Maize n Brew

MnB B1G Preview: Minnesota

2012-05-16T22:00:14Z

Each Wednesday, up through August, I’ll cover a different Big Ten team or Michigan non-conference opponent. This week, I’m covering the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who Michigan will battle for the 93^rd meeting of the Little Brown Jug.

To see all of our football previews, click here.

2012 Minnesota Golden Gophers Football Preview

2011 Record: 3-9 (2-6 Big Ten)

Head Coach: Jerry Kill, second season (3-9 at Minnesota) (130-82 overall)

Projected Returning Starters: 13

Spring Game: April 21^st(Maroon 3 Gold 0)

Notes: The Gophers haven’t been to the post-season since 2009, and haven’t been a consistent team since the Glen Mason era, which ended at the conclusion of the 2006 season. Minnesota has only finished above fifth, once, in the 2000s. Jerry Kill enters his second season at Minnesota, but Kill has a large amount of coaching experience, most of which is outside of the FBS level. The most important thing for Kill, right now, is to make sure he has his health under control, as he missed a few games last season.

BVTSB Take: Entering the 2011 season, Minnesota was largely considered to be tone of the worst Big Ten team, if not the worst. And that statement would be tough to argue with, especially after Minnesota’s drubbing at the hands of Michigan, to the tune of a 58-0 beatdown. Two more blowouts ensued, in losses to Purdue and Nebraska, but Minnesota was competitive in their final five games, with wins over Iowa and Illinois and a close loss to Michigan State. Minnesota was 2-3 in games decided by seven points or less in 2011. Starting quarterback MarQueis Gray, a wide receiver convert, returns this season, as does backup Max Shortell, who saw significant time last season. The Gophers return third leading rusher Donnell Kirkwood, but lose Duane Bennett to graduation. Receivers Brandon Green and Malcolm Moulton will need to step up this season, with the loss of Da’Jon McKnight to graduation. Minnesota struggled a lot on defense last season. Experience in the secondary will help, as the Gophers secondary was riddled with inexperience and injuries last season. The non-conference schedule is more forgiving, too. The Gophers open with games against UNLV, New Hampshire, Western Michigan, and Syracuse; the Gophers could very well win 3-4 of their non-conference games. If the Gophers win their first four, they could be looking at a post-season berth. For now, though, I’ll be conservative and say the Gophers improve on their 2011 win total in 2012.

2012 Early Projection: 4-8

To see the 2012 Big Ten composite schedule, click here.

What are your thoughts on Minnesota football? Tweet to us @BVTSB.

Poll

How many wins do you expect from the Golden Gophers in the 2012 regular season?

MnB B1G Preview: Getting the scoop on Minnesota with Jeff and Tom from The Daily Gopher

2012-05-16T17:00:10Z

This week we stop by The Daily Gopher, SBN's Minnesota blogging outpost, for a chat with two of the site's writers, Jeff and Tom, about the plight of the Gophers these past few years and what the future holds.

Minnesota started the 2011 season so badly that halfway through most of the college football world was ready to proclaim this the worst major conference team of all time. I watched when Minnesota played Michigan, and I caught part of both the Nebraska and Purdue games. I didn't imagine that team would score twice the rest of the season, much less win twice down the stretch. What changed over the last month of the season?

Jeff - I'd say it changed after halftime of the Nebraska game, except that the Huskers were using the second half as a live scrimmage. I mean, Taylor Martinez was actually attempting passes -- and not the Nebraska shovel pass or lateral, an actual, really, really ugly over-hand sling-shot type thing past the line of scrimmage that only Martinez can throw. Wait, how'd this turn into a Taylor Martinez bashing-fest? But yeah, after that Nebraska game it's like all the things Coach Kill and staff had been telling them finally started to click. I can't say why it finally started clicking because when you're essentially un-coached by Brewster and his band of revolving door coordinators, it's probably a shock to the system when you're suddenly faced with coaches who not only know what they're doing, but expect you to do it. Apparently it took the Minnesota players about 7 games into the season for it to start sinking in.

Tom - I think the season turned when everything started to click for many of the regulars, most notably MarQueis Gray. I believe that Coach Kill and his staff had been spending months trying to teach these athletes how to be football players on top of learning a new playbook and schemes. Midway through the season the playbook was reduced, guys started to see what they were supposed to be doing and they could finally play football without thinking. Once they started to figure out where they needed to be and once they started to see how good things can happen when you are in the right place, then it all started to come together. Not only did it lead to a couple of wins but we also played Michigan State to within a touchdown, a game we were very much in. This team was markedly better the last five games of the year.

The rushing offense seemed to work fairly well with MarQueis Gray and Duane Bennett doing most of the work, but it was a similar situation to Michigan in 2010 when Denard Robinson was tasked with the lion's share of the rushing load. With Bennett gone do you think Minnesota will have to rely even more on Gray to move the chains on the ground? What running backs are you looking at to step up and fill the void?

Jeff - Since Mason left the running game has been a disaster. Last season was the first since 2007 where the team averaged at least 4 yards per carry, and most of that was thanks to Gray, as Bennett only averaged 3.8. I don't know how you guys feel about Shoelace carrying the ball a lot (Ed note: Um, terrible. I wince with every hit), but I get really nervous about Q being the team's only real running threat because it's only a matter of time before he gets hurt. Sure, at 6'4 and 240 he's bigger than most B1G linebackers, but he not only runs hard every time, but the coaching staff seems intent on running him right up the middle into the teeth of the defense. Coach Kill wants a run-oriented offense to set up the pass, and for that to happen we need a running back or 3 to step up. We're crossing our fingers and our toes and our...nevermind, we're just really hoping JUCO-transfer James Gillum is the guy, and so far so good. He looked solid in the spring, and hopefully he continues to improve into the fall. David Cobb, Donell Kirkwood and Devon Wright all have potential, but also a lot of question marks.

Tom - I expect Gray will run the ball less this year and the bulk of the running back carries will go to James Gillum. He is a JUCO early enrollee who participated in spring practice. He seems to have the more complete skill set with some speed and elusiveness. But I am sure we will see a lot of Donnell Kirkwood who likes to run guys over. I expect that rushing will improve over last year but I don't know if any one guy will be taking the Big Ten by storm. Improvement will come from a few guys and it will come because of increased commitment to balance out the offense by getting the ball out of Gray's hands every once in a while.

Speaking of Gray, while he struggled in the early season passing the ball, it seemed like he got into something of a rhythm toward the end of the year including very promising outings against Michigan State and Iowa. Do you think Gray's year spent at receiver in 2010 hurt his early season production, or is it more a matter of him just needing starting experience to get comfortable like any other quarterback? I have heard some practice reports that are high on his potential to improve this season, and coupled with his physical skillset he seems like a prime candidate to have a breakout year. What are your expectations for Gray's senior year?

Jeff - Of all the things Brewster did wrong, #1 on the list was not redshirting Q his freshman season. He burned his shirt so that 3 or 4 times per game they could bring him in to run up the gut, and his sophomore year was spent entirely at receiver. So not only did Brew do his best to ruin him but he barely played the two seasons before coming to Minnesota, as he was hurt almost his entire senior year, then missed the next because he didn't qualify academically. The ability and athleticism that made him a 4 star prospect out of Indy and one of the top dual-threat recruits in 2008 is still there, he's just not going to have enough time to ever maximize his potential here. Had he been shirted and allowed 3 years under Kill I think he's all-conference in 2013. As it stands, 2012 will be his last season, and while I think he shows improvement, I don't predict a breakout season. It won't be for lack of effort, as Q has been a workaholic in the weight room and film room, and he looked much more confident throwing the ball this spring, but he still has a ways to go as a passer, and the talent around him is either young, inexperienced, or just not very good.

Tom - I do expect Gray to have a breakout year. The kid is just a physical freak who is capable of beating teams with his arm and his legs. I do not believe that playing wide receiver for a year really hurt his development, he wasn't able to take the starting job away from Adam Weber so getting him time on the field to at least get accustom to the speed of the game was probably a good thing. If any decision should be analyzed and ripped it should be the decision to play him as a true freshman. With a young offensive line and a young crew of receivers it would be awfully nice to have this year and next for Gray. Instead his freshman year was wasted as being a wildcat guy and attempting just 15 passes. Thank you Tim Brewster.

The Minnesota defense was much maligned in 2011, giving up 40+ points three times and a season high 58 to Michigan. The only teams held under 20 points were USC in the season opener and a rapidly unraveling Illinois team coached by a dead man (figuratively speaking). First, what in god's name happened to keep that USC game so close? Second, what kind of improvement do you expect from this defense in year two?

Jeff - I had forgotten about that Michigan bloodletting until you mentioned it, so thanks for bringing that up. *flips middle finger at screen* Things were so bad after that game I wrote this satirical post saying they were shutting down the program, and people were calling the Gopher athletic department asking if it was true. Seriously. So thanks again for that. *flips other middle finger at screen* Honestly, the USC game was probably the worst thing that happened to them all year, as the coaches admitted the players got overconfident and lost focus. They followed that up by losing 5 of their next 6, which included New Mexico-f***ing-State and 1-AA national champion North Dakota State. AT HOME! We realized pretty quickly that the defensive issues weren't just with coaching, as we had pinned everything on former DC Kevin Cosgrove (want to see a Nebraska fan get angry? Just say something like "was Cosgrove a good DC for the Huskers?" then duck. Quickly), but there wasn't a ton of talent there either. New DC Tracy Claeys has built a monster defense wherever he's been with Kill, so it was pretty jarring to see how crap-tastic they were last year. The front seven could be solid, but the secondary may hold them back as they lost leading tackler S Kim Royston to graduation and little-to-nothing ready to replace him. Other than CB Troy Stoudermire, who missed almost all of last season with a broken arm, the secondary lacks experience, and for the most part talent, but we'll see what happens. I would say they can't be as bad last year, but then again we said that last year and look what happened.

Tom - That USC game was weird and it gave the fan base false hope for the season. Essentially in that game Matt Barkely was able to throw to Robert Woods every single play in the first half. In the second we took that away and their offense stagnated a little. The defense was hurt when our best corner, Troy Stoudermire, went down with a broken arm. He is getting a 5th year of eligibility to pair with Brock Vereen to give us a couple of good starting corners with some depth behind them. A couple JUCO defensive backs are expected to make the secondary better and deeper. We have a good group of linebackers and I liked last year's young ends. Defensive tackle is potentially an issue but I think this defense will be faster and more fundamentally sound in year 2 of Jerry Kill. I'm not expecting a top 4 of 5 defense but it will be better than last year.

What do you think of Jerry Kill one year into his tenure as head coach? He wasn't a flashy hire, but I always believed he was the kind of no nonsense coach Minnesota needed after being severely Brewster'd. I know there are some that weren't happy with the hire, and it is by all accounts too early to tell how things will play out, but give me a general reading on your feelings for Kill and his standing with the casual (i.e. non-internet obsessive) fanbase.

Jeff - Your second sentence there sums things up pretty well. It took about 48 hours for the Gopher fans that were upset about the Kill hire to not be, as once you heard the man speak two things became very apparent very quickly- he was honest almost to a fault, and he knew what the hell he was talking about. Those were two things you could definitely not say about Brewster, and the fans fell in love with him almost immediately. Besides the lunatic fringe that every fan base has, Gopher fans are squarely behind Jerry Kill and his staff. When Kill says this could be a long, and sometimes painful, rebuild we believe him, but we trust he knows what he's doing since he's done it in his last 3 coaching stops.

Tom - I think everyone around here believes that Kill was the right hire and he has the tools to turn the program around. He is teaching guys how to play football and throughout last season we slowly saw improvement. It had to get worse before it was going to get better and I think that is what we saw losing to North Dakota St, 58-0 at Michigan and then giving up 40+ to Purdue and Nebraska. But then things started to click and we started to look like a football team again. I am fully confident that over the next couple years this team will get back to being competitive and at least mediocre. Taking the next step go from from a 6, 7 or 8 win team to competing for a shot in the Big Ten title game every once in a while is a big step to take and difficult.

One thing Jerry Kill took some flak for was a comment about Minnesota not having the kind of athletes he expected of a FBS program --- a clear dig at Brewster. With that being said, what have you thought so far about Kill's efforts on the recruiting trail, and have things differed substantially from what Tim Brewster was able to do recruiting?

Jeff - He took some flack for saying it, then they lost to New Mexico State and NDSU (did I mention that happened at home? I did? Just checking) and people realized he was right. This program was, and is, in serious need of a talent upgrade, but part of that comes from the ability to coach up the players. Nobody was "coached up" under Brewster because they heard a different thing every year from a new coordinator, and according to a guy I know that played for both Mason and Brewster, the players knew pretty quickly that Brew was in way over his head. We'll get to this more in your last question, but for Minnesota to succeed, they need to find more diamonds in the rough and develop them because they're just not going to have top 20 national recruiting classes every year. But right now we trust that Kill and his staff know what they're doing and what type of players they're looking for, so we're not as worried about recruiting rankings.

Look at the 2012 class: most experts picked them last in the B1G, yet the fan base is over the moon because he locked up 8 of the top 10 in state, and 4 of the top 5 (and the fifth one they had zero shot at, since he moved from Charlotte for his senior year and was basically already committed to Stanford before the season even started). Unless they're uber stars like Mauer, Seantrell Henderson or a Michael Floyd, I think kids in Minnesota often get overlooked because we usually don't have a ton of big-name schools coming to recruit them. Mankato QB Philip Nelson has a chance to be a real star and the #1 player in the state, WR Andre McDonald, is the kind of athlete we're dying for here. Not only that but Kill is committed to the offensive line, and got two beauty's: Jonah Persig was grabbed from the clutches of both Wisconsin and Iowa, and believe you me, that NEVER happens. Sconnie and those dirty little ****s from Iowa are used to waltzing in here and grabbing whomever they please, so we're hoping that Persig being recruited hard by both but choosing to stay home is a sign of things to come. Isaac Hayes (I'm talkin' 'bout Shaft!) was the top interior lineman in the state, and has a chance to start as a freshman at center either this fall or certainly next. Kill's recruiting classes might not be flashy but at least with the 2012 class, there's plenty to be excited about.

Tom - I think it is really early to know much about Kill's recruiting. The stark difference early is that Brewster was offering and pursuing a lot of 4-star type kids (which only rarely landed). MarQueis Gray was a huge get, Michael Carter is a 4-star steal from West Virginia, LaMichael James was Minnesota verbal before Oregon paid someone in Texas to steer him away. Jerry Kill is so far competing with Western Michigan for verbals. But if he is getting football players who fit his system and grow up to be legit Big Ten players then we'll all be happy. Time will tell.

How do you think next season plays out for Minnesota? The Big Ten schedule looks rough with trips to Lincoln, Iowa City, and Madison, and home games against both Michigan schools. Do you think Minnesota is in a position to exceed its two conference wins from a season ago? If so, do the Gophers take care of business in the non-conference schedule and earn a bowl birth in year two?

Jeff - The Gophers play in the toughest division in college football (I still refuse to use the division names), and considering Wisconsin is their cross-over rival, Minnesota is locked into one of the toughest conference schedules in the country every season. So be it. It's going to always make things tough, and especially in these first few years of rebuilding, and I'm tempering expectations because of it. They'll be favored in at least 3 of their 4 non-cons this year, but then again they were last year and went 1-3. So expect 2-3 wins out of conference, and stealing 2 or 3 Big Ten games (they get Northwestern and Purdue at home and they've owned Illinois the past two seasons. Such a shame the Zooker is gone. We'll miss him here in Minnesota) I think 6 wins is possible, but I'd say 4 or 5 wins is most likely.

Tom - The Big Ten schedule is always daunting, especially for a program like Minnesota's where your "winable" games are games the other program is looking forward to as a "winable" game as well. We get Northwestern and Purdue at home, both games that are not out of reach. We travel to Iowa and Illinois, two more games that we are capable of winning regardless of the venue. The remaining four are against programs that should be significantly better than Minnesota. Maybe you win one but Michigan St, Michigan, Nebraska and Wisconsin are at another level right now. Personally I see 2 or 3 Big Ten wins. I think Northwestern and home and Illinois on the road will be wins. Then you find a W somewhere in the other six games.

More broadly, what do you think the expectation level is for Jerry Kill and the Gophers beyond year two? Minnesota isn't far removed from being in competition for Big Ten titles, but the last few years have set the program back a long ways while other middle-tier programs like Iowa and Michigan State have stepped to the front of the pack. To what level does Jerry Kill have to get this program to keep his job for the long haul?

Jeff - OK first of all let's set the record straight on Glen Mason: He was the most successful coach the program has had in the past 40 or so years, and in his 10 seasons the Gophers won at least six games seven times, and therefore made seven bowl games, or about as many as they've made from the early 70's to today. So yes, he had some success, but the Gophers had a .500 record or better in the Big Ten just four times, and they made zero New Year's Day bowls. Zero. Mason made a name for himself with an incredibly effective running game, and by picking up four cheap wins a season against a non-conference schedule that would make even an SEC school say "Come on Glen, that's pathetic". That was what you were getting with a Mason-coached team, and by the end of 2006, the fan base, and obviously the administration, felt like things had been going downhill since he got passed over for the "Ohio" job (as Brady Hoke would call it). He alienated the state's high school coaches and recruits (Larry Fitzgerald and James Lauranitis are two native Minnesotans never recruited by Mason. Both have said they would have considered the U had they just been asked, but Mason never did. I wish I were kidding), and didn't do a great job of hiding the fact that this was supposed to be a stepping-stone job to Ohio.

Considering where we are now this may seem crazy, but I will forever believe that firing Mason was absolutely the right decision. That's because the problem wasn't firing Mason, it was hiring Brewster to replace him, a move that moved this program backwards about a decade. Did you know the Gophers hired Brewster instead of former Florida DC and now Louisville HC Charlie Strong? True story. Had the Gophers hired a coach who had any idea what he was doing, who knows where the program is now. As it stands, six years later we're looking up at what we used to take for granted, but I believe Coach Kill is the right coach to get us back to "The Mason Level" and beyond. My personal opinion, and this is not shared by every Gopher fan, but I believe reasonable expectations for this program should be the same as down at Iowa; 7-8 wins are expected, with a New Year's Day bowl a strong goal and once in a blue moon maybe a run at a conference title. And yes I think this is possible at Minnesota. I compare the Gophers situation to the Tampa Bay Rays, where both teams need to be creative to find competitive advantages over much more wealthier opponents. The Rays knew they could never out-spend the Yankees and Red Sox, so they found other ways to compete. The Gophers will never be able to out-recruit Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska etc, so they're going to have to find other ways, and conveniently they have a coach who knows how to do that. Jerry Kill teams are always well coached, which means they're disciplined, they execute and they're not going to beat themselves. The more of his recruits he gets in here, the more we'll see of that, and the more kids that will be two or three star recruits that will turn into excellent B1G players.

You're probably laughing at the expectations, but I believe that if two rural Upper Midwest schools with sparse recruiting bases like Iowa and Wisconsin can succeed in the Big Ten, then Minnesota can too. And before you talk about success and prestige, remember Iowa football's dark ages from the 1960's-late 70's before Hayden Fry took over, and that Wisconsin football was gawd-awful until 1990 when Barry Alvarez was hired. Also remember that Northwestern, Purdue and Illinois have all been to the Rose Bowl in the past dozen years, so if it can happen there, it can happen here too.

Tom - I think people are just expecting improvement in year two. Is six wins possible? Yes, but I think an increase in wins and then avoiding games like the Michigan drubbing from a year ago would be acceptable. There are a lot of young kids who played last year and will be playing this year so there is hope for the short-term future. In the long-term I still think it is just about getting better. As I mentioned I think it is fairly easy to get your program to a mid-level program. But taking that next step to actually being competitive with anyone in the conference and having a shot at an occasional title is really difficult. Kill is a teacher and a program builder by doing it the right way. We will see how it plays out in the next few years but I am hopeful.

Thank you again to Jeff and Tom for taking the time to answer my questions, and I hope that every one of our Maize n Brew readers takes a second to check out The Daily Gopher for some truly phenomenal coverage of Minnesota sports.

Wednesday Happy Hour is waiting for the great leap forward in postseason reform

2012-05-16T14:18:45Z

The big meetings between conference commissioners are over and it is time for each conference to sort out what it wants from the new postseason model, including the Big Ten. This, of course, has positive and negative ramifications.

- On one hand it seems that the Big Ten has backed down from two of its positions, namely on-campus semi-final games and a conference championship qualification for playoff participants. Now, depending on your feelings about who deserves to be in, that second one might not be such a sticking point, but as Big Ten fans (and let's be honest, college football fans in general) it would be nice to see teams like Ohio State, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Michigan earn a chance to play for a title on the cold tundra of the north in December. Not to mention the fact that on site games are less likely to fleece schools out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

With home site games off the table it appears that existing BCS bowls will be worked into the four team playoff, and there will be some ridiculous set of circumstances to make the Rose Bowl "meaningful" in years that a Big Ten and Pac 12 team qualify.

- On the other, all this talk of postseason reform has the Big Ten actually thinking about reworking some of the lesser parts of the bowl system: the line-up itself, the 6-6 cutoff, and the outrageous ticket guarantees. Delany has gotten support from most of the conference to raise the cut-off for Big Ten bowl teams to 7-5, thereby eliminating some of the lesser bowl affiliations and improving the quality of the overall bowl experience. This, in turn, should change the overall bowl lineup, and hopefully provide some more favorable matchups. While the Big Ten has struggled in bowls recently, part of it is due to an inflated bowl lineup matching Big Ten teams up with better SEC and Big XII teams.

Most importantly, however:

"I don't think it's necessary we take huge blocks of tickets in advance," he said. "It may be important for us to take a different payout, and have the upside be based on how that games sells.

"We want our fans to have access to good tickets, to reasonably priced tickets, and to use technology to make sure the demand and supply curve works well. I don't think it's healthy to have so many tickets floating around.

If this happens, it could ultimately be the first step in truly positive bowl reform. Right now schools are getting absolutely taken to the cleaners by bowls that demand huge payouts for tickets and hotels. If the Big Ten strikes the first meaningful blow against A) lower tier bowls that cater to 6-6 teams and B) ticket guarantees that keep mediocre bowl games afloat, we could see a real change in the structure of the college football postseason outside of the fancy new four-team playoff.

Now that is change I can believe in.

Let's run down the links:

Running Back Recruiting - TTB takes a look at running back recruiting now that Ty Isaac is off the table. Magnus isn't enamored with the backs still left on Michigan's radar, and I tend to agree that Hoke and co. should stand pat with Smith and Shallman. Look for a feature back in next year's class.

Maurice Hurst Jr. Update - Tremendous breaks news that Michigan could be getting its 19th commit to the 2013 class soon. Maurice Hurst Jr. isn't highly rated, but does have some impressive offers. More as this develops.

Ranking the Big Ten/ACC Challenge games from most to least watchable

2. NC State at Michigan (Nov. 27): What better opportunity for these two preseason top 10 teams to establish themselves as legitimate Final Four contenders than to play each other in November? Michigan blends a vaunted freshman class with returning stars Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. NC State returns the core of a surprise Sweet 16 team and adds top recruits Rodney Purvis, T.J. Warren and Tyler Lewis.

Number one is, of course, UNC vs. Indiana. Not much argument there.

Notre Dame salaries: Notre Dame payout to Charlie Weis keeps piling up - Charlie Weis is the gift that keeps on giving. Unless you run Notre Dame's athletic department. Then he is the gift that keeps cashing giant paychecks and making you regret that ridiculous contract.

Relegate This: Where Indiana And Illinois Spend Half the Aughts In The MAC - BHGP looks at what relegation/promotion would mean to the Big Ten over the last decade. Hint, Michigan gets relegated, but not in the year you initially would think.

Presenting The College Football Relegation System, From BCS To NAIA - And from the mothership, if we are talking about instituting a tiered system of relegation/promotion, why not go all the way?

The hyphen will not hold

There is, of course, a much larger tension between the words on either end of that hyphen: You can't have tens of millions of dollars hanging on the right side of the hyphen with the weight of the amateur ideal perched on the left, without the construction breaking in half at some point. The fifth-year transfer issue is a relatively small piece of the puzzle--which is why I would leave the rule as is. If a coach can effectively walk away from his contract to pursue a better opportunity at any time, I can't get too worked up about a kid who finishes his degree earning the right to do the same.

The Only Colors on the growing transfer problem that isn't growing and isn't a problem.

A Miracle Squared: Celebrating The Greatness Of Bo Jackson

Here's the thing about the 4.12 or anything else -- it only matters to those who didn't see him. The only believable reading a stopwatch could have for Bo would have been "get the f*** outta here." Because, quite honestly, that's all you could say half the time when he played. But having numbers like "4.12" help people our age, because there's no way we can come up with the words to explain how mind-blowing he was.

Listen to two grown men gush about Bo Jackson, then watch youtube clips of Bo Jackson and realize that they might not be gushing enough.

LeBron In The Last Minute

Here is today’s question: Do some people start to believe the narrative that others create for them? I ask this because we hear an awful lot in sports about "proving everybody wrong" and "playing for respect" and such things. I believe there are some athletes who do feed off this kind of negative energy. Tom Brady seems to be one of those guys who needs the doubters; he seemed to use that low draft pick thing to spark his fury and brilliance. Albert Pujols seems to one o those guys too; he has had nothing but success in the major leagues (at least until the start this year) and yet has never stopped pointing to those who doubted him along the way.

Joe Posnanski on being the bad guy, feeding off doubters, and believing the narrative. As always, great stuff.

MnB B1G Preview: The 'Greenest' Golden Gophers

2012-05-15T17:00:16Z

Minnesota, like Indiana, suffered through another season that could generously be described as painful. Unlike Indiana, however, there isn't the eternal claim of youth to mitigate the humiliation, or provide a stipend of hope for the future. Although true freshman Max Shortell was able to crack the lineup in place of Marqueis Gray at quarterback, the depth chart was otherwise dominated by upperclassmen. As a result, there are lots of holes for the 2012 class to fill. Despite their poor on-field performance, Jerry Kill and his staff did an excellent job of grabbing sleepers and underrated talents through every position.

Just like Indiana, Minnesota is dangerously thin at the quarterback position. Gray and Shortell are the only two capable of leading a Big Ten offense, so the emphasis was more on numbers for signing day. Phillip Nelson is another underrated quarterback with a live arm and the potential to grow into a solid starting quarterback. MN QB Mitch Leidner is a big kid with good athleticism, but his arm does not look like it's of a BCS caliber. He may end up as more of a role player than a full time starter. AL KJ Maye is an electric athlete, but also lacks the arm and size (5'10) of a Big Ten caliber player. However, I really like his athleticism. He isn't quite as speedy, but he reminds me a bit of Pittsburgh's Ray Graham with the ball in his hands. If he can find his position fit with the Gophers, he could be a productive player in college.

Although he likes to run the ball, Jerry Kill did a pretty inadequate job of addressing the RB position in this class. MS RB James Gillum comes from a highly scouted CC in Mississippi Gulf Coast, yet only nabbed offers from the Gophers and Louisiana Tech. His counterpart, Rodrick Williams, is a power back from Texas that also held offers from Utah and Iowa. He doesn't have exceptional speed and has trouble bursting out of cuts, but he's a tank when he gets going.

Kill made a concerted effort to land an array of options to build around Shortell, for the future. He ended up signing five of the position, including two with impressive offer lists. NC WR Jamel Harrison claimed offers from Clemson, NC State, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia, among others. Playing across from 2013 WR (and Michigan offer recipient) Marquez North, I'm not too high on Harrison, but obviously coaches saw something I didn't. Even more remarkable than Harrison is the landing of Andre McDonald, a hometown kid sporting offers from Ohio State, UCLA, Michigan State, and Iowa, among others. McDonald is a big kid with athleticism to boot. The standard 'he plays in Minnesota so his competition is weak' label applies, but he'll be a challenge in the years to come. A BONUS warning from renowned scout shipit1000 on McDonald's youtube video.

I put him over Michael Floyd coming out of high school. I just compared the highlights of the two. He will be an all American at MN and will be a 1st rounder in the 2015 NFL draft. He's physical, powerful, instinctual and just as talented as anyone. Look out, big ten.

You heard it here first, Big Ten. Look out. Minnesota grabbed a trio of additional options in MN WR Duke Anyanwu, MN WR Isaac Fruechte, and WI WR Eric Murray. Murray may end up a CB in college. Anwanyu is a good athlete, but he played QB in high school, and will need some time to adjust to the college game. Fruechte is a JUCO kid that looks like an average, at best, wide receiver.

The thing that really stuck out to me during last season's thumping in the Big House was the abhorrent state of the Minnesota offensive line. Goldy, meet Big Will Campbell. Although they missed out on yet another talented in-stater in Nick Davidson to Stanford, Kill was able to lessen the sting with the addition of behemoth OT Jonah Pirsig. Pirsig also held offers from Michigan, Ohio State, Auburn, Miami (YTM), and Iowa, among others. Minnesota added two other decent linemen in OG Isaac Hayes, who also held offers from the likes of Virginia Tech and Boise State, as well as OT Ben Lauer, who only had the one offer from Minnesota. The Gophers also signed an athletic TE in Semper Fi All American Maxx Williams, who will have to transition from the quarterback position in college.

The defense suffered at points last year, and needed a lot of young bodies to help replace some departures from the team, notably in the middle of the defensive line. In that regard, I was really impressed by the film of one JUCO transfer, KS DT Roland Johnson. Johnson, who also played LB in high school, has great athleticism and explosion for the position. He should be able to contribute immediately. The Gophers added two solid developmental tackles in FL DT Yoshoub Timms and FL DT Jordan Hinojosa (who claims an MSU offer, FWIW). TX DE Scott Ekpe is another kid who may end up moving to the inside in college, as well, although he'll need to bulk up. To add to the depth, Minnesota brought in MO DE Alex Keith, an electric pass rusher who will need to bulk up before he sees the field. TX DE Lincoln Plsek signed with Minnesota, although he'll probably end up on the offensive side of the ball, as an H-Back.

Moving back, Minnesota brought in a trio of linebackers to help replace several experienced veterans. IL LB Jack Lynn looks the only true linebacker of the bunch, while MN LB Nick Rallis and OH LB Antonio Johnson both lack exceptional size, and could end up as hybrid linebackers (momentary pause for pain masked by laughter). Augmenting the linebacking core is a group of underrated defensive backs. FL S Damarius Travis is a size/speed guy that could be a quality box safety for the gophers. The three JUCO corners (Jeremy Baltazar, Briean Boddy, and Martez Shabazz) look to be three of the most underrated guys in the class. Baltazar and Boddy are both hard hitting, physical corners, while Shabazz is probably the fastest kid in the class. Two star rating aside, I think Kill and staff might have landed three steals here.

All in all, I think Minnesota has a sneakily talented class. As most of these kids don't get any sort of 'three star' bump that a lot kids get for committing to schools like Ohio State or Michigan, people can tend to overlook the talent in the group, especially from the JUCO kids. While the haul might not help the running game on offense, Kill has certainly created a talented nucleus around which he can build up his passing attack. The 2012 class may include future stars at WR and OT, as well as quality players at QB and TE. Kill will certainly need to up the ante, with regards to running back recruiting, if he wants to establish a potent rushing threat.

The Minnesota staff also pulled in a couple of diamonds in the rough on the defense side of the ball, as well. Although the linebacking group is vastly undersized, both CB and DL were upgraded in the offseason. That doesn't mean they'll transition well into the fall, but they certainly have the potential.

I'll leave you with a few stats...

COMMITMENTS WITH A MICHIGAN OFFER--> 1 (MN OT Jonah Pirsig)

SCOUT.COM BIG TEN CLASS RANKING--> 11th

RIVALS.COM BIG TEN CLASS RANKING--> 12th

NUMBER OF COMMITMENTS ACHIEVING FOURTH STAR ON AT LEAST ONE SITE--> 3 (all from ESPN)

NUMBER OF COMMITMENTS ACHIEVING FIFTH STAR ON AT LEAST ONE SITE--> 0

MOST UNDERRATED RECRUIT--> A close battle between WR Andre McDonald and OT Jonah Pirsig, but ultimately I'll go with McDonald. Although gopher fans may have expectations for McDonald that are a touch unrealistic, I do think he has the potential to be one of the best WRs in the Big Ten by the time he leaves school. Only ESPN gives him a fourth star, which I believe is completely inaccurate.

BEST OFFENSIVE RECRUIT--> Obviously, that means I think McDonald is the best offensive recruit, as well.

BEST DEFENSIVE RECRUIT--> JUCO CB Martez Shabazz. A kid with blazing speed, Shabazz could make a strong impact on the Golden Gophers in the fall. I think, if coached up, he could be a borderline All Big-Ten type of player.

BEST NAME--> Yoshoub Timms

THE FINAL VERDICT--UNDER OR OVERRATED CLASS? As my previous remarks have implied, I think Minnesota definitely has an underrated class. Kids like Pirsig, Nelson, (TE) Williams, McDonald, and Hayes have all been vastly low-balled by the recruiting services, in my opinion. It isn't the type of class that will have the Gophers competing for Big Ten championships any time soon, but shouldn't be considered the worst in the conference, by any means.

USC Football Recruiting: Ty Isaac Commits To Trojans Over Michigan

2012-05-15T16:34:20Z

USC Football Recruiting: Ty Isaac Commits To Trojans Over Michigan

Well, shucks.

In somewhat unexpected news, Ty Isaac has chosen to commit to USC over Michigan. The Wolverines had seemed to lead for the five-star running back for some time, but recent trips to USC obviously did a lot to close (and reverse) that gap. In hindsight, Isaac's announcement that he was done with visits -- after a trip to USC -- should have been a clear signal that things weren't going to end well. So it goes.

Michigan still has two talented running backs in the 2013 class (Wyatt Shallman and Deveon Smith) and is still recruiting others as well, so all is not lost. However, this is a blow to the blistering momentum that Michigan had gained early in the recruiting cycle and marks the second high profile recruit in a row that has gone elsewhere with Michigan in his top two.

Still, 18 commits and the number one class so far should help you sleep at night.

Tuesday Happy Hour is getting sent to the MAC

2012-05-15T13:39:10Z

After spending the last week and a half doing an in depth study on two of the Big Ten's most hapless programs then watching a crazy final weekend in the English Premier League it is hard not to think about how different college football would be under a system of relegation and promotion. Spencer Hall, in all his demented glory, says, why not? Would we have spent all of last week breaking down yet another Indiana rebuilding project, or would the week be better spent talking about the newly promoted Toledo Rockets chances at hanging around for a couple years in the Midwest's top division?

Save me the lecture that instituting relegation/promotion in modern college football would be voted down almost immediately. I know it. The blue-bloods wouldn't have much to worry about (although it is hard to see Michigan avoiding relegation after 2008 -- and you thought people wanted Rodriguez run out of town before, hooo-boy), but it is the other 75% of the BCS conference membership that would object -- and with good reason, a few years spent in the MAC or Sun Belt would be fiscal hell.

But wouldn't it be cool? Think about how much more interesting the final few weeks of the season would be just in the Big Ten. Now, instead of quickly changing the channel every time a Purdue vs. Illinois or Indiana vs. Minnesota game comes on, you would hang around and watch a little bit. These aren't just bad teams struggling, but bad teams playing for their very existence as major college football programs. When was the last time anyone outside Indiana -- or let's be honest, inside Indiana -- cared about the Indiana vs. Purdue rivalry game?

It may not be a perfect system, some fine programs would no doubt be forever ruined, and you could bet it would be messy as hell, but for all the talk of college football having the greatest regular season in sports we could still up the ante.

Let 'em fight for their very existence. Would you not be entertained?

Time to post the links:

Fiscal study: Michigan athletics are self-reliant

U-M ranks second in the Big Ten and seventh nationally in terms of self-sufficiency with its operating budget -- $10,621,815 more revenue than expenses minus subsidies. U-M received $272,684 in subsidies.

Speaking of the money involved in college football, USA Today released its annual study of athletic department revenue and expenses. Michigan is once again near the top in both, and one of a handful of programs that is wholly self sufficient.

Recruiting: Father says Michigan doesn't pressure for commitments - Store this one in your memory bank for the next time one of your friends who is an MSU or OSU fan tries to tell you that Michigan's recruiting success comes from Brady Hoke pressuring kids into commitments before they are ready.

The Curious Case of Notre Dame's title odds

Ironically, we’ve reached a point where both Notre Dame and Vegas are trying to protect themselves from the wackos who not only take this bet, but believe strongly in its chances of winning. This is the never-ending problem with Notre Dame football. People love traditional powers and underdog stories. The media loves popular programs that drive ratings. Unrealistic expectations are the predictable offspring.

Ty Hildebrandt of The Solid Verbal podcast talks about his beloved Irish and how absolutely ridiculous it is that people still bet on Notre Dame to win the title.

Conference Realignment: The Big 12 Should Swing For The Fences

As crazy as it may have sounded a few months ago, former Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby inherited a similar situation when he took the reins of the Big 12 a couple of weeks ago. Not only has the Big 12 survived two tumultuous rounds of conference realignment, but they have begun to emerge into a position of power. Instead of falling apart following the departures of two more teams (Texas A&M and Missouri left last fall, making it one full third of the conference's original membership heading for the exits in 18 months), the conference asserted its dominance of the Big East, snagging West Virginia and TCU to move back to 10 programs. Now, rumors of further developments have been friendly to the conference as well. In other words, if Bowlsby were in the mood to take a home run swing of his own, the move could be both well-received and somewhat successful.

While the ACC has put up the front of being one of the relative powers in conference realignment, it is hard to argue the fact that the conference is at a serious disadvantage next to the big three leagues (Big Ten, SEC, Pac 12) and a small shift in favor of the Big XII could leave the ACC all alone, just above the Big East but otherwise irrelevant nationally.

*The Essential Smart Football* - Chris Brown of Smart Football wrote a book. If you are interested in football strategy and the evolution of the game I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Can Urban Meyer Meet An Almost Impossibly High Standard? - If that standard is "beat Michigan nine of out ten times in The Game" then I'll put my money on "no". However, Ted Glover brings up an interesting point -- a great deal of Jim Tressel's postseason success was set up by Michigan's down years in the rivalry. Without that final hurdle to trip over, OSU was fortunate to be able to stroll into the postseason much easier.

While I think Ohio State fans are a bit foolish for adjusting their sights from "9-1 over ten years" to "six or seven wins over ten years" I do like the idea of getting a chance to beat Ohio State in back to back weeks. That would be the quickest way to build up a rather impressive streak of our own.

Finally, Black Heart Gold Pants has its Pro Combat Mock Up for Minnesota finished, and behold it in all its glory.

via assets.sbnation.com

This will be hard to top.

2012 ACC-B1G Challenge Schedule Released: NC State at Michigan

2012-05-14T18:15:40Z

2012 ACC-B1G Challenge Schedule Released: NC State at Michigan

The Wolfpack are another team that is showing up on many preseason Top 10 teams and is adding a very solid freshman class to a nucleus of the young team that made it to the Sweet Sixteen last year. It should be an excellent game for two young, unproven, but extremely talented teams. For the first time in three years, Michigan's actually hosting one of these games.

Other contests:
Minnesota @ Florida State
North Carolina @ Indiana
Maryland @ Northwestern
Iowa @ Virginia Tech
Nebraska @ Wake Forest
Purdue @ Clemson
Ohio State @ Duke
Georgia Tech @ Illinois
Michigan State @ Miami, FL
Boston College @ Penn State
Virginia @ Wisconsin

MnB B1G Preview: Minnesota and when good isn't good enough

2012-05-14T18:14:42Z

Week two in our look around the Big Ten, and for the next few days we will be taking a look at the Minnesota Golden Gophers, a team that surprised many last year by, well, um, not being the worst BCS conference team in history. Be sure to check out our SBN partner, The Daily Gopher, for news about Minnesota sports. On with the show.

Last week we focused on an Indiana team that has been pretty much irrelevant on a conference wide scale for basically its entire existence. The Hoosiers have been to one Rose Bowl -- a loss -- and have won two conference titles, neither of them (1945, 1967) were recent enough for anyone shy of 50 years old to remember. The rest of Indiana football history has landed on the spectrum somewhere between mediocre and downright awful.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers, however, spent stretches of the developmental stage of college football as a relative powerhouse. The program has six claimed national titles (the latest, 1967 came on the heels of a shared Big Ten title) and can not only lay claim to a pair of back-to-back titles (1940, 1941), but is the last school in college football history to win three in a row (1934-36). There were few teams that had accomplished more than Minnesota up until the late 60s.

From that point on things began to spiral out of control. Between the tenure of Murray Warmath -- the last national title winning coach who retired in 1971 -- and the hiring of Glen Mason in 1997 Minnesota didn't employ a coach that would post a winning percentage over .500, and Minnesota made just three bowl games. It was a painful departure from the early success that the program had built, and those 25 years -- encompassing most of the modern era of college football -- would redefine the Minnesota program as something much less imposing than what had come before.

Today the Gophers are the unquestioned bottom of the Legends division. Michigan has recovered from the Rodriguez years, Michigan State has built a solid foundation of success that should help perpetuate the winning of the past couple years, Nebraska -- one of the biggest brands in college football -- is rebounding from its own time spent lost in the woods, Iowa has proven itself capable of mounting a challenge for the conference title, and even Northwestern has built a reliable model for success with hyper-accurate spread quarterbacks surrounded by athletes in space. Meanwhile, Minnesota is fighting to rebuild a collapsed defense while recovering from the after-effects of Tim Brewster.

Minnesota, once desperate to regain its place among the college football elite, is just clawing to catch up to the rest of the pack.

I'm not sure exactly how Minnesota fans feel about Glen Mason (more on that later in the week) but if I had to take a guess I would imagine it is something like what Michigan basketball fans used to feel about Tommy Amaker. Both were good coaches with solid resumes and a tall task set before them when they took their respective jobs rebuilding Michigan basketball and Minnesota football. Amaker had to clean up what was perhaps the most dysfunctional Michigan sports program in the school's history, while dealing with the aftermath of major sanctions and an in-state rival that had pounced on the opportunity to turn the tide of support in the state of Michigan solid green. Mason walked into a football program that hadn't had any significant success since before Nixon was president, hadn't been to a bowl game in over a decade, and was a complete non-entity in the yearly race for conference champion. Tall tasks for both.

There were successes to be had for both. Amaker put together some solid recruiting classes, won the NIT, got Michigan to the NCAA tournament bubble, and always seemed to be a year or two away from getting Michigan to take the next step up. Mason's Minnesota team won ten games in 2003, went to seven bowl games in ten years (winning three), and always seemed to take a step back just as momentum got rolling. And therein lies the problem: both men took unenviable situations, provided some stability and a few brief tastes of success, but ultimately failed to break through from being mediocre-to-good to full-fledged conference title contender.

I sometimes feel compelled to defend Tommy Amaker when his failure at Michigan is brought up. Not that I wasn't frustrated with the sporadic nature of his teams, the hype that then bled into unmet expectations, and ultimately the empty feeling left when another season ended in an NIT appearance. I wasn't happy with any of it -- quite the contrary, I was at the majority of those games and wore my frustration on my sleeve -- but I appreciated that getting things from "the depths" up to mediocre was in itself a hard fought victory. That being said, I wasn't sad to see Amaker go.

Of course with the benefit of hindsight I would imagine a Michigan fan's view of Tommy Amaker and a Minnesota fan's view of Glen Mason are different inasmuch as what followed was different. Amaker was succeeded by John Beilein who after a few years has Michigan back near the top of the conference while recruiting at a high level. Mason's replacement, Tim Brewster, was a regretful decision almost immediately, and was run out of town halfway through his fourth season as coach. For this reason, at least, I would like to think that Minnesota fans are more forgiving with Glen Mason than Michigan fans are when it comes to Tommy Amaker. It's all about perspective, and after watching Glen Mason succeed slightly more than he failed it must be hard to swallow the utter incompetence of the Brewster era.

This doesn't change the fact that Minnesota ultimately fired Glen Mason, a solid but unspectacular coach and tried swinging for the fences with one of the most bizarre and irresponsible hires of the past decade, bringing in a coach that had no experience leading a team or coordinating an offense or defense. Regardless, Brewster was paid good money and his contract was loaded with incentives for lofty goals. He spoke of getting Minnesota back to the top of the Big Ten and into the Rose Bowl.

Almost immediately the floor fell out from under him. His first season started about as horribly as one could imagine with Minnesota going 1-11 overall and losing all eight Big Ten games. This followed a five year span in which Mason had averaged seven and a half wins and went to five straight bowl games. Brewster would turn this around the next two years going 7-6 and 6-7 and losing both years in the Insight Bowl. However, there was little goodwill to be found and a four game losing streak to begin 2010, coupled with a loss to an FCS team would ensure Brewster didn't make it to the end of the season.

So the question for Minnesota remains: where do you want to be?

This came up quite a bit last week with Indiana, because as Michigan fans that had suffered through three seasons that could be be described as Indiana-like, we all A) couldn't fathom a lifetime of supporting that and B) didn't understand what success is relative to a history of abject failure.

I don't have the same blind spot when it comes to Minnesota football, because if you turn the clock back Minnesota fans were as conditioned to success as Michigan fans. Sure, that was forty-some-odd years ago and to think that current undergrads hold dearly the titles of the thirties and forties is about as ridiculous as current Michigan undergrads cheering the victories of Yost, Kipke, and Crisler as ultimately meaningful victories when considering the successes of the program today (which is to say, very). Tradition is a marvelous thing, but it has very little bearing on the current reality. What have you done for me lately? That is he important question.

Minnesota, unhappy with the relative success of Glen Mason and hungry for the next step up, swung for the fences with a flashy hire, a big-time recruiter credited with helping to reel in Vince Young, and a coach that spent time at powerhouses like Texas as well as in the NFL. Good wasn't quite good enough.

At least that is the way things look to me as an outsider, someone who looks at Minnesota's football team with about 15 years of context and thinks, "yeah, they are totally crazy for giving up 7-5/8-4. That's success."

It isn't, or at least it shouldn't be, and for the same reason that my frustration with Tommy Amaker grew with each passing NIT invite. I wanted more.

I have a hard time believing that Minnesota will be able to make a move back to the top of the conference, but I would have been wrong had you asked me the same thing about Iowa over a decade ago and Michigan State five years ago. The things we see as tangible when it comes to college football success -- facilities, fan support, location, recruiting hotbeds (i.e. the reason why everyone always says that programs like Michigan, Ohio State, Texas, USC, etc. are "different") -- only go so far. Winning games and conference titles is ultimately about building something bigger out of a bunch of disparate parts. You take the players you have and you coach them up. You find the recruits you can get and you make sure they fit in your system. You build an offense with a strong identity and a defense that is fundamentally sound. Then you cash in your modest successes for a slightly rosier outlook and a couple breaks down the road.

That is where Jerry Kill comes in. He has a track record of improving his teams at each stop, and he has done it as a head coach at nearly every level of college football (difference number one between Kill and Brewster). He has a system that he has been running for years and a capable group of assistants that are comfortable coaching with him (difference number two). He hasn't coached in the NFL but has led a team and is experienced in everything it takes (number three).

Even the results of last year speak to what could be a promising long term future for this Minnesota team. The Gophers started the year as one of the worst BCS conference teams of all-time while watching their new head coach face a series of seizures that pulled him off of the sidelines and put his future in doubt. Everyone proceeded to write off Minnesota until Minnesota finally had enough. The Gophers owned the final quarter against Iowa for a shocking win, gave Michigan State all it could handle, and slammed the door on the Ron Zook era.

Maybe last season wasn't any good in the long run. Three wins certainly doesn't feel like anything more than thorough failure. But if those three wins, and more importantly the improvement that Jerry Kill and his staff were able to conjure as the season went on, lead to six in 2012 and seven or eight in 2013, and eventually to a Minnesota team that, like Iowa is disappointed with back to back 7-5 affairs, then that will be the kind of meaningful improvement that Minnesota hasn't seen since Glen Mason. If that improvement then stalls, the teams don't improve or the Gophers fail to keep building, then it will be time to decide once again if good is good enough.

On that day that Jerry Kill gets unceremoniously run out of town on the heels of another mid-level bowl loss and seven win season, I won't be so quick to judge Minnesota for a hasty decision, or for forsaking a quiet status quo of six, seven, or eight wins. After all, isn't it what we are supposed to do, strive to be better than before?

I just hope that if that day comes that whoever is in charge of hiring the next coach takes his time and avoids the second coming of Tim Brewster, or else we are going to be right back here in fifteen years wondering the same thing.

Is good good enough?