After starting the season with a 7-1 record, the rest of the Big 10 Conference caught up with the University of Minnesota and the Gophers were summarily dismissed in their final four games of the season to finish at 7-5. I, unfortunately, was on hand for all four of those beat-downs, including last Saturday's inexplicable 55-0 loss to Iowa.
The stakes were there for the Goofs: The last game of the year. A trophy game. A border rival. A chance to rebound from a disappointing loss to Wisconsin. All this and the lads didn't show up. The defense, which certainly wasn't good, held up at least early. It was the offense that was horrible down the stretch for the second year in a row. I understand that the loss of Eric Decker due to a myriad of injuries (shoulder, ribs and ankle) played a significant part in their ineptitude, there is no way that this team should have struggled the way that they did. Like the Michigan game, this team had less than three first downs at halftime. That's embarrassing. Weber regressed for the second straight season and there has to be major questions about his ability to lead a team to the first division of a now-mediocre conference. Coach Tim Brewster admitted that his team needs to do more weight training before next season in order to compete along the lines, but why wasn't that apparent before the season. Did weight lifting just recently become popular?
Defensively, they need better athletes at linebacker. Lee Campbell and Deon Hightower were decent players early in the season but when other teams had the tape on them, and saw what they could do to the Gophers' defense when they got those players in space -- they were done with. The d-backs were certainly an improvement from last year, but in this conference the games are won up-front. That needs to be addressed.
Saturday's game against the Hawks was over by halftime and we took our leave to head to a local watering hole where several Jameson drinks took off the edge. Apparently it didn't to a number of Hawkeye fans who were up for the weekend. Apparently everyone in Iowa comes from a wrestling background because my diminutive friend (5-6, 150 pounds) was challenged a couple of fights. Meanwhile back at the Metrodome, things were even crazier.
According to the Star-Tribune, a pair of drunk Hawkeye fans were arrested for having sexual relations in one of the handicapped stalls of the Dome (what's the deal with lavatory sex in the Twin Cities). According to the story, there was a crowd of cheering fans encouraging the behavior from outside the stall. Police came and arrested the couple and -- get this -- released the man to his girlfriend and the woman to her husband. How do you suppose that car drive home went?
No comments:
Post a Comment