Since 2019, every awful loss PJ has had has been relatively close. He could lie to himself that he wasn't the problem (even though it kept happening over and over again)...it could just be one dropped pass, one missed assignment...he was just unlucky. The last time there was any sort of awful blowout loss to a bad team (excluding 2020 because Covid was an excuse) was the Illinois game that got Robb Smith fired.
Maybe THIS was necessary for PJ to realize he needs to make major changes. This was the easiest conference schedule PJ will have for the rest of his tenure at Minnesota. A single loss to an Illinois or Purdue (much less both) type team will be almost impossible to recover from in the future.
Defensively, Rossi has always gotten way too much praise for holding down bad, one dimensional, B1G West offenses while we drain the clock with our offense. We've never shown we can hold down a good offense like an Iowa or Wisconsin has in past years. I think we are solid enough here not to make a change, but there should be an expectation to improve the tackling across the board in addition to tightening up the coverage.
Offensively, we need a total overhaul in philosophy. For supposedly being a run first team, we A. Don't create nearly enough explosive runs and B. Are not able (and most times don't try) to convert 3rd and 3 or less against fellow power 5 programs. Outside of Mo converting 3rd and shorts last season, those two issues have been there consistently for this program post 2019. The run stuff mirrors what we saw from the Kill/Claeys era. Even if we get to 3rd and 3 via the run, we're going to have to pass. Then we don't have a passing game that is any more likely to convert a 3rd and short than a 3rd and medium. The 2nd and long run plays are especially maddening for this reason.
Going to the portal for at least competition for Athan is mandatory. He's just not accurate enough. In the first half TD's were left on the board to Spencer and Jackson (and CrAB dropped another). There were WR's open all over the field and Athan was like 11/22. The second half (as always) was worse. Morgan was not good post 2019 and yet was never challenged. That mistake cannot be repeated again.
Wenger has to go. If there is no competition for Athan and Wenger is back next year, it will be really hard to believe that PJ will ever turn things around. I hope we can look back at today as an embarrassing, but necessary, even that spurred change to a better future for Gopher football.
Maybe THIS was necessary for PJ to realize he needs to make major changes. This was the easiest conference schedule PJ will have for the rest of his tenure at Minnesota. A single loss to an Illinois or Purdue (much less both) type team will be almost impossible to recover from in the future.
Defensively, Rossi has always gotten way too much praise for holding down bad, one dimensional, B1G West offenses while we drain the clock with our offense. We've never shown we can hold down a good offense like an Iowa or Wisconsin has in past years. I think we are solid enough here not to make a change, but there should be an expectation to improve the tackling across the board in addition to tightening up the coverage.
Offensively, we need a total overhaul in philosophy. For supposedly being a run first team, we A. Don't create nearly enough explosive runs and B. Are not able (and most times don't try) to convert 3rd and 3 or less against fellow power 5 programs. Outside of Mo converting 3rd and shorts last season, those two issues have been there consistently for this program post 2019. The run stuff mirrors what we saw from the Kill/Claeys era. Even if we get to 3rd and 3 via the run, we're going to have to pass. Then we don't have a passing game that is any more likely to convert a 3rd and short than a 3rd and medium. The 2nd and long run plays are especially maddening for this reason.
Going to the portal for at least competition for Athan is mandatory. He's just not accurate enough. In the first half TD's were left on the board to Spencer and Jackson (and CrAB dropped another). There were WR's open all over the field and Athan was like 11/22. The second half (as always) was worse. Morgan was not good post 2019 and yet was never challenged. That mistake cannot be repeated again.
Wenger has to go. If there is no competition for Athan and Wenger is back next year, it will be really hard to believe that PJ will ever turn things around. I hope we can look back at today as an embarrassing, but necessary, even that spurred change to a better future for Gopher football.
