I was @ the stadium last Saturday and you could literally feel the manifestation of "the silence is deafening" most of the second half.
Problem with Brewster was he talked extremely big when he got hired that he'd take the Gophers to the Rose Bowl, etc. Now they have a senior quarterback and the offense should be good because this is Brewster's recruiting class as he has already compiled 4 seasons.
Well, even Ted Roof preferred Chizik to Brewster
U is having a problem: the President is retiring next year and the AD (Maturi) has been widely critized for hiring Brewster and Tubby (who hasn't shown anything yet as of now). But sometimes the situation reminds me of our situation: fans wanted something more - that's why they canned Glen Mason - and is this what they get ? New stadium with an inferior product ?
This.
Brewster should have his recruits setup in his system by now. Instead, they've been stuck in a rut, and seem to be incapable of finding any sort of rhythm. He's also had issues off the field.
In 2007, in Brewster's first year, the Gophers went 1-11. It was understandable as it was a coach's first year and usually teams do poorly when coaches and systems change. Plus, if they had won 50% of their close games (games decided by fewer than 7 points), they would have finished the year at 3 to 4 wins. Not fantastic, but still.
In 2008, things looked great, as they jumped out to a 7-1 season, before losing their four conference games, along with their bowl game. This included a 55-0 drubbing at the hands of the Hawkeyes in their final game at the Dome.
In 2009, they didn't have a hot streak going, but they could never beat the better teams in the conference, losing to Wisconsin, Iowa, OSU and Penn State.
This year, they started off okay, with a close win against Middle Tennessee State, but lost an absolute shocker to FCS opponent South Dakota. And now they'll face USC, OSU, PSU, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Nortwestern and Iowa.
On top of this, they've yet to win a single trophy (be it a rivalry trophy or a bowl game trophy). They've had close losses to Wisconsin, and been held scoreless against Iowa the past two games. They lost the Little Brown Jug to Michigan, and thanks to the rotation, might not get to play "bad Michigan". They also haven't been able to win the Governor's Bell against PSU. All in all, they just can win "the big games".
It should be noted, however, that Brewster and Gophers also have to contend with several hot years for the Big Ten. OSU and PSU were dominant early in Brewster's career, but Iowa and Wisconsin have been on the rise. Northwestern is showing a glimmer of hope, Purdue was just a few wins away from a bowl last year and Michigan is perhaps on the rise, or very close to it. Michigan State is always dangerous, and are themselves close to breaking into the 'upper tier'. Nebraska will be coming in next year. Not good news for the Gophers.
