No Debbie Downers thread

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I was looking at the stats for the NC game and came to the realization that we dropped back to pass more than we ran in the game!

Brosmer was 13/21, but also had 9 carries which were mostly scrambles or sacks. I think two were tush pushes so let's say he dropped back 28 times.

Running backs carried the ball 22 times.

Now, 28 drop backs for a net 160 yards is pretty disgusting, but Rome (i.e. the Gopher passing offense) wasn't built in a day. Is this progress? Since this is the "No Debbie Downers" thread, I say it is!
 


Defense looked really good. Linebackers were a bit shaky....but the line is going to be a force all year. The d-backs looked really solid as well.

Za'quan Bryan really flashed. Has the look of another excellent Gopher d-back....which we'll need when Walley moves on.
 

My main takeaway from the Gopher Gridiron podcast today was from former Gopher offensive lineman, Derek Burns. The Gophers do not have enough speed at receiver and their offensive lineman have trouble with slow feet. He said the best way to correct this is just better recruiting which, unfortunately, isn't a quick fix.

Why do I think this is not a Debbie Downer take?

1) Because it's something that can be fixed even if the fix isn't easy.
2) It's more specific than the coach sucks...although, admittedly, it could be because the coach sucks. Haha!

How did this impact us in the Iowa game?
- Our running game was terrible partly because our lineman just aren't very quick and defensive coordinators are taking advantage of it.
- In the second half, Iowa put less guys in the box and more guys into coverage. Even with less guys in the box, we couldn't run. We also couldn't pass because our receivers just aren't very good getting separation. With more defenders in pass defense, this problem got even worse.

Derek did complement Max Brosmer as being very good at beating zone coverage. He's an intelligent, experienced quarterback. It seems to me that he just has a lot to overcome with the lack of talent on offense right now.

Derek predicts more teams will play press man coverage against us in the future to take away Max's strength at beating zone. The best way to beat press man is to throw deep, but our receivers aren't fast enough to do this so it could just be tough for us this year.

The pod also noted how it seemed PJ didn't often seem to outcoach the competition. If you are close to parity in recruiting, coaching can really be a difference maker. Especially over the last few years, we've done very poorly vs. power 5 competition. Our record has been inflated, just like all other Big Ten teams, by playing lower level teams early in the year.

PJ needs to get more talent in a receiver room that's been down for a number of years. I'm glad to see he's allowing his quarterback to pass more. That will obviously help in recruiting better receivers. PJ has changed some things up this year and demonstrated that he is trying to "improve his best". The question is whether he'll succeed.

I'm still going to watch the Gophers this year and enjoy them and the comradery that it brings. My expectations will just be lower. History clearly demonstrates that Minnesota is NOT an easy place to win at football and the Big Ten is only getting tougher. That doesn't mean I can't enjoy watching the team. It's easier with more realistic expectations.
 

There is a difference between 4 and 5 star recruit vs the 3s and 2s fleck has. Its a recruiting issue.
 

oldman said:
There is a difference between 4 and 5 star recruit vs the 3s and 2s fleck has. Its a recruiting issue.
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Iowa doesn’t have a bunch more 4 and 5 star recruits, maybe slightly more but not much. Same with Wisconsin. Looking at losses last year, nor does Northwestern, I don’t see how PJ out recruits the programs above him unless a ton of NIL comes out of the sky. Did JMU have a bunch of 4 and 5 stars since they just piss pounded UNC? I’m guessing not. It’s more than just recruiting. There are plenty of 3 stars that have speed at WR because I see a bunch of them every year at the combine. Let’s get a few of those! Lastly, if it’s speed isn’t Hoskins one of the fastest guys on the team? Why doesn’t he play a bit then to provide a threat? Personally I don’t think it would matter because I don’t think Brosmer would have time to throw the ball with the pass blocking being the way it’s been.
 



NotAFanOfBecky said:
Iowa doesn’t have a bunch more 4 and 5 star recruits, maybe slightly more but not much. Same with Wisconsin. Looking at losses last year, nor does Northwestern, I don’t see how PJ out recruits the programs above him unless a ton of NIL comes out of the sky. Did JMU have a bunch of 4 and 5 stars since they just piss pounded UNC? I’m guessing not. It’s more than just recruiting. There are plenty of 3 stars that have speed at WR because I see a bunch of them every year at the combine. Let’s get a few of those! Lastly, if it’s speed isn’t Hoskins one of the fastest guys on the team? Why doesn’t he play a bit then to provide a threat? Personally I don’t think it would matter because I don’t think Brosmer would have time to throw the ball with the pass blocking being the way it’s been.
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I agree with both of you, NotAFan and oldman, recruiting is an issue, but it's also coaching. Recruiting has always been an issue for Minnesota because we don't have a good recruiting footprint, but we're not the only Big Ten program with that issue. If you have poor recruiting, then you really need to be able to coach the players up which means above average coaching. PJ needs to prove he's an above average Big Ten coach or I think we need to try again. We need to hope for an above average coach or an above average recruiter. Getting both would be even better, but is a tough ask given the competitiveness of the Big Ten. The one thing we have now is money to pay coaches. We can use the TV money for that. Will we? Our administration hasn't proven that so far since we have below average pay for our coaching staff. I think that might be out of PJ's control so I blame people higher up for that.

On the positive side of things, our team is better because of TV money and NIL. Look at how we blasted Nevada and Rhode Island. In the past, I think that Nevada game is closer. We are pulling some of the best players up from the FCS (Max Brosmer, etc.) and non-P4 FBS up to our team. The problem is we aren't doing it any better than other Big Ten teams. I'd actually prefer a schedule with more non-conference games and less Big Ten games. Play four non-cons each year with two P4 (it's really a P2) & two lower level teams to pad our record a little, have a bit of a preseason and then play the brutal Big Ten schedule. A good year for us would be something like batting .500 in our Big games and sweeping the non-con so we end up 8-4. I hear TV people want less non-con games because it's all about money and the Big Ten games draw more viewers, but I think a lot of Big Ten teams aren't going to like their worse records moving forward. All our records will get worse on average if the conference is better, even the best teams will feel the pinch. I could see the teams pushing for more non-cons to make their fan bases happier because they'll win a little more often. Most TV viewers are fans of particular teams and you have more fans when you win more.
 

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