Jeremy: Gopher Football is in the air

I know that Jeff has already been jamming it up NFL-style on Midwest Sports Rubes, but can you feel it? Can you really feel it? Can you smell it? Oh, that sweet, sweet smell. Football is in the air. NFL training camps started last week. We are less than a week away from the first preseason NFL game. Just 5 weeks away from NFL week 1. 32 days away from the first NCAA football games. Fantasy football drafts will be kicking off all over the country in a matter of days. I said it last year and I'll say it again... "IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!!!"
I'm starting to get out of my summer sports slump and looking forward to the next 10 months of sports packed days and nights.
So... with my sporting senses back in full-swing, it's time to drop my yearly breakdown of the upcoming Gopher football season.
For those of you who care about Gopher football as much as I do (which I realize might only be my uncle and my cousin) this is a very tense time of year. The excitement is undeniable, but the anxiety, the past failures, the feeling in the pit of your stomach just thinking about the Big Ten season collapses... it's an internal tug-of-war that is enough to keep a guy up at night. Add those things to the fact that Glen (Glendolyn) Mason is still the head coach of the team and you can see why I have bags under my eyes and heartburn just at hearing the words Gopher Football.
The Gophers have two things going for them this year. First, a buzzing excitement with a good crop of new young coaches primarily on the defensive side of the ball that look to bring an energy and an attitude that we haven't seen since.... well, we're talkin' defense here, so, at least as long as I can remember.
Attitude, and I mean real attitude, will be a very important cog for our team this year. I'm not talking about the kind of attitude that Mas brings to the media talking about how the team needs to keep it's head up, and relenting about how they got outplayed by a better team today, etc. etc. etc. I'm talking aboug real football attitude. I'm talking about some real piss-and-vinager here. A real "you are not going to get past me, I don't care what name is on your jersey or what mascot is on your sideline, we are the F'ing Gophers... MUNCH, MUNCH BABY!!!" kind of attitude. The kind Mason has been incapable of and hopefully some young fiery coaches can bring it to the team.
The second thing the Gophs have going for them, after yet another season ending collapse (starting again with (funny...) Michigan), is that the expectations for this team are typically low. But outside of losing Barber to the Dallas Cowboys, the Gophs won't be missing much in the way of talent from last year's team. The RB spot should be fine, Cupito's got no place to go but up, the receivers have a year of underachievers behind them, and if the defense can stop even one team, one time, on third and long, we'll all sleep a little easier at night, won't we? The line will again be the anchor of an offense that should primarily feature the running game again, but can also hopefully give Cupito enough confidence and time to throw some of those nice balls we saw that he was capable of early last season.
For two years I've been screaming for more blitzing, more stunting, more... well, more of anything really... on the defensive side of the ball. The passive prevent defense that the Gophers have run for so long does not fly in the Big Ten. Our lack of aggression on the defensive line is the prime suspect in why we have been so vulnerable on 3rd and long the past few years. Teams know exactly what we are going to do on every defensive series, they know exactly where we are weak, and they know right where to hit us. They see us send three down linemen on a 3rd and long time after time and as we are all in the stands moaning and screaming for a blitz, their eyes light up with excitement. I don't mind giving up a third and long every now and then, but if it's going to happen, let's go down swingin'. Is that too much to ask?
In any case, we lose Reid (DE) and Sims (LB) on defense. Two important pieces, but their absences should be more than made up for by Shevlin, Sherels (both LB's) and Lipka (DE).
Having said that... the Gophers also have one major thing against them: the soft Big Ten schedule that they had the luxury of playing the last two years is now long gone. Purdue and Ohio State are both back, replacing the spots that Illinois and Northwestern held the past couple of seasons. Not a favorable trade-off.
My beloved Gophs finished 7-5 last year (3-0 non-conference, 3-5 Big Ten). For a team with very high expectations, a team that Mason called his most talented as a coach, this was a very underachieving number.
The critics are again saying this is Mason's most talented bunch, but the new schedule looms as a huge obstacle. I want to believe all of the hype, but we've been let down so many times, and (I know this statement won't surprise you) I just do not trust this teams chances as long as Mason is steering the ship.
If they don't go undefeated through the non-conference schedule I might give up early, but (gulp!) that shouldn't be an issue. 5-3 through the Big Ten schedule is about what we should be allowed to expect from this team. We should expect (yes, I said EXPECT) to beat Purdue, Wisconsin and Michigan State at home, and Indiana and Penn State on the road, but again, the Mason factor scares me considerably. 4-4 is a more reasonable expectation, and 3-5 is probably even more realistic, with the swing games being Purdue and Wisconsin at home.
So, against my better judgment, and against everything the past years have taught me, I'm going to predict a 7-4 season (Purdue is a W, but Wisconsin will be a downer). This should put them at about 5th or 6th in the Big Ten (big GULP!). But that should be enough to get Mason another token bowl appearance for beating that magical 6-win mark. It will again, however, be a low-tier game, giving him yet another opportunity to remind us all that the important thing is that the kids get to practice for another month and play on a national (albeit small) stage. Nice going Mas! Not only are you a mediocre (at best) coach, but you are also boring and predictable.
No, the Gophers will not smell the roses this year, continuing the longest Rose Bowl draught in the Big Ten.
Will this finally be the year that proves Glen Mason does not belong at the helm of a major college football program? Is Joel Maturi the only one who doesn't see this? Can Bryan Cupito maintain the promise that he showed in glimpses last season? Will we show enough promise as a team this year to give Maroney a reason to stay through his Senior season? Will we ever beat Michigan again?
So many questions... so few answers, so much speculation.
IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME.... OF THE YEEEEAAAAARRRRR!!!