Minnesota Football: Evaluating Year 6 of the P.J. Fleck era

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O-Line is (IMHO) the biggest question mark for 2023. Losing Schmitz at C and both starting OG's.
I would not be surprised to see MN add an OL candidate in the next phase of the transfer portal.

One thought - could Carroll move inside and put Lewis at OT? or vice-versa? however it happens, the coaches have to get the best 5 OL in the lineup and figure out a way to make it work.
 

B.

The problem with 2 of the 4 L's is that they are completely on the players. The losses to iowa and purdue are 100% on the players.

Penn State is a better team and we were starting a rookie QB.

Illinois D was amazing and DeVito played out of his mind.

It sucks because this was the year to make the Big10 title game.
 

Our young guys can handle it without drop off. They have years of being 2s, scout team, nutrition and training. The OL should reload from the young guys every year. Every year.
 

Rockraven said:
Our young guys can handle it without drop off. They have years of being 2s, scout team, nutrition and training. The OL should reload from the young guys every year. Every year.
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I didn’t quote SON cause I will not be responsible for another heart attack. See, SON knows who I am. Lol.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
O-Line is (IMHO) the biggest question mark for 2023. Losing Schmitz at C and both starting OG's.
I would not be surprised to see MN add an OL candidate in the next phase of the transfer portal.

One thought - could Carroll move inside and put Lewis at OT? or vice-versa? however it happens, the coaches have to get the best 5 OL in the lineup and figure out a way to make it work.
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Everyone was worried losing most of the OL after last year. Offense was actually statistically better this year. I believe it will be next year as well.
 



Average offense and above average defense per article. Gophers bolstered wide receiver and give the keys to the car to a 4-star recruit QB. Offense should nudge up, maybe more than a nudge.
 

Texan Gopher said:
B.

The problem with 2 of the 4 L's is that they are completely on the players. The losses to iowa and purdue are 100% on the players.

Penn State is a better team and we were starting a rookie QB.

Illinois D was amazing and DeVito played out of his mind.

It sucks because this was the year to make the Big10 title game.
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The Iowa loss is on the coaching staff. Sorry, it is.

The drive they called the TD they had a bunch of successful passing plays. Then they don't call passing plays for most of the rest of the game.

On Mo's "put da team on my back doh" drive: you call 15 runs in a drive, then suddenly "Oh crap, we're finally in third and long, hey Athan throw a perfect pass, hope you're still warm!!"

And the pass was fine, their DB played it perfectly because he's very talented, and then we get the most unlucky bounce on the break-up that could possibly happen.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
O-Line is (IMHO) the biggest question mark for 2023. Losing Schmitz at C and both starting OG's.
I would not be surprised to see MN add an OL candidate in the next phase of the transfer portal.

One thought - could Carroll move inside and put Lewis at OT? or vice-versa? however it happens, the coaches have to get the best 5 OL in the lineup and figure out a way to make it work.
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In a perfect world, neither Shaw nor Boe starts next year—IMO. They are limited athletically and will likely struggle against high end competition and it would be nice if a couple of the redshirt freshman types are ready to go. Those kids are much more athletic and I’d rather struggle for a few games while youngsters get some run than struggle with career back ups. Carroll looks the part, but he’s gonna have to play a lot better next year and he likely will. Even though he’s an older kid last year was his first go around he hadn’t played much football for three years.
 



Rockraven said:
Drake is a great QB and has proven that. I do believe Athan can match him. Both are/will be outstanding. Given a choice of the two I’ll take Athan. Potentially a higher ceiling and we will have better WRs at least in my opinion.
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Lol. Maye has 4300 yards and 38tds this year. Athans ceiling is higher than that?
 

Rockraven said:
Drake is a great QB and has proven that. I do believe Athan can match him. Both are/will be outstanding. Given a choice of the two I’ll take Athan. Potentially a higher ceiling and we will have better WRs at least in my opinion.
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So just the QBs are playing this game?
 


Gopherchase said:
In a perfect world, neither Shaw nor Boe starts next year—IMO. They are limited athletically and will likely struggle against high end competition and it would be nice if a couple of the redshirt freshman types are ready to go. Those kids are much more athletic and I’d rather struggle for a few games while youngsters get some run than struggle with career back ups. Carroll looks the part, but he’s gonna have to play a lot better next year and he likely will. Even though he’s an older kid last year was his first go around he hadn’t played much football for three years.
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I don't know about Shaw, because I don't think we've seen much of him, but Boe has been out there a fair bit in meaningful reps and as an additional TE.

It's a very similar role to what Ruschmeyer served before he finally got his chance this year to be a starter (in a non-covid year).

So I think he (Boe) could be like next year's version of Ruschmeyer.
 



Gophers_4life said:
I think the disappointment part is how we lost the Purdue and Iowa games, and what winning those games would have meant. An opportunity that we aren't likely to get again for a very long time.

It's a different kind of disappointment than thinking you're going to have a great year but then going 7-6 on the year.


In some ways, it's a worse kind, but in other ways it is better.
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This....we win those games and we are playing today vs Utah.

Quite literally 3-4 plays kept us from the Rose Bowl: Mo fumble and Athan Int vs Iowa & MBS stone hands and Trickett shank vs Purdue.

Imagine if MBS catches that Pass and Athans pass is batted down. We likely kick the FG and win vs Iowa and the probability of winning vs Purdue is very high....sigh
 


Gophers_4life said:
I don't know about Shaw, because I don't think we've seen much of him, but Boe has been out there a fair bit in meaningful reps and as an additional TE.

It's a very similar role to what Ruschmeyer served before he finally got his chance this year to be a starter (in a non-covid year).

So I think he (Boe) could be like next year's version of Ruschmeyer.
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I think Boe will be fine at C. The real issue is who's going to play at RG and RT.
 

Thomasthetank said:
This....we win those games and we are playing today vs Utah.

Quite literally 3-4 plays kept us from the Rose Bowl: Mo fumble and Athan Int vs Iowa & MBS stone hands and Trickett shank vs Purdue.

Imagine if MBS catches that Pass and Athans pass is batted down. We likely kick the FG and win vs Iowa and the probability of winning vs Purdue is very high....sigh
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I don't think we're in the Rose Bowl, because I don't think we'd get picked over Penn State. I don't think we have any chance to win that game, or the Illinois game.

So I think beating Purdue and Iowa would have put us in the Citrus bowl vs LSU, where Purdue got blown out of the water. To be fair, I have no idea who opted out or was injured for Purdue, and Brohm had long ditched them prior to the game.
 


Gophers_4life said:
I don't think we're in the Rose Bowl, because I don't think we'd get picked over Penn State. I don't think we have any chance to win that game, or the Illinois game.

So I think beating Purdue and Iowa would have put us in the Citrus bowl vs LSU, where Purdue got blown out of the water. To be fair, I have no idea who opted out or was injured for Purdue, and Brohm had long ditched them prior to the game.
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Don't know about the Purdue defense but their offense was decimated by opt outs.
 

Thomasthetank said:
This....we win those games and we are playing today vs Utah.

Quite literally 3-4 plays kept us from the Rose Bowl: Mo fumble and Athan Int vs Iowa & MBS stone hands and Trickett shank vs Purdue.

Imagine if MBS catches that Pass and Athans pass is batted down. We likely kick the FG and win vs Iowa and the probability of winning vs Purdue is very high....sigh
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I understand what you are saying here. But not to throw a wrench into your what-ifs, outside of the Trickett FG, if the other plays mentioned were in our favor, then the games would have been totally different from how they ended. Who knows? We could have won or lost all four. or a combo thereof.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
I understand what you are saying here. But not to throw a wrench into your what-ifs, outside of the Trickett FG, if the other plays mentioned were in our favor, then the games would have been totally different from how they ended. Who knows? We could have won or lost all four. or a combo thereof.
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I don't think we beat Illinois or Penn State on the road even if we win the Purdue game. Those two felt like we just didn't have it (Illinois) and then Athan's first game (PSU) when Morgan got punched in the head but it wasn't a penalty.

Iowa is basically an isolated result.
 

Thomasthetank said:
This....we win those games and we are playing today vs Utah.

Quite literally 3-4 plays kept us from the Rose Bowl: Mo fumble and Athan Int vs Iowa & MBS stone hands and Trickett shank vs Purdue.

Imagine if MBS catches that Pass and Athans pass is batted down. We likely kick the FG and win vs Iowa and the probability of winning vs Purdue is very high....sigh
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Which 3-4 plays do Iowa and Purdue get to flip into their favor? Can they decide on their own, or will you pick for them?
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
I understand what you are saying here. But not to throw a wrench into your what-ifs, outside of the Trickett FG, if the other plays mentioned were in our favor, then the games would have been totally different from how they ended. Who knows? We could have won or lost all four. or a combo thereof.
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I get it. It isn't a for sure but if these things happen, thr probability of us winning those games goes up drastically.

If we even kick a 45 yard FG w 2 Min to go, we win vs Iowa.

The Purdue game is more in doubt but if we get those 10 pts, our winning probability is likely >90%.

Sigh
 


How many B1G teams won 9 games or more? 4 Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Minnesota.
 


hello-world said:
This was the worst offense that the Gophers have put on the field since 2017. No real receiving threat. Inconsistent QB play. Bland play calling. The good news is that it's hard to get much worse than what happened below.

Minnesota's offense this year:
  • Had a first-year (kinda?) offensive coordinator that had to re-install his system
  • Turned over all but one of its offensive lineman during the offseason
  • Lost its top receiving threat after three games
  • Lost its best RB for what turned out to be the most important game
  • Went through an unplanned QB transition during the season
  • That transition festered due to multiple injuries that lasted all the way through the bowl game
Hard to imagine it gets any worse than that. I'm not sure what Minnesota's offense would have looked like if Weber and Decker got knocked out in 2008 but I imagine it would have looked a lot like what we saw this year.

I'm hopeful going into next season. KC will have had more time to re-install his offense. Athan will have had an entire off-season to prepare. The offensive line should be a little older. The receiving room should be a little better. Many of Minnesota's rivals are going through coaching transitions while Minnesota's staff appears to be stable.

If the first four games of 2022 were any indication of what this team _could_ have looked like, then there is a lot of reason to be excited.

Next year is really about keeping it "one week at a time." Gophers probably aren't putting together another 9-win season and Minneapolis sports media is probably going to be calling for PJ's head by the bye week.
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Nice post. People don't think about how quickly the last OC/Fleck tore down the 2019 system. I never really thought about the extra work KC has to put in to get us back to that level of play. Pretty sure that KC had to have a difficult conversation with Fleck about the WR room.

9 Win average over the last 4 true seasons. 8 wins over the 6 seasons. (Excluding 2020). Worst case, you average out 2020 and say we finished 5-7 that season, it's still over 7.5 wins per season.
 

PhiloVance said:
How many B1G teams won 9 games or more? 4 Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Minnesota.
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Makes things a bit more frustrating on what this team left on the field. 20/20 hindsight, this team should have been in Indy 2 or 3 times in the last 3, full 12 game seasons.
 

Rockraven said:
Our young guys can handle it without drop off. They have years of being 2s, scout team, nutrition and training. The OL should reload from the young guys every year. Every year.
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I agree. OL is not an issue in this program. The issue being able to overcome a slugfest with more explosive plays or keeping up with a team that our defense struggles against.
 

Gophers_4life said:
The Iowa loss is on the coaching staff. Sorry, it is.

The drive they called the TD they had a bunch of successful passing plays. Then they don't call passing plays for most of the rest of the game.

On Mo's "put da team on my back doh" drive: you call 15 runs in a drive, then suddenly "Oh crap, we're finally in third and long, hey Athan throw a perfect pass, hope you're still warm!!"

And the pass was fine, their DB played it perfectly because he's very talented, and then we get the most unlucky bounce on the break-up that could possibly happen.
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It's been pointed out, that Athan threw to the wrong side of the field.
 

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