few passes, so maybe he has some receiving skills that can be honed. Ideally, neither of the freshman QBs are relied upon so they can be red-shirted this season. If both Nelson and Leidner go down, we're screwed, people.
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