Gophers' to-do list: Get Athan Kaliakmanis settled in; deliver more explosive plays (MN & Sam Houston St only 2 teams out of 132 w/o a gain of 30+)

[BleedGopher]

Per Randy:

Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck issued a challenge to his offensive staff in the offseason. He changed his team's definition of explosive plays, increasing the yardage needed to gain from 20 yards to 25 in order to fall into that category.

"You talk about it in the summer, and we met as a staff on it. 'You can get 25 yards. That's easy,'" said Greg Harbaugh Jr., co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. "It's not that easy."

Harbaugh, the team's primary play-caller, knows that all too well.

Through three games, according to the website cfbstats.com, the Gophers and Sam Houston State are the only two of 132 FBS teams without a gain of 30 yards or more. Minnesota has 40 plays that have gained 10 yards or more, and 10 plays of 20 yards or more.

Gophers' to-do list: Get Athan Kaliakmanis settled in; deliver more explosive plays

The Gophers have yet to produce a gain of 30 or more yards, and the path toward fixing that starts with sophomore quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[RememberMurray]

The Gophers are 2-1, and there's a pretty fair chance they will be 4-1 soon, going into a huge game vs Michigan.

Is it possible that every nerdy, pencil-neck 'internet sports dude' knows exactly what the Gophers "need" to do?

I doubt it very much.

Stay the course, P.J. Play FleckBall. The Gophers will be fine.

 

[Some Day...Maybe]

The Gophers are 2-1, and there's a pretty fair chance they will be 4-1 soon, going into a huge game vs Michigan.

Is it possible that every nerdy, pencil-neck 'internet sports dude' knows exactly what the Gophers "need" to do?

I doubt it very much.

Stay the course, P.J. Play FleckBall. The Gophers will be fine.

They won’t be fine against MI, IA and OSU if they don’t get a shit ton better on offense. Probably add WI in there too.

 

[RememberMurray]

They won’t be fine against MI, IA and OSU if they don’t get a shit ton better on offense. Probably add WI in there too.

Were you thinking they'd beat Michigan and Ohio State this season?

If so, why were you so optimistic?

 

[Gophergrandpa]

The problem with an offense that produces no explosive plays is that it can't come back from a deficit of 10 or more points (unless the defense scores for it). This year's OC has dialed up a lot of downfield throws that could have produced explosive plays. But Athan and his receivers just haven't found a way to complete this passes. If this frustrating trend continues, the Gophers will be very lucky to win 7; if the Gophers can find a way to produce several explosive plays a game, 8-9 wins is still very realistic.

 

[matt]

Stay the course, P.J. Play FleckBall. The Gophers will be fine.

The Gophers are one of the two worst teams in football in this category. Do you want them to maintain that course? It is very clear the offense has been a huge issue. Do you think Fleck and Harbaugh should fix the issue or keep doing what they have done the last two games?

 

[btowngopher]

The problem with an offense that produces no explosive plays is that it can't come back from a deficit of 10 or more points (unless the defense scores for it). This year's OC has dialed up a lot of downfield throws that could have produced explosive plays. But Athan and his receivers just haven't found a way to complete this passes. If this frustrating trend continues, the Gophers will be very lucky to win 7; if the Gophers can find a way to produce several explosive plays a game, 8-9 wins is still very realistic.

You have to think the plays will come. It’s not like they will continue to miss every deep shot. Taylor has been close to breaking a few big runs as well.

 

[MNVCGUY]

The Gophers are one of the two worst teams in football in this category. Do you want them to maintain that course? It is very clear the offense has been a huge issue. Do you think Fleck and Harbaugh should fix the issue or keep doing what they have done the last two games?

Zero doubt they have to find a way to get more chunk plays. They have called some that could have gone for big gains but have failed to execute them.

My main thing is that I still don't think we really know what kind of offense we are going to be this season. Game one was against a funky defense and featured a lot of short passing to make up for the lack of run game. Game 2 the emphasis was clearly on the run game. And in game 3 the QB and WR/TE had a bad day overall missing on lots of opportunities that could have made the outcome of that game much different.

Will be interesting to see what kind of attack they go with against Northwestern. Wouldn't surprise me to see some deep shots taken in order to try and generate some explosive plays.

 

[btowngopher]

The Gophers are one of the two worst teams in football in this category. Do you want them to maintain that course? It is very clear the offense has been a huge issue. Do you think Fleck and Harbaugh should fix the issue or keep doing what they have done the last two games?

I’m more concerned with ironing out the red zone efficiency. Not that worried about the big plays, I think they will come. We’re still putting together drives, but need to end them with TDs.

 

[HoustonTXGopher]

The first “Big” play will come from a run!

 

[Panthadad2]

I’m more concerned with ironing out the red zone efficiency. Not that worried about the big plays, I think they will come. We’re still putting together drives, but need to end them with TDs.

Agreed on the redzone. It almost seems like the strategy so far has been to fool the defenses. The one that drives me nuts is trying to pass out of the jumbo pack with only one or two realistic receiving options; almost as bad as running in jumbo but using a non-power back in Tyler instead of Taylor or Williams. That seems half-committed to me. Either pound the sh*t of the defense in jumbo or spread it out. Just my opinion.

 

[60's Guy]

There have to be passes/routes AK8 delivers accurately nearly 100% of the time in practice.
The receiver drops the ball on occasion, who doesn't drop the dang thing?
Scheme the offense to call those routes....if AK8 does not have routes he can consistently be accurate on then he shouldn't be the guy.
Tanner had the slants....what's AK8 got? It is absolutely not short passes to the backs or TE...they are too fast and off target. He must be able to consistently throw intermediate routes? We also know he is off target throwing deep. They must see something during practice to feel he's the guy? If the the only thing he has is a good personality, good size and a strong scattered arm....he's not the guy. So, it seems there must be something he does well in practice? ....run that...give teams something they gotta stop....hopefully find a counter.
But right now we got nothing we can count on other than running the ball with one freshman tailback.

 

[Gophergrandpa]

The first “Big” play will come from a run!

Could well be right. We might see Taylor's (or Tyler's) home run capability before Athan's ... But for this season to be a success, we really, really need see the QB and receivers generating explosive plays.

 

[Dakota2]

The Gophers are one of the two worst teams in football in this category. Do you want them to maintain that course? It is very clear the offense has been a huge issue. Do you think Fleck and Harbaugh should fix the issue or keep doing what they have done the last two games?

The Gophers are one of the two worst teams in football in this category. Do you want them to maintain that course? It is very clear the offense has been a huge issue. Do you think Fleck and Harbaugh should fix the issue or keep doing what they have done the last two games?

The game plan was good at NC. Several receivers were open on medium deep routes. AK missed them. A few other times he threw a good ball that was dropped. Yes, keep doing it.

 

[Dakota2]

Zero doubt they have to find a way to get more chunk plays. They have called some that could have gone for big gains but have failed to execute them.

My main thing is that I still don't think we really know what kind of offense we are going to be this season. Game one was against a funky defense and featured a lot of short passing to make up for the lack of run game. Game 2 the emphasis was clearly on the run game. And in game 3 the QB and WR/TE had a bad day overall missing on lots of opportunities that could have made the outcome of that game much different.

Will be interesting to see what kind of attack they go with against Northwestern. Wouldn't surprise me to see some deep shots taken in order to try and generate some explosive plays.

The first two games were dictated by the opponents. I think we saw the real offensive identity in game 3. Plan was fine; execution was awful. It will come.

What I would love to see Saturday would be Evans emerging from wherever he has been to operate as a reliable 2nd back.

 

[Dakota2]

There have to be passes/routes AK8 delivers accurately nearly 100% of the time in practice.
The receiver drops the ball on occasion, who doesn't drop the dang thing?
Scheme the offense to call those routes....if AK8 does not have routes he can consistently be accurate on then he shouldn't be the guy.
Tanner had the slants....what's AK8 got? It is absolutely not short passes to the backs or TE...they are too fast and off target. He must be able to consistently throw intermediate routes? We also know he is off target throwing deep. They must see something during practice to feel he's the guy? If the the only thing he has is a good personality, good size and a strong scattered arm....he's not the guy. So, it seems there must be something he does well in practice? ....run that...give teams something they gotta stop....hopefully find a counter.
But right now we got nothing we can count on other than running the ball with one freshman tailback.

They not only see something in practice they like, they saw it on the field last year.

 

[Jack jones]

The Gophers are one of the two worst teams in football in this category. Do you want them to maintain that course? It is very clear the offense has been a huge issue. Do you think Fleck and Harbaugh should fix the issue or keep doing what they have done the last two games?

Isn’t the definition of insanity- doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result?

 

[MNVCGUY]

The first two games were dictated by the opponents. I think we saw the real offensive identity in game 3. Plan was fine; execution was awful. It will come.

What I would love to see Saturday would be Evans emerging from wherever he has been to operate as a reliable 2nd back.

A healthy Williams could fill that role as well. Also not ready to give up on Tyler just yet.

 

[Dakota2]

A healthy Williams could fill that role as well. Also not ready to give up on Tyler just yet.

Yes, Bryce can carry six or eight times a game if he’s good to go. Not sure what his latest injury might be. I’m not giving up on Tyler as a contributor, just don’t think he’s a guy that can carry the running game any extended period.

 

[60's Guy]

They not only see something in practice they like, they saw it on the field last year.

I liked him last year too. I don't see him in practice...I agree they do see him in practice...they also see him in games...but in games he is a different QB this year. Different delivery, different poise, different performance, different accuracy etc etc
I'm not talking statistics for anybody who wants to say the numbers are similar...I'm talking about he's playing very differently in the way he does things...and none are positives.

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

You can win with running, if you have a decent passer to open the running game (say 60% or better and reliable) combined with a good defense. We have two out of the three now.

 

[HoustonTXGopher]

The first “Big” play will come from a run!

Finally, a prediction that I made came true. LOL. #1

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Finally, a prediction that I made came true. LOL. #1

Does Chunky Taylor work?