A huge concern

[RememberMurray]

Minnesota is second to last in B1G rushing. Unfathomable for a P.J. Fleck team.

Granted, we've played Iowa (second best in rushing defense) and Michigan (third best in rushing defense).

We need to get the run game going.

 

[Jack jones]

Can you say offensive line.

 

[fmlizard]

Minnesota really has never been a running school since Glen Mason.

The Gophers have called a lot of running plays because they work decently well to control the ball and get wins, but at no point has the team ever been really efficient at it. The Gophers haven't had a RB get regular NFL carries in 20 years and have barely had any OL drafted in that span.

Minnesota in the Kill-Claeys-Fleck era is a defensive program, particularly a pass defensive program that creates a relative pipeline of NFL DBs.

Hell, I personally think of Kill-Claeys-Fleck as an era across two very different program cultures simply because it's the era when the Gophers finally started to play defense.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

After what I saw in the second half on Saturday, in no way, shape, or form do I want the Gophers to go back to what they were doing before that.

That hurry-up passing was fun to watch, it was working, and it made the game exciting. Usually that doesn't happen for Fleck offenses.

 

[SamSquatch]

We've played UNC, Iowa, and MI - all of which are incompetent offenses. We found a way to lose all three (finding ways to lose being the core of our identity).

We've lost 7 or 8 straight against P4 opponents.

We're too weak and slow to focus on the run, so the passing schema better get a whole lot more clever because it's our only chance to hang now that we'll start to see some actual capable opposition offenses.

 

[Word]

Can you say offensive line.

Yes I can. "Offensive Line"
but yeah, it's a big issue and kind of puzzling with the guys we had coming back

 

[balds]

Let Taylor get a head of steam and try to hit a hole. He has no chance on these slow developing handoffs where he gets the ball at a dead stop with guys already in the backfield. One of the only times we did this, he took it 82 yards for a TD.

 

[STPGopher]

After what I saw in the second half on Saturday, in no way, shape, or form do I want the Gophers to go back to what they were doing before that.

That hurry-up passing was fun to watch, it was working, and it made the game exciting. Usually that doesn't happen for Fleck offenses.

Glad we are starting to exploit what is there for the taking.

 

[Gophergrandpa]

Glad we are starting to exploit what is there for the taking.

Our offensive line has performed better this year in high-tempo mode, because it stops the deeply talented teams from rotating in different DL for situational play. Keeps the same DL on the field. They get tired. The best run stoppers don't have time to be rotated out for the best pass rush DL. Problem with high-tempo is that you need a confident, experienced QB to run it. What the heck: We have that QB (for the remainder of one year).

Against some of the nation's best defenses, Brosmer has moved the ball well in high-tempo mode. The offense has floundered, with Brosmer getting sacked often, in PJ's normal offense: strangle the clock, waste time, let the defense rest and recompose its personnel each play. Given the strengths of our QB which to date have manifested better in high tempo, and the fact that our OL seems to perform better in high tempo, I sure hope that high tempo remains part of our offense. Our defense, with the exception of one half, is pretty good this year. We shouldn't feel we need to run a tortoise style, eat the clock offense to minimize the time our defense has to be on the field.

 

[TwistingMyMelon]

Minnesota is second to last in B1G rushing. Unfathomable for a P.J. Fleck team.

Granted, we've played Iowa (second best in rushing defense) and Michigan (third best in rushing defense).

We need to get the run game going.

As you've written, we have played two very good defenders against the run so we'll see how it goes when we move on from those teams. USC is ranked #16 in the league in rushing defense giving up 5 yards per carry.

Having said that, it's apparent after 5 games that we don't have the same kind of offensive team that Fleck has had during most of his tenure here. While they can't abandon the run, neither should they keep squandering downs in hopes that their running game improves. We probably have the second best passing team of Fleck's tenure and we saw how effective it could be in the 4th quarter of the Michigan game when we were forced to use it.

 

[Gophergrandpa]

As you've written, we have played two very good defenders against the run so we'll see how it goes when we move on from those teams. USC is ranked #16 in the league in rushing defense giving up 5 yards per carry.

Having said that, it's apparent after 5 games that we don't have the same kind of offensive team that Fleck has had during most of his tenure here. While they can't abandon the run, neither should they keep squandering downs in hopes that their running game improves. We probably have the second best passing team of Fleck's tenure and we saw how effective it could be in the 4th quarter of the Michigan game when we were forced to use it.

I believe our running game is better when Brosmer is running a high tempo offense. Frankly, many of the short passes he completes are essentially substitute running plays. DT is catching a lot of passes out of our high tempo offense. Keep giving DT lots of touches at the second level--good things could happen.

 

[TwistingMyMelon]

I believe our running game is better when Brosmer is running a high tempo offense. Frankly, many of the short passes he completes are essentially substitute running plays. DT is catching a lot of passes out of our high tempo offense. Keep giving DT lots of touches at the second level--good things could happen.

Last season, Gopher running backs caught 27 passes over 13 games. This season, Gopher running backs have caught 34 passes over 5 games.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Our offensive line has performed better this year in high-tempo mode, because it stops the deeply talented teams from rotating in different DL for situational play. Keeps the same DL on the field. They get tired. The best run stoppers don't have time to be rotated out for the best pass rush DL. Problem with high-tempo is that you need a confident, experienced QB to run it. What the heck: We have that QB (for the remainder of one year).

Against some of the nation's best defenses, Brosmer has moved the ball well in high-tempo mode. The offense has floundered, with Brosmer getting sacked often, in PJ's normal offense: strangle the clock, waste time, let the defense rest and recompose its personnel each play. Given the strengths of our QB which to date have manifested better in high tempo, and the fact that our OL seems to perform better in high tempo, I sure hope that high tempo remains part of our offense. Our defense, with the exception of one half, is pretty good this year. We shouldn't feel we need to run a tortoise style, eat the clock offense to minimize the time our defense has to be on the field.

I feel like I must be watching different games then some of you because we still have people acting like the offense is operating in slow motion waiting till the last second to snap the ball on every play and I am not seeing that at all. We have definitely done that in the past but in 2024 that hasn't been the case.

Now it can definitely be argued that we should go up tempo even more than we do but we are not running the extreme clock control offense that we have in previous years (constant sideline checks, bleed the whole play clock.....).