Gopher fan here, great write up Christopher. UMN fans don't often see this much research being conducted about our team from other noncon P4 journalists, so good on you.
You're pretty much spot on with your analysis across the board, I think most Gophers fans will tell you that our biggest concern on offense is the line. Lot of new guys/guys playing in different spots/rotations still being figured out. Tough to get much from last game, but they struggled a bit against a pretty decent Buffalo defense.
Looking forward to the game Saturday! I really think this will be a fun & close game. Wishing Cal the best of luck this season (after Saturday)
Yup that’s what we pride ourselves on: journalistic integrity!
Welcome to the site. Seems like o line is the big question mark for both our teams although we are feeling better about our line compared to the disaster that was last year
Entertaining and informative as usual. (Btw- who in the pic doesn’t look like they are from Minnesota? If it’s the guy on the left- there’s actually a huge Hmong population that immigrated there in the 70’s)
Excellent analysis as usual. It's hopefully not deflating to write such a thorough take on key offensive players only to summarize the whole thing as coming down to turnovers and a few points. But that's this game. Turnovers and a few points. I still say more field goals than normal since both teams are stingy in the end zone. Cal gets three touchdowns, because Harsin and JKS are just too good to deny at least three scores. Two field goals gives us 27. Minnesota will absorb clock and pound the rock enough to get some stubborn yards but struggle as we do to score too much. I'll give them two scores and two field goals for 20. That's my call, 27-20 Bears.
Minnesota is a good public school in a great state with great politics and some of my favorite people have been from there. So I wish them nothing but the best after Saturday night.
I thought this intro was great! I don’t know what to think about Minnesota or our ACC foes either, except that I have developed a weird antipathy towards NC State and Pitt.
These always look scary. I make a point of looking the score along with the highlight. Then, as an example, when you see that they’ve only scored 16 on Buffalo by the 4th quarter, and after that only scored on a coverage bust, it’s not so bad.
Hmmm... that's a fair point, sometimes just a highlight reel can give the wrong impression. I try to include negative clips (like drops) if I think they may be a factor in the game, but I also don't want to just bash kids not from USC/UCLA just for playing a sport.
On the other hand, imagine an opponent judging Cal based on some Wilcox scores in previous years-- not a high-powered offense by any means, but an offense that was able to grind out wins against CFP-level Washington (were all of our big upsets UW? Has to be the Duck in Wilcox), but also keep it uncomfortably close against the FCS. Like calpaladin said in another comment, Minnesota has the offense Wilcox seems to want. But highlights are more fun to watch than a bunch of 5 yard Darius Taylor runs or something.
Gopher fan here, great write up Christopher. UMN fans don't often see this much research being conducted about our team from other noncon P4 journalists, so good on you.
You're pretty much spot on with your analysis across the board, I think most Gophers fans will tell you that our biggest concern on offense is the line. Lot of new guys/guys playing in different spots/rotations still being figured out. Tough to get much from last game, but they struggled a bit against a pretty decent Buffalo defense.
Looking forward to the game Saturday! I really think this will be a fun & close game. Wishing Cal the best of luck this season (after Saturday)
Yup that’s what we pride ourselves on: journalistic integrity!
Welcome to the site. Seems like o line is the big question mark for both our teams although we are feeling better about our line compared to the disaster that was last year
Entertaining and informative as usual. (Btw- who in the pic doesn’t look like they are from Minnesota? If it’s the guy on the left- there’s actually a huge Hmong population that immigrated there in the 70’s)
Haha the guy who has his back turned
deserve props for pulling out so many vid clips. impressive!
Excellent analysis as usual. It's hopefully not deflating to write such a thorough take on key offensive players only to summarize the whole thing as coming down to turnovers and a few points. But that's this game. Turnovers and a few points. I still say more field goals than normal since both teams are stingy in the end zone. Cal gets three touchdowns, because Harsin and JKS are just too good to deny at least three scores. Two field goals gives us 27. Minnesota will absorb clock and pound the rock enough to get some stubborn yards but struggle as we do to score too much. I'll give them two scores and two field goals for 20. That's my call, 27-20 Bears.
Minnesota is a good public school in a great state with great politics and some of my favorite people have been from there. So I wish them nothing but the best after Saturday night.
Last time we played Minnesota
https://youtu.be/MtTh_FNIkP8?si=h_oDW4bHuSU0MM23
What a vicious hit by Cattouse and an even better catch by Decker.
Great write-up!
Great work Christopher! I am looking forward to being at this game even more now. These guys look darn good.
I’m going with your presumption, which I also like because it sounds like a conspiracy theory. I think, though, it’s part of an unwritten contract.
I thought this intro was great! I don’t know what to think about Minnesota or our ACC foes either, except that I have developed a weird antipathy towards NC State and Pitt.
Boy they look scary on offense.
They look like the offense Wilcox wants - will score only 4 times a game but each drive eats up 7-10 minutes of the game clock.
These always look scary. I make a point of looking the score along with the highlight. Then, as an example, when you see that they’ve only scored 16 on Buffalo by the 4th quarter, and after that only scored on a coverage bust, it’s not so bad.
Hmmm... that's a fair point, sometimes just a highlight reel can give the wrong impression. I try to include negative clips (like drops) if I think they may be a factor in the game, but I also don't want to just bash kids not from USC/UCLA just for playing a sport.
On the other hand, imagine an opponent judging Cal based on some Wilcox scores in previous years-- not a high-powered offense by any means, but an offense that was able to grind out wins against CFP-level Washington (were all of our big upsets UW? Has to be the Duck in Wilcox), but also keep it uncomfortably close against the FCS. Like calpaladin said in another comment, Minnesota has the offense Wilcox seems to want. But highlights are more fun to watch than a bunch of 5 yard Darius Taylor runs or something.
This all makes sense, and I hope my comment wasn’t interpreted as criticism of any of your posts- actually I think they’re amazing.
Highlight reels are inherently and unavoidably biased, and I was just pointing out how I keep myself from getting caught up in it.