Reflecting On Brewster's First Win

I want to have patience with Tim Brewster. I want to give him time to do what he was supposedly brought in to do: recruit. But, it's hard to watch the Gophers do the exact things that Glen Mason was run out of town for.

Jon at The National Anthem Before A Cubs Game says it well here.

"You see, we got rid of Glen Mason, at least in part, to change the attitude of the program. To make sure that we did not again endure the ignominy of Northwestern 2000 or Michigan 2003 or Wisconsin 2005 or Texas Tech 2006.

The Gophers under Mason were a program built on failure at the end of games; under Brewster, we assumed that things might be different. Instead, the Gophers came from ahead to lose to Bowling Green last week, and came from even farther ahead to nearly lose against Miami. Had the RedHawks' Trevor Cook been able to make a chip-shot field goal, it would have gone down as one of the ten worst losses of the last ten years (and given Mason's tenure, that's a difficult list to crack.)"

Indeed.

I'm going to cringe while Tim Brewster and Mike Dunbar struggle to find enough competent receivers to run the spread, but I'll swallow hard and accept that. But there was a short segment of Saturday's game against Miami (Ohio) that was unforgiveable. I touched on this in the game thread below but it deserves repeating.

With the game on the line, and the Gophers protecting a lead, Dunbar passed more than he ran. Forget about running down that clock with a good offensive line (against a smallish defensive line) and a great running back. Instead, Dunbar decided to chuck the ball around the field, with his still young and inexperienced quarterback. Described as the "extreme schemer," Dunbar's only scheming Saturday almost led to an 0-2 start against two unheralded MAC teams.

Glen Mason became known for losing games that no one else could lose. If Tim Brewster is to avoid the boo birds, he needs to veto Mike Dunbar's decisions in times like that and play smart, ball-control football.

There were some good things Saturday. Adam Weber looked more poised than a week before. Mike Chambers looked OK now back playing his true position of wide receiver. Jamal Harris stood out in a porus secondary. Amir Pinnix went over 100 yards for the second straight game, and it doesn't even feel like he's being used like a feature back.

And there were other negatives. I still haven't seen Willie VanDeSteeg make any sort of play. Ryan Collado was embarrassed on numerous plays. Collado's a freshman and desrves some slack, but, still, he was worked on more than one occassion. The tackling was questionable. The defensive line and blitz packages provided minimal pressure on the RedHawk quarterbacks. And once the Gophers were up three scores in the fourth quarter, the defense went into rush-three mode until the third overtime.

Brewster's first win could have been easy in the last five minutes Saturday if it weren't for poor decisions by Dunbar (passing instead of running the clock) and defensive coordinator Everett Withers (playing far too soft and letting Miami pick its way up and down the field). The Gophers did, however, get Brewster that win. And they're lucky they did.

Otherwise, Saturday's tilt against Miami (Ohio) could have ranked right up there with the games Jon mentioned: Michigan 2003, Texas Tech 2006, Wisconsin 2005 and Northwestern 2000.

Grading Minnesota's Offense

I'm going to take a page out of Black Shoe Diaries' book and give a numerical grading for Minnesota's efforts Saturday against The Bowling Green State University. I'm doing it this way to try and stay organized while I'm still trying to stomach the loss.

Like many members of "Gopher Nation" I sort of fell in love with Tim Brewster. His passion was amazing. He had his sights set high. But as Tom Powers at the Pioneer Press and Patrick Reusse at the Star Tribune suggest, talk is cheap if you don't win games. Reusse offers this to Brewster, a sentiment I echo: "Shut up and coach."

While I won't state after one loss that Tim Brewster is the next Jim Wacker, suffice to say he was outcoached Saturday and that his predecessor, Glen Mason, who we all ran out of town, would not have lost that game.

So, on to grading the Gophers' offense. I begin with the coaching staff, because I believe a proper gameplan would have won the game.

Coaches: 2 out of 10
Bowling Green won Saturday in overtime, but the game was lost in the first half. While the defense was letting Bowling Green run roughshod, Mike Dunbar's spread offense was sputtering. Instead of using the team's strength--it's offensive line and running attack--Dunbar relied too heavily on the pass. In the second half, the strategy changed. Instead of trying to use the pass to set up the run, Dunbar allowed Amir Pinnix and Adam Weber to use their legs to set up the pass. This should have been the strategy from the first snap of the game. It wasn't and that indicates that Brewster and Dunbar were more concerned with implementing the "dreaded" spread coast offense instead of relying on their players' strenghts. Any coach who does that deserves a failing grade. Dunbar and Brewster get a 2 here instead of a 1 because they realized their mistake in the second half and adjusted. But as fun as the spread coast can be with the right personnel, our coaches should have realized long ago Minnesota doesn't have the necessarry athletes to make it effective.

Running backs: 7 out of 10
If there was something to take away from Saturday's game and be positive about it was the combination of Amir Pinnix and Adam Weber on the ground. Pinnix looked every bit the part of a go-to back, and Weber proved he was capable at running the option and using his legs. I didn't see enough of the much-hyped Duane Bennet to make a judgement on him. If this were Glen Mason's team, Pinnix would have run the ball far more in the first half to begin the process of wearing down the Falcon defense. The second half from Pinnix and Weber on the ground came too late. But that's coaches error and should not be put back on the players.

Quarterback: 4 out of 10
Adam Weber looked lost for most of the first half. Down 14-0, Amir Pinnix broke a 50+ yard run to set the Gophers up in Falcon territory. Weber promptly pulled a Daunte Culpepper and dropped the snap. His passes weren't precise, and for most of the game weren't in the ballpark of precise. Weber's a redshirt freshmen so some inconsistency is to be expected. Weber was hurt by Dunbar's and Brewster's insistence to run the spread coast in a manner that played down his talents. In the second half, Weber demonstrated that he might be able to be an effective quarterback. He ran the ball well and once the Falcon defense committed to the run, Weber had time to throw and made a few good decisions. I expect we'll see vast improvement from Weber as the season progresses, but he's defintley a work in progress.

Wide Receivers: 5 out of 10
This is a tough position to grade because when receivers were open in the first half, Weber missed them. Eric Decker came open on a fly pattern that would have been good for 6, but the pass was overthrown. But enigmatic Ernie Wheelright didn't impress. Knowing a big hit was coming, Wheelright short-armed a pass from Weber that was eventually deflected and intercepted. A senior wideout with the talent Wheelright has should have no excuse for such a play. Wheelright should be able to dominate as a senior against a young defense like Bowling Green's, but he didn't. The young receivers didn't make much of a mark. Troy Herndon looked OK in limited action, but it was clear that after Wheelright and Decker the Gophers are going to have a hard time succeeding in the spread offense. The lack of depth at this position is another reason the Gophers coaches are fooling themselves if they think the spread offense will work this season. The group is given a grade of 5 because there wasn't enough good or bad to grade them up or down. Improvement is needed, but they also need to be put in a position to make plays.

My Minnesota math taught me to add up the scores and divide. When I do that the Gophers' offense, its approach and execution, receives a failng grade.

I'll be back soon with a look at the Minnesota defense. Here, too, we will find that in unconstrained glee to be all-things anti-Mason, the Gophers' coaches allowed a subpar MAC opponent to steal a victory on the road in a Big Ten stadium.

For some perspective, let's all try and remember we lost to a Division I team, not a Football Championship Subdivision opponent as did our friends in Michigan.

Catching Up

I'm going to unveil the preseason Week 2 Blogpoll this afternoon, but before I do that, there were a few items that caught my eye during my blogging hiatus. And rumor has it Tim Brewster is going to unveil his starting quarterback this afternoon. We'll see if the speculation that redshirt freshman Adam Weber is the guy turns out to be true.

** First, Nathen Garth has decommitted from Tubby Smith's Gophers. On its face, this would appear to belong in the not-so-good news department. But the GopherHole quoted Garth as stating that the decision might have had more to do with playing time--that is he wouldn't get what he intially thought. Here's the quote:

"This re-opening was not basketball related. Coach Smith never doubted my talent or game. It was something I wanted to do and Coach Smith was supportive of my decision. Since the roster at Minnesota has changed with Al Nolen being qualified, he told me the opportunities I was presented before, were different now."

When I first learned of the Garth decommitment I was worried. But after hearing that from Garth, I'm breathing a little easier. It would appear Tubby and his crew might think they can do better elsewhere. That said, Tubby has to get to work. The only other commitment Tubby has secured is from JUCO forward Paul Carter.

** I found this little reporting amusing. The Post and Courier of Charleston reported today that Tim Brewster went hard after Tommy Bowden's offensive coordinator Rob Spence. Here's what was reported.

Brewster, the new head coach at Minnesota, had made a courtesy call to let Bowden know he was courting Rob Spence to run the Golden Gophers' offense. Brewster was making an offer that would have given Spence a $100,000 raise.

"I thought he was gone," Bowden said.

Bowden was so convinced, he had already tabbed receivers coach Dabo Swinney to take over Clemson's offense. But Spence, who had spent two years with the Tigers' football team, surprised his boss and others by electing to stay. There were multiple reasons for Spence's decision — his family, his faith — but the driving force was his drive to fix what went wrong with his offense late last season. The man known as the mad scientist couldn't allow his Clemson tenure to be defined by an experiment that blew up in his face in the last five games of an 8-5 disappointment.

I don't remember seeing anywhere Brewster indicating Mike Dunbar was his first choice, but I also don't remember seeing anywhere that Brewster's large salary offer to Spence was turned down. Time will tell if Dunbar is the right guy, but if you read this Star Tribune article, you'd walk away thinking Dunbar was Brewster's number one guy.

** On the other side of the football, Everett Withers is apparently a "flat-out star." One wonders if anyone turned down a Brewster offer for this position. Whatever the case, I'm excited about Withers' defense. Anything could be better than the Glen Mason sieve.

Mike Dunbar: A Closer Look

Say this about Mike Dunbar: He thought the spread offense was cool before all of the kids wanted a ride. No, Dunbar isn't Bill Walsh reincarnate, but his teams score a lot and college football coaches have taken note.

Dunbar came to Northwestern in 2001, a year after the 'Cats tied for a share of the Big Ten Title. In 2002, Dunbar took control of the offense. The 'Cats weren't able to go bowling, but it wasn't for a lack of moving the football. By 2004, Dunbar had the Big Ten's perennial bottom-feeder ranked 29th nationally in total offense (409.5 yards per game). Last year, after being lured out of Northwestern by Cal coach Jeff Tedford, Dunbar put together the Pac 10's top-ranked scoring offense at 32.8 points per game, while putting up more than 400 yards per game again.

Need more proof Dunbar knows offense? After serving as offensive coordinator at Toledo, Dunbar was promoted to assistant head coach in 1995. The MAC squad ended the season ranked nationally and set 21 offensive school records, according to Northwestern University.

You can argue, though I think Urban Meyer and exceptional talent had something to do with it, that Northwestern's spread offense laid the blueprint for the defending national champs.

"When we started in 2000, there were three or four teams using it," NU offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar said. "Now everybody's got some element of it." ...

There are innovators in football, but plagiarists work just as well.

When coaches see something they want to apply to their offense, they go straight to the source to see how it works. ... Florida coach Urban Meyer and Bowling Green coach Gregg Brandon both attended NU's spring practices to learn its offense. The pair coached Bowling Green at the time with Meyer as head coach and Brandon as one of his assistants.

"They came, spent two or three days and they got everything we have," [Northwestern's head coach said at the time]. "We gave them our offense.

But Dunbar's resume is not without a blemish. His stint in Cali was too brief not to over look. Tedford and Dunbar said all of the right things when Brewster brought the spread guru to Minnesota, but the numbers and press clipings suggest Tedford and Dunbar couldn't make their philosophies mesh. While the Golden Bears had the top offense in the Pac 10, the offense sputtered down the stretch, according to the Oakland Tribune.

The Bears bogged down offensively down the stretch. In the final three regular-season games against Arizona, USC and Stanford, the Bears scored a combined three offensive touchdowns.

The sluggish offense seemed to be a byproduct of two diverging styles. While it was widely reported that Tedford brought in Dunbar to add another element to his more traditional offense, in the end, the two coaches couldn't see completely eye-to-eye. "Our goal was to meld the two concepts and not to be solely a spread team," Tedford told the Oakland Tribune. "I think he is of the mind to be 100 percent in the spread. He has had a lot of success doing that." Tedford liked the spread, but wasn't in love with it like Dunbar. Tedford continued:

"We're always going to have some aspect of two backs, with tight ends involved," he said. "I liked what we were doing with the spread, and we're going to continue to do some. But we're never going to do it every down."

This should tell Golden Gopher fans a couple things. First, should Brewster do as he has suggested, and relinquish all play calling to Dunbar, the Gophers should eventually be a high-powered offense. But it won't be anything like your Glen Mason, run it down your throat offenses. The tight end productivity that has helped the Gophers should fall by the wayside. Dunbar won't abandon the run, not even close, but he'll accomplish running yards by spreading the defense across the 53-yard-wide field. The Gophers won't play smash mouth, they'll explot mismatches with slower linebackers.

That all sounds splendid, if Dunbar's Golden Gophers had the personnel to make it happen. Leaving out the troublesome quarterback position, which will be addressed in depth, probably ad nauseum in the future, the Gophers have shockingly poor depth at wide receiver, perhaps the position most important to make Dunbar's spread offense thrive. USA Today's 2007 Gopher preview noticed the same thing.

Perhaps the greater challenge for new offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar, whose 2005 Northwestern offense averaged 500.3 yards per game, is rounding up enough receivers to run the spread. There are plenty of question marks after Ernie Wheelwright and Eric Decker.

Question marks is being kind. While Decker reportedly impressed during the team's spring game, both he and Wheelwright caught just 26 balls last season. Logan Payne and Matt Spaeth led the team in receptions with 59 and 47 respectivley. The rest of the receiving corps, include JUCO transfer Marc Cheatham, Lakeville sophmore Andy Metz, Plainview Junior Michael Kasten, sophomore Ben Kuznia, sophomore Mike Chambers and Rochester native Marcus Sherels. Incoming freshman Tray Herndon and Shane Potter don't project as immediate impact players.

Aside from Wheelright and Decker, Gopher receivers caught 19 balls last season--all of them landing in the hands of Chambers.

Gopher fans may come to appreciate Mike Dunbar's spread offense, but these Gophers are built for Glen Mason-style stuff-it-down-your-throat football.

All of this will be a moot point, however, when some kid named Michael Floyd decides to don maroon and gold.

This was the first in five--maybe six depending on if Tubby ever hires a recruiting coordinator/dir. of basketball operations--profiles of new Gopher assistant coaches. Coming soon: Defensive Coordinator Everett Winters and hoops assistants Ron Jirsa, Vince Taylor and some guy named Saul Smith.