Greg Harbaugh: Coaching MVP

Gopherphile

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I can’t believe I’m writing this but the Gophers’ transition to a modern pro-style offense seems complete. Lindsey is doing wonders pre-snap and is able to change pace and play in rhythm as a redshirt freshman. I’ve never been more intrigued by a Gophers’ offense and our ability to adapt should make the program much more saleable to top talent.

Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes and Badgers seem stuck in neutral. It seems clear to me that Harbaugh is a savvy student of the game and his ability to accelerate our offense into the present is “elite”.
 

You must've been absent from the in-game thread lol.

That being said, I don't know enough about the intricacies of playcalling but if you have a freshman qb who went 31/41 with 3 TDs against a P4 opponent with a solid team and established coaching staff, you called an amazing pass game and are at the very worst a mid tier P4 coordinator. Hats off to Harbaugh.
 

Lindsey would make a lot of playcallers seem good.

But seriously ... if you can give him time, players will come open, it's just human nature you can't cover forever, and Lindsey can hit them.
 

Need to scheme better in the 4th and 1’s and the 3rd and 4 plays. They adjusted though in the last driver. Kudos on the adjustments
 

I can’t believe I’m writing this but the Gophers’ transition to a modern pro-style offense seems complete. Lindsey is doing wonders pre-snap and is able to change pace and play in rhythm as a redshirt freshman. I’ve never been more intrigued by a Gophers’ offense and our ability to adapt should make the program much more saleable to top talent.

Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes and Badgers seem stuck in neutral. It seems clear to me that Harbaugh is a savvy student of the game and his ability to accelerate our offense into the present is “elite”.
Wow! I know you’re excited about the win, and that’s great! Enjoy it, but you’re also very premature on this post. I hope he continues to get better and you’re right, but right now you’re not. This offense has a ways to go.
 


From Fleck post-game interview:

You guys used motion, bunches, stacks. How key was that to being able to set up access to cleaner releases for your receivers?

PJ Fleck: That was huge for us. There are two things. They're playing quarters and they're playing man, and they're keeping everything the same. It looks the same, but the tell tale sign is the motions and the short motions and the reverse motions, because you've got to unfold it somehow. Because if not, you're going to get out flanked. You better communicate on defense if you are gonna banjo that, or you're going to pass that off, that's fine, but if you're going to make it look like zone but it's man, that's pretty risky with all those types of shifts and motions.

So we were able to get a beat on the man/zone stuff, and I thought our guys did a tremendous job of using that really wisely. I thought one of the biggest plays in the game was the block field goal. We miss a field goal, they get one blocked. That's football.

But you're 100% right. I thought Greg did a great job of being able to peel back the onion and give Drake the keys. A lot of people don't know how much this is an NFL system. I think Max Brosmer is excelling because of the type of system we have here. But I think that there's certain things that make a quarterback really special.

One - run game, can you get us into the right run call? There's times he has three runs you can call at the line of scrimmage, and it's all like, it's not like, hey, look over here and I'll tell you which way to run. He has the choice of that based on him and Greg's talk and experience, and he could get us in the right run.

Two - third downs. I thought Drake was tremendous on third down tonight. And then can you go win a game in two minutes.

Quarterbacks, in the NFL that's how they go get paid. You want to be a two, three, $400 million quarterback? Go, understand the run game, get us in the right plays, go win in two minute, and be really good on third down and move chains. And I think that's what I thought Drake did a tremendous job of today.
 


People do realize Rutgers has given up

31 to ohio with 440 yards and 240 yards passing
368 yards to Miami Ohio (that same team shut out and gave up ~110 yards)
and gave up 38 points to Iowa

Rutgers is 126th in defensive efficiency. There are 136 teams for reference
 





People do realize Rutgers has given up

31 to ohio with 440 yards and 240 yards passing
368 yards to Miami Ohio (that same team shut out and gave up ~110 yards)
and gave up 38 points to Iowa

Rutgers is 126th in defensive efficiency. There are 136 teams for reference
Was definitely a good opponent to have his first Big Ten game against. But it is also ok to be excited about what we are seeing from our redshirt freshman QB who is very much not playing like a freshman.

Big test for him next weekend against Ohio State in a really tough road environment. Will be interesting to see how he handles things.
 

Was definitely a good opponent to have his first Big Ten game against. But it is also ok to be excited about what we are seeing from our redshirt freshman QB who is very much not playing like a freshman.

Big test for him next weekend against Ohio State in a really tough road environment. Will be interesting to see how he handles things.
oh i'm all in on Lindsey. more meaning don't think i'd grant Harbaugh a whole lot of leash based on putting up points against this Buttgers defense

i expect he'll get confused next week, face a ton of pressure, but also show some poise and make some good throws to go along with the mistakes. and that's totally ok. Super tough environment and an OSU defense that looks very legit
 

oh i'm all in on Lindsey. more meaning don't think i'd grant Harbaugh a whole lot of leash based on putting up points against this Buttgers defense

i expect he'll get confused next week, face a ton of pressure, but also show some poise and make some good throws to go along with the mistakes. and that's totally ok. Super tough environment and an OSU defense that looks very legit
Hopefully our receivers can get open next week. Think it will be a lot tougher.
 




oh i'm all in on Lindsey. more meaning don't think i'd grant Harbaugh a whole lot of leash based on putting up points against this Buttgers defense

i expect he'll get confused next week, face a ton of pressure, but also show some poise and make some good throws to go along with the mistakes. and that's totally ok. Super tough environment and an OSU defense that looks very legit
My biggest concern for Drake next weekend is how uncomfortable he has looked running the ball because there is a good chance he is going to see a ton of pressure and is going to have to move/escape or he is going to get killed.

Main thing for Harbaugh is figuring out what Drake can handle and giving him as much as possible. They didn't get many plays to work with in the first half but they got rolling later in the game.
 

Hopefully our receivers can get open next week. Think it will be a lot tougher.
Liked seeing Biber get some action alongside Geers. Plus Geers has apparently gotten past his dropsies.
 


My biggest concern for Drake next weekend is how uncomfortable he has looked running the ball because there is a good chance he is going to see a ton of pressure and is going to have to move/escape or he is going to get killed.

Main thing for Harbaugh is figuring out what Drake can handle and giving him as much as possible. They didn't get many plays to work with in the first half but they got rolling later in the game.
he also gets the ball out super quick most of the time. think the bigger part, and hopefully what they drill all week, is the connection between he and the hot receiver with exotic blitzes coming at him. drake seems like he can "handle" it all, but a ton of that comes down to chemistry and reps and is part of what Brosmer did so well behind a pretty shitty OL last year. seems like drake has really learned that "throw into the blitz" that many QBs never learn.
 


I am not a big X and O schemer but I think we're really missing the short pass from QB to Taylor out of the backfield or 5 yards or so yards downfield. These are essentially strung out running plays with Darius' very good yards after catch production. We did see a couple I think with No. 7 but no where near what would be seen with Taylor in the backfield.
 

The short yardage package needs to go back to the workshop. The lack of success there has had a massive impact against every FBS team we’ve played this year.
i don't know if its going to matter a ton this week. The OSU run defense is going to be a pretty scary proposition to face
 



Wow! I know you’re excited about the win, and that’s great! Enjoy it, but you’re also very premature on this post. I hope he continues to get better and you’re right, but right now you’re not. This offense has a ways to go.
I made the audacious claim that we have successfully transitioned to a pro style offense and that this style of football should make the program more attractive and your first instinct is to tell me to simmer down? How am I being “premature”?

The mentality of some of the gopher fan base is mind boggling to me. I’ll try and calm my tits, though. Wouldn’t want to wake you from a nap.
 




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