Athan grew up a lot today

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hello-world said:
Yes, absolutely, don't disagree that he could become a great player.

He came into today with a sub-50% completion percentage and several games where he was throwing head-scratching incompletions. The way he was playing coming in to today isn't going to get it done next year.

The way he played today absolutely would.

There are a few people in here saying that the Gophers haven't been throwing the ball enough, but it's real hard to throw when your QB completes less than half of his passes.

His stat lines coming in to today (I know these aren't fair for a variety of reasons, but they still happened so here it goes...):
2-6 (33%); 0 TD; 2 INT; 6.2 QBR
9-22 (41%); 1 TD; 1 INT; 50.2 QBR
6-12 (50%); 0 TD; 0 INT; 80.2 QBR
7-13 (54%); 0 TD; 0 INT; 64.4 QBR
7-15 (47%); 0 TD; 1 INT; 77.5 QBR
^ This will not get it done next year. He will not hold on to the job playing like this. If 50% of his balls are hitting the ground, then the Gophers are going to have to keep running the ball on 70% of their snaps.

His stat line today:
19-29; 2 TD; 0 INT; 94 QBR
^ This will absolutely get it done next year.
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I see you didn't factor in drops by the receivers or the fact that they didn't let him get into a rythym by calling for pass plays so infrequently.
 

Dakota2 said:
Good? Mo was hit at or behind the LOS repeatedly, usually by two or more guys. Rushers had free run at AK.

Our line did not have a good game.
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AK also had a lot of clean pockets. Like the slant that won the game.

Mo looked slow today.
 

Dakota2 said:
Good? Mo was hit at or behind the LOS repeatedly, usually by two or more guys. Rushers had free run at AK.

Our line did not have a good game.
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I have to agree our line was not good in the run game at all.
 

Interesting AK stat. He had 319 yards passing today. In Tanner's 5 years of play, he had only 3 games, all in the 2019 season, of more than 319 yards passing.
 

Willwin40 said:
I see you didn't factor in drops by the receivers or the fact that they didn't let him get into a rythym by calling for pass plays so infrequently.
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They can't call pass plays with an inaccurate QB. PJ plays a ball control offense. If the QB can't place the ball, then they can't throw. He was bad in his first few games. People getting upset about that are being absolutely ridiculous. Anyone with eyes can see that he's making bad throws.

And just so you know I'm not being unfair. It's the same reason that the Gophers wouldn't let Morgan throw downfield after the Purdue game. They couldn't trust it.

As for factoring out drops. The Gophers might be undefeated with Morgan at the helm if we're just ignoring dropped passes. Certainly would have beaten Purdue and who knows what happens after that.
 


Vandy said:
Completing that pass to Brevyn Spann-Ford before getting hammered was beautiful. Poise.
The Wisconsin D was really rolling in on him during that time, that play turned them back,
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Certainly not to bag on Morgan, but my first thought when he completed that pass was Morgan would have eaten it for a sack on that play; not NECESSARILY the wrong choice, it's safe, but love that AK cut it loose and delivered a strike.

AK is decisive with the ball, just awesome to see. He'll get better at running the offense and reading things pre and post snap, but what a great game when they really needed him
 

Six to Eight said:
It tends to help when a QB gets to throw more than once or twice a quarter.
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Good grief, this is up there with some real whoppers. You take what the defense gives you, it's not that hard.

- They rolled up over 300 yards on the ground against Iowa last week because that's what was there and working this week. It was more than enough to win the game.

- They passed for over 300 yards today because that's what was there and what was working this week.
 





Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Good grief, this is up there with some real whoppers. You take what the defense gives you, it's not that hard.
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Actually, it's not. When we were continually running into 8 and 9 in the box defenses, we weren't "taking what the defense gave us".

When your run-pass ratio is comparable with the service academies, it's probably not because all your opponents are forcing you to run he ball.

It doesn't take a professional to see there was a problem. What today showed is that the pieces have been there all along to at least have a mediocre passing component necessary to keep defenses honest.
 

Six to Eight said:
Actually, it's not. When we were continually running into 8 and 9 in the box defenses, we weren't "taking what the defense gave us".

When your run-pass ratio is comparable with the service academies, it's probably not because all your opponents are forcing you to run he ball.

It doesn't take a professional to see there was a problem. What today showed is that the pieces have been there all along to at least have a mediocre passing component necessary to keep defenses honest.
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400 yards against the Iowa defense, over 400 yards against the Wisky defense. You can make a strong argument that KC's game plan each of the last two weeks was borderline brilliant.

Can't please everyone though....
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
400 yards against the Iowa defense, over 400 yards against the Wisky defense. You can make a strong argument that KC's game plan each of the last two weeks was borderline brilliant.

Can't please everyone though....
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Do you actually believe throwing 30 (29) times today was PJ/Kirk's game plan? My guess is that it was it more of an adjustment they embraced with once it was clear that Mo was beat up and ineffective?
 




hello-world said:
They can't call pass plays with an inaccurate QB. PJ plays a ball control offense. If the QB can't place the ball, then they can't throw. He was bad in his first few games. People getting upset about that are being absolutely ridiculous. Anyone with eyes can see that he's making bad throws.

And just so you know I'm not being unfair. It's the same reason that the Gophers wouldn't let Morgan throw downfield after the Purdue game. They couldn't trust it.

As for factoring out drops. The Gophers might be undefeated with Morgan at the helm if we're just ignoring dropped passes. Certainly would have beaten Purdue and who knows what happens after that.
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I saw a TON of improvement Saturday. That is a great sign. Can't remember one "bad" throw Saturday, but there probably was.
 

Six to Eight said:
Do you actually believe throwing 30 (29) times today was PJ/Kirk's game plan? My guess is that it was it more of an adjustment they embraced with once it was clear that Mo was beat up and ineffective?
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How specific do you think gameplans are? It isn't like the go into the game saying we are going to throw only 15 passes today. They study film and figure out what run and pass plays they think will work best against a particular opponent. They then call the plays they think will work best based on the situation in the game and all the other factors.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Good grief, this is up there with some real whoppers. You take what the defense gives you, it's not that hard.

- They rolled up over 300 yards on the ground against Iowa last week because that's what was there and working this week. It was more than enough to win the game.

- They passed for over 300 yards today because that's what was there and what was working this week.
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The issue last week wasn’t that they ran a lot- obviously that was successful. The issue was that they had Athan only hand the ball off for virtually the entire second half, and then expected him and the receivers to be able to throw the ball after doing nothing for almost an hour of real time, in 15 degree weather- leading to the game-deciding pick.

You can make the argument that the guys should be ready to go when called upon, but the playcallers put Athan and the receivers in a bad spot with that decision to throw.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Certainly not to bag on Morgan, but my first thought when he completed that pass was Morgan would have eaten it for a sack on that play; not NECESSARILY the wrong choice, it's safe, but love that AK cut it loose and delivered a strike.

AK is decisive with the ball, just awesome to see. He'll get better at running the offense and reading things pre and post snap, but what a great game when they really needed him
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As a whole, Athan has been more willing to take risks- which played directly into Wright’s biggest strength of winning 50/50 balls. Tanner hasn’t seemed as willing to put the ball up there and let Wright win the battle like Athan did against Wisconsin.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Good grief, this is up there with some real whoppers. You take what the defense gives you, it's not that hard.

- They rolled up over 300 yards on the ground against Iowa last week because that's what was there and working this week. It was more than enough to win the game.

- They passed for over 300 yards today because that's what was there and what was working this week.
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There are times where the offense has to be good enough to dictate a change in defense. You have to take more shots than we do, but what is that number?

The off-season is where the trust will be built between OC/QB/and HC. I trust that the QB can make all the throws needed to balance the offense more.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Next year with no Mo, I think they have to open things up. we saw glimpses today of what that could look like. And Athan has more to provide in the running game.

the biggest IF on offense will be the O-line - replacing Schmitz and both starting OG's. Maybe put Lewis at RT and slide Carroll inside to guard?
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I think that's the move with Carroll, I think Boe and Shaw will take the other two spots, question will who plays LG and who plays Center, but I suppose Cooper's going to be right there.. Is Lewis or one of Purcell or James ready to step up at RT. Nelson will coming off a Red Shirt Guessing will see some transfers out of the oline room. Guys like JJ who have been here awhile or maybe someone like Shaw or Cooper if they don't win a starting job.
 

MNVCGUY said:
How specific do you think gameplans are? It isn't like the go into the game saying we are going to throw only 15 passes today. They study film and figure out what run and pass plays they think will work best against a particular opponent. They then call the plays they think will work best based on the situation in the game and all the other factors.
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If you're asking me whether I think they set a number of passes pre-game that they want to throw, I really don't have any idea.

But what I have seen is that it's quite clear that some points this year and last, PJ/Kirk have made it a point to throw the ball as little as possible. They've literally scrapped the passing game for quarters even while they are not scoring. Your "what's working" is cliche because we've seen them adhere to the game plan, both when they are steamrolling poor run defenses and also when running up the middle into stacked boxes over and over when it's not leading to points. PJ has been pretty clear that his goal has been to hold the ball as long as possible. You don't do that by throwing the ball and ripping off big plays (or incomplete passes). My guess is we won't be seeing as much of the nauseating hold the ball until there's one second left on the play clock either next season. Because it was a crap strategy.

It seems like you just like to argue with anyone on the board expressing any tiny criticism of the coaching staff or the senior QB. Coach Fleck is doing a good and at times, great job. But he would probably admit he has been wrong plenty, and therefore the consistent homers have also been wrong plenty.
 

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