Quick thoughts after beating NWestern

A nice win for the Gophers on Saturday in Evanston, and a well-rounded one at that.  I watched the game from a Buffalo Wild Wings in Bismarck, ND where I would watch my niece walk down the aisle later in the day.  I was handicapped by not having any sound (and as Jeff pointed out, the BTN's tight camera work), but I did take some notes while watching.

-Kafka was constantly finding holes in the middle of our secondary and it was maddening!  Also, the bartender at BWW in Bismarck was VERY aware that I was not happy about this.

-When did we start missing tackles?  I'll take better notes when I re-watch the game, but it suddenly felt like, at least in the first half, we were having all kinds of trouble bringing down ball-carriers.

-Really nice to see Jedd mix in some more Wildcat formation.  Gray got some runs out of it, and you can definitely see where they will also be able to do some different things through the air from this formation as well.

-It was good to see Kevin Whaley begin to get some carries and he appears to be a very tough runner.  A really nice change of pace.

-Speaking of change of pace, Hoese from the fullback position with a couple of nice runs in this game.  If we can get the running game going, and start getting 4-5 yards/carry out of our fullback, that will really keep opposing defenses off guard.

-There was a really annoying guy sitting not far from me who was there with his wife and son.  He insisted on doing a running commentary of the game and why certain things were happening.  Not only was he annoying, but he was also usually wrong.

-Keanon Cooper saw quite a bit of action against Cal, and again against NWestern.  He's going to be a good one, and he is really fast.  Nice to see him in there.  Our linebackers continue to impress.

-The first drive of the 4th Quarter was EXACTLY what we need to see out of this offense as we continue into conference play.  Balanced, time-consuming, and we were able to do absolutely whatever we wanted to the NWestern defense.  We almost moved the ball at will.  13 plays, 83 yards, and used up over 6 minutes of the clock. 

-Speaking of ball control, Weber was doing a nice job with the play clock, not snapping the ball until there were 3-4 seconds left.  He was making sure the offense was chewing up as much clock as possible.

-On the other hand, Gray needs to learn to pay attention to the play clock.

-Bennett did a much better job of being patient finding the open hole and then bursting through it in this game.  He appeared much more comfortable.

-Tow-Arnett is becoming a very nice safety valve for Weber, and I really like the way they are using him in the screen game as well.


Well, that's all I had.  Not much, I know.  But a good win for the Gophers who have a tough match-up this weekend in The Bank.

SKI-U-MAH!