Callen's Weblog

Will Minnesota Gophers start with win at Southen Cal?

Callen — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 19:24:57 +0000

Probably not. Chances are maybe 10% or less. But in a perfect storm kind of a situation, the Trojans will be typically cocky and overconfident and the Gophs will be relaxed and play over their head and pull off a surprise. A big part of that would come from Marqueis Gray, the new quarterback. Virginia surprising USC in the Coliseum in last year’s opener probably reduces the likelihood substantially – but a fellow can dream, can’t he?

NBA Timberwolves prediction

Callen — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 23:42:12 +0000

The Wolves will win 30 or more games this year, at least doubling their meager total of 15 wins last year, and putting them higher in the standings that predicted by SI – and others.

I base this opinion on hearing Dave Kahn, the Wolves’ GM or whatever title he goes by, being interviewed on KFAN this afternoon. I am impressed that he has an excellent grasp of the types of players he will need to assemble a good team. Whether or not he has the judgment to select those players remains to be seen, but I believe that he and Kurt Rambis have substantially improved the talent level, adding height, length, defensive ability and athletic ability.

Now let’s see if Kahn and Rambis are right about the minds of the young players assembled and if they can get the latent talent out of them that will be needed. The most questionable and likely the most important will be Darko Milicic. With him, my prediction will be easy to achieve. Without, the rest of the new players (and the few remaining) will really have their work cut out for them. Darko’s rep in the NBA is that of a joke – the biggest draft bust in recent history, but there is no doubt that he has the physical ability to be a force if the Wolves can get his head right.

Back to Minnesota

Callen — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:03:24 +0000

Yep, we’re back – to 10 degree weather and a pile of snow almost as tall as me where the snow plow piled it up clearing our driveway! Already missing Arizona…

Arizona

Callen — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:27:05 +0000

Well, we arrived in Arizona Tuesday, and surprise – unlike last year when the temp never got out of the high 50s/low 60s, the temp is 72 today. Picture us next to the pool, martini in hand and toasting all our Minnesota friends and relatives - well, actually no martini, since glass is not allowed by the pool, but substitute a diet coke and you get the idea.

Hold onto the dang ball!

Callen — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:01:56 +0000

As much fun as I’ve had watching the Minnesota Vikings this year, savoring the leadership of Favre and the running of Peterson, I can’t see them going anywhere unless Peterson learns to hang onto the ball. Now that he has a rep as a fumbler, defenses are out to strip it from him. And the better defenses he’ll face in the playoffs will be better at it. I just cringe at the thought.

Ball carriers don’t often lose a rep like that, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

The Gophers weren’t prepared

Callen — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:31:47 +0000

The simple fact of the matter is that the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers lost to the underdog University of Illinois (35-32) because they weren’t mentally prepared for the game. I knew my prediction of an easy win was in trouble when Kent Youngblood of the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote in his blog that the Gophers weren’t showing the same energy and enthusiasm for preparation as they had shown the previous week while preparing for Michigan State. And it turned out he was right!

Winning the second half 25-7 doesn’t mean much if you lose the first half 28-7. Losing the first half by that margin can only result from coming out flat. And the responsibility for that does not belong to the players. Nor does it belong to the Offensive or Defensive Coordinators. It belongs squarely on the shoulders of the head coach, Tim Brewster.

To be fair, the Gophers haven’t played a lot of games lately where they were easily favored, so it easy to see how a solid victory the previous week over the favored Michigan State Spartans would give the Gophers a sense of well-being that obscured the warning signs of self-satisfaction and over-confidence. That isn’t something Minnesota has had to deal with much in recent years.

This should be a learning experience for Brewster. It shouldn’t happen to the Gophers again in the next year or so – until it has faded far enough into memory that Brewster needs to learn the lesson again. Just as Mark Dantonio wasn’t fired for losing to Minnesota and Ohio State’s Jim Tressel wasn’t fired for losing to Purdue, Brewster shouldn’t be fired for this. If it happens again repeatedly, then you start talking about length of contract…. Let’s see what happens this week against serious underdog (FCS) South Dakota State.

What a difference a week makes…

Callen — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:28:51 +0000

Last week, it was a sad time in the Sugg residence, with everyone losing. This week, the reverse is true – will except for the evil empire known as the Yankees. The local Minnesota Golden Gophers pulled off a minor upset by downing the Michigan State Spartans – in spite of a record 17 penalties – an embarrassing number of which were personal fouls – Brewster’s gotta talk to those guys about discipline! And wonder of wonders, the Duke football team surprised by winning their third straight ACC game against UVA. Sorry about that, Cavalier fans, but that was really a pleasant surprise. Tarheels next! Wait! What? Aren’t they supposed to play the Heels at the end of the season? I knew I didn’t like the new ACC lineup…. One more win and the Blue Devils will be bowl eligible! Who are those guys and where did David Cutcliffe come from. (Well, I know, but that’s another story….)

Then Sunday the Vikings followed up with a win and season sweep against the arch-rival cheeseheads – I mean Packers. Ah, basking in the glory…..

To focus more on the Gophers, they won Big Ten offensive AND defensive player of the week, with Adam Weber, the QB from Shoreview MN throwing for over 400 yards, and Garrett Brown earning several tackles for loss and a forced fumble and recovery. Wow. Looks like they rebounded from the beatings by PSU and tOSU – let’s just hope they can keep it up. Hopefully they will, with the next opponent being Brewster’s alma mater, Illinois. Woo hoo! I smell a bowl game in Minnesota’s future.

Gopher O-line – the future

Callen — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:39:26 +0000

The Minnesota Golden Gophers’ offensive line has been more than a little disappointing this year. Let’s take a look at where it has been and where it appears to be going.

Tim Brewster arrived as head coach in the 2007 season, and that year the Gophers had a respectable offense – not great, but not awful. (If you are wondering, the 1-11 record was due to the worst defense in the country… Literally the worst: they were ranked 119 out of 119. How Everett Withers got hired away by UNC, I’ll never understand.) In spite of absorbing a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator and a completely new offensive system and starting a freshman quarterback, the offense achieved respectability because they had an experienced, senior-led offensive line.

Well, as experienced seniors do, they graduated and left the 2008 Gophers with an offensive line composed of sophomores and redshirt freshmen. You can imagine what happened to the offense – it traded places with the defense in terms of awfulness (although they didn’t reach 119 out of 119). Complicating things was the loss of the best running back to a knee injury at the beginning of the season. The sophomores and redshirt freshman linemen were thrust into the breach against defenses loaded with experienced juniors and seniors who had spent their entire college careers playing in one defensive system for one coordinator. Fortunately for the Golden Gophers, the departed Everett Withers was replaced by Ted Roof, a former Duke head coach, whose brilliant work and the help of some quality junior college transfers lifted the Minnesota defense to respectability.

So now where are we? The 2009 Golden Gophers started the season with a brand new offensive coordinator and a brand new offensive line coach/running game coordinator. The OC is a wunderkind who brought in a pro-style offense that is completely new to his charges. The new OL coach has an impressive resume, with experience tutoring the offensive line at Southern California during national championship seasons. Prospects for these two coaches appear very bright.

However, even though the OL is approaching a respectable level of maturity (a senior, 3 juniors and a sophomore), the new coaches have brought in a whole new offensive system. The offense is absorbing this new system while playing against experienced defensive units well-schooled in the systems used to construct their game plans. Being 4-4 at this point of the season against a tougher schedule than those of previous years is a real achievement.

So now let’s look at the future. In 2010 I project the Gopher offensive line will include:

LT – (will be a) Sr – Dominic Alford 6′ 3″ 336 – will live up to the level of talent his coaches have projected for him, after a year and a half of working with OL coach Tim Davis

LG – Jr – Chris Bunders 6′ 3″ 320 – incumbent who has graded out as the best offensive lineman more than once after games this year

C – Jr – Ryan Wynn 6′ 5″ 295 – won the starting spot in going into 2009 before back problems caused him to sit out the year

RG – Sr – Matt Carufel 6′ 5″ 305 – 4-star Notre Dame transfer and Cretin Derham Hall grad who should really blossom with a year of experience with Davis and the new system

RT – Sr – Jeff Wills – 6′ 7″ 350 - JC Transfer who has been somewhat controversial because of difficulty living up to the outrageous expectations inspired by his size. Has had to learn an entirely new offensive system as well as how to play in the Big 10 without the redshirt year afforded Carufel

Wild Cards that could affect the continuity of the line and the offense:

The possibility of bringing in another JC transfer. Not my favorite idea, after seeing how long it has taken Carufel and Wills to adapt to the offense. In my mind, it would be better to redshirt a JC transfer if he has a RS year available.
Two Brewster freshman scholarship recruits are redshirting this year (as are a couple of walkons), and given the talent upgrade we’ve seen from Brewster recruits over their predecessors, I see it as slightly possible that one of these youngsters could displace one of the linemen listed above.
Health and injuries. Having a quintet of experienced linemen play a whole season together is not rare, but it is not something you can bank on.
Retention of coordinators. Given Brewster’s history of losing coordinators, it must be seen as a possibility that OL coach Tim Davis, who is also “running game coordinator” could be spirited away by an SEC team or somebody else with more money to spend, as were Ted Roof and Everett Withers after previous seasons

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The most exciting thing about the future of the offensive line at the University of Minnesota is the list of 6 recruits currently committed to come play for the Golden Gophers (a 4-star and five 3-star recruits), with the slight possibility of adding a super-recruit or two. We should soon see the weakness of the offensive line become a major strength.

Obviously, 6 recruits can’t all play, but it is likely that one or two will be moved to the defensive line and possible that one or two will bail before actually signing with Minnesota, or an upperclassman could transfer out.

But that’s how you build a quality roster in college football…

Latest thoughts on local teams

Callen — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:00:23 +0000

- It was hard being a football fan in Minnesota this weekend. The Gophers lost badly to “the” Ohio State University (expected) and the Vikings lost to the Steelers (not unexpected). In fact if you throw in the Gopher hockey team off to a miserable start, the local pro hockey team (the Minnesota Wild), the disappointing ending of the Twins season last week at the hands of the hated Yankees and the miserable prospects for the Timberwolves (for multiple years), “Minnesohta” fans are having a tough go. Maybe Farvelous can help with that.
- Brett Favre is doing as expected. Maybe even better, with a couple of last second wins already. The question is whether he can continue to stand up through the season. He looked great last year with the Jets till this time of the year, but then…. This week in Green Bay should be fun…
- The Gopher football team is sure taking a bashing in the online discussion boards. C’mon – did anyone really expect them to have a chance against tOSU? The game was close for a half and then the not-so-golden Gophers melted down. The season record is right where 90% of people predicted it would be at this point in the season, so what’s the complaint? The Gophers will be fine with a couple more years of patience. Some small progress this year and next and then big progress in 2011. If you consider schedule strength, this is a much better team than the one Brewster took over from Mason. His team couldn’t even pretend to play defense.
- Patience! That’s what it takes in college football. You don’t get to draft at the top of the first round, or trade with other colleges to shore up weak points. You have to go out and painstakingly recruit position by position. And then it takes 2 or 3 years (plus the redshirt year) before most of your recruits have the experience and knowledge to be ready to compete on a substantially higher level. Remember Mack Brown, head coach of Texas? He went something like 1-10 in each of his first two years at UNC (with Tim Brewster as his assistent, don’t forget). Now Mack is one of the deans of college coaches at Texas, with a perennial winner and a national championship under his belt. Patience! Be glad we only had one one-win season with Brew.

Brett Favre – Favrelous

Callen — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:33:58 +0000

Brett Favre showed why the Vikings signed him when he threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to win the game with 2 seconds remaining on the clock. Wow!!! And he threw it to Greg “who was that guy” Lewis, a sub seeing his first game action.

Until that point, I had been thinking Brett looked a little old – at least in the leg department. His arm strength looked as good as ever, including and especially on the final pass. On the other hand, the legs seemed missing to me.

I know when the Vikings signed him, I pictured him scrambling for 18 yards on 3rd and 15 – like he always did for the Packers against the Vikes. Well not only has he not been doing that this year, he doesn’t even seem to have the “pocket sense” to move around in the pocket and avoid oncoming rushers.

Perhaps it is the stricture of “manage the game” that coach Childress has him under, but I find myself a little worried. We’ll probably see next Monday night against the fore-mentioned Pack…..