Ask a Gopher Fan (and receive legit responses)

[Oleboy41]

Gopher fan here. I've skimmed your board and also seen convos on our respective SBN sites and figured I'd offer a MN perspective and give real, accurate responses to some of your questions about the team other than just pointing out stats and the like. Thanks for allowing me on your board and I promise I'm not a troll nor a delusional homer (seriously, I pinky swear). A few brief points regarding some common themes:
- IGNORE PANTHERHAWK. Seriously the guy is an anti MN troll that spams the boards of all of our non big ten opponents (he's been banned from most B1G sites) and is seriously chemically imbalanced or something. He'll post newspaper articles about any crime within 30 minutes of campus and generally try to get folks riled up for no reason. google pantherhawk and enjoy the pictures of him and his lightsaber.
- Regarding fan apathy for the Texas Bowl and Cuse: Seriously its nothing personal. We played in this bowl last year at 6-6 and TT fans said the same things about us ('seriously our reward is a boring 6-6 MN team?'). This year we were a much better team than last year and so fans hoped for a better bowl and a 'better' (ie higher profile or better record) opponent. So its really a combination of fans being disappointed at being jumped in the fake bowl pecking order by teams like Michigan as well as playing in the same bowl and then playing a 6-6 team which as well all know is the bare minimum record for a bowl game. As a MN fan we've had plenty of years where we've been that 6-6 team so its definitely not a shot, just that fans wanted to play someone new and someone even more challenging. This isn't to say that Cuse won't be a difficult game but the average Rube was hoping for a fringe top 25 type of opponent. Also add in the fact that we've played Cuse twice in the last few years and its like playing a bowl game against NW, a team we play occasionally anyway without a huge national profile.
- Ignore all MN media articles from The Star Tribune and most from the Pioneer Press. If you see the names Reusse or Souhan or any of our local radio hosts just ignore. MPLS is a Vikings/Twins/Wild/Wolves town and the local media hacks generally give MN football only fringe attention and they usually have no idea what they're talking about and they're overly synical and negative. Our local Gopher beat guys and blogs are really good along with the Rivals and 247 sites. ESPN1500 does a decent job as well. So if you see any of those guys dissing Cuse just ignore it because all they're doing is setting up a snarky negative column if we lose or don't dominate. They do it every year. They'll say 'if the Gophers want us to care then go beat MSU' and then diss the team for losing or 'if the Gophers want us to care they'll beat NW by 3 touchdowns' then diss the team if they win by 2 TDs OR they'll proclaim them great if they meet expectations and then say they should go undefeated the rest of the way. Basically set unrealistic expectations so they always have something to criticize

 

[Upstate]

What is the general consensus on Coach Kill? Seems like a good guy, a good coach; are the fans more concerned with he and the team moving forward, or are they caught up in his health concerns, thinking it may be best that he take time away from football?

 

[FAL]

Welcome aboard, oleboy! On the same token as you wrote, don't take to heart anything you read on our local newspaper's (The Post Standard) board: Syracuse.com. Similar comments by the writers there as you experience back in your neck of the woods.

Looking forward to December 27th... and a Syracuse W.

 

[Oleboy41]

Offense:
- We're clearly a run first and run second team. We rely a lot on David Cobb who's a pretty good RB. He's about 225 and has a nice combination of power, patience and footwork. He's not a blazer but he has a quick burst to get to the second level but won't outrun many DBs once there. You won't see much of our backups who were our 2 leading rushers last year, Kirkwood and Williams. Kirkwood was the starter, hurt his ankle, came back but just hasn't been very effective. Williams was the #2 guy, got hurt, was supposedly healthy but hasn't played since like week 4 or 5 I think. We use a ton of shifts and motions and will work in the jet sweep as well. Statistically we're not a great running team but we've been able to run the ball effectively after our 0-2 conference start with the exception of the WI game. Cobb was the first or second guy to run for 100+ on MSU this year for example.
- Early in the year we ran our QBs a ton but recently there have been maybe 3-5 QB runs per game as the OL has stepped up
- We're a very TE/FB heavy offense. We play 3-4 TE/FB types regularly and most are basically pure blockers other than Maxx Williams, frosh who's maybe our best receiving option as he's one of those 'too big for a safety, too fast for a LB' types. Ton of talent but still young
- we're a remarkably young offense but with a good amount of experience on the OL as a lot of guys played as frosh and sophs. We have 1 senior OL 'starter', our LT Olson but he was hurt last year and has actually split time with a RS frosh Lauer with no drop off (they've been utilizing a 2 series at a time rotation between the two). Our starting center broke his leg a few weeks back and was replaced by our former starting guard with little drop off. Starting RG had a concussion, may or may not be back
- WR was the scary spot before the year and is still that way. Before the year began we lost 3 guys that would've likely been in our top 3-5 WRs. Our leading WR from last year quit the team, a would be jr was subtly encouraged to focus on track, and our former highly recruited soph lost his mind and quit football. Our leading WR Engel blew out his ACL before the WI game so that was a huge loss as we've had to rely a ton on a still learning JR in Fruechte and 2 true frosh Wolitarksy and Jones. Another guy is KJ Maye, a slot guy who just came back from injury. The frosh have some talent but Wolitarsky is still a little stiff and learning how to use his big body to his advantage, and Jones is very athletic but he was a QB until halfway through fall camp and had never played WR before so he's learning
- Our QB Nelson is a talented guy but he's a true soph and sometimes struggles with accuracy. He played very well in the middle of the B10 schedule and the offense was efficient and effective. He struggled against WI and MSU, two very good defenses and the offense stalled. It wasn't all on him though as his top 3 targets are all frosh and they've had some drops and aren't adept at finding ways to get open yet so its been tough at times with an entire offense basically filled with newbies. However Nelson can run a bit and does some nice things, he just needs to be more consistent
- overall we're a solid running team that loves to run power with pulling guards and some inside zone. We ran a lot more option read early on but got away from it during the B10 season. We'll run the jet sweep to get to the edges and then run a lot of PA and try to hit our TE Williams up the seams or in the flat. Pretty simple stuff but effective when we're able to run.

 

[retro44]

Higher profile team? What.

We are still putting players in the NFL hall of fame and is around 15th in all time wins.

Syracuse is tied with Alabama and Ohio St. for 4th in Hall of Famers

 

[Oleboy41]

What is the general consensus on Coach Kill? Seems like a good guy, a good coach; are the fans more concerned with he and the team moving forward, or are they caught up in his health concerns, thinking it may be best that he take time away from football?

After the Michigan game there were a lot of concerns as a lot of fans really wondered if he could be a B1G coach with his health issues. I think a lot of that has been put to rest through more understanding of what epilepsy is as well as Kill's willingness to modify his approach finally. He's the first coach I can remember in MN that is universally respected by fans and peers and so everyone wants him to succeed and he and his staff have proven that their approach works in multiple stops. He's basically done a better job at delegating and taking care of himself by reducing his hours (he joked from 16 to 10-12) and basically taking more of a CEO approach and its paying off. I think at this point most fans are comfortable with where he is even if he has another seizure to be honest.

 

[Oleboy41]

Welcome aboard, oleboy! On the same token as you wrote, don't take to heart anything you read on our local newspaper's (The Post Standard) board: Syracuse.com. Similar comments by the writers there as you experience back in your neck of the woods.

Looking forward to December 27th... and a Syracuse W.

thanks, definitely looking forward to a good game

 

[Oleboy41]

Higher profile team? What.

We are still putting players in the NFL hall of fame and is around 15th in all time wins.

Remember that's from your perspective as a Cuse fan and one that follows the team regularly. MN fans say things like 'we were one of best programs in the country in the 60's'. Truth is unless you're a top 15-20 program the national media ignores you. We go through the same thing. The Big Ten Network is great because it gets programs like ours more exposure but even they'll spend an hour show spending 45 mins on OSU and Michigan. I'm a pretty rabid CFB fan and I know very little about Cuse this year because like MN, they don't talk about programs like us on ESPN or CFB websites very much nor are the games primetime matchups that everyone sees. So its not a diss on Cuse, just saying the average non ACC fan won't know much about you. And for you guys whatever lack of respect you get for FB take solace in the fact that you get it back double in basketball

 

[GoSU96]

Higher profile team? What.

We are still putting players in the NFL hall of fame and is around 15th in all time wins.

Syracuse is tied with Alabama and Ohio St. for 4th in Hall of Famers

When's the last Minnesota player that had their Jersey retired on MNF?

 

[GoSU96]

You guys are Boston College without the Heisman candidate TB and a weaker pass game.

 

[All4SU]

Don't take anything you read here seriously. We are all rubes.

 

[Toga]

How do you feel about Bill Murray?

 

[jkm54]

To be fair...the guy genuinely seemed to come in peace. I'll just say that it appears the Minnesota response, whether we should take it personally or not, seems to be fueled by an exaggerated level of self-importance, glaring lack of perspective, and perhaps also a lack of understanding how the bowl process works. Unfortunately, Minnesota is in a conference filled with marketable programs (the BiG relies quite heavily on their marketability, and sometimes not a lot of actual talent), and Minnesota isn't one of them. To expect that Minnesota is going to start being chosen over some of these programs, even if Minnesota has a better record, is pretty surprising. So that anger seems to be aimed at us, and I do think the fanbase may be underestimating Syracuse quite a bit. We've played pretty well against similar opponents. Anyway, appreciate you reaching out. Go Orange!!!!

 

[SoBeCuse]

Remember that's from your perspective as a Cuse fan and one that follows the team regularly. MN fans say things like 'we were one of best programs in the country in the 60's'. Truth is unless you're a top 15-20 program the national media ignores you. We go through the same thing. The Big Ten Network is great because it gets programs like ours more exposure but even they'll spend an hour show spending 45 mins on OSU and Michigan. I'm a pretty rabid CFB fan and I know very little about Cuse this year because like MN, they don't talk about programs like us on ESPN or CFB websites very much nor are the games primetime matchups that everyone sees. So its not a diss on Cuse, just saying the average non ACC fan won't know much about you. And for you guys whatever lack of respect you get for FB take solace in the fact that you get it back double in basketball

That's a totally fair response and sane, imo. We are not a high profile team right now. Until we start cracking the stupid Top 25 polls regularly this will be the case. Should be obvious but many posters fail to recognize this. History and tradition is a nice ideal to cling on to when we have suffered through a decade-plus of mostly shameful football. As in most facets of life it's a 'what have you done for me lately mantra.' A couple of crappy bowls recently is a step in the right direction. Hopefully it continues!

 

[Oleboy41]

Defense:
Despite the mediocre numbers our D has played solidly this year, especially over the past 6 games. We've given up some yards on the ground at times but held WI and MSU well below their average despite being put in bad positions by the offense at times
DL: We like most teams now rotate about 8-9 guys on the D front. We're led by Hageman who's a monster physically and can be absolutely dominant at times and very quiet at other times. He's a likely 2nd rounder and is a 6'6", 300lb load. We rotate 4 DTs and the other guy to know is Johnson who's one of those quick 6'2" 285lb types that gets good penetration. We rotate a bunch of guys on the ends the best of whom is Cochran, he's a long soph who was one of the top sack guys in the conference. We generate a decent pass rush and will blitz from anywhere if there's a need to get pressure
LB: They've been a solid group and have played the run fairly well. Wilson in the middle is our leading tackler. Not much else to say here really
DB: been a really solid group, especially in coverage. Teams have had to earn completions as the man coverage has been tight. At CB we lost our #3 guy in the 2nd game to an ACL and our presumed #1 Wells has been banged up all year and just recently is back to game action but he's playing the nickel spot now. True soph Murray has emerged as one of the best cover corners in the B10. He's been blanketing guys but hasn't yet learned how to locate the ball so he's given up some catches on great plays by WRs going over the top of him. Kid was a WR and HS and very raw so he's a bit ahead of schedule. With all the injuries we moved our starting FS Brock Vereen down to CB and he's done a very solid job in man coverage. He's susceptible to blazers running by him but he's been very good and made All conference this year. At safety we'll rotate 3 guys, all have been pretty solid this year, the best being Johnson. BTW the only senior in this group is Vereen so they're young as well.
- We play a lot of man coverage and then a lot of quarters as we try to limit big plays. However our DC recognized that we had good cover guys and has let them get up and play tight man a lot more and its paid off. There's a great chart on ESPN showing how well Murray has held the top WRs in check when he's been covering them so expect to see a lot of man, especially against a run heavy team.

 

[sutomcat]

Defense:
Despite the mediocre numbers our D has played solidly this year, especially over the past 6 games. We've given up some yards on the ground at times but held WI and MSU well below their average despite being put in bad positions by the offense at times
DL: We like most teams now rotate about 8-9 guys on the D front. We're led by Hageman who's a monster physically and can be absolutely dominant at times and very quiet at other times. He's a likely 2nd rounder and is a 6'6", 300lb load. We rotate 4 DTs and the other guy to know is Johnson who's one of those quick 6'2" 285lb types that gets good penetration. We rotate a bunch of guys on the ends the best of whom is Cochran, he's a long soph who was one of the top sack guys in the conference. We generate a decent pass rush and will blitz from anywhere if there's a need to get pressure
LB: They've been a solid group and have played the run fairly well. Wilson in the middle is our leading tackler. Not much else to say here really
DB: been a really solid group, especially in coverage. Teams have had to earn completions as the man coverage has been tight. At CB we lost our #3 guy in the 2nd game to an ACL and our presumed #1 Wells has been banged up all year and just recently is back to game action but he's playing the nickel spot now. True soph Murray has emerged as one of the best cover corners in the B10. He's been blanketing guys but hasn't yet learned how to locate the ball so he's given up some catches on great plays by WRs going over the top of him. Kid was a WR and HS and very raw so he's a bit ahead of schedule. With all the injuries we moved our starting FS Brock Vereen down to CB and he's done a very solid job in man coverage. He's susceptible to blazers running by him but he's been very good and made All conference this year. At safety we'll rotate 3 guys, all have been pretty solid this year, the best being Johnson. BTW the only senior in this group is Vereen so they're young as well.
- We play a lot of man coverage and then a lot of quarters as we try to limit big plays. However our DC recognized that we had good cover guys and has let them get up and play tight man a lot more and its paid off. There's a great chart on ESPN showing how well Murray has held the top WRs in check when he's been covering them so expect to see a lot of man, especially against a run heavy team.

Lots of good info, appreciate you stopping by.

Should be a good one. SU is going to have to play well to beat you guys.

 

[Oleboy41]

To be fair...the guy genuinely seemed to come in peace. I'll just say that it appears the Minnesota response, whether we should take it personally or not, seems to be fueled by an exaggerated level of self-importance, glaring lack of perspective, and perhaps also a lack of understanding how the bowl process works. Unfortunately, Minnesota is in a conference filled with marketable programs (the BiG relies quite heavily on their marketability, and sometimes not a lot of actual talent), and Minnesota isn't one of them. To expect that Minnesota is going to start being chosen over some of these programs, even if Minnesota has a better record, is pretty surprising. So that anger seems to be aimed at us, and I do think the fanbase may be underestimating Syracuse quite a bit. We've played pretty well against similar opponents. Anyway, appreciate you reaching out. Go Orange!!!!

I'd say the lack of understanding more than anything else. You definitely won't see 'self importance' as more prevalent in the MN fan base than others. If anything the MN fan base is self loathing and constantly cringing for then inevitable nut kick. As for lack of perspective show me a fan base that doesn't suffer from that and that'll be the first I've encountered. As for the rest of what you said I basically covered it already. You can cherry pick some tweets from a few random rubes and local media idiots from any fan base every week of the year. I think it was perfectly reasonable to be disappointed to play in the same bowl despite improving your win total by 2 (especially your in conference win total). However most MN fans didn't realize that last year with OSU and PSU ineligible for bowls everyone got bumped up a few spots so had those 2 been eligible last year we likely wouldn't have even been in the Texas bowl last year (wasn't call that then but still). Plus almost all fans fully understood that it was very possible that we'd get jumped by the likes of Michigan, Nebraska and Iowa because of ratings and travel but that doesn't mean folks won't be disappointed by it, especially if you're getting your feel for the fanbase by Twitter and message boards, 2 mediums tailor made for emotional reactions. Every fan base has its rational, reasonable fans, its negative sky is falling fans, and its over the top homer fans. I wouldn't take the words of the few and extrapolate that to the entire fan base. Shoot I know you guys have been checking out Gopherhole and while it has its decent qualities I know plenty of MN fans that refuse to read GH because of the amount of irrational posts over there. Still at the end of the day if next year Cuse has a better year, goes 8-4 and ends up again in the Texas bowl against a 6-6 Illinois team, how excited do you think you'd be? Personally I'm just happy we're in a bowl game against a BCS conference team with a pulse.

 

[Oleboy41]

You guys are Boston College without the Heisman candidate TB and a weaker pass game.

Ok. Can't say I've watched a ton of BC this year but sure

 

[Oleboy41]

How do you feel about Bill Murray?

I just watched Space Jam with my kids and I must say he was clearly the best actor in that movie

 

[jkm54]

I'd say the lack of understanding more than anything else. You definitely won't see 'self importance' as more prevalent in the MN fan base than others. If anything the MN fan base is self loathing and constantly cringing for then inevitable nut kick. As for lack of perspective show me a fan base that doesn't suffer from that and that'll be the first I've encountered. As for the rest of what you said I basically covered it already. You can cherry pick some tweets from a few random rubes and local media idiots from any fan base every week of the year. I think it was perfectly reasonable to be disappointed to play in the same bowl despite improving your win total by 2 (especially your in conference win total). However most MN fans didn't realize that last year with OSU and PSU ineligible for bowls everyone got bumped up a few spots so had those 2 been eligible last year we likely wouldn't have even been in the Texas bowl last year (wasn't call that then but still). Plus almost all fans fully understood that it was very possible that we'd get jumped by the likes of Michigan, Nebraska and Iowa because of ratings and travel but that doesn't mean folks won't be disappointed by it, especially if you're getting your feel for the fanbase by Twitter and message boards, 2 mediums tailor made for emotional reactions. Every fan base has its rational, reasonable fans, its negative sky is falling fans, and its over the top homer fans. I wouldn't take the words of the few and extrapolate that to the entire fan base. Shoot I know you guys have been checking out Gopherhole and while it has its decent qualities I know plenty of MN fans that refuse to read GH because of the amount of irrational posts over there. Still at the end of the day if next year Cuse has a better year, goes 8-4 and ends up again in the Texas bowl against a 6-6 Illinois team, how excited do you think you'd be? Personally I'm just happy we're in a bowl game against a BCS conference team with a pulse.

Great points, Oleboy (that was kind of fun to say). Didn't even think about the ineligibility of OSU and PSU last year. I get it and think we'd be guilty of the same response in similar circumstances. I'm from Philly so I understand the "vocal minority" concept, and really hate it. Unfortunately, it's a sign of the times. Again, really appreciate you stopping by.

 

[OrangeTarheel]

Ok. Can't say I've watched a ton of BC this year but sure

That actually might be a compliment of your QB. A bunch of us were gaga over BC's QB, fast and good quick decision maker.

My guess is we all want a good showing by our teams and, most importantly, no injuries. Good lord, we're no Maryland but we have had our share of injuries this year.

 

[cusefan88]

I hated watching the game at Minnesota last year. the Big Ten announcers messed up multiple players names. It was like they barely prepped for the game. SU played like crap. I'm looking for some retribution.

 

[shantydaze]

Higher profile team? What.

We are still putting players in the NFL hall of fame and is around 15th in all time wins.

Syracuse is tied with Alabama and Ohio St. for 4th in Hall of Famers

What does its players having NFL success have to do with SU being a high profile college team? To the casual fan and even to fans of other college teams, probably nothing. The fact is that whether it be Syracuse or Minnesota, neither is currently a high profile college team. That being said, SU was relevant more recently than Minnesota. But, with Miami and Virginia Tech leaving the Big East and the GRob era, the success and relevancy SU experienced in the 80s and 90s went out the window.

Unless you are a helmet school, the profile and relevancy of a program is based on recent success. With its inclusion into the ACC, I can see Syracuse regaining some of its stature well before the Goofs, which has not won the B1G Conference in over 50 years.

 

[billsin01]

When's the last Minnesota player that had their Jersey retired on MNF?

Seriously? His point was that arguing about a program's 'high profile' by citing all the players that won heisman's or were all americans or had jerseys retired in the NFL is completely irrelevant. Syracuse is a fine program with a great tradition but the notion that anyone oustide of Syracuse and/or Syracuse alumni care about this program currently is absurd. I love the Cuse, hope dearly that we get back to at least the mid-90s levels at some point in the relatively near future, etc. But ultimately we have to win a ton of games and do so for a few years in a row for people to legitimately 'care' about this program. That's not a knock on Syracuse as much as it is a commentary on the state of college football fans and media, our geographic location and a realistic review of our on-field performance the past ~15 years or so.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Guy makes a legit point. Everyone gets their panties in a massive orange-colored bunch. Story of these forums.

High profile team? Syracuse? Come on.

"What have you done for me lately".