Chip: P.J. Fleck shouldn't treat Gophers passing game as an afterthought this season

[BleedGopher]

Per Chip:

The Gophers didn't need to throw the ball to trample overmatched New Mexico State last week. Nor does coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca need to unveil his entire playbook against FCS member Western Illinois on Saturday. Expect another heavy dose of run, run, run, run.

Eventually, the Gophers will be forced to rely on their passing game, and unlike last season, this shouldn't become an unrealized theory. They have a savvy play-caller with Ciarrocca back running the operation, a quarterback who has started 40 games and enough playmakers at receiver and tight end to avoid treating their passing game as an inconvenience or afterthought.

P.J. Fleck shouldn't treat Gophers passing game as an afterthought this season

Offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca has veteran QB Tanner Morgan and enough pass-catching options to keep defenses off-balance.

m.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[El Amin Fan]

100% agree. We can do wheat ever we want vs these lesser teams but we will need to open the passing game to win the West.

 

[stocker08]

Thanks....Captain Obvious.

 

[cjbfbp]

100% agree. We can do wheat ever we want vs these lesser teams but we will need to open the passing game to win the West.

Throughout his time here, Fleck has used these non-conference games against weaker opponents to work primarily on the run game. The beginning of the highly successful 2019 season was the perfect example of that. That was the greatest passing season of my time as a Gopher fan (which is a shorter time frame than for most who post here) but he started that season going to the running game significantly more often than the passing game even if it wasn't working nearly as well.

Like it or not, this team has a clear offensive identity. It's goal is to chew up the clock and dominate possession time with grind-it-out drives and the running game is the primary component of that.

 

[noamfromm]

Throughout his time here, Fleck has used these non-conference games against weaker opponents to work primarily on the run game. The beginning of the highly successful 2019 season was the perfect example of that. That was the greatest passing season of my time as a Gopher fan (which is a shorter time frame than for most who post here) but he started that season going to the running game significantly more often than the passing game even if it wasn't working nearly as well.

Like it or not, this team has a clear offensive identity. It's goal is to chew up the clock and dominate possession time with grind-it-out drives and the running game is the primary component of that.

I doubt any would argue that it wasn't the greatest gopher passing offense of all time