Offensive Identity?

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gopherfield

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Do you think we've seen the Offensive Identity this year that Kill and Staff want here, or are we playing to our personnel? I love all the running, using the clock, pounding the opposition into submission, etc. That said, we are running (and not passing) even more than during Mason's regime with all its trap-blocking and pulling with Barber and Maroney in the backfield. If we had been running like this a few years ago, we probably get LaMichael James and Bishop Sankey here at MN. Assuming Andre McDonald had been effective and was on the field with Harbison (how would/do these guys feel about choosing MN?) We throw about 10-12 passes a game. Harbison has been back for two weeks, and looks like he has had 1 or 2 balls thrown his way. We still are not running to the consistently elite level of WI, and WI's system attracts OL and good RBs. We may be able to upgrade our OL and RB prospect in this system, but it would seem hard to get good WRs. All the TV pundits and prognosticators have said we can't keep this up in the B1G schedle. I think that's yet to be seen, but obviously B1G teams (with good secondaries and better DL and LBs) are going to load the box against a run and make us have to pass. I haven't seen where we can pass yet at all. Revsine on BTN went so far as to say we should have used these 4 weeks to develop a passing game leading up to the B1G conference schedule. I love the progress in the running game, but we do look more one dimensional than the Mason era, WI, and almost more so than Navy or AirForce!
 

With all due respect to Dave Revsine's 30 years of coaching experience and success on the field...oh wait, that is our Coach Kill with those credentials. Sorry, who the eff is Dave Revsine but another talking head.

I'll take 4-0 any day, any way. I love that we showed absolutely nothing in the early season but run and really bland runs at that. 80% of our play book isn't on film. IA is going to struggle with our game plan if for no other reason than they haven't seen our game plan on film.

Think about what you have seen so far. They haven't run a single play action pass from their 4 primary option sets. They ran an empty backfield 7 or 8 times against SJSU without a single pass. They didn't run a single bootleg pass the last two weeks. And we won both games going away.

I suspect that we will see most if not all of the above pass options against IA and I hope for a spread set with a pass/run presnap read to really put pressure on defenses.

One last thing, did you see how for about 5 plays in the middle of SJSU the gophers went no huddle to try and force the defense to keep its personnel on the field? Don't be surprised to see the Gophs go no huddle at points when the coaches feel they have a personnel advantage after a big run against nickel or dime or on short yardage after a 8-9 yard run.

We have so many wrinkles that haven't been rolled out because we haven't needed too...back to the dominate O-Line, Special Teams and a Defense that seems ball hungry!
 

I can't believe we finally unleashed the jet sweep. What's with that??? I thought we would save that until the bowl game.
 

Our true Offense will be a mystery until the Iowa game...

I'm sure they have plays that work into our WR's weaknesses & we could see a lot of screens or quick slants or quick-outs the same way inferior teams do to us... I hope...

The running game is working right now but it'll be interesting to see if we have something that will work against Big 10 level athletes so I feel this Iowa game is just as critical as the SJSU game...
 

I think the identity so far is clear:
They're are stronger, fresher, have more endurance in the 2nd half, especially the 4th quarter.
They are going to be there at the end.
We shouldn't underestimate how important & critical this is to any game plan.
Kudos to the entire team & coaching staff for all the work they've done in this area.
It doesen't mean they'll win them all, but it does mean they have a shot in any game against any opponent.
The foundation is solid.
 



Well, they do want to pass more. What did Coach Limegrover say, something along the lines that ultimately he'd like to see a 60-40 run-pass ratio? We're not quite seeing that just yet, but I'm thinking if that's what the coach wants, that's probably what he's going to get. As far as why we haven't passed more in the non-conference schedule, who knows? I'd have like to seen a bit more attempted passing just so that they might be a bit more comfortable with that heading into the meat portion of the schedule, but then again I love the effort to develop this line to produce just a punishing run game, and that is what I saw yesterday. They were driving the defense backwards, while pushing their own runners forward, and that was some really awesome schidt.

The one worrisome thing is that now we have to wonder, can we pass successfully enough to win, if that's what's necessary? Because eventually it will be, and probably sooner than later, and as yet, our passing game is pretty much a mystery to all.
 

Well, I love the optimism of some that believe we have a playbook full of mystery plays that will be unleashed against unsuspecting B1G foes, but I doubt that will be reality. There is plenty of film to look at for tendencies from this staff from prior years with players being the only real change every year. Maybe the reason why we don't pass much is because we are horrible at passing? Maybe we do not have any wideouts that can stretch the field and get open? If that is the case, our one dimensional offense will come to a screeching halt in B1G play. The little bit of passing we did try in the first 4 games was not pretty or effective.
 

Seany said:
Well, they do want to pass more. What did Coach Limegrover say, something along the lines that ultimately he'd like to see a 60-40 run-pass ratio? We're not quite seeing that just yet, but I'm thinking if that's what the coach wants, that's probably what he's going to get. As far as why we haven't passed more in the non-conference schedule, who knows? I'd have like to seen a bit more attempted passing just so that they might be a bit more comfortable with that heading into the meat portion of the schedule, but then again I love the effort to develop this line to produce just a punishing run game, and that is what I saw yesterday. They were driving the defense backwards, while pushing their own runners forward, and that was some really awesome schidt.

The one worrisome thing is that now we have to wonder, can we pass successfully enough to win, if that's what's necessary? Because eventually it will be, and probably sooner than later, and as yet, our passing game is pretty much a mystery to all.
Click to expand...

No mystery, it's weak.
 



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Impressive stat: <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> already have 16 rushing touchdowns this year. They had 14 all of last year. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BrickByBrick&src=hash">#BrickByBrick</a></p>— Lucas Trickle (@LucasTrickleGI) <a href="https://twitter.com/LucasTrickleGI/statuses/381795858527690752">September 22, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 


gopherfield said:
Do you think we've seen the Offensive Identity this year that Kill and Staff want here, or are we playing to our personnel? I love all the running, using the clock, pounding the opposition into submission, etc. That said, we are running (and not passing) even more than during Mason's regime with all its trap-blocking and pulling with Barber and Maroney in the backfield. If we had been running like this a few years ago, we probably get LaMichael James and Bishop Sankey here at MN. Assuming Andre McDonald had been effective and was on the field with Harbison (how would/do these guys feel about choosing MN?) We throw about 10-12 passes a game. Harbison has been back for two weeks, and looks like he has had 1 or 2 balls thrown his way. We still are not running to the consistently elite level of WI, and WI's system attracts OL and good RBs. We may be able to upgrade our OL and RB prospect in this system, but it would seem hard to get good WRs. All the TV pundits and prognosticators have said we can't keep this up in the B1G schedle. I think that's yet to be seen, but obviously B1G teams (with good secondaries and better DL and LBs) are going to load the box against a run and make us have to pass. I haven't seen where we can pass yet at all. Revsine on BTN went so far as to say we should have used these 4 weeks to develop a passing game leading up to the B1G conference schedule. I love the progress in the running game, but we do look more one dimensional than the Mason era, WI, and almost more so than Navy or AirForce!
Click to expand...

ummmmmm no chance
 

Iowa has demonstrated in the first 4 week that they can pass. The seem to not want to, but they can. We have not demonstrated any passing ability at all.

This seems to be a main difference between the two teams right now. You can bet it'll be a big focus the next three days.
 



I wonder what will happen when a quality team decides to run the ball down our throat.

Gulp.
 

gopherfield said:
Do you think we've seen the Offensive Identity this year that Kill and Staff want here, or are we playing to our personnel? I love all the running, using the clock, pounding the opposition into submission, etc. That said, we are running (and not passing) even more than during Mason's regime with all its trap-blocking and pulling with Barber and Maroney in the backfield. If we had been running like this a few years ago, we probably get LaMichael James and Bishop Sankey here at MN. Assuming Andre McDonald had been effective and was on the field with Harbison (how would/do these guys feel about choosing MN?) We throw about 10-12 passes a game. Harbison has been back for two weeks, and looks like he has had 1 or 2 balls thrown his way. We still are not running to the consistently elite level of WI, and WI's system attracts OL and good RBs. We may be able to upgrade our OL and RB prospect in this system, but it would seem hard to get good WRs. All the TV pundits and prognosticators have said we can't keep this up in the B1G schedle. I think that's yet to be seen, but obviously B1G teams (with good secondaries and better DL and LBs) are going to load the box against a run and make us have to pass. I haven't seen where we can pass yet at all. Revsine on BTN went so far as to say we should have used these 4 weeks to develop a passing game leading up to the B1G conference schedule. I love the progress in the running game, but we do look more one dimensional than the Mason era, WI, and almost more so than Navy or AirForce!
Click to expand...

On Dave Revsine's qualifications (from Wikipedia): Prior to becoming a sports journalist, Revsine was an investment banker at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City.

I think that says it all.
 

The fact that we are finally beginning to have a defense allows us to have a run first pass enough to keep the run working identity that can win. Hard to separate from the team identity.
 

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