Offense 79th, Defense 9th

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Some Day...Maybe

Some Day...Maybe

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The title reflects the scoring offense rank and scoring defense rank for last season. I thought Heatherman was the best DC Fleck has had. I’m a broken record, but I don’t know what makes people think this offense will be good to very good this season. It was 79th last season with a very good, very experienced QB.

I actually thought Harbaugh was better last season than the season prior. However, how much of that was Max Brosmar? Our running game was not very good. Therefore, we weren’t very balanced. Here comes the broken record part, until Fleck finds a good OC this team will continue to hover around 6 to 8 wins. A 9 win regular season will not happen. Not unless the D and ST play spectacular and the running game gets back to what it was, and even then it won’t be easy. Here’s to hoping Harbaugh takes a big step forward and continues to improve.

109th rushing yards
76th passing yards
71st first downs

1st 4th down conversions
21st 3rd down conversions
39th Red Zone

107th Total Offense
 
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I don’t know what makes people think this offense will be good to very good this season.
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I think that's the Gophers almost every year I've been a Gopher fan.

I don't know if it is coordinators or just not talent at WR (I don't see them getting open when it seems like the QB should be looking for them).
 
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To be fair, Iowa has had plenty of 8-10 win seasons with little to no offense. So it can be done. Our offense will never rank high with Fleck playing conservative ball to give the defense breathers. We're not going to have many (any?) drives that are under a minute this year that don't end in a punt.
 

If I had to guess the coaching strategy, we'll probably be grinding for wins with the run game and hoping for another year of being 10+ in turnover margin. It's not impossible, Drake being better than his experience level and the receivers being able to get separation will help with that.
 

mngg11 said:
If I had to guess the coaching strategy, we'll probably be grinding for wins with the run game and hoping for another year of being 10+ in turnover margin. It's not impossible, Drake being better than his experience level and the receivers being able to get separation will help with that.
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Our struggles on offense last year were largely IMO due to a below average offensive line. I know we lost Daniels but the 3 transfers look good on paper and hopefully some of our own guys step up. I think our success on offense will again depend on the o-line.
 















Some Day...Maybe said:
The title reflects the scoring offense rank and scoring defense rank for last season. I thought Heatherman was the best DC Fleck has had. I’m a broken record, but I don’t know what makes people think this offense will be good to very good this season. It was 79th last season with a very good, very experienced QB.

I actually thought Harbaugh was better last season than the season prior. However, how much of that was Max Brosmar? Our running game was not very good. Therefore, we weren’t very balanced. Here comes the broken record part, until Fleck finds a good OC this team will continue to hover around 6 to 8 wins. A 9 win regular season will not happen. Not unless the D and ST play spectacular and the running game gets back to what it was, and even then it won’t be easy. Here’s to hoping Harbaugh takes a big step forward and continues to improve.

109th rushing yards
76th passing yards
71st first downs

1st 4th down conversions
21st 3rd down conversions
39th Red Zone

107th Total Offense
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They literally were a missed kick away from 9 wins last year. Harbaugh is easily good enough to get to 9 wins, it’s not like he’s been working with a treasure trove of riches.
 


Ski-U-Ham said:
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Goldy approves... Soon enough the OL will be following Goldy's lead.
source.gif
 


If Max had another year of eligibility, there would be talk on this board about upsetting one of OSU or Oregon and sneaking into the CFP. I think the roster is in great shape and the only thing dampening enthusiasm is scar tissue from the last time we handed the reins to a young, inexperienced QB.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I think that's the Gophers almost every year I've been a Gopher fan.

I don't know if it is coordinators or just not talent at WR (I don't see them getting open when it seems like the QB should be looking for them).
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I agree that our receivers generally don't get separation. Let's face it, we still mostly need to go south for speed and we're not getting the top guys because they still mostly prefer to stay close to home. NIL will help, but not erase this problem. We've got a lot of big, tall guys here up north so O-line needs to be our bread and butter.

Funny story, my mom asked my son the other day if he needed to shop at Big & Tall stores. My son laughed and said he's only average height at around 5-10 to 5-11. She's probably sub-5 foot now so it's all about perspective isn't it!
 


SeaBee_Gopher said:
By the way, I liked this article and it shows how good our defense actually was last year. It didn't feel like they were that good, right? For us to be even remotely close to Ohio State, Alabama and Notre Dame with their recruiting advantages is impressive.

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...questions-ohio-state-alabama-notre-dame-texas

View attachment 37947View attachment 37948
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Yeah the defense / Cory did a great job

Our offense would score and go to sleep and the defense more often than not just held the other team down until the offense woke up again ... or didn't. Also felt like teams who scored on us struggled to re-create that same advantage in subsequent possessions.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Yeah the defense / Cory did a great job

Our offense would score and go to sleep and the defense more often than not just held the other team down until the offense woke up again ... or didn't. Also felt like teams who scored on us struggled to re-create that same advantage in subsequent possessions.
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I feel like this has been the trend for most of the years since 2019 - rock solid defense (generally) and narcoleptic offense. I'm still hopeful that last year was a sign of long term change in the independence of offensive playcalling.
 

Word said:
Our struggles on offense last year were largely IMO due to a below average offensive line. I know we lost Daniels but the 3 transfers look good on paper and hopefully some of our own guys step up. I think our success on offense will again depend on the o-line.
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100 percent. Our OL under performed and almost has to be better this year even with less experienced guys. Might be some growing pains but the talent upgrade seems clear.
 

Scottsdale Gopher said:
If Max had another year of eligibility, there would be talk on this board about upsetting one of OSU or Oregon and sneaking into the CFP. I think the roster is in great shape and the only thing dampening enthusiasm is scar tissue from the last time we handed the reins to a young, inexperienced QB.
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Absolutely!
If Max was coming back this year I would be expecting a 2019 or more season.

Anecdotally, for me the scar tissue is much older. AK Is just another in a long line of middling arms. Drake doesn't really have hype around him, and AK was unique in that sense.
 

Our defense was quite good, but part of the reason it ranks as high as it has is that the better teams only need to score 20+ pts per game to beat us. If we were in more shootouts it would rank lower. Teams get conservative once a win is in hand.

If Iowa starts scoring more with that S Dakota transfer QB, watch their defense drop a notch in rankings.
 

march madness said:
Our defense was quite good, but part of the reason it ranks as high as it has is that the better teams only need to score 20+ pts per game to beat us. If we were in more shootouts it would rank lower. Teams get conservative once a win is in hand.
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How many teams last year got conservative on us with a win in hand?
 

Scottsdale Gopher said:
If Max had another year of eligibility, there would be talk on this board about upsetting one of OSU or Oregon and sneaking into the CFP. I think the roster is in great shape and the only thing dampening enthusiasm is scar tissue from the last time we handed the reins to a young, inexperienced QB.
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I think the OL and WR position plays into it as well. But QB is the focal point of it.
 

SeaBee_Gopher said:
By the way, I liked this article and it shows how good our defense actually was last year. It didn't feel like they were that good, right? For us to be even remotely close to Ohio State, Alabama and Notre Dame with their recruiting advantages is impressive.

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...questions-ohio-state-alabama-notre-dame-texas

View attachment 37947View attachment 37948
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Kudos to MN for a great season. It’s staggering to see how weak Wisconsin was against the run last year. Literally first to worst (or close to it) since Fickell’s regime change.
 

gopherbadgerman said:
I think the OL and WR position plays into it as well. But QB is the focal point of it.
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Recognizing that a lot of experience (including a high draft pick) left the OL last year, I thought they were only mediocre as a unit. The struggles in the run game are well chronicled and I thought the group's success in the pass game had a lot more to do with Max's ability to get into the right call and get the ball out than their blocking. I understand why others would disagree, but I think the OL could be better as a unit this year than last.
 

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