Minnesota / Post-season thoughts

[BillSU]

Imagine what we can look like with the proverbial cupboards stocked up again. Today made me feel really good about our D for next year. Especially with the added pieces via transfer and freshman class.
Hopefully we see our offense improve further and it can be a pretty good year Next year.

Glad to see you are encouraged by our D for next year. I am too, especially with the intelligence of Rocky Long developing that D and our players on that D.

 

[CuseIn282xx]

They should have given the ball to Tucker more.

Wait, what?

Oh, yeah, you're all welcome.

 

[kcsu]

He's a good running QB and his running has to be accounted for. He's an adequate passer. He's the type of QB who can succeed at SYR. A pure pocket passer will not work here.

Its beyond me that people are critical of the one player on O that gives us a chance to win. He is our O.

 

[shu 49]

Shrader takes the next step and they'll be fine. The 330 yards is misleading. If he played a cleaner game, they win this by a TD.

Yeah he missed a lot of easy throws.

 

[orangepassion]

Just don't play Pena anymore, this spring they should encourage him to move on.

I'm not a fan of anyone here telling any player to move on, much less a player who has been good for us. Every team, including NFL teams, have an occasional drop.

 

[shu 49]

LQA is a strong positive.

The D, missing so many starters may be good, again.

Beck seems to be more adaptable in play calling once the game starts. I don't agree with all of his calls but he was opportunistic and played to our strengths and Minny's weaknesses.

Shrader looked like he is still having issues.

The field was very bad.

We should have won this game, but the scoreboard says otherwise.

I disagree with all the wr screens we ran to right side but I also think they saw something on tape that they wanted to attack.

 

[shu 49]

Kudos to Dan Villari.

He did a good job today.


He’s only going to improve at this position.

I like him there. Hoping for more chances for him next year.

 

[PhatOrange]

We play a 4-2-5 a lot of snaps most weekends. Today was nothing new.

 

[OttosDad]

Field was atrocious. Yankees should be embarrassed.

Cow pasture to put it lightly.

 

[shu 49]

That is also true.

But we desperately need more speed at W


Exactly. It’s a grass field in late December in the northeast. And it was the same field for both teams. Not really the issue

Min y plays on grass and as I was told bye a d1 coach on grass u never cut with ft outside shoulders cause ur guaranteed to lose footing. We are not a downhill team sadly

 

[shu 49]

Some folks are pretty cavalier with other people’s athletic futures. That field was a disaster waiting to happen.

No it wasn’t. It’s wet grass. We r used to tight turf. U can’t run outside ur body as u will slip on ur cuts. Not tough to figure out.

 

[shu 49]

Gotta love what we saw from Allen. But at his size can he handle more than 15 carries a game over the course of 12 games? And how in the heck did we not run it more this year with Tucker and Allen? Instead we tried to throw it with a banged up QB, poor pass blocking OL, and one WR.

5 to 7 more lbs of muscle and we good. Huge speed difference from price to Allen. Allen is quick. Great hands too.

 

[shu 49]

Clark u played tough as hell. Didn’t notice penalty. Glad ur on our team.

 

[hungrychuck]

Cow pasture to put it lightly.

How sad that advanced analytics haven’t incorporated a December grass field in the Northeast into the gameplan.

Stop. Have some crackers and cheese with the whine.

Maybe we can pressure Wildhack into
accepting only field-turf bowl games.

Since we’re a “speed team.”

Good lord.

 

[OttosDad]

How sad that advanced analytics haven’t incorporated a December grass field in the Northeast into the gameplan.

Stop. Have some crackers and cheese with the whine.

Maybe we can pressure Wildhack into
accepting only field-turf bowl games.

Since we’re a “speed team.”

Good lord.

Yankee fan?

There were literally chunks of grass all over the field. They did a better job in 2012 during rain sleet and snow. You're wrong here Boom.

 

[hungrychuck]

Yankee fan?

There were literally chunks of grass all over the field. They did a better job in 2012 during rain sleet and snow. You're wrong here Boom.

This is a classic loser’s lament.

Both teams played on the same field.

 

[cuseincincy]

This sort of complaint is always lame.

Like Gophers got to play on field turf while we had imperfect grass.

That has nothing to do with it. It's lame not to care that the athletes were put at risk. That is really lame.

 

[blust2i3d4]

They should have given the ball to Tucker more.

Wait, what?

Oh, yeah, you're all welcome.

Tucker is going to make big money in NFL.

 

[hungrychuck]

That has nothing to do with it. It's lame not to care that the athletes were put at risk. That is really lame.

That’s interesting.

Because I don’t remember any ACL injuries during this game.

As opposed to….well, some other fields that shall not be named.

 

[anomander]

We play a 4-2-5 a lot of snaps most weekends. Today was nothing new.

Yea but today we actually had 2 defensive ends for size. We usually drop down a LB to rush.

 

[OttosDad]

This is a classic loser’s lament.

Both teams played on the same field.

I'm not blaming the field for the loss. I'm simply pointing out it looked like . For a supposed "World Class Organization "with a full time grounds-crew, you'd expect better

 

[hungrychuck]

I'm not blaming the field for the loss. I'm simply pointing out it looked like . For a supposed "World Class Organization "with a full time grounds-crew, you'd expect better

OK OD, appreciate the distinction.

But still..grass game in December. It is what it is.

 

[CU44SE]

- Allen was fantastic. Really impressed with his game.

- Shrader needs to clean up his mechanics. His release and wind up takes forever which allows DB’s to get into position to make a play. Thought he threw a lot of uncatchable balls today. His stat line looks a lot better then how I thought he played. Minnesota spied him all day and made him use his arm to beat them. He really struggles when he has to rely on his arm that much. His throws lack velocity on those swing and WR screens. It appears the receiver is waiting around forever for the ball to arrive and allows the defense to flow towards the ball faster closing down any lanes that may have been open.

- We definitely need more weapons around him, but I think he has possibly reached his ceiling. Especially when he is not allowed to use his legs to extend drives.

-The field was garbage. Guys slipping left and right. Surprised there was not more injuries today.

- Defense was outstanding. Thought the freshman QB Minnesota had threw a Beautifull ball. Defense only really allowed 14 points against a power run team. The pick 6 and the long kickoff return not withstanding. I was very surprised, especially with our undersized personal. I thought this may be similar to the ND game where they just power ran all game at 4-5 yards a carry. I believe it was 3rd and 15, that touchdown they scored was a killer. Pretty much perfect coverage with an arm in the catch zone and it was just the perfect ball and good play by the WR.

-Thought we really actually dominated the game but for 2-3 possessions.

-Difference in the game was the pick 6, long return, and the 3rd and 15 touchdown. That is 3 giant chunk plays that cumulated in 21 points. We ended up settling for 2 field goals and didn’t get any turnovers or long returns. The opportunities we had for big plays we missed, the two that come to mind are the Allen beating the linebacker up the seam that shrader missed and the swing pass out to Allen that the Minnesota defender had great hustle on and got just enough of him to trip him up. They made the big plays and we came up just short with our opportunities.

- Always fun watching bowl games. Always want to win them, but most importantly the team and younger guys get extra practices. The coaches got their first game experience in their new position (really only Beck, but got his feet wet). The young guys got opportunity’s with the transfers and opt outs. This game really doesn’t mean all that much but what it does mean is we had a successful campaign. I would like to say I expect at the very least to make it to a bowl every year but that unfortunately has not been the case very often since 2001. So I will enjoy it and hope that it propels the team to bigger and better things next season.

 

[anomander]

Very good points. I'll take it one step further. The staff should never be satisfied with the existing talent in the QB room.

I've said it many times, the staff needs to aggressively look to add one QB every cycle with the potential to come in and compete for QB1 or QB2. I fully understand how difficult and, unfortunately, unlikely getting that type of talent will be. But, this should, and needs to be, the driving philosophy. Add talent to the room. Let the players compete. Play the best. The numbers will take care of themselves.

Exactly. Our QB room as is will not work. It’s the most important position on the field. I don’t care if we have 5 or 6 QB’s on the roster. Let the best man win and the rest can transfer out .

With that said it won’t happen and Shrader will almost certainly be the QB. I would like to see the 2021 version where he isn’t afraid to tuck it more and make plays on his feet. I think that would help his passing game. Unless he’s being instructed not to under Beck/Anae’s new offense. The kid ran for what? 700 yards in pretty much a quarter of a season in 2021. He’s a bigger threat running than throwing and I’m afraid that will always be the case. We could win with the combined version though, but not 2nd half Shrader.

 

[cuseincincy]

Exactly. Our QB room as is will not work. It’s the most important position on the field. I don’t care if we have 5 or 6 QB’s on the roster. Let the best man win and the rest can transfer out .

With that said it won’t happen and Shrader will almost certainly be the QB. I would like to see the 2021 version where he isn’t afraid to tuck it more and make plays on his feet. I think that would help his passing game. Unless he’s being instructed not to under Beck/Anae’s new offense. The kid ran for what? 700 yards in pretty much a quarter of a season in 2021. He’s a bigger threat running than throwing and I’m afraid that will always be the case. We could win with the combined version though, but not 2nd half Shrader.

Your last sentence is dead on. I get what your saying about Shrader's running but it is hard to convince me he was a better QB in 2021 than in 2022.

I'd expect a QB to added before next year. Whether they have a shot to compete is questionable. No question Shrader struggles with the long out pass and read progressions. He also was a different runner after the injury and as others have said he doesn't look fully recovered and hesitant a lot of the time. His strengths and familiarity with the offense will likely keep him the job. I've never been one that thought the first guy there deserves the job in college sports. Another WR and a portal TE would benefit him and the team tremendously. My kingdom for a 6'4"plus 240+ lb kid that can block and catch.