Nine Years of PJ's Offense

[Gophergrandpa]

I ran a per-game-average of PJ's offenses in the 9 years he has been here. The Tanner/Ciarocca years were pretty darn good. Our defense wasn't always up to snuff in those years, but the offense was a steady performer, with one great year (2019). In 2019, only Ohio State and Penn State had more prolific offenses in the B1G. This year's offense, and indeed the entire three year's of Harbaugh's tenure, don't really measure up. The Gophers have really regressed on offense. The interesting point for me is that PJ appears to be recruiting better than in his early years here, and he is adding talent via the portal, making the relative lack of explosive plays under Harbaugh's play calling more evident. We picked on Danny Collins and the defense this season for some notable lapses that cost us games (e.g. Northwestern). But the recent "arc" of the offense under Harbaugh--with a little bump up in Max's year--appears to be the greater obstacle by far when it come to getting back to 9 and 10 win seasons. Thoughts?

 

[mngg11]

I've seen a lot of complaints about the big play limitations of a West Coast offense, which is Harbaugh's offensive philosophy. I don't know a ton about Xs and Os but I'd look into that as being a primary factor. It might help in terms of qb development for the pros but apparently doesn't relate well to the college game and limits the running game(?). Someone who knows more can chime in

 

[Gopherchase]

Mo and a good OL I think explains it to a large degree. No fan of our current OC as even with those gifts he would probably have dampened our results. Mo ought to get a cut of PJ’s salary without him history would be a lot different IMO. ‘19 being an exception with Morgan on fire and the prolific passing attack ta boot.

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

To me it starts with the big boys up front. Without a push in the rushing game, it's difficult to have sustained drives. Sustained drives = more yardage. Just in the eyeball test, the OL in the last two seasons has not gotten consistently good pushing in the rushing attack.

Fix that, and lots of things will fall nicely into place.

 

[NotAFanOfBecky]

To me it starts with the big boys up front. Without a push in the rushing game, it's difficult to have sustained drives. Sustained drives = more yardage. Just in the eyeball test, the OL in the last two seasons has not gotten consistently good pushing in the rushing attack.

Fix that, and lots of things will fall nicely into place.

100% agree!

 

[GoGophersUMN]

I kind of expected it just by watching them play but the drop off in rushing the past two years is huge. This year also included running up the score on one of the worst FCS teams in the country and there's a good chance we'd be under 100 a game if we swapped that out for another middle of the pac MAC team.

I also looked at punts which is telling, 59 this year even before the bowl game compared to 46 and 47 in 2021 and 2022. 1 or 2 more drives per game either never got started or stalled due to the inability to convert on 3rd and short or 4th and short. It feels like all of those numbers would shoot up if the run game was just 10% better because there would be way more sustained drives and way fewer obvious passing downs.

 

[gopherbadgerman]

Players are not as good. Simple.

 

[Clairemont Gopher]

I think a more experienced O-line next year will be a big help. Lindsey will be better also, provided that his "weapons" are sufficiently retained/augmented. With prices rising, that may be problematic.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

I have little confidence in the current offensive leadership. I would like nothing more than to be proven wrong but I just don’t see much from the current offensive staff.

We saw the offense sort of decay as the year went on with AK (who then looked better at Rutgers) and similar downward trend over the year with Drake … and IMO underachieved with Brosmer….

 

[btowngopher]

Hard to get big plays when you don’t attempt long passes.

 

[Stuff]

Need to let Matt Simon call more plays. Simple.

 

[Some Day...Maybe]

I ran a per-game-average of PJ's offenses in the 9 years he has been here. The Tanner/Ciarocca years were pretty darn good. Our defense wasn't always up to snuff in those years, but the offense was a steady performer, with one great year (2019). In 2019, only Ohio State and Penn State had more prolific offenses in the B1G. This year's offense, and indeed the entire three year's of Harbaugh's tenure, don't really measure up. The Gophers have really regressed on offense. The interesting point for me is that PJ appears to be recruiting better than in his early years here, and he is adding talent via the portal, making the relative lack of explosive plays under Harbaugh's play calling more evident. We picked on Danny Collins and the defense this season for some notable lapses that cost us games (e.g. Northwestern). But the recent "arc" of the offense under Harbaugh--with a little bump up in Max's year--appears to be the greater obstacle by far when it come to getting back to 9 and 10 win seasons. Thoughts?
View attachment 41056

I’ve been saying this ever since Ciarocca left. Ciarocca is a hell of an offensive coach. PJ hasn’t been able to find a legitimate replacement for him. I miss the Ciarocca days. I just hope Harbaugh continues to develop. The worst part is Harbaugh has no run game.

 

[Some Day...Maybe]

Players are not as good. Simple.

Wrong

 

[btowngopher]

I’ve been saying this ever since Ciarocca left. Ciarocca is a hell of an offensive coach. PJ hasn’t been able to find a legitimate replacement for him. I miss the Ciarocca days. I just hope Harbaugh continues to develop. The worst part is Harbaugh has no run game.

I think he was probably a little ahead of defenses with the RPO offense, but since teams have caught on he’s been pretty average.

 

[Clairemont Gopher]

Hard to get big plays when you don’t attempt long passes.

The old "separation" problem needs to be addressed. It limits the kinds of routes we can run. When I see teams with enough speed to hit deep throws, I say "Oh, we don't have that play." I have hopes for Jaylen Smith, however.