Gophers need the best version of Tanner Morgan moving forward

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Ekwall:

Minnesota fans have seen the highs and lows Tanner Morgan has brought to the table over his 5 seasons as the Gophers starting quarterback.

Morgan owns several school records, including TD passes in a season (30 in 2019) and yards in a season (3,253 in 2019). He’s also 31-13 as a starter. The dude knows how to win.

But Morgan has a reputation for laying an egg now and then. Who can forget the 14-10 loss to Bowling Green a year ago? He finished 5-of-13 for 59 yards. His 2 late interceptions thwarted any chance of a Gophers comeback. The Falcons left Minneapolis victorious as 31-point underdogs.

Or how about last year’s 14-6 loss to Illinois? Morgan was sacked 6 times and threw 2 picks as the Gophers’ offense failed to find any rhythm.

Morgan’s last outing — a 20-10 loss to Purdue — brought back similar vibes. His stat line was better against the Boilers, but he failed to throw a TD pass and was intercepted 3 times by the opportunistic Purdue defense.

When he’s good, he’s really good​

Morgan has shown on many occasions that he has the tools to be an elite QB in the Big Ten. His 2019 season was a record-setting one. One that may not be rivaled by another Gophers QB for a long while.

Minnesota finished 11-2 as Morgan put up those huge numbers. He threw 4 TDs in a game twice (Purdue and Northwestern) and went over 300 yards on 3 occasions. He finished with 30 touchdowns and just 7 picks.

Many national pundits thought it was just the beginning for Morgan. But a COVID-shortened 2020 season slowed his momentum. And in 2021, inconsistency plagued Morgan and the entire Gophers offense. Whispers about his struggles arose.

But Morgan couldn’t have scripted a better start to 2022. Minnesota sprinted to 4-0, as the senior threw for 7 TDs and only 1 pick. Mo Ibrahim’s presence in the backfield made the multidimensional offense difficult to defend. The hype train was heating up.

But Ibrahim missed the Purdue game with a leg injury. Forced to pick up the slack, Morgan was unable to do so. The loss of leading receiver Chris Autman-Bell hasn’t helped. Purdue negated the run and forced Morgan to beat it with his arm.

He finished 18-of-33 for 257 yards, but threw 3 picks. The Gophers offense found the end zone just once.

According to head coach PJ Fleck, Ibrahim is slated to return against Illinois. The Gophers were held to their lowest rushing total since 2015 in the Purdue loss. Ibrahim’s health and availability are a huge key moving forward.

saturdaytradition.com

Minnesota football: Gophers need the best version of Tanner Morgan moving forward

For all his winning over parts of 5 seasons, Tanner Morgan remains a wildcard in Minnesota's quest to conquer the West.
saturdaytradition.com saturdaytradition.com

Go Gophers!!
 

We are supposed to have 3 of the highest grades offensive players in the country. Hope we see that play out on Saturday.
 


Yup, Tanner does things that can be very, very frustrating at times; but in the bad games it seems like it all starts when the O-Line decides to crap all over themselves on that day for some reason and we can never adjust.
 

U2Gopher said:
Overall, I agree with the sentiment of this article, but what the hell is Morgan supposed to do when a clear TD pass bounces off his receiver’s hands? That ain’t his fault.
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That catch should have been made but Purdue dropped 2 potential interceptions too.
 





I don't think it's just Morgan.

The Gopher offense works best when all the components are contributing - OL, running game, WR's, TE's and the QB.

you can't just tell the QB to "play better." In order for the QB to play better, the OL has to do its job, the WR's and TE's need to get open and catch the ball, and - maybe most important - the running game has to be effective.

Morgan is never going to be the type of QB who throws the ball 50-times a game. He works best when the passing game and running game compliment each other.

the Gophers lost to Purdue because - IMHO - the OL and RB's didn't play well. Morgan is a good QB, but he's not good enough to win a game by himself.
 



Don't want to be a broken record, but they decided to go conservative with the offensive gameplan and it did not work. As others pointed out, Purdue crowded to line just like MSU did to begin the game. The difference was the play selection. Had they used the plan executed against MSU, I think the results would have been different.
 
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PMWinSTP said:
Don't want to be a broken record, but they decided to go conservative with the offensive gameplan and it did not work. As others pointed out, Purdue crowded to line just like MSU did to begin the game. The difference was the play selection. Had they used the plan executed against MSU, I thik the results would have been different.
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How did we go conservative exactly?

1st series was run, run, dropped pass that would have been a 1st down, Punt.

2nd series was Pass, Run for 1st down, Deep Shot that drew PI penalty on Purdue, incomplete pass, Interception.

3rd series was Run, Pass, Run on 3rd and Short, 4th run on 4th and short (horrible play call).

That isn't a conservative gameplan, it was actually a fairly aggressive gameplan with poor execution. From a play selection standpoint I hated the play we ran on the famous 4th down but outside of that the play selection was fine we just didn't execute on the field for one reason or another.

Our problem against Purdue wasn't that we were too conservative, the problem was we didn't make plays when we had the opportunities. Against MSU we got up big early and everything was clicking. Against Purdue that wasn't the case at all. Purdue's defense deserves a lot of credit for that as they made Morgan uncomfortable and limited opportunities for the RB to be successful. That combined with a bunch of unforced errors led to Purdue winning the game.
 

MNVCGUY said:
How did we go conservative exactly?

1st series was run, run, dropped pass that would have been a 1st down, Punt.

2nd series was Pass, Run for 1st down, Deep Shot that drew PI penalty on Purdue, incomplete pass, Interception.

3rd series was Run, Pass, Run on 3rd and Short, 4th run on 4th and short (horrible play call).

That isn't a conservative gameplan, it was actually a fairly aggressive gameplan with poor execution. From a play selection standpoint I hated the play we ran on the famous 4th down but outside of that the play selection was fine we just didn't execute on the field for one reason or another.

Our problem against Purdue wasn't that we were too conservative, the problem was we didn't make plays when we had the opportunities. Against MSU we got up big early and everything was clicking. Against Purdue that wasn't the case at all. Purdue's defense deserves a lot of credit for that as they made Morgan uncomfortable and limited opportunities for the RB to be successful. That combined with a bunch of unforced errors led to Purdue winning the game.
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Yep, just got beat mano a mano too many times. Did anyone perform well or have an above average or great game?
 

FredCoxRocks said:
Yup, Tanner does things that can be very, very frustrating at times; but in the bad games it seems like it all starts when the O-Line decides to crap all over themselves on that day for some reason and we can never adjust.
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100% correct. Last year's losses (BG, Illinois) and this year's loss to Purdue could be blamed on OL.

Praying for the old PJ+Kirk bye week prep magic!
 



jonnyganas said:
100% correct. Last year's losses (BG, Illinois) and this year's loss to Purdue could be blamed on OL.

Praying for the old PJ+Kirk bye week prep magic!
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Yep, very few QBs look good when the protection breaks down around them. Morgan has proven that when he does have time to work he can be great.

Illinois coming off a very physical game with Iowa and our guys being well rested will hopefully work in our favor. That and the coaches having that extra week to study film and figure out the best ways to attack and defend Illinois.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yep, very few QBs look good when the protection breaks down around them. Morgan has proven that when he does have time to work he can be great.
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Nobody is expecting Tanner to look like Lamar Jackson out there. The problem is that he gets cement feet whenever the protection breaks down.

The fact is, your offense will 100% be limited if your QB can't extend plays. Sometimes a pash rush gets the better of your o-line. This happens to every team. And guys that can consistently evade pressure to make a play downfield (hell, even if it's just stepping up in the pocket) will always give your offense an edge.
 

MNVCGUY said:
How did we go conservative exactly?

1st series was run, run, dropped pass that would have been a 1st down, Punt.

2nd series was Pass, Run for 1st down, Deep Shot that drew PI penalty on Purdue, incomplete pass, Interception.

3rd series was Run, Pass, Run on 3rd and Short, 4th run on 4th and short (horrible play call).

That isn't a conservative gameplan, it was actually a fairly aggressive gameplan with poor execution. From a play selection standpoint I hated the play we ran on the famous 4th down but outside of that the play selection was fine we just didn't execute on the field for one reason or another.

Our problem against Purdue wasn't that we were too conservative, the problem was we didn't make plays when we had the opportunities. Against MSU we got up big early and everything was clicking. Against Purdue that wasn't the case at all. Purdue's defense deserves a lot of credit for that as they made Morgan uncomfortable and limited opportunities for the RB to be successful. That combined with a bunch of unforced errors led to Purdue winning the game.
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The first series was key and they started run, run. That was the problem. Brohm even said in his press conference early in the week that they were going to focus on stopping the run, just like Michigan St.

They should have come out throwing like they did against Michigan St. The first play was an 11 yard pass. 3 of the first 4 plays were passes. Then they were 2nd and long due to a penalty, Michigan St expected them to throw, then Mo broke the 20 yard run. Then they threw it again for a first down on the next play.

They did almost the same thing on the 2nd series. Both led to TDs. They threw to open up the run game and it worked really well. Against Purdue they tried to start by running into the teeth of the defense. It didn't work and we fell behind.
 

I look back at the Purdue game: we play like complete crap on OL. We drop a clear TD that likely flips the script to our favor. We run for 40 yards....and yet the game was still there for the taking.

Tanner can't Arodg the game for us. But when the offense is in synch, he can be ultra effective.

The OL needs to be ready or Berts DL will fire off on them.

And for God's sakes MBS, catch the d*** ball.
 

Morgan needs the running game to be working on be effective. Hopefully he gets that. He’s not winning games on his own.
 



short ornery norwegian said:
Morgan is never going to be the type of QB who throws the ball 50-times a game. He works best when the passing game and running game compliment each other.

the Gophers lost to Purdue because - IMHO - the OL and RB's didn't play well. Morgan is a good QB, but he's not good enough to win a game by himself.
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All of that is true but the best teams figure out a way to compensate when they are forced out of their comfort zones. You may not want to throw the ball 40 + times per game on a regular basis but you should be ready and willing if the circumstances force you to do that.

We had a good 8-4 regular season team last year but we might have had a good 9-3 team if we could have gotten a little better performance from the passing game when Illinois held us to 89 rushing yards.
 

U2Gopher said:
Overall, I agree with the sentiment of this article, but what the hell is Morgan supposed to do when a clear TD pass bounces off his receiver’s hands? That ain’t his fault.
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Probably not throw the other 2 ints?
 

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