Posts Tagged ‘minnesota’

Every coach would agree that earning your way to a bowl game and getting the extra practice time for your guys, especially your young players, is one of the biggest perks of playing in the post season. One of the other big advantages is in regards to recruiting.

If you're traveling to a specific part of the country it gives you an opportunity to be seen by a new demographic, and gives a chance for many fans and recruits to watch you play who might not have seen you play all season. In short, it's a chance to show a recruiting base what your football program is all about.

When it comes recruiting, Tommy Tuberville is one of the best and he explains that playing in a bowl goes a long way.

“Going to a bowl is priceless. You can’t put a price tag on it for recruiting.” Tubs explained in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

For Minnesota, Texas Tech's Meineke Car Care Bowl opponent, it's an opportunity for Jerry Kill and his coaching staff to showcase their program in front of one of the most talented recruiting bases in the country down in Houston.

"I remember last year in the state of Texas, there were 450 Division I recruits in football," Tuberville pointed out in the Houston Chronicle. "A normal state's got 15 or 20. The more you can get out and be accessible to the players and coaches and have a chance to put your name out there, it's about sales."

450 Division I recruits out of one state (even one as big and talented as Texas) is mind boggling. That stat alone makes it clearly seem like the big winners of bowl season are the teams that have been picked to play in bowls in Texas. Right now twelve teams have the distinct advantage of playing in a bowl game within the state of Texas. 

Oklahoma and Texas A&M (Cotton Bowl), Texas Tech and Minnesota, Rice and Air Force (Armed Forces Bowl), Oregon State and Texas (Alamo Bowl), Georgia Tech and USC (Sun Bowl), and Oklahoma State and Purdue (Heart of Dallas Bowl) all play in Texas based bowl games and thus will have a chance to influence a very large recruiting base. 

Tuberville noted that they're looking to increase their visibility and presence in the Houston area as well.

"When I took the job at Texas Tech, we only had one or two players from the city of Houston on our team. We need to have 15 to 20, maybe 25."

Bowl eligibility is a birth right at schools like Alabama, Oklahoma and USC, which is why it's always great to see it happen where reaching the postseason means something. After a 3-9 debut season, Jerry Kill has led Minnesota back to a bowl game for the first time since 2009 with a 17-3 win over Illinois. 

"I'm happy for these older kids," said Kill. "When you have a coaching transition, that's a hard thing on them. Everybody does things differently. It's been tough but they've responded well. They've been through a lot."

After turning around Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois, Kill was hired after the 2010 season to do the same with a Golden Gophers team that suffered through a 3-9 campaign. In fact, Kill's teams experienced a bump in year two in each of his stops at Saginaw Valley State, Emporia State, Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois and now Minnesota.

Saturday's win marked the first checkpoint in Minnesota's transition back into a winning program. It was also the first Big Ten road victory in Kill's tenure at Minnesota. 

"We've still got two games left," Kill said. "We've still got work to do."

Here are the highlights of Minnesota's win on Saturday.

After their 38-13 loss to Wisconsin on Saturday, Jerry Kill was frustrated, yet upbeat about his Gophers. Kill was concerned about how public perception would effect the team after their third straight loss.

"There is so much negativity around. When you go into a program that hasn't won for a lot of years, there's instant negativity, and more so now because of all the social media and stuff. That can get to the kids. They don't need to hear it when they come in Sunday with the coaches, because they're so pounded down by then."

"There are some good things going on here. You've just got to really look hard at it right now." Kill said after the game.

One person in particualr took notice.

When Kill got to the bus, former Wisconsin coach, and current athletic director Barry Alvarez met him and offered some words of encouragement. Alvarez had been in a similar situation when he took over Wisconsin, the Star Tribune points out.

In his first three years in Madison, Alvarez's teams failed to produce a winning record (0-8, 2-6, 3-5). But those three seasons helped paved the way for over a decade and a half of success. Alvarez's career at Wisconsin resulted in an impressive overall record of 118-73-4.

"There are people who understand we're going the right way, but it's always reassuring to hear from people who have been there before." Kill noted of the conversation with Alvarez.

The Golden Gophers will look to get back on track against Purdue this weekend and end their three game skid. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30pm ET on the Big Ten Network.

It's hard to believe we're sitting at the halfway point of the 2012 college football season. We could have sworn Labor Day was just a week or two ago. Regardless, 50 percent of the season is already in the books. Here's what we found noteworthy from Week 7 of the college football slate.

1. Move over Ohio, is New Hampshire the new Cradle of Coaches? Probably not, but this stat (courtesy of Bruce Feldman) is astounding: Coaches from the state of New Hampshire, Chip Kelly and Dan Mullen, currently sit at 12-0 so far this season. Not bad for a state with zero FBS programs and just one FBS signee in 2012. 

2. Speaking of the Buckeye State, Ohio stands as the top state in college football right now. Urban Meyer is 7-0 and ranked No. 7 in the AP poll in his first season at Ohio State. Butch Jones is 5-0 and ranked No. 21 at Cincinnati. Frank Solich has Ohio at 7-0 and No. 25 in the AP. In fact, the MAC East standings read Ohio, Kent State (5-1, 3-0), Bowling Green (4-3, 2-1) and Miami of Ohio (3-4, 2-1) while Toledo also sits atop the MAC West at 6-1 and 4-0 in the league. Ohio's seven FBS teams are a combined 38-14. Oh yeah, and Mount Union is also 5-0 and has allowed only seven points all season. 

3. Arkansas seems to have put the wheels back on the wagon. One week after handling Auburn 24-7, the Razorbacks again looked like the top 10 team many expected to see in a 49-7 dismantling of Kentucky. No coach in the country could use a two-game winning streak more than the embattled John L. Smith. Yes, the wins came against teams that are a combined 0-8 in the SEC. But when you are 1-4, a two-game winning streak is a two-game winning streak.

4. Duke missed its first chance at bowl eligibility. David Cutcliffe's team jumped out in front of Virginia Tech 20-0 only to see the Hokies reel off the game's final 41 points. Duke's next three opponents (North Carolina, Clemson and Florida State) are a combined 16-4 until a date with 2-4 Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Nov. 17.

#Duke's David Cutcliffe reiterates Tuesday statement that #Hokies' Frank Beamer is the top coach in the country

— Laura Keeley (@laurakeeley) October 10, 2012

5. Congrats to James Franklin and Vanderbilt for finally cracking the code to Florida's fourth quarter defense. After not allowing a point in any fourth quarter this season, Vanderbilt managed to register 10 points in the final frame on Saturday night. It wasn't enough to pull the upset as Will Muschamp's team improved to 6-0 with a 31-17 win. After being outscored 72-22 in fourth quarters last season, the Gators hold a 54-10 fourth quarter edge this season. Florida also claims come-from-behind wins over Texas A&M, Tennessee, LSU and Vanderbilt. Conditioning was clearly an emphasis of Muschamp in the off-season, and strength coach Jeff Dillman has definitely succeeded in transforming his team.

6. We're glad to see that Jerry Kill plans to coach again this Saturday. Kill suffered a seizure in his private locker room less than an hour after Minnesota's 21-13 loss to Northwestern on Saturday. Coach Kill was released from a Minneapolis hospital on Sunday morning.

7. Wisconsin has returned to form after a shaky start to the season. New offensive coordinator Matt Canada and interim offensive line coach Bart Miller have found their footing, and the Badgers' offense is back to its old ways. In a 38-14 win over Purdue, the Wisconsin offense rushed 57 times for 467 yards and four touchdowns. Starting tailback Montee Ball contributed 247 yards and three touchdowns on 29 rushes. After rushing for just 3.3 yards per carry over their first five games, Wisconsin is churning out 7.1 yards per attempt over its last two games. The Badgers are 5-2 and 2-1 in the Big Ten, a full two wins ahead of the pack of bowl-eligible teams in the Leaders Division.

8. Oregon will face an interesting challenge at Arizona State on Thursday night. In his first season in Tempe, Todd Graham has the Sun Devils sitting at 5-1 and ranked No. 24 in the Coaches Poll. Paul Randolph's defense is far and away the best unit in the Pac-12 on paper. Arizona State leads the league in total defense by nearly 60 yards per game over second place USC. The Sun Devils is giving up just 3.92 yards per play, nearly a full yard better than the rest of the conference. Randolph's unit also leads the conference in pass efficiency defense (4.86 yards per attempt), and its 3.23 yards per carry allowed is over a full yard better than Oregon's Pac-12 opposition to date. And then there's this: the last time Oregon traveled to the Grand Canyon State on a Thursday night was in 2007 when the No. 2 ranked Ducks lost to Arizona, 34-24. Chip Kelly and co. will hope history doesn't repeat itself this week. Scott and Zach from our staff will be at this game. More on this to come later in the week.

9. Notre Dame trailed for the first time this season on Saturday. The Fighting Irish actually trailed for a full quarter against Stanford after falling behind 10-3 at halftime; they didn't tie the game until a 24-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter. Brian Kelly's team trailed again 13-10 before scoring the game's final 10 points in a 20-13 overtime win. Bob Diaco's defense still has not (officially) surrendered an offensive touchdown in four full games. 

10. Midweek action begins this week in college football. Starting with Louisiana - Lafayette at North Texas tomorrow night, we will have Tuesday or Wednesday night football all but one week through Thanksgiving.

Sunday Noon Update> Minnesota has announced that Kill has been released from the hospital. 

Original> Minnesota football announced this afternoon that Jerry Kill was taken to the hospital this afternoon after he had a seizure in the locker room following the team's 21-13 loss to Northwestern today. 

The university said that Kill will remain in the hospital for testing and they expect to release a further update on his condition on Sunday. According to the release, Kill was alert and resting at the hospital.

Please continue to keep coach Kill in your prayers.