Episode 419: Easter Illinois Breakdown

0:00["…♡ater-demonstrating!) And welcome to another episode of Go for Gridiron Radio. I'm Luke Buer and I am panceless is how I want to start with this. The whole episode right the whole episode. Ladies and gentlemen, I mean I got to start. For those of you on YouTube, I am wearing shorts. If you want to see these Milky White hamstrings. Just for all of you because the great national nightmare is over for the first time in 99 games. For Gold and Gofers had a punt return touched on and all by the way, welcome to the review

1:04episode as your Minnesota team wins 59 to 7 over Eastern Illinois. And I don't know how to feel still Luke joining us on this episode is my confinant in the press box. Go for Gazette's own Dan Owen. Dan the amount of consternation that hit the press box. And my texts, my DMs and even from Go for administrators, Luke, that had to that flew around to make sure that these pants stayed on. I love the bit and nothing is greater than the bit and I appreciate everybody checking on my well being then welcome to the breakdown episode. Thanks. Yeah. Good to join. I guess now instead of being the substitute for Luke on occasion on the substitute for Derek Burns. It's two both supporters of dingy town athletes both came up through the in-prayer school system. So I'd like to think we're really one and the same. He may be just be slightly more athletic than I am.

2:06I'm not sure I could cut it as a collegiate athlete. Yeah. No, when that that's punt return happens in the press box head after head just snapped over to Burns. Just administrator after administrator Luke, I'm telling you that because they're listening which I appreciate them. Yeah, for sure. Thank you for listening folks. And by the way, this started how many years ago because I got annoyed with you bringing this up over and over and over. So I was like, let's make it as ridiculous as possible. The pants are going to come down, right Ryan? The pants stayed up. Again, the text, I mean, I probably got over 50 of you if not more than just immediately hit the line. Guards you was telling me that on the Go for radio broadcast that my grim was talking about it and even afterwards Dan, you shared a moment with the head coach, which I didn't even know about until I got to witness that live. What was that about? Well, you know, he was curious, even PJ Fleck knew about the promise, the pantsing of

3:11one Mr. Ryan Burns. And he was interested in whether or not you would held up your end of the bargain. And I was very happy to inform him that no, you had not. I feel bad. No, I feel like everybody's in on it from the head coach to the associate athletic directors. It's it's a magical and I'll tell you Luke, I don't think this is done because the head coach said afterwards that he's got something for me later this week. So I think there's going to be an update when we get into the preview episode for Mississippi State. I appreciate all of you checking on me. So so what I really got to figure out is all email Paul and you know, the whole football communications department and be like, okay, what can Ryan take off in the press box? So we do not need to do that. Please, I beg of you, we don't need to do that. So this bit's done.

4:12Okay, retired. It was a good one. I look. Nobody got to see my Milky White hamstrings if you're watching YouTube. Yes, but it's out in the press. It's finally over and not the funny part is it took 90 something games for the streak to end. And it didn't even take 90 something minutes for them to then get the next one where Javantrecy doesn't strike once but twice. Yeah, it's just when it rains at pros and I'll say it boys, you guys didn't believe in the Daniel De Prado magic. I had to put you on Daniel De Prado and the new special team coordinator. You don't believe in him. You don't believe. I don't know if you know this, but I texted Ryan this morning. One of my one of my good friends has already renamed to Javantrecy to Jagon Tracy because he's Jagon to the end zone. I like it. I'll take that. Yeah. Let's print the t-shirts right now.

5:14T-shirts. Okay, let's talk about this 59 to 7 go for victory. Where if they amassed, yes, 59 points that probably caught all of you off guard when I said that, not something that happens typically. But if we look at this, they, I mean, honestly, they were just great in all facets. They had 24 first downs to four for EIU. They had almost 500 total yards. And it was like every wave of player they brought in found success Ryan in this specific game. So probably we should start with the offense that seemingly where we start most of these conversations. And the thing that was apparent in your conversation with Harbo in the preseason, the episode that you did with him was they wanted to find a running identity. And that became at least abundantly clear to me in this game. Yeah, it was an interesting day for the run game where Flek talked about afterwards how

6:17there were moments where even he would get on the headset and say, hey, I know that there might be plus one if not plus two in the box, but I want to prove a point to the offensive line in the tight ends here that we want to run the football with physicality. And I think that played at least a small part in some of these Russian game numbers where on the night, Darius Taylor gets 17 first half touches, 14 carries for 56 yards and three scores. Like you take you look at that 27 yard touchdown run. That was great, incredibly well blocked where everybody did their job from Pierce Walsh to Nathan Roy to Greg Johnson, absolutely moving at 290 pounder. Like he looks like you look at 190 pounds. They had their moments, but then they also had their moments where it wasn't clean. It wasn't crisp in the run game. Now, how much of that is PJ Flek saying we're just going to run the damn ball because that's what we do here in the Twin Cities and we're trying to establish something versus scheme versus whatever.

7:18But I also feel like I don't feel like getting into the weeds here too much about trying to nitpick a night in which you almost had 500 yards. Yeah. I want to see more from the offensive line I do. And I almost think I want to start with the right side, which we talked about in the preview where I told everybody I believe that they were going to do shifts in platoons at right guard right tackle. And that's exactly what we saw. We're Tony Nelson started a right guard. Daniel ship got his first career started right tackle. They played the first two series. And then you saw that the platoon shift of Jaden ball at right guard, Bennett Warren at right tackle. And they kind of continued those two played with each other and the other two played with each other. So I don't think you're going to see that change much. Still come Mississippi state. I didn't think that Bennett Warren specifically at right tackle had the greatest night. I thought Daniel ship was the better right tackle of the two of them. But as far as the running game goes, Luke, it's.

8:21Again, Darius Taylor look like Darius Taylor in moments. Do they still struggle at moments in short yardage? They did. And I want to see more knockback and physicality up front at times. But I just don't feel like the consternation is worth the squeeze here about the offense. Do you feel otherwise? No, I think that's fair. And this is the kind of game that you want to get a lot of people reps. Taylor only gets 14 carries on the day. But he has the three touchdowns in total. They had 38 rushing attempts for 147 yards. It's only a 3.9 yard average. So not incredible, not terrible. They did have the fumble. I actually did like that they went right back to Thomas right after that fumble. I thought that that was good. Thomas did end up with the best yard average at 7.4. But everybody got involved. You saw some Xavier Ford. You saw some Ryan Astrada. What did you think, Dan, from the run game?

9:22I thought from the run game, it was acceptable. They did enough of what I wanted them to do, especially Darius Taylor getting loose on that 207 yard carry. They ran into heavy boxes most of the time. And that does mean it's going to be tougher for them to get big yardage. I'd probably have liked to see the offensive line block a little bit better in spots. I would have loved to come away from this feeling like, dang, five guys on that offensive line just picked. But don't think I had that sense. Ultimately, you had the goal line stand where I think it was three carries to get across the line. Would have loved that to be one and done and you're in. Burns, you talked about the angst we saw on our board during our pre-production meeting about the state of the running game with Greg Harbo. I think we are a little bit more patient than some of our fans.

10:26I can't, like, of all the nights, if we're taking a night and we chew them by 50 something points, and I understand that the offense technically only put up 45. They also had an unfortunate fumble within the five yard line. But of all the nights in which you have almost 500 yards of total offense because the other flip side of the coin is because EIU is loading the box. Drake Lindsey also looked pretty damn good, by the way. The passing offense had, I think, eight plays over 15 yards, which I define as an explosive. So, there's flip sides of every coin. I think the thing that you need to take away from the offense is I thought they looked pretty crisp and I thought they looked pretty collected, which they didn't look disjointed for the most part outside of the Wildcat Fall start. But, again, I don't want to read too much into a game, which you largely found a lot of offensive success.

11:26You got into the red zone six times and scored five touchdowns. It's just like, yes, we want to see more from the offensive line. I think all three of us have now stated that for the record here. You want to see more from other guys and we'll see what Ryan Astratas injury ends up being no PJ Flect did not talk about that afterwards, which that leads me into loop. This is now something I didn't know. And Dan and I are now, I asked a Go for Communication staff about this. We are not going to see an availability report until Washington now. Oh, because they don't have to. They don't have to. That was the other change that I guess myself and other members of the Minnesota media didn't exactly look into was not only starting against Washington, they will have to do availability reports Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, but the other changes, they don't have to do anything now for these non-conference games. So that is where you're going to have to, I guess, stay tuned to Go for Gazette for who

12:29I see out there dressed and not dressed in the pregame, which, wow, what a great natural transition to tell you, Luke, that it is 75% off through Labor Day at Go for Gazette. Com Ryan James had some men's basketball recruiting tidbits on the board this morning, including some visits being moved up, which visits being moved up. So it's a good thing. I'm going to go to the top. Dan spotted multiple women's basketball. We visited the games last night that Don Plyzzoides doing her part again, and we got all my different analysis. I'm out football, so I think it'd be a great time to join us over there. I just, again, with the whole offensive thing, like if we want to see more in spots, yeah, but also, Drake Lindsay, and how it's where I want to take it, Luke, is 19 of 24 for 264 yards that one little lab over the top to Pierce Walsh for his low and touchdown. Like the passing game looked pretty good, boys. I don't know what like Drake, Drake Lindsay was protected, so Drake was calm, cool, and

13:32collected, but they seemed like the passing game, at least the timing was seemingly, I thought pretty good, Dan. Yeah, timing was good. Drake's boys was good. Everything, he checked all the boxes that I wanted to see from him. If they didn't do anything crazy or special, DJ talked about. We didn't do a lot of play action this game. Another important point going back to the offensive performance. This was not the whole playbook. This is not them running at 100% efficiency or optimal play calling. It's we're going to do the simple stuff. We're going to do it well and get home with a win. But Drake executed everything. There was one point. I think he was eight to 10, um, artway through the game. And the two were maybe one of them was an obvious drop by Javantre. You see the other one, maybe a questionable ball that Noah Jennings could have made a play on along the sidelines. He didn't, um, but Drake was everything I wanted to see from him in this game.

14:32Luke, I don't know if you had any takeaways on that front. Um, yeah, I thought obviously Drake was good. He was sharp. He's what you expect, right? Uh, I think the thing that impressed me the most from the passing in general is it doesn't matter which running back you have in. Like they don't have to change their approach in terms of getting the running backs involved in the passing game in years past. I felt that has been different. It felt like the passing threat was going to be Darious Taylor. That was not the case last night. Um, so I'm curious to see that. Uh, I'm on the, I'm on the, uh, the, the Greg, um, or sorry, the Noah Jennings high train. I want to say Greg Jennings. I would be here. That's unfortunate. Well, he had it. I like to think about as the infamous. Have you seen the Madden play from Greg Jennings Greg Jennings? And he's got like a broken, I'm sorry. This is completely going off the rails. No, it's about his back. No, thank you. I am, I'm on, I'm on the Noah Jennings bandwagon. I'm also on the Hayden Moore bandwagon, liked what I saw out of him.

15:36Um, and then finally pierced, pierced walls, finally becoming, you know, one getting opportunity within capitalizing someone that opportunity. I remember seeing him as a freshman and be like, Oh, he looks at the part, uh, and, and then hopefully that continues to be the case. But, you know, when you spread it around to the number of receivers that, uh, that Drake did and then you're able to run the ball, you know, effectively enough to your guy's point with a loaded box, it is going to make throwing the ball easier. Right. So that's the, that's where you want to be in, in kind of the, the chess match between the offense of the defense. Well, I'd also say, I think the way that the passing game went last night, where it was four guys getting a bulk of the targets with Drake Lindsey, which was Darius Taylor, who's still going to be a very focal point of this passing game. But then Javan Tracy, Jalen Smith and Noah Jennings, I mean, you're talking about four guys there that all had between three and five catches. And I think on a given week we saw last night, it was the Javan Tracy night. Still think Noah Jennings with three for 57 or Jalen Smith for three for 26.

16:39I think it's going to rotate given on a given week. But that also leads me into, I think that is one of the takeaways from last night, which is they rotated a lot of guys at wide receiver in tight end. And I do think you're going to still see that happen into Mississippi state, where it was Noah Jennings, Javan Tracy, Jalen Smith. But we also saw quite a bit of Zion step toe number 25. And then you saw both true freshmen in the first quarter, second quarter with Drake, Lindsey before he got pulled in Quaid Hendrix, who got his face mass, absolutely obliterated off there in the fourth quarter. Like that was, that was something to see if you stayed all the way to the end of the game. You also saw Hayden Moore's tip toe along the sidelines. I do think you're going to see all six guys still maybe one guy less. We'll see what they end up doing. But even tight end, you saw four different tight ends mixed in significantly. And none of them were named Jerome of us, which is a little bit interesting. But you had Pierce Wallace, you had the Oklahoma transfer, Kaden Helms.

17:41You had Julian Johnson and Jacob Simpson. Like everybody was getting their jitters out to an extent, which again, a lot of those guys haven't played significant, meaningful, big 10 snaps in the consistent capacity before. But that is going to be one of my takeaways along with the right side of the offensive line is those rotations. I think are going to continue here as we can get deeper into September, including when an SEC team comes to town next week where we can talk about the results, but I also want to make sure the why and the how of, okay, they played a lot of guys, but I do think that'll stick because I think what Julian Johnson does well at tight end is different than what Kaden Helms does. Or maybe if you want a little bit more speed on the field, you go with more of a quaid Hendrix type or Noah Jennings type. It's just depending upon what Greg Harbo wants from this offense and who he trusts. That is an interesting part to me. I also think it was clearly TJ Thomas of running back after there is a

18:41like Ryan Astrada did not mix in until well after, which kind of surprised me. Now, I will note that AJ Turner, while he did not dress last night, he did go through the entire pregame warm up, which tells me that he is closer to returning than maybe I think again, he started taking contact three, four weeks ago at this point. And with Ryan Astrada's status up in the air, I would love if AJ Turner returns here pretty soon to be another piece for the parent of spare of that running backroom. But rotations is something that when you do beat a FCS team by 52 points, that is one of the things I do think you'll see as we get deeper into September. All right. Maybe we can close up here on offense, Dan any parting thoughts that you want to get off your chest before we catch a break. Yeah. I think one one guy that I we've already given him a lot of flowers, but I want to give him even more is Javan Tracy. And Burns, you talked about this was the Javan Tracy game in terms of who was

19:44relating wide receiver. He was incredible on Pantor turn. It looked fantastic. But as a wide receiver, 98 yards, he looked like a legitimate weapon in open space in ways that I eat granted. Yes, it's vanilla. No, these not big 10 caliber defensive backs that he was wriggling by and getting passed. But I don't remember feeling the way I felt last night about Javan Tracy really at any point. I don't know how you guys remember his 2025 season. I remember it as being solid. This felt like I saw I have a buddy of mine who has been in my tax messages for more than the year, say singing the praises of Javan Tracy and saying he would be a number one for this team at some point. I saw the vision. I'm not buying stock in that yet. But I saw it when he got loose and was running around and he went for some pretty big chunk plays after breaking a tackle.

20:47It's the last time Minnesota had a wide receiver that could do stuff like. I mean, Daniel Jackson was really good and keep going back further. But I mean, Javan Tracy at the blowup game in November against Northwestern three touchdowns. But that was going to be the thing for him this year is can he do it consistently? Now, great first game, no doubt, makes plays as a punt returner, makes plays. And the passing game as well where he made multiple men miss was almost I mean, he was an inch away from a touchdown in the receiving game there as well. But that is going to be the thing is can we see the playmaking consistently? Because that is still a question I have about this team going into an SEC opponent next week. What does it look like against higher caliber athletes? Do Minnesota's athletes still make plays when the quality of athlete on the other side of the field raises up? Yeah, just to close out on Tracy last year, the things that would be shocking

21:48would be those plays where he had the drop like yet last night. Where by the way, that was the thing I wanted to know was yet. I mean, the first possession ends up being a punt, which we've spent a lot of time. That was my key to the game in the preview episode was they need to start fast. And Javan Tracy dropping one that hits right in the chest. I put it in the gift rewind on go for Gazette. If he just catches that, like I said, hit him in the chest and turns to his left. It's going to be a tight end in space on one player. And if Javan Tracy can make a man miss, he's going to score a touchdown. Instead, it's a drop and then on the next play, there's a misdessignment between the right tackle and the tight end and anyways, like, yeah, you want to see him start faster. But again, consistency. So that's where he has the early drop and then he comes back to be the player of the game. Good for him. But that end that was his problem last year, right? He would have a couple of those drops. And then he maybe wouldn't be as consistent or it just wasn't consistent

22:50throughout when those opportunities came. You have to be able to execute which, you know, we saw one, but we're not asking for perfection. But you know, from then on, he was much better. The other thing that jumped out at me and this is very much a, a, a sicko comment is Jalen Smith catching the ball with his hands, right? If you remember last year, he was catching the ball with his body and he was catching the ball with his hands last night. And I don't know if that's a comfort thing. I don't know if that's an Isaac fructy thing. Not sure. I'd, I'd just say like that jumped out immediately to me. Well, yes. And I think just having more confidence going into year two is a significant contributor. But I also want to give credit to a high calorie connoisseur who is now going to be must watch tape every single week. Watching Greg Johnson climb to the second level with his athleticism is so fun to watch. Like he is, for those of you who want to watch a great offensive lineman in the Maroon and Gold.

23:51I mean, I think Greg Johnson is going to be in store for just an outstanding season. Now maybe I'd be a little bit biased because he was my first round selection. But I think that tape last night when he got his hands on somebody or he was asked to get 15 yards down the field and put a safety into the ground, it's fun, man. I love watching great offensive lineman. I know Derek Burns does as well, which again, Derek will be joining us starting a conference play against Washington for those of you who are looking for him. But Greg Johnson, I think I'm, I'm excited, man. I'm excited for what another 11 games are going to look like. All right. I just go. Go ahead. No quick, Luke. I just can say that game again, just going to keep putting this asterisk out there. Illinois. See if it continues. That game felt like the promise of Greg Johnson that we've been hearing for years as he's getting this NFL hype. Right. I hear it. And then I see it on the field.

24:52It's a little like this. That is first counter right there. All right. Speaking of the prior like native, let's catch a quick break. And then we'll get back and we'll talk defense special teams and what else. So speaking of prior Lake Ryan, we have a very good partner in the prior lake area. That is launch pad golf. If you are looking for something to do on this long weekend, and frankly speaking, it looks hot and muggy out there. If you want to go hit some golf balls, but you don't want to walk up and down, you want to play some games, you can actually go to launch pad, hit those balls in prior lake there by the meadows and by Gran Casino. And just literally have a great time. And there's a great restaurant right behind you. You can have great service as well. Monday, if you're going to go, they have special with a $10-ish burger. Check that out. I had that when we did our live event there. Great burger, great fries, around $10-bucks, awesome deal.

25:53Yeah, whether you just do want to go watch a game somewhere, because that was the thing that like I said, when we had our live event there, I had probably 5-10 people say like, this is a great spot to just come have a drink, come have a beer, have a burger, you don't go watch the game somewhere. Like yes, you can go on the other side and go into one of the bays and smoke some golf balls and try to be Bryce and D. Chambo, which Luke has called himself the Roseville version of that. For those of you who haven't listened to him over the last few months. But that is the best part about Launchpad. It's very versatile. So whether you want to go hang out there, watch a game, get something to eat, or if you want to go be Tiger Woods like I attempt to do with my brand new driver and hit a slice that's bigger than a Mesa pizza. Mesa pizza slice. It is very, very versatile. So where can folks go to learn more about Launchpad? Yeah, you can go to launchpadgolf.com and then you can they have multiple locations around the country and in Canada. You can put the the Minnesota at the Meadows and then you can get information on

26:59how to get there, etc. All of their all their specials. It's awesome. So make sure you get down there and check it out. Also Ryan, we do need to talk about Burns Insurance. I'm telling you man, there is constant roof construction here in Roseville. Because of that storm that came in through in the June area or June time frame. And let me tell you, I am thankful that I have insurance, but it makes me think like with all these changes and all this change in weather, maybe I should be looking at a new insurance policy. Well, Moniz is tight as it's ever been. And I think insurance is one of the places you can save and you want to make sure you're getting the most bang for your buck. You want to make sure you're getting taken care of. And that's where an independent insurance agent such as the Burns Insurance Agency and Oakdale, Minnesota can help you out. And that's where I was talking to him the other day. I go, who have you saved the money to hear the most? Because the best part is people listen to us, Luke, as I, he'll tell me like, hey,

28:00one of your GoPro folks called. And I go, okay, what's my most recent example pop? And he goes, well, Sarah and Woodbury called saved her 900 bucks as she switched her home and not over. All it takes is a free quote. So if you're located in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, Michigan, New York, or Utah, there is a go for fan in your life that wants to save you money, but also make sure you're protected from whatever life throws at you. So check them out today. Insurancebyburns.com or email him directly, bill at insurancebyburns.com. Hey, Daniel, if you heard the news, we're actually partnered again for another season to go for football with blue horizon energy. We're stoked to be able to promote what they have going, the projects they've done with the University of Minnesota. The many projects that we see as we drive, you know, for Mar-Haus out to the farm again, it's just awesome to see. And I know that you've really, really valued being able to harvest and make money off of collecting the sun's energy.

29:05Yep, I've loved my time with them. They came out and did a, you know, an assessment on the farm, figured out where we could put up the solar panels. And then when I decided to do the project, they did it all. And they were really, really good to work with. They set a date when they were coming. They came, they finished the work. In fact, I have a cousin who's in electrician and he looked over their work and said, wow, these guys are really good. So I've really enjoyed working with them. And a week or so ago, we were down at Farm Fest and I ran into hell from blue on horizon energy. And I know he's a great big golfer fan. Yeah, it's been a great partnership. And I don't know if you've noticed, but I know that everybody can't hardly miss that energy prices are rising. This is a way to hedge that off and control and decrease some of that cost yourself. You make an investment and it's going to pay you off in the long run. And like you said, blue horizon energy is great to work with. If you want to get in touch with them, if you're a grower

30:10yourself or you're a building owner or operator, reach out to them at bluehorizonenergy.com slash gridiron, I fill out the form and they'll get in touch with you very, very shortly. Okay, let's talk about this go for defense. They only gave up seven points on the night. Pretty good. And frankly, probably a couple of misunderstandings, but the things that stick out to me only gave up four first downs, three for 13 on third down efficiency, only 110 total yards, 51, 51 of those are going to be on the ground in 59 through the air. You know, if you really want to get nitpicky, they didn't force a turnover. If Matt Kingsbury can learn how to squeeze the puzzle a little bit, probably could have had two and probably could have had a pick six. But I'm telling you, man, the go for defense, look the part. We yeah, I'm laughing, by the way, because

31:11you mentioned Matt Kingsbury. One of my favorite moments of the rewatch was he deflected two passes before Eastern Illinois scored on that drive. Yeah. After the first deflection, they then put the camera back on him and he violently vomits everywhere for about five seconds. And I'm just sitting there on the rewatch. I'm like, oh my god, he got so worked up that he just starts violently going everywhere on the field and then just plays the next play. I'm just like, what a Matt Kingsbury thing to do where he's just he's got the neck roll. Nothing's going to stop him even vomit. When you look, I mean, when you look at those two plays, the two swing passes of the running backs, I think it was a misdessignment there by Aiden Goosby on the first one, gets his eyes on the wrong spot, look like he was a man, everybody else was in zone. And then on the second one, Matt Kingsbury just gets absolutely throttled by a tight end who's supposed to be running a pass there or just like a concept and he just trucks him. Like,

32:11doesn't even attempt to sell it. No flag, whatever. It's a touchdown. But it's tough for me to get upset on a night where Eastern Illinois puts up 110 total yards is three of 13 on third down. And here's the other thing that you have to just remember. Did you see Eastern Illinois after like the first 10 minutes of the game, even attempt to drop back pass? No. No. Like they just decided we're going to get destroyed up front and they largely did. So before I get any more long-winded and getting to my defensive line thoughts, then do you have any overarching takeaways from the defensive performance? I think the two you captured it pretty well. A couple little rough patches all at all. Exactly what you want. Dominant got them down didn't allow much. Only thing I wish I had seen, I think there's going to lead right into your defensive line thoughts. I wish I had seen a couple more sacks. I know Eastern Illinois was doing some things to prevent that. But for a man who just predicted that the gov was going to top 41 and a half sacks just days ago

33:16in an article on our site go for Gazette.com 75% off the IP. I would have loved to see a couple more sacks, but overall really no complaints outside of two plays on one drive. I mean, they played like 36 or 38 guys on defense yesterday, which that's what you should do against an FCS opponent. And I believe there were only seven or eight guys looked that played over 25 snaps. Like trying to extrapolate a ton from that wouldn't be wise to me. Now what I would tell you was I thought the defensive tackle rotations didn't match what I was expecting. I thought Riley's sunroom was going to get the start alongside Nekwant Crouter. It was actually Theo Randall, which good for Theo Randall gets the first start of his career after a couple of years, missed with injury, fourth year player. And then we also saw Moe Sain, the Dan Owen alumni high school in Prairie zone. Moe Sain, get meaningful snaps in there. Now, Jalen Hicks was also ready to

34:19go for that game, which surprised me. I'm curious how it all shakes out yet. But we also saw Anthony Smith and TJ Bush in the NASCAR passing down package lined up as defensive tackles, which I thought was fun when you had a manual carmo and Carter men's on the outside, which Carter men's tied for the team leading pressures. He had three pressures on nine snaps, pass rush wise, seems pretty good. But I think that's the thing I'm curious to find out about more is what about this defensive tackle rotation sticks? I don't think you learn a lot of, you know, how they necessarily played, but at least on a defensive line, I thought it was interesting to see some bodies and new spots. Now, Anthony only played inside on passing down and that only happened, I think two or three times. So for all that, talking the offseason yet about Anthony Smith's versatility inside, I still believe you're only going to see that on passing down situations.

35:19But do you have any thoughts on the defensive line, Luke? I just won. I'm glad you called out Theo Randall. Awesome to see that he actually got some run there after having battled injury for so many years. I think I've seen that man wear a boot more than I've actually seen him not wear a boot. So the fact he was able to play was awesome. Then the other thing that I was going to highlight was, Anthony Smith, I feel for you man, because you get held more than anyone gets held since Jadjoiner. Like, incredible amount of being just like, I think he drew two holding calls yesterday. Yeah, but just like every single play, like, just completely held. Yeah, it's going to be fun to see how this evolves and what the rotations look like. As you highlighted, the fact that they are doing some package stuff, where they had Carter Men's, TJ Bush and Anthony Smith as well as Emmanuel Carmo all there in on passing downs. I'm curious to see what they stir up from a defensive line perspective going

36:25forward. Then let's see what it looks like with those defensive tackles, they're going to get a first test in this next game. That's something we're going to have to monitor. Dan, any thoughts? Ian Prairie Alums will never lead you astray. Yeah, never. There you go. Not once. That's the, that should be everyone's takeaway. If you had concerns about the defensive line, all as well, everything is saved, both sane here to play. Yeah, it was, it was an ice rotation. I walked away, though, we want to start talking a little bit about what's coming next week down the pipeline. I walked away. I'm maybe slightly more nervous than I was entering the game. Are we going to get that interior push from the defensive line? Yeah. Unless you're in that NASCAR type of package. Yeah. When they have to go up against SEC big bodies, I think we, I need to see more from them

37:26next week. I guess I'm not, I can't draw judgment on EIU game, but I didn't quite get what I was hoping. I was hoping to see somebody get a little bit more disruptive than what we saw. Yeah. And into that point, the interior pressure piece is a good point, Dan, because we had some concern about mobile quarterbacks. I walked out of that game being like, okay, this didn't make me feel significantly better about that. It didn't make me feel like significantly worse either, but it didn't, it didn't squash that feeling. And we know, you know, Mississippi State is going to come to town, probably the most mobile quarterback coming to town here shortly. So that's going to be the real test and it's something they're going to see consistently throughout this season. Yeah. We'll find out more next week, but I do think as we go back to linebacker, like one of the things that I think from Fall Camp that did translate over is Matt Kingsbury has a significantly bigger role and a manual karma does not. Where you look at the snaps,

38:31it was almost three to one for Kingsbury alongside Matt Kingsbury out there. And even for Carmo, Carmo was out though late into the fourth quarter with the rofers. So when we talked about all offseason, who's going to be that guy to replace Devin Williams? Matt Kingsbury seems to be the guy that Minnesota trusts the most, whether that's Danny Collins or Mariano Sori Marin. Then he've also got the fifth year out of Woodbury, which shout out to the East Metro is again, that's the better side of the river for anybody who needed me to be explicitly clear about that, the better side of the river. Girlock also had a bigger role than Carmo did. I guess that surprised me to an extent because Carmo's role at least last night in a meaningful way was just in a passing down capacity, which yeah, I mean, that's where I would use him, which doesn't exactly quell the is a manual Carmo a linebacker or is he eventually just going to be a pass rusher on the defensive line here down the line. But Kingsbury, getting the amount of snaps and meaningful

39:34snaps that he did is something that I'm going to be keeping an eye on here as we continue to move forward. It's going to be interesting with a manual Carmo, I mean, to your point, the linebacker is a pass rusher. Does he end up following the Carter Cofflin script, really career path where Cofflin was initially effective as an edge rusher because that was straightforward and easy for him to do. And then we saw the gofers try the linebacker thing a little bit with him and it just never really caught on. Ultimately, he was really successful as an edge for the gofers, but it was he never quite did that linebacker thing. Interesting to me though, he did end up as more of a linebacker once he got to the NFL, but I can't help but wonder is that the model for where where a manual Carmo is going to end up going. Yeah, that's a good point. It is. I mean, it's something that as you continue to watch this defense as Danny Collins learns more about a manual Carmo, Matt Kingsbury, Joe with Girlock, we saw Mason Carrier makes in place

40:38and there too. He was mixing in in a meaningful capacity too with those other three, but it's one of the things where I don't want to rotate a ton of guys, but you also have to find out what you have to an extent. Now on the back end too, I mean, we knew that Minnesota wanted to rotate guys. I'm pretty sure according to PFF, McKay Smith, Garrison Monroe, Aiden Gooseby, all played between 14 and 18 snaps, which is just the chef's kiss to how Danny Collins just wants to keep everybody on their toes. Zach Harden played quite a bit. I mean, we didn't see the corners really tested it all because EIU just refused to do drop back passing because they couldn't pass protect. But you know what I did take away from that defense yesterday was they played fast and boy did they play physical on all three levels. Like they didn't play a step slow for most of the game and whether it was Aiden West coming up to deliver a boom, whether it was Matt Kingsbury,

41:39the hit and somebody at the line of scrimmage, whether it was my guy, Mr. Gritt, Mr. Danny Amindola, West Welker, TJ Bush himself, which is just all heart determination and perseverance. I thought they played very physical, which that is something I like to see. That's what you need to see from a team that is going to be a good big 10 defense. So I just, I don't want to get too deep into the weeds with how much of it, but I guess that would be probably my final takeaway was physicality seemed apparent throughout 60 minutes and so did them playing fast largely, which we're going to see if that translates to next week. Yeah, and then and then Kerry Brown is just absolutely everywhere. Like I thought that I thought the television broadcast did a good job of highlighting how he's going to do a lot of this stuff that doesn't show up. And you know, we talk a lot about how safety can be a very boring position, but he seemed to be, seemed to be playing that role well and I imagine he's

42:40going to pop as the season goes on. I forget. I think Daniel ended up with him and I think in the draft and I think Daniel's going to be very happy with that selection. I think Kerry is going to be having an awesome year. Do we finally get to get to breaking down the all 22 of the Javon Traci touchdown, which I showed Dan and I've also sent it to Luke. They owe a gift basket to the EIU coverage team because they had zero idea where that football was because the irony of Minnesota's return touchdown coming in a situation where the defense is on the field and punt safe. And there's just seven guys down the field unblocked, but none of them see that the ball is between the hash and the Minnesota sideline and they're all in the middle of the field. I'm going to take it. I'm going to tell you, I'm going to take it because all it took was then for them to do their best

43:40Charles Barkley impressions and just box guys out so they don't get you know some block in the back flags or even Anthony Smith on the poor Eastern Illinois punter, which do you think he saw God in his eyes? Six foot six two hundred and eighty pounds is blocking him and he's just looking up for help to the skies. Javon Traci makes one man miss gets to just run along the sidelines and then even on the second one, which was much more well blocked. I mean, I think Garrison Monroe made a smart business decision to not hit him with a block on the back. He throttled back. You had guys like Ethan Stendell or even you know what I I did enjoy seeing by the way was there's essentially only one offensive player who is a core special teamer that I saw last night and that is New Case. Yeah, I know. Guy is older in the program doesn't ever roll on the offense and you know what? Okay, guess what? I want to play. Okay, we'll find a spot for you on special teams and he made a key

44:43block as Javon Traci was able to then scamper outside. Like those are still the things where you can be romantic about college sports still with that. You can feel something on the inside where guys like okay, I know that my role in offense isn't there, but I'm not going to complain, I'm not in a pout. Put me on special teams. I'll play a bus my tail. I mean, those are the types of things where it's like heck yeah, man, heck yeah. I thought it was interesting in PJs post game press conference. I think we even have a clip of this on our site. He talked about how good of a higher Daniel De Prado was, but he really emphasized how much like I'm buying. He seems to be inspiring throughout the room and as you ticked through guys making smart choices and going for it on blocks, that showed through. I thought he, Jay, I mean, surprisingly, he knows his football team, but kind of hit the nail on the head there where that was a different level of effort that I think we've

45:44seen effort and execution. And we've seen in special teams from the GoFers units before. Yeah, it's interesting how it seems like you make one change at the coaching position and it's drastically different, right? I never really believed that would be the case. Ryan and I argued about special teams for years and years and years. Did we? Yeah, and I might have made a meme about it that didn't go over particularly well. But yeah, I'll just say that I'll just say that this is very different now. Let's see if it holds because that was a terrible effort by EIU. I will be very curious to see how they continue, but I am very much optimistic of this juncture. We should talk though about the kicking game as well. That's where I wanted to go was it's not even necessarily about who kicked last night. It's more so about who didn't kick where Minnesota made

46:47the decision and they kept it very hush hush where it didn't even reach my ears that the new Mexico transfer looped as wiki did not participate last night, even though he is technically as we sit here in time eligible to play. Now, why did Minnesota elect to do that? I've spent some time asking some people behind the scenes about it and I think there was some there was some worry that if a NCAA ruling from somewhere comes down and rules all of these guys ineligible, the guys that have participated in NFL mini camp at the very least ineligible. Well, if you take last night's game for an example, Minnesota only kicked one fuel go with the kicked extra points. Well, Minnesota's worry was would we then have to forfeit the game because we technically used an ineligible player. So that's where he didn't even warm up before the game. I know Andy Greeter from the Pioneer Press, who does great work saw him on the sidelines dressed. I didn't I never saw him at any point. Never

47:51saw Brady Dennerberg at any point. And I think from what has been relayed to me is Minnesota expects to know much more about Driswicky's eligibility status for the long term before the Mississippi state game, which would be very good news. So that was the situation that unfolded last night was Minnesota went risk averse said we're not going to need a kicker necessarily to beat EIU and they didn't. But that's where it opened the the gates there to see a little bit more Beckham, Sunderland as your kickoff guy. And then you also got to see Alexandria, Mr. Rolla Coaster, himself from football across Minnesota. Daniel Jackson be the kicker and he made his loan attempt. It's just snuck inside the left upright there. So I don't know that we we necessarily learned a ton because Minnesota didn't attempt any field goes outside of the 31 yarder, which look, if you want to have me get on the brand here, I tweeted it and I also said at the day in the press box before

48:56half time, I was hoping that Minnesota kind of just played for a 40 something yard feel goal because in a game where you're going to win by six trillion, I would love to see if Daniel Jackson's accuracy when he's got 40 45,000 50,000 eyeballs on him. Like I that's something I would have loved to take away, but I also understand that I'm getting very very how do I want to phrase that. I mean, we're really getting it picky at that point. I did listen to you guys's live reaction thing on YouTube. Great work. Ryan, what are you doing wanting them to kick a field goal when they go in the score touchdown? That had to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Let me live. You and special teams have this like very uncomfortable and unhealthy relationship where you you have these weird expectations. Let's score, let's score seven points instead of three.

49:56Well, I just want to like, like I want to, what is it, what is it like to defend myself here? What does it matter if it's 56 to seven instead of 59 to seven other than at the end of the season, it looks better. Like you know what I'm saying, I would rather in that instance learn something that we can hopefully tangibly take forward into a much more meaningful game. That is the only premise behind it. Is it stupid? Probably. There's probably folks yelling at their TV or car or whatever saying, Ryan, you're a bigger moron than usual, which yeah, tell me something I don't know. But it's that is the thought process. There's like they sucked at 40-yard field goals last year. Yeah. Yeah. Let's see what the new guys got, whether it is Jackson's son or Linerdra's wiki. I guess my point would be we've asked PJ to be more aggressive. Stay more aggressive. Thank you, PJ. Don't listen to Ryan's inner. I want to see if we got a guy that could kick a 40-yard field goal. Hey, we'll get there when we get there. It burns me. We don't know how the second half is going to play out here. Okay. I have lived and died

51:05by the difference between three points and seven points. And there are millions of people all around the country and especially out in the deserts, the Las Vegas, or with me, shut your mouth. Let's get the points. Thank you. Finally. So support here. Usually Derek's just like, okay. Okay. So good stuff on special teams. Back at Sunderland, he can kick it and let me tell you, he has better tats than you, Ryan. He's double-sleeved up, my man. Almost sleeved. You got some work to do to catch up. All right. Final thoughts. Do we want to talk some of the coaching stuff? I mean, there's not a lot to talk here. Well, I actually didn't want to mention something with special teams. They called four timeouts around the punt game. And it's over yet? Yeah. That was one of the things where I was like, what in the world is going on? Like, I understand that I'm not going to get Daniel House on you with some punt formation changes and maybe they didn't like what they saw, but they used four timeouts last night.

52:12Prior to either them punting or them getting like a punt return. Four timeouts. Now in a game that doesn't matter like that, where the game's out of hand, whatever, but that was insane to see. Always like you cannot be burning timeouts left and right like that next week, because if you are shame on you, that was just like such a strange anomaly to see. And that was something that I wanted to ask PJ about. And then that dude in the corner of the media room dropped his camera equipment or whatever. And I just got distracted. It scared me. And the guy Fleck wanted to. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Fleck was about to fire him on the spot. Didn't know his name. Didn't know who he was. But that guy couldn't stop making enough noise. Which is his namelessness may have been the thing that saved his job. But I wanted to ask Fleck about that. We're going to get Fleck again on Monday. Here. And it's on my list to make sure somebody asks it because yeah, it was weird. And

53:13there has to have been a reason, right? Sure. Yeah. Absolutely. It had to been some type of formational thing. I don't know what it was about. Maybe they had 10 guys. I think I saw a couple times on the rewatch. Maybe they only had 10 guys on the field, which that can't happen. But because you had the two explosives that gets in the wash, but you have four time outs was insane. Just I don't know. Like again, as we get into final thoughts before we talk about the fighting Joe here as semi-axx and then their revenge game narrative out there at Rutgers. I do think I am very excited to see what this team does and how they respond to something like this against Mississippi State next week. You've got an SEC team coming into town for the first time since. Met all of us were alive. And now there are missing. They're a team that isn't projected to be a contender in the SEC. But guess what? They have SEC athletes. And it's going to be a lot more difficult to just run by a guy or just move a guy against

54:19as well when they all look like you. So then it's going to become can you stop Camario Taylor, who is the mobile quarterback for the for the Bulldogs? How do you move the football against that defense, which is very habit creating very 335? Like I am excited to see especially on a nationally televised spot 230 on CBS. And it sounds like ticket sales are going really well for that game. That should be a great atmosphere as well. Like I'm excited to see what this team does. And if they can respond against a much better opponent next week. Yeah, that it will be really fun to see this. It's always fun to have you know bigger brands come you know visit. I was going to say TCF Bank Stadium about hunting in Bank Stadium and just the Twin Cities in general. And they get to experience the Twin Cities. I think most people leave going that place is awesome. Yeah. Very rarely do very rarely do you do you find people that don't like the Twin Cities. So I think they'll have a they'll have a great weekend to do it. And I'm excited to see the competition.

55:22Ryan and Dan number one your live stream was great. What are what should people expect going forward? You did it before the press conference this time. Are you going to continue to do it before the press conference or after? I think the plan would be to do it before because Fleck takes forever like he takes 45 to an hour after a game which sometimes he's a little quicker than that. But the plan is to just get on there and give initial thoughts for 15 20 minutes. Then we can get more long winded and something like this. But for the home games coming up here Mississippi state and Akron that would be the plan. It's going to get a little bit more tricky when we go when I go out to Washington because especially if that's a night game. I mean do you and Dan going to be doing some live streams at one in the morning central? Because I got a mosey my way down press box to try to hear from it. Yeah like that. It gets a little

56:28bit more difficult on the road. We're still figuring out the nuances of that. Still trying to figure out if we want to do two cameras or one. I appreciate everybody. I thought no I thought it was good. The one was good. The mics were great. Like I thought that was good. And if people don't know this is going to be on YouTube on the GoFour Gazette channel. So you'll be able to to listen to them there. I love the instant reaction. Just thinking of my experience. Like part of the reason we started the podcast was I liked long form conversations. There weren't any for GoFour football. And so we did this right. And then the other thing that I also like I'm glad you guys are doing this is like I want instant feedback right away. And yeah you kind of get that from from like the radio. But that is so scripted. Like I want the off the cuff conversation. What comes up naturally through conversation. And I think you guys did a great job. So make sure if if you're listening to this and we know lots of you do make sure you check that out next time because you might be the one that wants to watch it then. But if you can't watch it live you can

57:31go home and it's recorded. It's there. You can check it out. Anthony Zand can be on the back and cleaning up some of my language that was dropped in there that he's now since cleaned up because I like to use the occasional I'll say cuss word here too in my everyday. You're a full letter word right. But forgot that we were still alive and had somebody reach out to me and be like hey so you know drop that drop that one in there. Oh all right Dan will go clean that up. So yeah I mean that's good forward too. If we need any kind of advertisement for why you should tune in now. It's get all on. Get in on the train before we figure out all of our little production issues and you might catch burns swearing at me. Yeah exactly. Yeah which how much swearing do you think who swore more Greg Siano at his coaching staff last night or the Rutgers fans as you mass the fighting Joe Harris semi-axe go into Piscataway as an O and 12 team last year

58:40and they absolutely dog walk. His former employer in the Greg Siano Kirk Sharaka like you can't you can't draw it up any better for you mass and Harris semi-axe but Luke can I read a text exchange with my I hope you do one colleague that my old colleague that is a big Rutgers fan probably boop probably a booster you could say and I'll I I dissent him a message after the game that said Harris semi-axe might be the top candidate on the hot board. No response. No numerous hours valid. He responds you are mean that's it you are mean. He's hurt he's vulnerable and you're kicking him when he's when he's down what kind of friend are you and then this morning I think it was this morning yeah I got my season is already over Greg Siano needs to go that really

59:41made me more sad than I thought possible well and they capped it off with the world's most pathetic fireworks. Oh my god I it always breaks my heart when things like that happen where you're like surely if your Rutgers this is going to be a rough season I don't I think we we knew that coming into the air so if you're Rutgers administration you're like all right we want to do a fun fireworks extravaganza for our fan base what's a safe spot on the schedule to put that surely the UMass game the team that hasn't won being the power four team in multiple seasons wait it was a powerful was it FBS it was FBS I think it's FBS and oh by the way they're coming off a season in which in Joe Harris semi-axe first year they went oh and 12 and we're largely not competitive at any point it's just Luke you underestimated how much they were going to miss the Greek rifle that's what that is what I take away is you doubted yeah well I will say um

1:00:47Ethan now puts what's this now two quarterbacks in the league for the gofers the outside of Drake that has started a game um making 53 man rosters now I guess Bros. Mordidne he made it and then didn't make it but yeah man like Rutgers isn't a weird spot because they are really in the red um 520 million in the red over since they've joined the big tan in case you're wondering and and you're what's your solution here is to probably try and move on well that brings you more in the red and I don't know man it's it's a dangerous game that you're playing we we see what uh UCLA did this last week too I don't necessarily envy either of those programs and the situations that they're in but man alive that's a that's a tough one but in the same respect like we had our own bully green right so

1:01:48I just don't think it's as bad as you mess yeah no it the bullying green game you could easily chalk up to a uh a overly tight and passive kind of approach just keep varying vanilla this they got the snout kicked out of them yeah that and and and that's the worst of PJ that you can get right the overly tight overly analyzing overthinking not playing free you know not taking chances not taking risk but yeah you're right you're right Dan you nailed that it was in talking about the budget Daniel how is now we're commiserating up in the press box before the game watching the Rutgers team just fall apart in the first half oh and he looked it up and I think it was Greg Seattle's bio to something like 23.4 million dollars that's a bio that is scaring away programs far wealthier than Rutgers I don't know they're in a rock and a hard place they're going to lose more money if this is what their football product looks like and they don't have the money to get themselves

1:02:51out of it right well in the crazy part is they paid 1.5 million dollars to get beat right like 1.55 to you okay sorry that was the guarantee for you mess to come down to pescat away it's coward okay let's just close out a game you're excited for for this weekend that's still you know since we are the Thursday game they're still games obviously coming up each of you pick one and I'll pick one Dan go first I'm gonna take my favorite one on the slate across the board it's a little bit under the radar in terms of national prominence but I'm going UCLA at Cal when you said go first I was like I'm gonna take burns because I know that's the one you're gonna go with Shazny versus JKS yeah pack 12 after dark Tom Fouloree skulled Duggery it's it's absolutely it should be fun I think it's going to be competitive the gofers know

1:03:52who JKS is Geron Keaue Saga Potela thank you we experience what that late night Cal game environment can do to a team I am very curious to see what UCLA looks like I love Bob Chesney I do not think in one of the Bob Chesney era they pull this one out because Cal has a quarterback and it's gonna be it's I'm very interested to see how that goes all right burns what do you got you can't you can't pick you can't pick the same one so I'm gonna go the Lambo Sunday night game on NBC which is Notre Dame versus Wisconsin I've spent far too much time on a gofers podcast talking about how I'm fascinated by Wisconsin this year and that starts in week one where is Notre Dame gonna come out and look like the college football playoff contender that I think they are this year

1:04:53and that pains me to say as I can't stand Notre Dame as an institution but like I think they have a chance to be pretty good whereas I am very leery about Wisconsin being a team that takes the next step so we're all gonna get to watch it because there's no one I fell this week it's Sunday night on NBC there's gonna be millions of eyes to see what the badgers look like and mine will be two of them all right I'll close this out probably no surprise to any of you I am most excited for the apple cup very odd to have it as the first game of the year I will I will say that much but I'm ready to see the Huskies take out the cougars should be a fun one and I will say there's an ounce of like a little bit of concern as to how things are gonna look with the whole saga of will here won't he and he is because the big ten says so you're talking about DeMont Williams who is the quarterback who

1:05:54tried to leave to go to LSU to take a bag of the big ten said screw you you're not getting out of this contract you signed and he stayed so how does that look as he now tries to go back to a locker room that is obviously aware that he said I'm leaving take the bag see you so we'll see how it all looks I'm all for it Luke I am curious as a die hard Washington Huskies fan yeah well okay I am a die I'm not a die hard like I am a golfer fan and as I've had kids I haven't been as die hard as I've been but yes as as the son of a mom who played in the marching band when more and moon was the quarterback going to roles balls yes I am I am a husky fan so that's what has now that Washington state is effectively a second tier team they're no longer a conference rival

1:06:56the huskies and university watching it has clearly a step above where the kugers are now as the apple cup lost it's shine for you at all or is this still you still view this as a big time rival I think I still view it as a big time rivalry and mostly in part because like I have gone to a few apple cup games and just experienced it until I probably go and experience it where it it doesn't you don't feel the animosity or the tension like I'm gonna feel I'm gonna feel that it's the same now the games like to your point haven't been particularly close of late and some of that was because because Washington was incredible and went to a national championship but yeah since since Washington state basically got left for dead it is that part is disappointing but man some of those Mike Leach years man oh some of those games were awesome yeah it's good

1:07:59to it's it's of interest I think to go for fans because when Minnesota inevitably it's the invite to the super league and leaves Wisconsin and Iowa in our dust it's nice to know that will still be able to care about matchups with our less than rivals oh damn I love that for you all right good stuff that's a good place to end I want to thank you all for listening want to thank our sponsors again launch pad golf blue horizon energy and the Burns Insurance agency we are excited to have football to talk about meaningful games I don't think anybody can question that so yeah and I'm excited for Mississippi State looking forward to previewing it and watching the game so again thanks for listening and go go go