Poll: How would you grade the Gophers coaching in the loss to Iowa?

Poll: How would you grade the Gophers coaching in the loss to Iowa?

  • A

    Votes: 9 4.8%
  • B

    Votes: 26 13.8%
  • C

    Votes: 37 19.7%
  • D

    Votes: 59 31.4%
  • F

    Votes: 57 30.3%

  • Total voters
    188
Trickett missed a bunny in the redzone.
AK missed a touchdown in the redzone.
Mo fumbled the ball in the redzone.

There's 13 to 20 points right there. We only needed 4. We didn't even have to be perfect. We had to be mediocre. Couldn't manage that.
Lol. Hilarious - because someone told you the TE is wide open you know that is the QB read. How about throw the ball a little more against NW so the WB is more comfortable in this game. No has carried the ball like 11 straight plays. You could see he was gassed. You overuse him and at some point he’s going to fumble.
 

F.

I mean, c'mon. In the 4th quarter, did the coaches really think they'd be able to run Mo 20 consecutive times to a score? Idiotic.

Later in the 4th quarter, against a tough Iowa D and desperately needing at least 10-15 more yards to get in field goal range, did the coaches really think running Williamson and Potts up the middle on 1st and 2nd downs would end in anything other than a 3rd and long situation for a freshman QB with an unreliable WR corps?

These are just a couple of examples, but the game was full of frustrating decisions or lack thereof.
I agree with your paragraph 2. Was begging for a mix it up there on an early down vs, if you accept that there is a drop off, you call time out and get Mo a break, get a good play call in, and realize your goal is to leave Iowa no time and kick a game winning FG or make them drive the entire field with a minute left. That situation was just begging for a stick call to BSF or a change of pace on first or second down and we were hoping we would see a Mo type play from 2 guys who just aren’t that level of back (obviously very very very few guys are).
 

Coaches coach

Players play

I would guess the staff is thinking they controlled the game almost precisely the way they wanted to. They made the decision to not let a RS FR in his second start, completing less than 50% of his passes and with 1TD and 3 INTs lose the game for them, and rightfully so.

Good Lord, you could argue the game plan was absolutely brilliant just as much as you could that the coaches were the reason for this loss. Sans the RZ turnover and missed FG, I would guess this game went about as well as they could possibly hope.
So they played not to lose.

Exactly the problem!

Cowardly. Gutless.

And an L at the end of the day anyway.
 

I agree. Mo fumbled in red zone. Trickett missed bunny FG. Howden wasn’t disciplined and got beat for long pass. Not coaching, execution.
It was bad play calling. 3rd and 1 and they pass. Ran Mo 14 times in one drive and gave it to him when he was obviously gassed on a 3rd and long 5. The play calling was horrid once they crossed the 40. Even the interception was a horrible play call.
 



Lol. Hilarious - because someone told you the TE is wide open you know that is the QB read. How about throw the ball a little more against NW so the WB is more comfortable in this game. No has carried the ball like 11 straight plays. You could see he was gassed. You overuse him and at some point he’s going to fumble.
I was surprised that the OL didn't try to knock the defenders off of Mo.
 

It was bad play calling. 3rd and 1 and they pass. Ran Mo 14 times in one drive and gave it to him when he was obviously gassed on a 3rd and long 5. The play calling was horrid once they crossed the 40. Even the interception was a horrible play call.
On the pass, it looked like the QB should have thrown it front shoulder instead of backside. WR maybe should have just tried to swat it to the ground? I'll have to watch that play again.
 

The gopher linebackers have been caught all year not covering te and iowa saw that on film
In post-game, PJ said that Iowa put in some TE looks for the game they hadn't used before (probably because we can't figure out that TEs are allowed to act as receivers)--resulting in explosive plays for Iowa. Here's what really bugs me: what special looks/plays did we install to fool Iowa once or twice in the game? It seems like we simply aren't in the business of trying to confuse defenses with new looks or unexpected plays. We just run the same three plays. It's as if we don't have an offensive coordinator except to install our RPO at the beginning of the season. Our insistence to always do what the defense expects is so exasperating when we lose a game like this. Creativity is a part of football, just as is special teams.
 

Not Athan. The Gophers only TD came on a drive where he lit it up.

The interception at the end bounced off the receiver's body after being contacted hard by the defender.

The pass looked a tick late, Iowa DB closed hard and made a nice play.
 



It was a TEAM loss! Coaches and players made mistakes.

^

Close game, a handful of pivotal plays and non-plays. Plenty of blame can be spread around. I will say that the dogma of the PJ offense has been set the last several years and it will probably take some NIL $ or some recruiting luck to convince playmaking receivers to sign. Until that last series it was what, 80% rush? Given Mo’s exceptional ability that’s probably enough to win versus average teams and even a good team like Iowa if everything breaks right but that didn’t happen today. This team needs a more balanced attack going forward particularly with the departure of a generational type RB. Strategic error to not cultivate a better offensive identity.
 

^

Close game, a handful of pivotal plays and non-plays. Plenty of blame can be spread around. I will say that the dogma of the PJ offense has been set the last several years and it will probably take some NIL $ or some recruiting luck to convince playmaking receivers to sign. Until that last series it was what, 80% rush? Given Mo’s exceptional ability that’s probably enough to win versus average teams and even a good team like Iowa if everything breaks right but that didn’t happen today. This team needs a more balanced attack going forward particularly with the departure of a generational type RB. Strategic error to not cultivate a better offensive identity.
Our only touchdown drive we had a balanced attack. Oh NO, we are down 10-0......time to open it up a little. That's when AK looked great and got in some rhythm.

After that drive to make it 10-7, back to regular programming.
 


My question was in response to GopherinIowa comment:
"We saw the success when Athan kept it on a read option. It was there all game but we did it maybe once or twice? I don’t get it."

To me Athan had the read option and could have kept the ball rather than hand it off at anytime during the game. Perhaps because of inexperience or Mo's success he chose not to run the ball himself. To me this type of play was not on the coaches.
I don’t think most of those plays were actual read options. They may look like it but it doesn’t appear Athan has the option to pull it to run.
 



If there is ever an F, this is it. F for this game and F for this season. I’ve lost interest. Fleck should take a pay cut. I feel like the Nebraska fan, no hope. The last 3 seasons have been shit.

Do we best Wisconsin and ho to and win a bowl game =9 wins.
JMS wins the Remington award and makes several All-American teams as does Mo, who breaks DT career rushing yards and wins the Doak Walker award.
We have multiple players drafted again.
A young coach learns and matures in his job - just like all employees do, unless they are the rare wunderkinds.
We graduate many fine student - althletes!

Stills 💩 season?
 

Lol. Hilarious - because someone told you the TE is wide open you know that is the QB read. How about throw the ball a little more against NW so the WB is more comfortable in this game. No has carried the ball like 11 straight plays. You could see he was gassed. You overuse him and at some point he’s going to fumble.
Nobody told me anything. A blind squirrel saw both of his misses on 1st and 3rd down. I was the first to mention it.
https://gopherhole.com/boards/threa...f-rosedale-in-game-thread.108801/post-2591931

Mo didn’t fumble because he was gassed. He fumbled because he tried to stretch for the first down. Chase Brown had 41 carries against against us. Didn’t bother him.

I love how everyone seems to think if we throw more we win the game. No, if we throw more we turn the ball over more. Athan was 1-8 with a pick in the 2nd half. Our passing game is dreadful. Our receivers suck and our quarterback can’t make basic reads. Putting the ball in his hands 25 times is suicide.

And yet we still win the game if the players make basic plays.
 
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Offensively the Gophers are coached like a staff whose jobs are in jeopardy. Clearly no one is on the hotseat so I cannot fathom why we choose to play the way we do.
 


In post-game, PJ said that Iowa put in some TE looks for the game they hadn't used before (probably because we can't figure out that TEs are allowed to act as receivers)--resulting in explosive plays for Iowa. Here's what really bugs me: what special looks/plays did we install to fool Iowa once or twice in the game? It seems like we simply aren't in the business of trying to confuse defenses with new looks or unexpected plays. We just run the same three plays. It's as if we don't have an offensive coordinator except to install our RPO at the beginning of the season. Our insistence to always do what the defense expects is so exasperating when we lose a game like this. Creativity is a part of football, just as is special teams.
Our coaching staff always seems surprised when the other team comes in with a new gameplan that is tailored towards us instead of mechanically repeating what they put on film against other opponents.
 

Lol. Hilarious - because someone told you the TE is wide open you know that is the QB read. How about throw the ball a little more against NW so the WB is more comfortable in this game. No has carried the ball like 11 straight plays. You could see he was gassed. You overuse him and at some point he’s going to fumble.
Another guy who says the fumble was inevitable lol
 


Our coaching staff always seems surprised when the other team comes in with a new gameplan that is tailored towards us instead of mechanically repeating what they put on film against other opponents.
You think we might try that once in a while ourselves! Not our style, though. We very courteously open game running exactly what the opposing defense expects.
 

After seeing some of the reactions about yesterday's game, we have no right to ever make fun of Nebraska's fans ever again.
 

Do we best Wisconsin and ho to and win a bowl game =9 wins.
JMS wins the Remington award and makes several All-American teams as does Mo, who breaks DT career rushing yards and wins the Doak Walker award.
We have multiple players drafted again.
A young coach learns and matures in his job - just like all employees do, unless they are the rare wunderkinds.
We graduate many fine student - althletes!

Stills 💩 season?
For me there is much to like about this season. Many of the players have been outstanding, tireless warriors. I have nothing but respect for the players in this team. They are marvelous.

My disappointment with the season goes to coaching. In the key toss-up opponent games, we start so slowly and deliberately on offense (while the opposing defense is most vulnerable, still getting its bearings) because we never try to surprise opponents—we just let their offenses surprise us. We just do on offense exactly what our opponents expect us to do.

Afterwards, we dissect specific plays and failed opportunities occurring at the end of a hard-fought game as the reason for our losses to Purdue, Illinois and Iowa. But we should actually look back to our spotting each of Purdue, Illinois and Iowa 10 point leads in the first couple of drives (because of poor opening game offensive play calling on our part) as the real reason for our losses in toss-up games.
 
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For me there is much to like about this season. Many of the players have been outstanding, tireless warriors. I have nothing but respect for the players in this team. They are marvelous.

My disappointment with the season goes to coaching. In the key toss-up opponent games, we start so slowly and deliberately on offense (while the opposing defense is most vulnerable, still getting its bearings) because we never try to surprise opponents—we just let their offenses surprise us. We just do on offense exactly what our opponents expect us to do.

Afterwards, we dissect specific plays and failed opportunities occurring at the end of a hard-fought game as the reason for our losses to Purdue, Illinois and Iowa. But we should actually look back to our spotting each of Purdue, Illinois and Iowa 10 point leads in the first couple of drives (because of poor opening game offensive play calling on our part) as the real reason for our losses in toss-up games.

Very accurate - well stated
 

Gutless.

Fucking gutless.

Solid F.

The D played pretty well again, but gave up too many big plays.
Defensive game plan was horrible. Stop the run and ignore Iowa's passing game is tight ends centric. It was shocking to find that Rossi was not ready for that.
 




I was expecting a lot of blitzes by the Gophers as Petras History is to fold under pressure. Not sure how many Rossi dialed up but Petras had ample time to make his throws. Everyone knows that Iowa throws to their TE's and their Wr's are nothing special. I saw a couple of plays where our S bit on the play action and the TE was wide open. From my LR chair, it seemed like we heavily committed our S to stop the run and that part worked very well but pass coverage suffered.

Our passing game is another story. No screens, no crossing patterns, rollouts with flood patterns and rarely pass to our RB's. Its all about RPO. We are very easy to defend against.
 





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