Beating dead horses

What happened was I was moving on Saturday, and Jeff was graciously helping me,  you see. So we did not get to watch the Gophers thrashing (tongue firmly in cheek)of another Midwestern team represented by a rodent.  And I know what you are saying... "you didn't miss much."

As Jeff and I barreled down Hwy 52 in my truck listening to the game, we got the same feeling.  The sarcasm as we drove was palpable...
"Sounds like Weber is having another great game."
"Derek Domino?  Really?  His parents must have been huge Clapton fans."
"Another field goal!!!  We are absolutely scoring AT WILL on these guys!"
"Good thing we aren't giving Gray any snaps."
"A pick-6 by Weber to Derek Domino?  Really?"
"This is a I-AA school..."
"What the heck is a Jackrabbit anyway?"
"I see no reason that we'll lose to Iowa next week."
"I probably should not have eaten that last taco."

I suspected it after the loss to Illinois, but the, as Jeff so graciously and perfectly said it, non-loss to SDSU confirms it: this is not a good football team.  We just plain are not a good.

There's been talk around the message boards and blogs about how the Gophers are going to need to reload on talent for next year, and based on the fact that we are losing a lot of players to graduation, that is certainly the case.  But what seems to be lost on everybody here is something that I've pointed out on the podcast many times: this version of the Gophers has more talent, top to bottom, than other Gopher teams that I remember... we just don't seem to have a hot clue what to do with it.

So do I think we have a coaching problem... I do.

Look, I think Tim Brewster and his staff are absolutely fantastic recruiters, evidenced by my opinion, as I have stated, that this Gopher team has more talent than other Gopher teams I've watched closely.  But as I've said, the coaching staff just doesn't seem to know how to use that talent... or they just don't trust it.  In either case, it's a sad state of affairs.

I honestly do not understand what has happened to this team.  I talked last week about my confusion over what has happened to this team, and about the results vs. what our expectations were coming into the season.  We've been beating another dead horse around here for months: this could be a better Gopher football team than last year that winds up with a poorer record...

Well, we were right about one thing.  This team is going to end up with a worse record than last year.  But we were wrong about this being a better Gopher football team. Until the PSU game, I still thought we were a better team than last year, but PSU & OSU proved that at best we were the same team as last year.  Illinois and SDSU proved that we are worse.  And what does Michigan State prove?  I will get to that.

And now, for the third dead horse of the day...

This is a team with absolutely no identity.  We do not have the ability to force our will on even a I-AA school.  (And by the way, if you came here looking for me to give some credit to SDSU, forget it.  I'm sure they played a very good game, but the Gophers should beat SDSU 10 out of 10 times and they should beat them soundly all 10 times.)  We can't run the ball with any consistency, and even though we all thought that our passing game should be our strength this season, we can't do that very well either.  Losing Eric Decker was a huge blow, and I get that, but there is enough talent on this team, particularly at WR, to make up for losing Decker... and THAT is what the Michigan State game proves.

And there again is that problem of not knowing how to utilize the talent that this team possesses. 

Consider the dead horses re-beaten.