Post Game Thread: Gophers Lose a Very Winnable Game at Cal

[Some Day...Maybe]

Having been a HC for over 20 years, rushing 3 and dropping 8 just doesn’t work. Eventually the receivers will find the open space and settle down . 5 blocking 3 is a losing proposition for the defense. Plus I always found the defensive secondary to “think you got him in the zone, no I thought you had him” end result, no one had him.

Especially when you have a poised QB who is accurate and has a cannon for an arm.

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

Hopefully this is just that one game that got away and we take care of business against Rutgers, Purdue, Northwestern, etc. My prediction for the season was 9-3 with one dumb game that we should have won being that third and that’s still possible. Just need to be better and learn from this game, actually take things away from this game, and put the Perich cart back behind the horse.

Gophers will struggle to win 7.

 

[kix4kix]

I'll tune back in if we beat Rutgers. If they lose to Rutgers, I'll see ya'll next year

 

[SeaBee_Gopher]

Cal's QB is REALLY good. The Gophers likely had a slight talent advantage, but their QB is a bit more of a game changer than ours. Drake looked good too, but he can't make something out of nothing when things break down like the Cal QB because he's not as athletic. It was amazing watching the two QBs going back and forth making great throws in the middle part of the game. The Cal QB also takes more chances. I was just waiting for us to get a game changing pick, and we had several chances especially the near miss from Koi in the second half!

We made more mistakes than they did which is uncharacteristic of us. PJ likes to play low risk, low mistake football. Two fairly equal teams. They won by making less big mistakes.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Cal's QB is REALLY good. The Gophers likely had a slight talent advantage, but their QB is a bit more of a game changer than ours. Drake looked good too, but he can't make something out of nothing when things break down like the Cal QB because he's not as athletic. It was amazing watching the two QBs going back and forth making great throws in the middle part of the game. The Cal QB also takes more chances. I was just waiting for us to get a game changing pick, and we had several chances especially the near miss from Koi in the second half!

We made more mistakes than they did which is uncharacteristic of us. PJ likes to play low risk, low mistake football. Two fairly equal teams. They won by making less big mistakes.

Assuming they can keep their guys (not a sure thing with the way QBs transfer these days) both teams should be really excited about what they have in their young QBs.

Frustrating loss because the game was winnable but in the end they played cleaner than we did and when the talent is pretty even the team that plays cleaner almost always wins.

 

[60's Guy]

Having been a HC for over 20 years, rushing 3 and dropping 8 just doesn’t work. Eventually the receivers will find the open space and settle down . 5 blocking 3 is a losing proposition for the defense. Plus I always found the defensive secondary to “think you got him in the zone, no I thought you had him” end result, no one had him.

And accentuated when the other teams QB is very talented, accurate and has nice arm strength Can't give him time to decide which open receiver to throw to.

 

[BilldGopher]

Here's the post-mortem from Bear Insider that is not behind a paywall.

Shows pretty well what the other side saw as we process a really poor showing.

Cal Football: Bears Impressive in 27-14 Victory Over Minnesota

Cal capitalizes on late Minnesota special team mistake and moves to 3-0 in Saturday night's win

bearinsider.com

The kid QB had the money quote: "Coach (OC Bryan) Harsin told me at the beginning of the week that we were going to have to throw the ball," Sagapolutele said. "All of the receivers were getting open for me and they made the throws so much easier."

Sums it up. Onward.

 

[ergopher]

Gophers will struggle to win 7.

We said this last year after the bad start and struggled to not win 8 or 9. You’d think that by season 9 under Fleck we’d be used to his bad starts to seasons.

 

[FredCoxRocks]

Its seems the Gophers lose at least two "winnable" games like this per year. As someone said in some other thread (sorry, can't remember who or which thread), and I buy into it..."We are the same team every year".

 

[MNVCGUY]

Its seems the Gophers lose at least two "winnable" games like this per year. As someone said in some other thread (sorry, can't remember who or which thread), and I buy into it..."We are the same team every year".

There is some good that comes with that same team line of thinking. Yes it means frustrating loses like the one on Saturday however it also means most of the time we are going to win 8-9 games and be competitive in pretty much every game.

I can live with that in the current college football landscape where it looks like it will be very difficult for schools like Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin....to consistently get into that upper tier.

And for as frustrated as we are right now.....at least we are not Wisconsin who is in a rough spot and looking at a really long season with the schedule they have this year and to go with a team that doesn't look very good at all.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Would love to see Cal's passing numbers against rushing 3, rushing 4, and blitzing. He struggled against the blitz it seemed to me. Should have done it more often.

I also felt like we had more luck on offense when we spread things out a bit. Instead we played with 2 TE much of the game. I still don't get the incredibly tight splits of our OL.

 

[Gilthorp57]

Some percentage of that is execution by the players. Yes they rushed three, but pretty sure they were still supposed to cover the wrs, it’s not like they dropped into a 30 yard umbrella, and yes the trick play didn’t work, but Koi didn’t have to take big loss on the play.

There was a reason why Cal was picking on our corners.....

 

[tjgopher]

I'm talking about at the time the contract is written and signed.

It could be that no TV partner would allow such a stipulation to be included into a game contract. Although we know that's not true because I believe there is one for the Michigan Ohio State game, for example, but maybe they would not allow it for Minnesota Cal

The conference TV partners control TV times, not the schools.

That stipulation would never be allowed in a contract.

Michigan-Ohio State has no stipulation. It is up to TV.

 

[tjgopher]

Well in this case they didn’t cover for more than four seconds on either of the two big completions before the half.

Almost no humans can cover for 4 seconds either. You better to get a QB with a strong arm like Cal's in less than 4 seconds, or it won't be good. And, it wasn't.

The worst defensive play call of the night was rushing three on a 3rd-and-6 at the nine-yard-line.

Wtf are we doing? There was no danger of getting beat deep, so get to the QB ASAP. Blitz multiple guys in that case. The end result of that stupid play call was a completion, a missed tackle, and the go-ahead TD for Cal

The only time the freshman QB struggled was when we blitzed and sped him up.

Very bizarre to think you want to drop 8 into coverage in that situation.

 

[calbear2000]

Here's the post-mortem from Bear Insider that is not behind a paywall.

Shows pretty well what the other side saw as we process a really poor showing.

Cal Football: Bears Impressive in 27-14 Victory Over Minnesota

Cal capitalizes on late Minnesota special team mistake and moves to 3-0 in Saturday night's win

bearinsider.com

The kid QB had the money quote: "Coach (OC Bryan) Harsin told me at the beginning of the week that we were going to have to throw the ball," Sagapolutele said. "All of the receivers were getting open for me and they made the throws so much easier."

Sums it up. Onward.

If you want to read more takes on long-time Cal football writers, I recommend writeforcalifornia.com.

Here's one recap, but there are few more on the site:
https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/post-game-thoughts-cal-minnesota-football-2025-recap-analysis

 

[GopherTheJugular]

Having been a HC for over 20 years, rushing 3 and dropping 8 just doesn’t work. Eventually the receivers will find the open space and settle down . 5 blocking 3 is a losing proposition for the defense. Plus I always found the defensive secondary to “think you got him in the zone, no I thought you had him” end result, no one had him.

Yep, in that kinda situation it's hard for everyone to know their responsibility. Didn't work for Aubrun in that recent Iron Bowl - 'bama completed a 4th and 33!

 

[GopherTheJugular]

There is some good that comes with that same team line of thinking. Yes it means frustrating loses like the one on Saturday however it also means most of the time we are going to win 8-9 games and be competitive in pretty much every game.

Don't get me wrong, the Fleck era is waaaay above the Brewster era, but I will give Brew credit for changing things up. Maybe he messed with Weber's development with a new OC almost every year, but I'd prefer if Fleck was to give up on Harbaugh and admit someone else needs to try the job. Fleck just seems too scared of any kind of change.

And for as frustrated as we are right now.....at least we are not Wisconsin who is in a rough spot and looking at a really long season with the schedule they have this year and to go with a team that doesn't look very good at all.

I'm not sure I'd brag about the bolded. Yeah, I watched their putrid performance against 'bama and their schedule is brutal, but their admin has shown they aren't afraid to go after success. Watch them fire Fickell and bring in someone who knows what they are doing.

They could easily surpass us again just via them making changes will we sit here doing the same thing over and over.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Don't get me wrong, the Fleck era is waaaay above the Brewster era, but I will give Brew credit for changing things up. Maybe he messed with Weber's development with a new OC almost every year, but I'd prefer if Fleck was to give up on Harbaugh and admit someone else needs to try the job. Fleck just seems too scared of any kind of change.



I'm not sure I'd brag about the bolded. Yeah, I watched their putrid performance against 'bama and their schedule is brutal, but their admin has shown they aren't afraid to go after success. Watch them fire Fickell and bring in someone who knows what they are doing.

They could easily surpass us again just via them making changes will we sit here doing the same thing over and over.

It's also possible though that Harbaugh is running the offense how Fleck wants him to.

 

[matt]

The worst defensive play call of the night was rushing three on a 3rd-and-6 at the nine-yard-line… Very bizarre to think you want to drop 8 into coverage in that situation.

That was really bad, but I thought below was the worst defensive play call.


It’s 3rd and 2 from the 44 yd line, Gophers down 10 with 4 minutes left. In short, it is do or die time, and the Gophers NEED a stop.

In our attempt to prevent Cal from getting a first down, the Gophers put up a 4 man box in which they only rush 3 (one DE drops into coverage). Not only that, but most of the DBs are playing well off the line.

We are essentially playing a prevent defense in a 3rd and 2 where we need a stop. Apparently everyone in the stadium except Danny Collins knew that Cal was going to run it.

 

[upnorthkid]

That was really bad, but I thought below was the worst defensive play call.

View attachment 38944
It’s 3rd and 2 from the 44 yd line, Gophers down 10 with 4 minutes left. In short, it is do or die time, and the Gophers NEED a stop.

In our attempt to prevent Cal from getting a first down, the Gophers put up a 4 man box in which they only rush 3 (one DE drops into coverage). Not only that, but most of the DBs are playing well off the line.

We are essentially playing a prevent defense in a 3rd and 2 where we need a stop. Apparently everyone in the stadium except Danny Collins knew that Cal was going to run it.

we also had a 3 man front on another 3rd or 4th and 1 PJ called a timeout on that they were clearly running QB power. Idk what Collins was thinking on these plays but its pretty clear that this must've been "base" when they gave us spread when they came into the week as we did it numerous times.

 

[upnorthkid]

As a general question, someone mentioned the penalties. That might've been the sloppiest, most penalized I can remember seeing a PJ Fleck coached Gopher team. 8 penalties for 85 yards.

Had the illegal sub penalty getting rid of a 3rd and long, a 3rd and long DPI right before the punt Koi muffed, the holding and then personal foul at the end of the game.

Unsure when the last time was we had that many penalty yards. Didn't last year and I'm not going to drum it back further, but that was also killer

 

[Some Day...Maybe]

Good lord I hope a MN reporter has the intelligence and guts to ask Fleck the following:

• What he thought about the timing of the trick play call.
• Follow up with the results of the 3 man rush vs 4 man rush. I'd be shocked if the 3 man rush didn't yield much better results for Cal.
• What the thought process was on a handoff up the middle on 3rd and 7 in the 4th quarter in Cal territory.

Maybe also ask him if he is concerned that his offense has only scored 21 points vs Buffalo and 14 points against Cal. Mighty Kent St just put up 28 on Buffalo. Mighty Oregon St. put up 15 on Cal.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Good lord I hope a MN reporter has the intelligence and guts to ask Fleck the following:

• What he thought about the timing of the trick play call.
• Follow up with the results of the 3 man rush vs 4 man rush. I'd be shocked if the 3 man rush didn't yield much better results for Cal.
• What the thought process was on a handoff up the middle on 3rd and 7 in the 4th quarter in Cal territory.

Maybe also ask him if he is concerned that his offense has only scored 21 points vs Buffalo and 14 points against Cal. Mighty Kent St just put up 28 on Buffalo. Mighty Oregon St. put up 15 on Cal.

The first two are valid the third one was a whiff on the part of the offensive line which led to that play losing yards. We had been gashing them with our run game, especially in the second half. But on that play the center messed up and let a defender go straight through the middle untouched to blow up the play.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Don't get me wrong, the Fleck era is waaaay above the Brewster era, but I will give Brew credit for changing things up. Maybe he messed with Weber's development with a new OC almost every year, but I'd prefer if Fleck was to give up on Harbaugh and admit someone else needs to try the job. Fleck just seems too scared of any kind of change.



I'm not sure I'd brag about the bolded. Yeah, I watched their putrid performance against 'bama and their schedule is brutal, but their admin has shown they aren't afraid to go after success. Watch them fire Fickell and bring in someone who knows what they are doing.

They could easily surpass us again just via them making changes will we sit here doing the same thing over and over.

Disagree that they could easily surpass us because as much as some don't want to hear it we are near the top of where the non helmet programs or schools without huge resources can realistically get to most years.

Most of these programs are hoping to catch lightning in a bottle the way Indiana did last year and get into the CFP. Minnesota and Wisconsin could fire their coaches and their program ceiling wouldn't change all that much. Most of the country is in the exact same boat.

 

[march madness]

I am an idiot, but even I would know if you have a young but talented qb, you never rush just three, ever!

If I was such a qb, please rush just three so I have 4 seconds to throw the ball. Please don't mix up who your blitzing. Please play vanilla so my 5 new off line starters know who to block!
Thanks again for obliging!

 

[Gophergrandpa]

Cal's QB is REALLY good. The Gophers likely had a slight talent advantage, but their QB is a bit more of a game changer than ours. Drake looked good too, but he can't make something out of nothing when things break down like the Cal QB because he's not as athletic. It was amazing watching the two QBs going back and forth making great throws in the middle part of the game. The Cal QB also takes more chances. I was just waiting for us to get a game changing pick, and we had several chances especially the near miss from Koi in the second half!

We made more mistakes than they did which is uncharacteristic of us. PJ likes to play low risk, low mistake football. Two fairly equal teams. They won by making less big mistakes.

Agree with your comments. Irony is that PJ took the low risk road yet his team made a lot of mistakes. Cal took many more risks yet made almost no mistakes.

My gut feeling is that teams that are hyper-risk avoidant are more prone to multiple mistakes when they fall behind and have to break their “identity” and take meaningful risks to catch up. Teams that take reasonable risks as part of the regular game plan (e.g., taking deep shots downfield on second and short) seem to adjust more easily to a moderate increase in risk when game conditions mandate. Same analysis applies on defense. Rush three … or five … or bring the house? If the Gophs this year choose, as the team identity, risk-avoidance on offense and defense—decide not to swing for the fence regardless of the pitch count or score—they’ll probably drop a few more toss up games the way they did the Cal game. Go Gophers!

 

[GopherTheJugular]

Disagree that they could easily surpass us because as much as some don't want to hear it we are near the top of where the non helmet programs or schools without huge resources can realistically get to most years.

Most of these programs are hoping to catch lightning in a bottle the way Indiana did last year and get into the CFP. Minnesota and Wisconsin could fire their coaches and their program ceiling wouldn't change all that much. Most of the country is in the exact same boat.

I didn't mean they would "pass us" and end up in the next tier. I meant they could get back to beating us on a regular basis and finishing higher in the final standings than we do.

Sure, we'd both be in the same tier, but they'd be better than us again.

 

[Word]

Don't get me wrong, the Fleck era is waaaay above the Brewster era, but I will give Brew credit for changing things up. Maybe he messed with Weber's development with a new OC almost every year, but I'd prefer if Fleck was to give up on Harbaugh and admit someone else needs to try the job. Fleck just seems too scared of any kind of change.



I'm not sure I'd brag about the bolded. Yeah, I watched their putrid performance against 'bama and their schedule is brutal, but their admin has shown they aren't afraid to go after success. Watch them fire Fickell and bring in someone who knows what they are doing.

They could easily surpass us again just via them making changes will we sit here doing the same thing over and over.

Yet Wisconsin is in the pickle they are in because....they made changes.

 

[upnorthkid]

The first two are valid the third one was a whiff on the part of the offensive line which led to that play losing yards. We had been gashing them with our run game, especially in the second half. But on that play the center messed up and let a defender go straight through the middle untouched to blow up the play.

i think its more, given we had a grand total of 5 runs that went for more than 7 yards, what were you thinking are the odds you convert? We still only averaged 4 yards carry without Lindsey's and Perich's lost yards.

Denaberg is a career 63% FG kicker prior to that and was 3/9 from 40+. Play to win the game not hope you can see a guy break tendencies and hit one from the mid to upper 40s just to tie it up

Edit: we may have differing opinions of gashing as well. the run game went for 6, 1, 2, 5, 8, 3, and -3 yards on that drive

 

[MNVCGUY]

I didn't mean they would "pass us" and end up in the next tier. I meant they could get back to beating us on a regular basis and finishing higher in the final standings than we do.

Sure, we'd both be in the same tier, but they'd be better than us again.

I expect schools like Wisconsin and Iowa to always be on the same level as us even if one team may have a slight edge year to year. Gone are the days where we were stuck looking up at the those schools and at an obvious talent deficit.