Big Ten Coaches Talk Anonymously About Conference Foes for 2023 (MN: "When you talk about this program, you are basically talking about culture")

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Minnesota​

“The first thing that comes to mind is their size. They’re big, as big as the best teams in this league on the line. They’ve got a true Big Ten-style offensive line and almost close to that on the defensive side. The difference is that they’re never as athletic as they want to be."

"Losing the running back [Mohamed Ibrahim] is really significant for them."

"We aren’t sure about the QB situation; maybe they aren’t either right now. [Athan] Kaliakmanis is their long-time backup, so he knows the system, but he’s had limited reps. We know the staff really likes him."

"Enough time has passed to where everyone has a pretty good idea of the kids P.J. [Fleck] is going to get and the ones who won’t make it or won’t visit there. You’re never surprised when a particular player from there enters the portal."

"When you talk about this program, you’re basically talking about culture and whether or not there’s enough top-end kids in recruiting willing to buy into that.”


Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
Losing the running back [Mohamed Ibrahim] is really significant for them.
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Is it? Mo's the most productive Gopher RB of my lifetime and by all accounts a great dude.

But I also saw the 2021 team have the same record while using a revolving door of running backs, each of whom had roughly the same YPC as Mo had in his career at the U - in the low 5s.

I think that's more a positive statement on the OL than negative on Mo, but we've recently seen the Gophers be a good team without Ibrahim.
 

The comment about being not sure about the QB situation is kind of weird. I don't think there is any doubt internally that Athan is the guy and I wouldn't think other teams would be surprised by that either.

The fact that we didn't bring in a portal guy is a pretty clear indication that they feel good about what we have in house at the QB position.
 

Seem almost too generic of comments to be anonymous from other B1G HCs...other than the culture quote referencing the portal. The one about not being sure on the starting QB is pretty humorous.
 
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MNVCGUY said:
The comment about being not sure about the QB situation is kind of weird. I don't think there is any doubt internally that Athan is the guy and I wouldn't think other teams would be surprised by that either.

The fact that we didn't bring in a portal guy is a pretty clear indication that they feel good about what we have in house at the QB position.
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Agree and weird that he is considered a long-time back-up. He redshirted and was back-up quarterback for 5-6 games.
 


fmlizard said:
Is it? Mo's the most productive Gopher RB of my lifetime and by all accounts a great dude.

But I also saw the 2021 team have the same record while using a revolving door of running backs, each of whom had roughly the same YPC as Mo had in his career at the U - in the low 5s.

I think that's more a positive statement on the OL than negative on Mo, but we've recently seen the Gophers be a good team without Ibrahim.
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I was thinking the same...Gophs are pretty stacked at RB, and the offense will not be relying on the running game as heavily as with Mo. I see it unfolding much the same as 2019 as far as the play mix, and probably a little more passing compared to 2019. The running game will be a mix of RBs, but it will be as effective as it needs to be. I see Gophs AVG points/game to be in the top 25, back in the low 30s as well.
 

"Enough time has passed to where everyone has a pretty good idea of the kids P.J. [Fleck] is going to get and the ones who won’t make it or won’t visit there. You’re never surprised when a particular player from there enters the portal."

- Ferentz?
 

MNfootballfan said:
Agree and weird that he is considered a long-time back-up. He redshirted and was back-up quarterback for 5-6 games.
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Agreed he had more reps in the Big Ten than Morgan did last year, and he started over a healthy Morgan in the bowl game.

I think there's a fair question if he's just okay or if he can be a star, but no question if he's the starter.
 

FredCoxRocks said:
"Enough time has passed to where everyone has a pretty good idea of the kids P.J. [Fleck] is going to get and the ones who won’t make it or won’t visit there. You’re never surprised when a particular player from there enters the portal."

- Ferentz?
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This was a laughable quote to me. I think that statement can be twisted around to anywhere. Every coach has it good points and bad points perhaps.
 



MNVCGUY said:
The comment about being not sure about the QB situation is kind of weird. I don't think there is any doubt internally that Athan is the guy and I wouldn't think other teams would be surprised by that either.

The fact that we didn't bring in a portal guy is a pretty clear indication that they feel good about what we have in house at the QB position.
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I think it gives you an idea about how seriously some of these coaches take these kinda stories.

Hell IIRC many coaches don’t vote in the coaches poll, they just tell some other staff to do it for them.

I don’t think these guys are laser focused even on in the same (or used to be) division teams.
 

I might be wrong but I think I read somewhere that these quotes are typically not from the head coaches but often mid level assistants.
 

IWOA

"They portaled out a lot of their best offensive players, which is a really scary situation when you’re that bad to begin with, and it puts a stupid amount of pressure on the transfer QB [Cade McNamara] to make something happen. Whatever you think of Cade, he’s not going to have the same kind of weapons he did at Michigan."
 




MNVCGUY said:
The comment about being not sure about the QB situation is kind of weird. I don't think there is any doubt internally that Athan is the guy and I wouldn't think other teams would be surprised by that either.

The fact that we didn't bring in a portal guy is a pretty clear indication that they feel good about what we have in house at the QB position.
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I took it as "we're not sure how good he'll be yet," not whether he'll be the starter.
 

Full Speed Ahead said:

Wisconsin​

“The strangest hire of the entire cycle was Phil Longo coming to Wisconsin. It’s like Luke Fickell knows something no one else does, or he’s about to make a major mistake."
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Because of the air raid not working in the big ten?
 



disco said:
Realistically - has anyone tried the air raid in the B1G?
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We saw how drastically our deep ball was hindered in the back half of the 2019 vs Wisconsin and even OSU drop some games it shouldn’t when the weather takes a shit. I just don’t see how you’re going to bring in the athletes and qb that are needed to make that system go consistently when you’re locked into the north. On top of it you’re hurting your recruiting advantage on the lines for the kids who are here and I think MN and Iowa will be happy to take the dozers who aren’t going to fit a run and gun uptempo offense
 

PMWinSTP said:
I was thinking the same...Gophs are pretty stacked at RB, and the offense will not be relying on the running game as heavily as with Mo. I see it unfolding much the same as 2019 as far as the play mix, and probably a little more passing compared to 2019. The running game will be a mix of RBs, but it will be as effective as it needs to be. I see Gophs AVG points/game to be in the top 25, back in the low 30s as well.
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I am not too worried about the RBs. If I am an opponent, I will be concerned. The Gophers adapt very quickly. They will utilize the strength of the Running Room and the offense personnel.

I am looking forward to seeing a pass-catching running back utilized more often.
 

minnyrules11 said:
Purdue in the early 2000s?
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Worked decently well when they had a future NFL HOF QB but hasn't been a very repeatable success formula.

Wisconsin might be the school most identified as a "running team" in the present day. It's a massive switch.

This is like when Oklahoma went from the wishbone under Barry Switzer to pass-happy under Gary Gibbs, or when Nebraska moved from the Devaney/Osborne/Solich era to Bill Callahan.

It eventually worked out for Oklahoma but it took 3 coaches and a decade of underperformance. It hasn't yet worked for Nebraska.
 

fmlizard said:
Worked decently well when they had a future NFL HOF QB but hasn't been a very repeatable success formula.

Wisconsin might be the school most identified as a "running team" in the present day. It's a massive switch.

This is like when Oklahoma went from the wishbone under Barry Switzer to pass-happy under Gary Gibbs, or when Nebraska moved from the Devaney/Osborne/Solich era to Bill Callahan.

It eventually worked out for Oklahoma but it took 3 coaches and a decade of underperformance. It hasn't yet worked for Nebraska.
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I keep going back to this whenever I see analyst predictions are crowning Wisconsin.
They are changing EVERYTHING on offense and the media/fans are expecting instant success.
 

jonnyganas said:
I keep going back to this whenever I see analyst predictions are crowning Wisconsin.
They are changing EVERYTHING on offense and the media/fans are expecting instant success.
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I'm not aware of any major CFB program that has made such a dramatic schematic switch and seen instant success.

Minnesota's main attempts to abandon a running identity have been the two biggest football failures of my lifetime - the Wacker and Brewster eras.

Portal might help (you can import a whole new QB room in an offseason) but it's still a disadvantage against teams like Iowa and Minnesota who presently have a lot more continuity.
 

upnorthkid said:
We saw how drastically our deep ball was hindered in the back half of the 2019 vs Wisconsin and even OSU drop some games it shouldn’t when the weather takes a shit. I just don’t see how you’re going to bring in the athletes and qb that are needed to make that system go consistently when you’re locked into the north. On top of it you’re hurting your recruiting advantage on the lines for the kids who are here and I think MN and Iowa will be happy to take the dozers who aren’t going to fit a run and gun uptempo offense
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I think air raid is more of a short quick pass type of offense, not a down field dominated passing offense. TM had almost 300 yards against Wisc. Gophs couldn't get the run game going. Even more yards against Iowa.
 

PMWinSTP said:
I think air raid is more of a short quick pass type of offense, not a down field dominated passing offense. TM had almost 300 yards against Wisc. Gophs couldn't get the run game going. Even more yards against Iowa.
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It’s mixed. You use the vert routes to spread field both vertically and horizontally but it’s where the stick (hitch and corner combo) and mesh routes (with someone there to take the top off) got their advent. It’s not “dominated” I agree, but you need to have the hits in there or the offense doesn’t go if they don’t respect it.

And on that gwme, he hit Bate deep to open the game and missed every vertical shot as the snow got thicker from there on out. It made it way harder for us to move as they packed the line more and more. The deep shots were a huge part of that teams identity and when it gets cold and windy, it just gets harder and can gum up the rest of what you do.
 

upnorthkid said:
It’s mixed. You use the vert routes to spread field both vertically and horizontally but it’s where the stick (hitch and corner combo) and mesh routes (with someone there to take the top off) got their advent. It’s not “dominated” I agree, but you need to have the hits in there or the offense doesn’t go if they don’t respect it.

And on that gwme, he hit Bate deep to open the game and missed every vertical shot as the snow got thicker from there on out. It made it way harder for us to move as they packed the line more and more. The deep shots were a huge part of that teams identity and when it gets cold and windy, it just gets harder and can gum up the rest of what you do.
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I may be misremembering, but didn't Faalele go down with injury early on in that game, causing a large chunk of the offensive gameplan to be thrown out?
 


jonnyganas said:
I may be misremembering, but didn't Faalele go down with injury early on in that game, causing a large chunk of the offensive gameplan to be thrown out?
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That could be but I don’t remember for certain. Just remember the snow and wind getting worse and balls seeming to hang on Tanner and us losing about every 50/50 ball we could after the deep one early
 

upnorthkid said:
That could be but I don’t remember for certain. Just remember the snow and wind getting worse and balls seeming to hang on Tanner and us losing about every 50/50 ball we could after the deep one early
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My main memory was Tanner getting hit early and often. The Wisconsin front was so disruptive to both run and pass. The pass game was thrown off getting behind schedule, and with rushed passes, deflected passes, flustered QB.
 

Unfortunately the weather didn't stop Jack Coan from throwing the ball all over the field that game.

The idea that you can't run a pass heavy offense in the big ten is extremely outdated thinking.
 

upnorthkid said:
It’s mixed. You use the vert routes to spread field both vertically and horizontally but it’s where the stick (hitch and corner combo) and mesh routes (with someone there to take the top off) got their advent. It’s not “dominated” I agree, but you need to have the hits in there or the offense doesn’t go if they don’t respect it.

And on that gwme, he hit Bate deep to open the game and missed every vertical shot as the snow got thicker from there on out. It made it way harder for us to move as they packed the line more and more. The deep shots were a huge part of that teams identity and when it gets cold and windy, it just gets harder and can gum up the rest of what you do.
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Good post. I think Gophs really lost the game on defense...Wisc ran that sideline bubble type screen pass like four times. Everyone in the building knew they were going to when they lined up, and there seemed to be no adjustment from the coaching staff to try to take it away.
 

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