Morgan now with most QB wins in Gophers history

[UpAndUnder43]

If Ohio State passes just slightly more than the service academies Chris Olave is not an All-American. He is a guy running decoy routes or run blocking 70 times a game.

Gophers don’t have Olave, or other first rounders at every level on both sides of the ball. But you’re right.

 

[highwayman]

Most successful, yes. Greatest? I wouldn't go that far.

to me, "greatest" is more a measure of talent or ability as opposed to just wins and losses.

I appreciate what Morgan has done for MN, but I still think that he is somewhat limited athletically.

If Morgan is "the greatest" QB in Gopher history - that speaks volumes about where this program has been.

You should be ashamed. All he’s given this program. Say that to his face, please.

 

[Word]

What metric(s) are you using to judge greatness?

Here are some facts to help the discussion. I have posted this before but updated it to include all of Morgan's career stats. By just about every metric, Morgan is the best QB the Gophers have ever had. I will say it again, I think our fans have a warped sense of perception of what a good college QB looks like since this is an NFL town.

 

[imthewalrus]

Here are some facts to help the discussion. I have posted this before but updated it to include all of Morgan's career stats. By just about every metric, Morgan is the best QB the Gophers have ever had. I will say it again, I think our fans have a warped sense of perception of what a good college QB looks like since this is an NFL town.

View attachment 15548

Thanks!

 

[imthewalrus]

Thanks for posting the facts.

It would appear that we may suffer a bit of: “…fan fatigue…” syndrome and nfl tainted sense of what a quarterback means to the offensive & defensive style, objective and system the coach is building for sustainable, long term success at the University of Minnesota.

Morgan is winning Big Ten football games by doing the things it takes to play in the program that he plays in in the year 2021.

I hope Tanner Morgan returns to this team if that is what he decides he wants to do. Beat that stinking badger, Gopher!

 

[RememberMurray]

Here are some facts to help the discussion. I have posted this before but updated it to include all of Morgan's career stats. By just about every metric, Morgan is the best QB the Gophers have ever had. I will say it again, I think our fans have a warped sense of perception of what a good college QB looks like since this is an NFL town.

View attachment 15548

Wow. That is very informative. I kind of figured his numbers would look good in this context, but this really tells the story, doesn't it?

Yards per attempt, TD/100 attempt and INT/100 attempt especially.

 

[GopherVotary]

Morgan has been solid, but i wouldn’t go so far as to call him the best we’ve had. I would have loved to seen what Weber would have done under a stable coaching situation and not annual changes in OCs/offensive philosophies.

 

[Word]

Morgan has been solid, but i wouldn’t go so far as to call him the best we’ve had. I would have loved to seen what Weber would have done under a stable coaching situation and not annual changes in OCs/offensive philosophies.

And the current OC seems to have affected Morgan negatively. Morgan's stats would probably look more impressive if Sanford isn't the OC.

 

[imthewalrus]

Morgan has been solid, but i wouldn’t go so far as to call him the best we’ve had. I would have loved to seen what Weber would have done under a stable coaching situation and not annual changes in OCs/offensive philosophies.

However , that is not possible. It was Mason’s system that Weber redshirted under, but he got stuck playing for who ever that coach was that followed Mason. And so it went. Weber was another iron man… as was Leidner for kill/TC.

To Bud Grant, having players who were tough enough to show up on the field week after week, month after month and year after year said a LOT about the type of player he wanted and also said a lot about his coaching philosophy. (Of course, Grant never did win the whole shooting match) did he? But Joe Kapp’s toughness was a thing of beauty to Coach Grant and a fair number of Viking fans at the time. He certainly wasn’t a Montana or a Griese or a classic, dream team qb though.

Anyone who supports Fleck’s vision for building a team culture that can sustain, nurture and create a program that is competitive on a recurring basis must trust that the players that the coach builds his team around ARE the players HE feels will carry out his philosophy and maintain the culture he wants to compete in the Big Ten West conference with as he creates HIS program. As he always says: he may not be for everyone, but: “…it’s his life…now or never…” and he calls the shots and he is responsible. Seems to me he is changing the program in a positive way and at this point in the 2021 season, he and his program are still fighting to compete significantly with the usual suspects in the BT West.

Tanner Morgan is one of the players Coach Fleck will again send into battle with against that stinking badger. Beat that stinking badger, Gopher. Row the boat Gopher! And MANAGE that Gopher Team on the playing field the way you do, TM!

 

[imthewalrus]

By measures such as total yardage, TDs, etc. Tanner is, no question, one of the greatest Gopher QBs ever. I think there are other greatness measures, though. Sandy Stephens was QB of the Gophers’ national championship team in 1960 that beat, by a score of 27-10, a 6-0 Iowa team that was ranked No. 1 in the country (an Iowa team considered one of the top 50 college teams of all time). In 1961, Stephens took the Gophers back to the Rose Bowl (second consecutive year), was MVP of the Big Ten and of the Rose Bowl, was a consensus All American at QB, and was 4th in Heisman balloting. They didn’t play as many games back then, it was rare for a QB to get 4 seasons under his belt and the passing game was still in its infancy (not favored by the rules). Tough to pile up today’s “longevity” stats. Stephens instead piled up “major accomplishment” stats. As much as I like and respect Tanner, and admire him as a person and leader, judged by his accomplishments versus his peer 2018-21 QBs, Tanner ain’t no Sandy Stephens.

Tanner probably isn’t surrounded with as many great players as Stephens was either. Sandy was surrounded with Ohio State types of greatness: Bobby Bell, Eller, Tom Brown, et al. And a lot of those players played offense and some defense…it was such a different game then. Stephens WAS wonderful…not so flashy… but tough, hard nosed, physical and in the system he was in, a great manager of the offense. And OH MY, the defense on that team. Stephens even could play a bit of defensive back situationally. (Paul Giel even intercepted a pass or two back in the Wes Fessler era.). Paul was flashier than Sandy… but Sandy was a SOLID, physical player at 215 pounds, who could some nice Option stuff. He literally was a full time “wildcat” on a full time basis during an era of brutally physical football.!’Such a wonderfully different time…different place..,different game that era was!

 

[Dakota2]

Here are some facts to help the discussion. I have posted this before but updated it to include all of Morgan's career stats. By just about every metric, Morgan is the best QB the Gophers have ever had. I will say it again, I think our fans have a warped sense of perception of what a good college QB looks like since this is an NFL town.

View attachment 15548

That's a great and factual presentation. It pretty clearly shows two things:

1) Morgan has, on balance, the best numbers of any Gopher quarterback.

2) The bar is not high. Minnesota has never had a truly great quarterback.

 

[imthewalrus]

That's a great and factual presentation. It pretty clearly shows two things:

1) Morgan has, on balance, the best numbers of any Gopher quarterback.

2) The bar is not high. Minnesota has never had a truly great quarterback.

In the Big Ten, Purdue always was noted as QB University for much of the Last century.