Jeremy: A Tougher Gopher Non-Conference Schedule?

I had to make a difficult life decision late this summer. The summer started out just like the past few summers with conversations of Gopher Football season tickets. Would we try to bamboozle student tickets again? Would we finally grow up and pay full price for real tickets? Who's in? Who's out?
The talk of tickets began to fizzle out a bit, and as it did, I was forced to make a decision...
in any case, I didn't get Gopher Football season tickets this year. If there are any more unanswered questions let me answer them now. No, I will not be able to go to Michigan (sorry to my uncle and cousin). No, I will not be able to go to Iowa (sorry Nick, Niall & Danny Carvel). It could have been an unprecedented season. I could have seen 5 Gopher home football games and two huge road games. It was not to be. For the record, I couldn't be happier or more confident in my decision to not get Gopher Football season tickets. More on that later.
I wasn't at the game against Colorado State yesterday because I was working. I also didn't get to see it on t.v. But of course, I still have something to say.
Here are some things that stand out after pouring over the numbers and the articles on yesterday's game.
*Mason seems to be especially hell-bent on being negative this year. I like this change. I'm not a Mason guy (in case you hadn't noticed) and my biggest criticism has always been that he is a little bit too much "puppy-dogs and ice cream" when it comes to breaking down his team. He seems to be expecting perfection so far this year. His team has now won two games by a combined score of 97-34, and all we've heard him talk about is what they need to do better. I like it!
*Colorado State played a very close game against their in-state rival Colorado last week, leading many people to believe that CSU was a pretty good squad. Colorado should have a solid Big 12 football team this year, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. CSU is a better non-conference opponent than most of the teams the Gophers generally bring in this time of year. But let's get serious. Colorado State is nowhere near the caliber of an Ohio State or a Michigan. They played Colorado close in a game that is generally close because of the in-state implications. Is this Gopher team good? Of course. Are they very good? It's possible. Have they proven anything yet? No way.
*Defensively the Gophers gave up 425 yards. Not too bad in college football. But here's the stat that concerns me: 363 passing yards. It still looks like, even with new Defensive Coordinator David Lockwood's new aggressive style, the Gophers still aren't able to stop the pass. True, the Big 10 Conference is a rough-neck running conference... but it turns out there's one or two good quarterbacks on the schedule this season. Lockwood at least seems to be sending more rushers and more blitzes on passing, but it's what happens after the quarterback throws the ball that concerns me now. Don't get me wrong, I think we're getting there on the defensive side of the ball... but we still have to play in the Big 10.
*Maroney is unreal. I'm convinced that if Mason kept him in the game yesterday he would have rushed for over 200 yards and 4 touchdowns. Again, we are talking about inferior defensive competition, but Maroney has a good shot at going into the Big 10 Conference schedule with over 500 yards rushing.
*Bryan Cupito still isn't putting up the kind of dominant non-conference numbers that you'd like to see him put up before heading into the conference schedule, but at least he's contributing. It's unclear the Cupito and the passing game will get much of a chance to get comfortable before the Purdue game. So far the Gophers are rushing the ball more than twice as much as they are passing. A lot of this has to do with ball control when they already have the game in hand. But could it have to do with Mason's lack of confidence in Cupito and the passing game?

I still stand by my previous predictions for this Gopher season. A great team with one of the best running games in the country and talent on both sides of the ball. But I don't see Mason coaching them to any better than a 7-4 season.