Lot's of good things vs. MN. However:

1. 20 of so seconds ran off the clock at the end of the 1st half. We almost did not have time to score. Is Zook and company playing "Beat the Clock"? [for the younger folks that was an old TV game show where you had to do incredibly silly stunts within a certain time frame to win money]

2. Why start Ford over LeShoure? LeShoure is the better back and has had two really great games. Does not starting hurt his confidence at all? Why can't Zook settle on the running backs and let them do their thing. Does anyone believe Ford is a better RB than LeShoure? Has not LeShoure done enough to prove he should start? I don't get it.

3. More 12 men on the field. How many of these penalties have we had in the last two games?

4. Another blocked punt. It is becoming a tradition. We could have lost the game because of it.

5. More missed field goals. Another tradition. Hello special teams!

6. At end of game why not do the victory formation earlier rather than running and risking a fumble?!

Observations:

I hope the players remember the MN chip shots this game.
If I never see this zebra crew (LeMonnier) again I will be very happy. I can't believe they missed the interference call on Cumberland.
Nurse and Charest played well as did Benn.
Nice spirit by D.

1. Clock mgmt. has been a constant issue with this staff since Zook arrived, nothing about clock mgmt. will change until he leaves.

2. In regard's to the RB situation, I thought Ford had a good game. In his post game interview, Zook said that Ford had a better week of practice than LeShoure. That is the reason he started and played more.

3. Despite the 2 win's, Zook coached team's will never be the brightest bunch. I have just come to accept that as long as Zook is here we should expect late hit penalties, to many men on the field penalties, little celebration dances after a good hit despite the 45 yard gain by the opposing teams etc...

4 & 5. Special teams and any Zook coached team don't mix. We recruit wide reciever's and athletes, not kickers.

6. Maybe nitpicking just a little?

Charest played great, but if Cumberland could hang on to the damn ball a little better Charest's numbers would have looked much better. Clay Nurse is this week's B10 defensive player of the week.

It is great getting the wins and I'm happy for the kids but the reality is we keep making the same mistakes that have killed this team all year. The only difference in the last two games is the teams we were playing made even more mistakes. I'll be happy with the results when we see a game where the team without having it handed to them.

#6: Nitpicking unless Ford coughed it up. '95 Wisconsin team says hi.

Yep. There could have been at least one more victory formation play and still run out the clock. The game was too close. I wish we had had the same amount of urgency at the end of the IU game than MN showed today in the 4th quarter, including Zook calling TOs instead of wasting the clock away. The coaching staff really must be very forgetful to CONSTANTLY blow TOs to the wind when they are needed to score, for field position, or win games.

I don't think Zook has used a timeout in 8 years.

Regarding your #2 statement: I was surprised when Ford started the game. I was wondering what the heck was going on. However, the way that Ford ran the ball certainly appeased me. He did an excellent job of gaining yards after contact.

Also, I agree that our wins are so shaky due to our shaky coaching. No way it should've been that close and I am so sick of the terrible special teams play. It's been 5 years of bad special teams. That stuff loses you ballgames.

I'll wrap things up with a positive statement about Zook: at least he was able to keep his team from quitting this season. I would've bet anything 2 weeks ago that they wouldn't win another game this season, much less two straight against favored teams. 2 of the 3 teams remaining are beatable, and they can beat Cincy if they can play a nearly flawless game. However, I just have no clue what this team will do.

Mikel is not the most durable of our backs.

Special teams have been a lot better than they have been, not saying much.

Zook does indeed deserve credit for keeping the guys from giving up. We seem to be far more willing to give him credit for the goof-ups than the good things (besides recruiting).

One wonders if he was slightly hurt from the previous two games.


MN's kicking game on kickoffs looked like IL!



So true. Still, when our boys win, I feel it is in spite of the coaching schemes. The last TD in the 1st half was after Zook let the clock go down 35 seconds. We almost ran out of time to score.

I just got a chance to watch the game for the first time on replay...my god did we get lucky. The time mangement at the end of the half was painful to watch...On the punt block, Not being in a 'critical' punt formation at that point in the game is inexcusable...And what in god's name were we doing running plays at the end of the game when even my mom would know you could run out the clock in 'victory' formation. If we fumble there it becomes known as the biggest coaching gaffe of zook's career (and that is saying a lot) But since we didn't it goes unnoticed...like I said very lucky our stupidity did not come back to bite us. I was excited about the 2nd win in a row and now wish I wouldnt have watched the replay since my confidence for running the table has been greatly reduced...no way we get that lucky 3 more times in a row