FIRE GREG HARBAUGH

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Great Plains Gopher said:
We should have Emmett Johnson, who leads the B10 in rushing and is #2 in the nation at nearly 6 yards per carry. A Minnesota "Mr. Football" from Minneapolis, he wasn't recruited by PJ, yet wanted to play here. Recruiting is the problem.
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Well he would’ve been our RB3 or 4 entering the year

Thus would’ve starting
 



gopherfan007 said:
PJs good ole boys club, hiring cordinators that have been loyal to him instead of a polished professional. Sad.
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Not sure who to blame for this situation but that is all we can get for these jobs. No experenced coordinator would come here and work for this pay. And when we find a good up and coming one they leave right away and get close to double the pay from another team. So if we want anybody better we better find a way to start paying the going rate. You get what you pay for.
 




gopherbadgerman said:
lol. Blaming the coaches after every bad play is the laziest take of all. The coach didn’t fall down making that catch and making a bad throw. The coach did not run that route one yard too short of the first down.
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Agreed, but when the same things happen. Game. After Game. after Game. Season after Season. At what point do the coaches actually take responsibility?

Or are we buying the game plan is always perfect. The play calling is fine. It's the roster that sucks?

Isn't the coaching staff also responsible for the roster?

Mind you, firing the current coordinators won't solve anything without chamges in the approach

We'll just go one step deeper in hoping the next unqualified guy PJ hires will figure it out. And if they do, stays.
 


caliGopher said:
Agreed, but when the same things happen. Game. After Game. after Game. Season after Season. At what point do the coaches actually take responsibility?

Or are we buying the game plan is always perfect. The play calling is fine. It's the roster that sucks?

Isn't the coaching staff also responsible for the roster?

Mind you, firing the current coordinators won't solve anything without chamges in the approach

We'll just go one step deeper in hoping the next unqualified guy PJ hires will figure it out. And if they do, stays.
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Fair points. I just think that it is always easy to blame the coaches for everything, which is what happens here a lot. They are not perfect by any stretch, but no one was complaining after the Nebraska game. I do feel that the OL has not been good, and it really hamstrings what you can call in a game and what can be executed. There were multiple times in the game last week where a WR was open and Drake missed them or threw to a different receiver, and a couple routes ran a yard short of the sticks, which I would guess was not the way the play was drawn up.

I would agree you get what you pay for, and the Gophers do not pay well for coordinators and assistants, and I think that one of the things that could benefit the team the most would be another million bucks in the assistant coaches pool.

Yes the staff is responsible for the talent on the roster. If you look at the gophers recruiting rankings over the past 5-6 years they punch slightly above their weight, IMO. But it hard to compete with the top teams when you are between 35-50 in recruiting every year.

Overall my point was that everyone is so quick to jump on playcalling as a reason for something not working, when a lot of the time its execution or talent.
 



gopherbadgerman said:
Fair points. I just think that it is always easy to blame the coaches for everything, which is what happens here a lot. They are not perfect by any stretch, but no one was complaining after the Nebraska game. I do feel that the OL has not been good, and it really hamstrings what you can call in a game and what can be executed. There were multiple times in the game last week where a WR was open and Drake missed them or threw to a different receiver, and a couple routes ran a yard short of the sticks, which I would guess was not the way the play was drawn up.

I would agree you get what you pay for, and the Gophers do not pay well for coordinators and assistants, and I think that one of the things that could benefit the team the most would be another million bucks in the assistant coaches pool.

Yes the staff is responsible for the talent on the roster. If you look at the gophers recruiting rankings over the past 5-6 years they punch slightly above their weight, IMO. But it hard to compete with the top teams when you are between 35-50 in recruiting every year.

Overall my point was that everyone is so quick to jump on playcalling as a reason for something not working, when a lot of the time its execution or talent.
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"But it [sic[ hard to compete with the top teams when you are between 35-50 in recruiting every year."
Yes, but the question is never answered here (let alone asked) WHY is it difficult to recruit to Mpls? Even before NIL it was.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
We need someone with Koii Perich athletic ability and speed on offense. Honestly I would be ok with having Perich focus more on playing on offense, take him off special teams and defense more to play some offensive series. You throw him a smoke screen or tunnel, he may break off a big play due to his speed and size. I think we have enough guys in the safety room that can play that we could give him some reps at Wide receiver like what Travis Hunter did. I'm probably only one that thinks this but he seems like he could help the team on offense. If Darius Taylor were healthy any of what I say here would be moot. We sure could use that type of athlete at WR with all the injury's. On those second down runs up the middle we are seeing them try the wham or Crack backs off the edge with the tight ends, rather than a lead block with a FB, and it is totally ineffective, if anything those are clogging up rush lanes more than generating any crease and bring too many defenders to the middle of the field. Those plays are creating to much congestion, I know they have used it a lot in the past but this year, that has not bern an effective play. Not generating any kind of seal to either side of the center, just congestion. I'm not in favor of firing anyone, to me the head coach has too much equity, has had a lot of staff turnover but he has equity in promoting and developing people decent enough. I would like to see Harbaugh be a little more creative from week to week. Are things perfect no, but to me this has actually been a decent coaching year with all the new people on defensive side of the ball. I lived through the Wacker years as a student, exciting offense, couldn't stop a feather on defense. I will take winning, and less style points over losing shoot outs of high scoring games most weeks.
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I really like that idea. Koi is certainly contributing this year, but I feel he would be much more valuable on offense this year, given how the offense is underperforming. I'd be pleased to see Koi take more reps, maybe the majority or all of his reps, on Offense at WR--especially against Oregon--to use his speed and dynamism. We need more downfield passes to open thing up a bit for our mediocre run game and to keep defenses honest. We've got a lot of talent at safety; we could really use more athleticism and football IQ at WR.

Our contested catch success ratio is ridiculously low. Koi has the ability to be an above 50/50 contested catch guy, and would no doubt draw some PI calls as well. Drake could have the green light to go downfield to Koi whenever there was single man coverage with no safety on top?? Deploying Koi this way (WR first) might change the whole WR set up, taking some pressure off of Javon Tracy (who has shown flashes) and raising up other talented newbies such as Jalen Smith and Malachi Colman, who might draw less attention from the defense.

This would be a radical mid-season shift, but it could be something really positive and jolt the offense awake. We've got one of the least effective offenses in the B1G. Move some more talent over to it. A more effective offense would help our defense, which is doing some amazing things on Sacks and TFLs, but is simply on the field for too long stretches as the game wears on. Our defense needs fewer three-and-outs from our offense. Mid-season shake-ups are rare, but the Robb Smith changed worked ... just sayin'.

In other news, I'd start to employ our true Frosh RBs now. They've got fresh legs and both are talented. Give them some meaningful battle reps. Use them against Oregon and NWern (which I think might preserve their red-shirts, if that is a deal for PJ). Rest them against the Badgers. God help us if we need them against the Badgers.
 
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FanSinceTheFifties said:
"But it [sic[ hard to compete with the top teams when you are between 35-50 in recruiting every year."
Yes, but the question is never answered here (let alone asked) WHY is it difficult to recruit to Mpls? Even before NIL it was.
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Outside of this board and hardcore fans, Minnesota is an afterthought as a FB power. Limited interest and honestly from a broad perspective MN is not a winning program. PJ has had some consistency but never a true breakout season (2019 was very good though 2020 and covid really did not allow any momentum to build after that season). Imagine no covid and the Gophers come back and have a 11-2 type season in 2020 and follow it up with another 9-10 win season in 2021, all of a sudden they have 3 straight seasons being ranked all year, in contention for B10 title games, and the vibe has totally shifted.

Indiana caught lightning in a bottle with Cignetti, their year last year was similar to the 2019 Gopher season, but they have been able to build momentum off it this year and are the talk of college football. I truly believe that with no Covid if the Gophers would have started off 2020 8-0 or something they would have been what Indiana is now. They stared that season ranked. Just my $02.
 

FanSinceTheFifties said:
"But it [sic[ hard to compete with the top teams when you are between 35-50 in recruiting every year."
Yes, but the question is never answered here (let alone asked) WHY is it difficult to recruit to Mpls? Even before NIL it was.
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Has been asked and answered thousands of times on this site.

Local talent base and climate are two huge factors.
 



The trend on O isn't good. Some of it is having an experienced quality QB but there's more to it than that. Since there's probably been some learning on the job, the real question is whether there is upside from here.

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gopherbadgerman said:
Fair points. I just think that it is always easy to blame the coaches for everything, which is what happens here a lot. They are not perfect by any stretch, but no one was complaining after the Nebraska game. I do feel that the OL has not been good, and it really hamstrings what you can call in a game and what can be executed. There were multiple times in the game last week where a WR was open and Drake missed them or threw to a different receiver, and a couple routes ran a yard short of the sticks, which I would guess was not the way the play was drawn up.

I would agree you get what you pay for, and the Gophers do not pay well for coordinators and assistants, and I think that one of the things that could benefit the team the most would be another million bucks in the assistant coaches pool.

Yes the staff is responsible for the talent on the roster. If you look at the gophers recruiting rankings over the past 5-6 years they punch slightly above their weight, IMO. But it hard to compete with the top teams when you are between 35-50 in recruiting every year.

Overall my point was that everyone is so quick to jump on playcalling as a reason for something not working, when a lot of the time it’s execution or talent.
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The guys that PJ chose for coordinator, he could’ve paid half of what they’re getting now and they would’ve still taken the job.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Has been asked and answered thousands of times on this site.

Local talent base and climate are two huge factors.
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And money. We don't have the money to pay guys like the OSU's and Michigans do.
And don't tell me "well NIL is new." Guys have been getting paid under the table for decades. We simply have never had the level of boosters and bagmen of the major programs.
 

disco said:
And money. We don't have the money to pay guys like the OSU's and Michigans do.
And don't tell me "well NIL is new." Guys have been getting paid under the table for decades. We simply have never had the level of boosters and bagmen of the major programs.
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We all laugh at the SEC's "It just means more" slogan but you don't see many teams killing it in recruiting that don't come from areas where the college football program is king and has an almost cult like level of dedication to it.
 

Haven't read through much of this but will just point to one play I noticed.

It was the 2nd quarter I believe, 3rd and 5. We line up with 3 WR to the left (bottom of TV screen). Michigan St lines up with 2 DBs to that side and a safety deep over the top about 15 yards away. So that clearly shows they are at least lining up in zone. Then we motion one of the WR to the other side.

My first thought is, why? It's 3rd and relatively short and there's a clear numbers advantage (3 vs 2) as the safety is pretty deep and can't affect anything short or medium from where he is at. If all 3 WRs run short to medium routes, someone will be open.

It's one play and it's hard to get much of a breakdown from the regular broadcast but that stood out to me. Is that a scheme thing? Did Lindsey check to the wrong thing?
 

GophersInIowa said:
Haven't read through much of this but will just point to one play I noticed.

It was the 2nd quarter I believe, 3rd and 5. We line up with 3 WR to the left (bottom of TV screen). Michigan St lines up with 2 DBs to that side and a safety deep over the top about 15 yards away. So that clearly shows they are at least lining up in zone. Then we motion one of the WR to the other side.

My first thought is, why? It's 3rd and relatively short and there's a clear numbers advantage (3 vs 2) as the safety is pretty deep and can't affect anything short or medium from where he is at. If all 3 WRs run short to medium routes, someone will be open.

It's one play and it's hard to get much of a breakdown from the regular broadcast but that stood out to me. Is that a scheme thing? Did Lindsey check to the wrong thing?
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I don't disagree, but I suspect the motion in that case wasn't a change in play as much as part of the original play call.

But we do line up 3 bunched together often and then those players kinda vanish.
 

GophersInIowa said:
It was the 2nd quarter I believe, 3rd and 5. We line up with 3 WR to the left (bottom of TV screen). Michigan St lines up with 2 DBs to that side and a safety deep over the top about 15 yards away. So that clearly shows they are at least lining up in zone. Then we motion one of the WR to the other side.
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Could also be man designed in zone, and the motion confirms if it is or not. Without knowing the play you're referring to, it's possible MSU would roll and extra player out or the safety comes down closer to the snap. Lots of ways for man to look like zone and vice versa pre snap.
 

Ski-U-Ham said:
Could also be man designed in zone, and the motion confirms if it is or not. Without knowing the play you're referring to, it's possible MSU would roll and extra player out or the safety comes down closer to the snap. Lots of ways for man to look like zone and vice versa pre snap.
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Yep, in this case though the defense didn't adjust much at all with the motion. There was a shift earlier with little adjustment as well. It was zone.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Yep, in this case though the defense didn't adjust much at all with the motion. There was a shift earlier with little adjustment as well. It was zone.
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I suspect with how often they did similar motions, they formations to get a 2 high safety coverage and then motioned into a run formation to either run or play action

If they weren’t getting something specific the likes from doing it it was asinine how often they did a similar motion.
 

There was a play later in the game and Grimm says on the radio, Mich St has 10 guys on the line of scrimmage just daring us to throw it over the top. That’s frustrating to hear driving down the road. I suspect it’s a combination of talent and blocking just not allowing us to punish that.
 


gopherbadgerman said:
Outside of this board and hardcore fans, Minnesota is an afterthought as a FB power. Limited interest and honestly from a broad perspective MN is not a winning program. PJ has had some consistency but never a true breakout season (2019 was very good though 2020 and covid really did not allow any momentum to build after that season). Imagine no covid and the Gophers come back and have a 11-2 type season in 2020 and follow it up with another 9-10 win season in 2021, all of a sudden they have 3 straight seasons being ranked all year, in contention for B10 title games, and the vibe has totally shifted.

Indiana caught lightning in a bottle with Cignetti, their year last year was similar to the 2019 Gopher season, but they have been able to build momentum off it this year and are the talk of college football. I truly believe that with no Covid if the Gophers would have started off 2020 8-0 or something they would have been what Indiana is now. They stared that season ranked. Just my $02.
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No question winning begets winning. And yes, outside of alums the Gophers are not the hot sports item in Minnesota. Very unlike things in Iowa, Alabama, Oklahoma, et al. Indiana is an encouraging example for UM. They were once a bottom of the conference team. But so was Wisconsin in my youth. Then they became a power and now they're down.
 

The root of all our offensive problems is the run game. We just don’t have enough talent at WR to be a good, one-dimensional offense. I’m also assuming that is why we call so many quick passes.

I’m willing to give Harbaugh one more year at OC, but there has to be a plan in place to fix the run game. Not sure if it’s scheme or talent, but the regression these past two years despite (relatively) highly-rated recruits is by far the biggest disappointment for me.

Fleck’s teams need to run the ball to have any success against good teams.
 

I really hate the style of our offense. I know it annoyed a lot of people when we ran a different style, but give me an offense based on RPO, power running, and max protect passing.

I hate the short passing game in college football.
 

Outsider said:
There was a play later in the game and Grimm says on the radio, Mich St has 10 guys on the line of scrimmage just daring us to throw it over the top. That’s frustrating to hear driving down the road. I suspect it’s a combination of talent and blocking just not allowing us to punish that.
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Well they called 43 passes so it certainly wasn’t because they refused to call passes
 

Some guy said:
Well they called 43 passes so it certainly wasn’t because they refused to call passes
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My thought was essentially they were daring us to throw it down field and it appears we can’t beat anyone one on one to do that.
 

Outsider said:
My thought was essentially they were daring us to throw it down field and it appears we can’t beat anyone one on one to do that.
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True

I don’t remember many plays with 10 on the line of scrimmage though
 

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