Offense 79th, Defense 9th

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march madness said:
Our defense was quite good, but part of the reason it ranks as high as it has is that the better teams only need to score 20+ pts per game to beat us. If we were in more shootouts it would rank lower. Teams get conservative once a win is in hand.

If Iowa starts scoring more with that S Dakota transfer QB, watch their defense drop a notch in rankings.
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We don’t get in shootouts because our defense is good. In games we scored a bunch we blew out the other teams. Our lowest scoring game was against Iowa, 14 points, and they were the only team that won by more than a score against us.
 


Scottsdale Gopher said:
Recognizing that a lot of experience (including a high draft pick) left the OL last year, I thought they were only mediocre as a unit. The struggles in the run game are well chronicled and I thought the group's success in the pass game had a lot more to do with Max's ability to get into the right call and get the ball out than their blocking. I understand why others would disagree, but I think the OL could be better as a unit this year than last.
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They very well could be I agree. But could is different than should IMO. They have some young talent but there are question marks for sure.
 

Some Day...Maybe said:
The title reflects the scoring offense rank and scoring defense rank for last season. I thought Heatherman was the best DC Fleck has had. I’m a broken record, but I don’t know what makes people think this offense will be good to very good this season. It was 79th last season with a very good, very experienced QB.

I actually thought Harbaugh was better last season than the season prior. However, how much of that was Max Brosmar? Our running game was not very good. Therefore, we weren’t very balanced. Here comes the broken record part, until Fleck finds a good OC this team will continue to hover around 6 to 8 wins. A 9 win regular season will not happen. Not unless the D and ST play spectacular and the running game gets back to what it was, and even then it won’t be easy. Here’s to hoping Harbaugh takes a big step forward and continues to improve.

109th rushing yards
76th passing yards
71st first downs

1st 4th down conversions
21st 3rd down conversions
39th Red Zone

107th Total Offense
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I disagree that the offense wasn't very "balanced" last season. They had almost identical averages for running and passing attempts per game (31.7 passing attempts and 31.1 rushing attempts per game). That's not the usual breakdown for a Fleck team but it's as balanced as one can get.

I agree that it wasn't a big scoring offense last season but 2019 was the only one of Fleck's teams that was. Defense has been better and more consistent. In the last five full seasons, Minnesota has had three top 10 defensive rankings. Fleck's teams have an identity: defense first with a grind-it-out chain moving offense. Max was a very efficient QB but he didn't have a big arm and he seemed to be significantly less reliable when he went for the long pass. Lindsay supposedly has a big arm but I suspect Fleck will still opt for a methodical offense that chews up the clock until the team falls behind and has to move more quickly.
 

btowngopher said:
We don’t get in shootouts because our defense is good. In games we scored a bunch we blew out the other teams. Our lowest scoring game was against Iowa, 14 points, and they were the only team that won by more than a score against us.
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Yes, 7 of our 13 games and 6 of our 9 conference games were one-score games (8 or fewer points). In that respect, Minnesota might have been the best conference team to watch last season if one liked watching close games.
 


btowngopher said:
They literally were a missed kick away from 9 wins last year. Harbaugh is easily good enough to get to 9 wins, it’s not like he’s been working with a treasure trove of riches.
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8 wins with that team last year is ok. 10 wins would have been good. I think the QB saved the OC’s ass on multiple occasions. With all that said, I hope Harbaugh continues to improve. Our defense last year was the best I’ve ever seen at Minnesota.
 

march madness said:
Our defense was quite good, but part of the reason it ranks as high as it has is that the better teams only need to score 20+ pts per game to beat us. If we were in more shootouts it would rank lower. Teams get conservative once a win is in hand.

If Iowa starts scoring more with that S Dakota transfer QB, watch their defense drop a notch in rankings.
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This is complete made up bs.
 


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