Chip: No more service academy offense. No more run, run, run, run, run. The Gophers have a young QB with a cannon arm and a reservoir of confidence.

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fmlizard said:
I think we've seen that Fleck will coach to the players he has. Gophers had a relatively prolific pass offense when there were future NFL receivers on the roster.

The WRs balled out yesterday. Even more than Athan. Several difficult contested catches and the final TD was pure speed, turning the standard 10 yard RPO slant into a game-breaker.

The roster may be shifting in the direction of the pass game again. I'm excited.
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Me too.

Next season, we lose Ibrahim. That, combined with Kaliakmanis' skill set, will dictate a change in run/pass ratio.

Handing the ball to Mo was never a dumb idea.
 

PMWinSTP said:
It was clear to me they went into yesterday planning to throw much more, not because the run game was slow during the game.
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RememberMurray said:
If Mo had been crushing the Badgers the way he ran through the Hawkeyes, Kaliakmanis might have had 15-18 pass attempts.
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Agree with Murray. No matter what, the coaches deserve some credit here. After Iowa, there was an avalanche of posts calling out PJ and Kirk. After yesterday, there are a lot of posts talking about the passing game, Athan, etc. But not many posts praising PJ and Kirk for the game plan.
 

Gophers1992 said:
Exactly. Even with a missed FG (and missed opportunity to hit BSF the play before) and a rare Mo fumble, our running game still put us in a position for a game winning drive at the end, when we threw a pick. I can’t wrap my head around the people who are calling for us to throw it more against Iowa.
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The fact that this confounds someone in 2022 is shocking, especially after watching yesterday's game.
 





goldengophers said:
The fact that this confounds someone in 2022 is shocking, especially after watching yesterday's game.
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If Mo had run for 200 yards yesterday, you would have seen far fewer pass attempts by the Gophers. And that would have been the smart, logical thing to do.

Wisconsin and Iowa both have good defenses. But Iowa makes an art out of creating turnovers in the passing game. The Gophers had a logical game plan last week (for Iowa), and a logical game plan yesterday.

Different opponents, different conditions, and different levels of success with our run game dictated a different approach.
 

PMWinSTP said:
I think Evans will step up at RB.
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I think so too, but I don't know if he is the same type of back as Ibrahim. To my eye, Evans doesn't look like a low-to-the-ground, thick-bodied, bowling ball type, a la Mo.

Evans looks speedier, but maybe not as punishing. I hope he can catch the ball out of the backfield; that would add a new wrinkle.
 




RememberMurray said:
I think so too, but I don't know if he is the same type of back as Ibrahim. To my eye, Evans doesn't look like a low-to-the-ground, thick-bodied, bowling ball type, a la Mo.

Evans looks speedier, but maybe not as punishing. I hope he can catch the ball out of the backfield; that would add a new wrinkle.
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That's way too much analysis on what a running back with limited carries might do.

Let's just trust the coaches, ok?
 

RememberMurray said:
If Mo had run for 200 yards yesterday, you would have seen far fewer pass attempts by the Gophers. And that would have been the smart, logical thing to do.

Wisconsin and Iowa both have good defenses. But Iowa makes an art out of creating turnovers in the passing game. The Gophers had a logical game plan last week (for Iowa), and a logical game plan yesterday.

Different opponents, different conditions, and different levels of success with our run game dictated a different approach.
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Down 10-0, we were forced against Iowa to go with a different approach for one series.

I saw this with my own eyes.
 

kg21 said:
That's way too much analysis on what a running back with limited carries might do.

Let's just trust the coaches, ok?
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Oh, I do trust the coaches. I think there's a fair chance that the coaches might be better at game-planning and personnel decisions than Keyboard Koordinators and hot-take, knee jerk columnists and sports radio celebrities.

So, I won't be calling for firings or benchings any time soon. Those decisions are in far more capable hands.
 



goldengophers said:
The fact that this confounds someone in 2022 is shocking, especially after watching yesterday's game.
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I mean you can’t just point to a totally different game and say “see, this is what works”. Different opponent, different weather, different effectiveness in the running game. It’s not as simple as you want it to be.
 

Don't have a subscription so maybe the whole story is better but disappointed in the last few bits from Chip that have been posted here. Chip always came across as pretty fair and even handed but last couple have felt far more Twin Cities Media like than what he usually puts out there.
 

Gophers1992 said:
I mean you can’t just point to a totally different game and say “see, this is what works”. Different opponent, different weather, different effectiveness in the running game. It’s not as simple as you want it to be.
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But when I play Madden I can call the same plays over and over again and they work everytime. :)
 

MNVCGUY said:
Don't have a subscription so maybe the whole story is better but disappointed in the last few bits from Chip that have been posted here. Chip always came across as pretty fair and even handed but last couple have felt far more Twin Cities Media like than what he usually puts out there.
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He just doesn’t know football that well. So he tries to have a hot take and it’s not a good take, not informative, just sad

He’s a good reporter though. Bad columnist.
 

RememberMurray said:
Oh, I do trust the coaches. I think there's a fair chance that the coaches might be better at game-planning and personnel decisions than Keyboard Koordinators and hot-take, knee jerk columnists and sports radio celebrities.

So, I won't be calling for firings or benchings any time soon. Those decisions are in far more capable hands.
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who called for firings and benchings?
 

Gophers1992 said:
We ran for over 300 yards on over 6 yards per carry against Iowa. Do people really think the issue was that we ran the ball too much? Not a fumble, missed FG, and an interception?
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Yes. Yes i do. We threw away possessions and scored 10 points.

Fleck was terrified of his own team. They lost because he was so afraid of making a mistake or two that a mistake or two was too much to overcome.
 

kg21 said:
Go get 2 more receivers. Pay one of them big NIL money. Won't happen, but one can dream.

One game does not convince me of anything at wide receiver. Against MSU, we were back with the passing game, and everything was going to be fine.

Dylan for most part seems to be a lob it up guy and hope for the best. Jackson seems like a solid three.

We need someone who is fast and can consistently get open. Someone who can get good separation. Easier said than done.
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We don't need portal receivers. First priority for portal help is Oline. This year's line was great at run blocking (until yesterday) but has been weak all year on protection. AK was staring down a jail break on many downs.
 


PMWinSTP said:
It was clear to me they went into yesterday planning to throw much more, not because the run game was slow during the game.
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It was the game plan and a rare one indeed.
 


btowngopher said:
I’m happy with whatever works. There isn’t a magic percentage.
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Fleck and the coaches would love nothing more than to have a truly balanced offense where both the running game and passing game are legit threats. Why, because those offenses are really hard to stop, it is what we saw in 2019.

For most of this year the passing game struggled in games so the team relied on Mo who will go down as one of the greatest RB ever at the U.

But those looking at yesterday and saying it proves that what we did against Iowa was wrong are way oversimplifying things. What we did yesterday probably doesn't work against Iowa in the extreme cold and against that defense.
 

Dakota2 said:
We don't need portal receivers. First priority for portal help is Oline. This year's line was great at run blocking (until yesterday) but has been weak all year on protection. AK was staring down a jail break on many downs.
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Why not both?

Are you saying it's offensive line or wide receiver?
 

minnyrules11 said:
The ideal offense was 2019 or even first 4 games of this year and Wisconsin.
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Agreed but some of us are still not sure that Fleck will have a conversion. He had no choice against Wisconsin. Past history indicates that he likes to hold the ball and chew up the clock. The time of possession was pretty much even against Wisconsin.
 

I am glad that Chip read my comment from yesterday. :)

AK was a stud today.

I am hoping we can get some high-end WR recruits now. We appear to be a legitimate throwing team, for the next 3 years.
 

cjbfbp said:
Agreed but some of us are still not sure that Fleck will have a conversion. He had no choice against Wisconsin. Past history indicates that he likes to hold the ball and chew up the clock. The time of possession was pretty much even against Wisconsin.
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I'm guessing the game plan would have been much more conservative had we pulled off that Iowa game.
 

RememberMurray said:
Oh.
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He might be right. They did come out from the start throwing more. The fact that the Gophers fell behind 0-3 on the first drive of the game might have helped. Then, Athan completing his first 5 passes for a total of 102 yards to put the Gophers up 7-3 immediately afterward had to make the coaches think that staying with passing game was probably a good idea.
 

RememberMurray said:
If Mo had run for 200 yards yesterday, you would have seen far fewer pass attempts by the Gophers. And that would have been the smart, logical thing to do.
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Well, one can't know that in the opening drives. See my reply to your earlier post.
 

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