Past and present of Gopher Sports

First - let me start with this link to a TCF Video from yesterday - it's really starting to wrap up and be ready for September.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qzG9mzkFWg

Next, let me tell you about my morning.

So I'm staying home on vaca today with Jace - he starts daycare next week, so Anna and I are each taking one last day with him at home...awwww. Anyway, woke up with him this morning at 6am and started flipping around, then I get to the BTN and find a back to back Gopher double header that really gives us a nice summary of the last 2 regimes in Gopher sports...Monson and Mase.

First, I was treated to IND at Gophers in hoops from 2000. Remember - the Vanilla Gorilla scores 33! and the Gophs beat the nationally ranked Hoosiers. Good memory, right? Well, I remember that this was Przy's last game in college before he realized his squad/coach sucked and might as well quit rather than risk an injury and huge payday. Second, this team still finished with only 4 B10 wins that year - nice. I started looking at the roster - check out this cast of characters:

#4 Nick Sinville - this guy looked like a player maybe, but transferred the next season

#11 Mitch Ohnstad - smoked his way off the team - I'll always remeber my first night at college, GDick and I went out to a hockey party and I saw Ohnstad there smoking weed and absolutely hammered...should have read the writing on the wall at that point.

#12 Kevin Burleson - a notorious figure in Gopher Hoops history - I love that he was recruited as the best bud to a star player in Washington as a package deal...except the star didn't come here and we only got Big Kev.

#33 Ryan Wildenbourg - remember this big oaf! I saw him on the bench and couldn't remember his name, so I had to look this one up. Nice recruit Monson - he didn't play 4 years either.

#34 Shane Schilling - drank his way off the squad after 2 years...sensing a trend yet?

#41 Mike Bauer - I generally liked this guy - can't say anything bad about him.

#45 Dusty Rychart - the Moondog was quite a story. When a walk-on ends up being one of the better players and only 4 year players of your era (Monson) you know you're in trouble. He was from GR, and friends w/Dick so he hung out with us occasionally...I think he actually still plays in Austrailia or something.

#50 Pryz - somehow he scored 33 in this final game - I think that's more than the offensively challenged one scored the rest of his career. Would have been a legend if we had any kind of coach or program at that point.

#51 Kyle Sanden - quite possibly the funniest looking guy I have ever seen. Seriously, the guy remined me of a cartoon...and he was terrible.

#54 John Aune - another filler big man for Monson. I think he was a military guy, so gotta give him credit there...but it doesn't mean he should be playing D1 hoops.

So how the hell have we gone from this type of roster with maybe 5 guys that should actually even be playing D1 hoops to being a likely Top 15 preseason team next year? Simple really.

TUBBY. thanks.


Part 2 of my morning Gopher double header was a classic - MICH vs. MIN Oct 10, 203.

So the game started with the announcers talking about last week's game where Ellerson caught a long TD vs. NW and Asad threw for 300+. I started thinking, I remeber seeing parts of that game in the airport...where was I? I asked Anna, and got the look...yeah, that was our honeymoon. Kind of sad when I remember the meaningless Gopher-NW game but not Jamaica.

Anyway, we all know the story on this one. Run for 400 yards, huge lead, lose painfully. No need to relive all the gory details, but a couple things I did realize:

The fatal flaw in Mason's plan all along - defense. Although I complained about the offense regularly throughout his tenure, the team scored points. We didn't have the ability to throw and come back at all, so we had to play ahead. But the fatal flaw to this strategy was the lack of defense. If you don't have the ability to come back and score any points you must make sure that you compliment your great running game with a defense...but we never did. I used to think it was a coordinator issue, but I'm more convinced than ever that we just had garbage players. Mason, like Brewster, made lots of position changes by moving guys up a level - DB to LB/DE, LB to DE/DT kinds of changes. The difference is that Brewster's guys have the size to play those spots and most importantly have SPEED! The one thing Mr. Mason never realized a defense needed or maybe he just wasn't able to recruit any in his 10 years. I'm not sure how many times I watched Chris Perry take a screen pass and run past 2 LB's because they are just too slow. Perry was by no means a speed guy, but he looked like frickin' Cheech Harvin out there against our pathetically slow defense.

One other thing I had forgot about was the terrible Asad pick that he throws which aids the MICH comeback. I also forgot about the 3 clipping penalties Ellerson took which cost us yards at 3 critical times, and the 3 INT's that were very possible but we failed to actually convert even one of them. Too many chances to win...I was very tempted to turn it off at 28-7, but I guess I continue to watch in hope that something might change? Or maybe I just like pain?

Anywho - hope everyone is having a great week. In some shocking news that is just coming down...Memphis Hoops might be hit with some major recruiting violations. What? You mean Calipari didn't turn a nobody into a National Power in 3 years by doing it the right way? No way. I never suspected this.

Finally - a little football talk. I am dangerously close to wrapping up all of my pre-season previews for all 119-120 teams, which I will be throwing at you soon. I dedicate one entire post to my logic behind my rating system and how it has evolved over the last 5 months. I think I've found a way to hit 75% without bringing in emotion every week - but I'll explain it all in a future post before I start posting conference previews.

One things I was thinking about regarding out favorite football conference after reading a few previews...does everyone think Dick Rod's club will be that much better this year? I really don't. He's likely going to go with a freshman at QB, and the defense was terrible last year. Let's review why he got this job in the first place - he rolled into WV, had a few crappy years, turned things around and dominated for about 3 years. I have 3 major reasons why Dick Rod will not succeed and be out within 5 years at MICH:

1) Pat White was a special QB who was a PERFECT player for this offense. I don't think there are many like that.

2) He was playing the Big East. Seriously, when it comes to football - the Big East ain't exactly high on the list. You have 7 conference games, and only about 3 of those are even worthy of being called a conference game each year. Basically, the guy didn't really play anyone and still couldn't win a Nat'l title.

3) His quirky offense doesn't work in the B10. I think this has been proven by our very own Gophers. What teams are successful...OHIOST, PSU, IOWA, Old MICH, WIS - all run a very basic pro style offense. Why? Because that is what works in the B10. Too much talent, speed, and bulk to have much success with any kind of a gimmicky offense. NW has run their unique spread, but I wouldn't say they have been a huge success...some ups and downs but not competing yearly with the Big Boys.

That's my take - it has changed since last year where I said he would struggle for a couple of years but eventually be a power again. I really don't think it can happen - he will be a flash in the pan, a flavor of the month, and he'll be back running his quirky offense in a smaller less competitve conference by 2013.

What do you think? Let me know - have a good weekend guys.

107 days until kick-off at TCF...