Postgame Observations

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GophersInIowa said:
Was finally able to watch the game. Wasn’t able to watch it live, had to follow it on my phone.

- It was good to see the deep throws. Gotta connect on a few more.
- Did we just abandon the RPO?
- Walley will be good, but he got abused a bit today.
- Smith allowed a few longer receptions but his coverage was really good. Glad to see him playing well.
- Great to see the DL get after it.
- Gibbens plays better each week.
- The rule of being down as soon as a QB starts a slide instead of when their knee touches down is bizarre to me. When a player starts their slide can be so subjective.
- I like the Kramer wildcat, and I like that he hands the ball of once in awhile. That’s the one thing I didn’t like about Green. Seemed like he never handed the ball off.

Never gonna apologize for a conference road win regardless of how ugly it was.
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Abandon the RPO?
No. Sometimes on RPO it’s a handoff. So just not seeing completed passes wouldn’t mean they abandoned RPO.
Multiple times yesterday in just the second half RPO was run and the slant pass was tipped at LOS
 

GoForGold said:
Just think of what Iowa's records would have been in years past if they did that.
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Iowa already has 12 interceptions this year. Wow, how lucky can a team be? They deserve none of their wins or their lofty ranking, because they are a crummy team that is getting "bailed out" by lucky turnovers. No way has hard work or skill or good coaching had anything to do with these 12 interceptions.
 
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Bob_Loblaw said:
See, I'm not sure if you didn't see a pretty close version to the 2019 Morgan today. If you add those two drops to his numbers (and they were EASY balls), his numbers are looking really good today. I can't think of any bad throws that he made, I can't think of any scenario where he held onto the ball too long. He probably should have been 10-18 240 yards and 2 TDs. That's a pretty good stat line in these conditions against that defense.
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I agree. CAB dropped two passes that would have been big plays. We went deep several times, and the passes to MBS were critical explosive plays. I'm mystified. It is like people don't understand that this game was played in wet, slippery conditions on a grass field that had patches of turf coming up all over. This affects the game and play calling ... and really affects the QB and receivers. Do some people expect that you call the same offensive plays on a muddy grass field during a rain storm as you would on artificial turf on a sunny 75 degree day? Poor weather and field conditions dictate a lot. I hate to ask people to defer gratification, but the PJ and OC haters really need to wait for a different game, a poorly played game in good weather conditions--a game in which we are heavily favored, yet lose--to believably criticize our offensive performance.
 

faxacillo said:
Total yards can be deceiving.

Yards per play: Purdue 5.2, Minnesota 6.0 (if you don't count victory formation)
Minnesota special teams>> Purdue
turnovers +2, both caused by defense

The Gophers flat-out earned the win.
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Yes, this! The game has three elements. We trounced Purdue on STs; our defense bent, but in critical situations it did not break--and it got two critical turnovers; and our offense was very efficient at 6.0 yards per play and did not yield a single turnover on a wet, slippery playing field. We won and we deserved to win.
 

Dakota2 said:
Morgan was good. OL gave him time. But we will not see a 2019 Morgan in a Sanford offense which is limited to half a dozen plays and doesn't use short route slants and screens.
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Yeah, I am only talking about things that Morgan can control. I'd still love to see more RPO with slants, they would have been there all day today.
 



Some guy said:
Multiple times they threw it and balls were tipped at LOS
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That’s my one gripe with Morgan, he’s a bit shorter for a QB so he gets a fair amount of balls tipped, but you can’t abandon those plays.
 

noamfromm said:
I would be fine with giving ZA5 a start and seeing how it works out. I know they see them both in practice, but this isn't Leider vs Nelson as two sophomores. Tanner hasn't been elite anyway.
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There is zero data that it would result in improved QB play and would likely result in the maddening throwing off the back foot style that ZA showed during his tenure as starter. You just had a good qb performance so why would you want to start a QB controversy that could kill a team.
 

Vandy said:
Last Gopher drive ending with the FG (which meant nothing more than
a little field position...)

One more 1st down, or TD you ice the game.

You bring Cole Kramer into the game on 1st and 10 to run the Wildcat, letting a good defensive line know within 95% certainty what the play will be. THREE times in a row!

THAT was lunacy.

Yeah, I know we won, but you are just asking for lightning to strike and end up in OT.

That 3 play set cements my opinion of our OC.
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Couldn't agree more, WTF was that?
 




Some guy said:
Abandon the RPO?
No. Sometimes on RPO it’s a handoff. So just not seeing completed passes wouldn’t mean they abandoned RPO.
Multiple times yesterday in just the second half RPO was run and the slant pass was tipped at LOS
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Maybe but we haven’t run it much it seems. Sometimes it is a handoff but the way defenses are playing us (focusing on stopping the run), I feel like we should see more RPO passes.
 


GophersInIowa said:
I noticed this when watching it but forgot to mention it. Could have been a huge penalty.


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Awesome reaction to that, but the penalty has me a little confused. I thought the penalty was to line up directly over the center. He was half a yard to the side, in the gap and got moved another yard away (I know probably more of just the result of being yanked that way). Question is how far off center are they supposed to be?

Also, does Wenger know whatever that distance is so they can, I don't know, practice lining up? 2 weeks in a row it has come up.
 



BTChamp said:
Awesome reaction to that, but the penalty has me a little confused. I thought the penalty was to line up directly over the center. He was half a yard to the side, in the gap and got moved another yard away (I know probably more of just the result of being yanked that way). Question is how far off center are they supposed to be?

Also, does Wenger know whatever that distance is so they can, I don't know, practice lining up? 2 weeks in a row it has come up.
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Defenders are not allowed to line up within the body frame of a long snapper when within one yard of the line of scrimmage. Defensive players may not initiate contact with the longer snapper until 1 second has passed after the snap. The rule Is meant to “enhance the protection” of snappers, according to the NCAA.
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247sports.com

The new rule changes in college football you need to know

These rules would have changed the outcomes of games in previous seasons.
247sports.com 247sports.com
 


Gophergrandpa said:
I haven't analyzed things at all, but it seems that this year we are doing a more straight drop back passes by Tanner--which isn't an RPO and doesn't draw the LBs toward the LOS to defend a running gap. Harder to run quick slants out of a straight drop back pass because LBs have dropped back and are in the way. I know we are supposedly an RPO offense, but I think I've seen Tanner do more straight drop backs this year. But, like I said, this is a vague impression I've gotten watching games without any true analysis. Gophers are definitely running more heavy packages this year, which also limits WR routes. Probably based on this year's personnel strengths.
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Sanford is not calling slants. Morgan taking deep drop and wideouts running deep routes.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
I agree. CAB dropped two passes that would have been big plays. We went deep several times, and the passes to MBS were critical explosive plays. I'm mystified. It is like people don't understand that this game was played in wet, slippery conditions on a grass field that had patches of turf coming up all over. This affects the game and play calling ... and really affects the QB and receivers. Do some people expect that you call the same offensive plays on a muddy grass field during a rain storm as you would on artificial turf on a sunny 75 degree day? Poor weather and field conditions dictate a lot. I hate to ask people to defer gratification, but the PJ and OC haters really need to wait for a different game, a poorly played game in good weather conditions--a game in which we are heavily favored, yet lose--to believably criticize our offensive performance.
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Gramps, it is possible to appreciate the good win, tough defense and good play by Morgan and OL -- all under extreme weather conditions -- and still recognize play calling is limiting offense. We were good enough to beat Purdue. We have the talent to be better.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I know I'm biased, but it sure looked like Mafe was held 6-7 times.
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He was to the point the radio broadcast was talking about the blatant holding on 3rd and long on Purdue's first scoring drive. If you can't be happy Otis about a win on the road in terrible conditions, against 3-1 Purdue team I got nothing. All Big 10 wins especially on the road are good. Team had great effort, resilience and want to yesterday. This was a good win. Gophers played their gutts out in my opinion.
 

Dakota2 said:
Gramps, it is possible to appreciate the good win, tough defense and good play by Morgan and OL -- all under extreme weather conditions -- and still recognize play calling is limiting offense. We were good enough to beat Purdue. We have the talent to be better.
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I don’t quibble with that concept. I have been an ardent critic of the OC’s conservative play calling in situations (Bowling Green) in which no good case can be made for it, and when it ends up stifling player development and potentially deflating player confidence. But I think the conditions at Purdue called for a more conservative, protect the ball game plan. I wish we had thrown more intermediate passes, but I am OK with what we did on offense. There will be plenty of time to complain about the OC or PJ if we go vanilla and predictable against Nebraska and they run us out of the stadium. If Potts is hurt—that is the rumor 🙏—we will need a lot of creativity on offense and a robust passing game.
 

The game plan against Purdue was damn near perfect, considering the conditions.

And who knew an upcoming game against Nebraska would have Gopher fans shaking in their boots?
 

turnovers trump stats any day.

I was at a HS FB game Friday night.
Team A had 265 yds offense with 12 1st downs.
Team B had 252 yds offense with 14 1st downs.

Team A won 28-0.
Team B turned it over 6 times - 3 fum & 3 INT, including a pick-6 for Team A's 1st TD of the game.

and here's a bonus stat - the teams and refs combined for 22 penalties for 180 yards, and at least one more flag that was picked up. It wasn't pretty.......
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Bad snap on the FG attempt. Gotta wonder if that last second move distracted the long snapper. I"m sure it contributed.
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At first I thought they did it intentionally to mess with the kicker.
 

Evidently someone on the coaching staff is reading our post as they used Kramer more. Now another suggestion design a pass for Kramer that runs a tight end behind the line backers. This would give Kramer the option to hand off, run the ball or pass to keep the defense honest.
 

noamfromm said:
Honorable mention means he is seen as the fourth best qb? I'd take the other side
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Yes, so we have a Gentlemen's wager.

noamfromm said:
but the argument isn't where he's ranked among other QBs, merely is ZA5 better in this system (or equal)
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If we lost, I'd agree with you, however, we won, so I'd much rather keep rowing the boat Brock instead of doing this by making an unnecesary QB change (a great jam) -

 

gopherdudepart2 said:
He was to the point the radio broadcast was talking about the blatant holding on 3rd and long on Purdue's first scoring drive. If you can't be happy Otis about a win on the road in terrible conditions, against 3-1 Purdue team I got nothing. All Big 10 wins especially on the road are good. Team had great effort, resilience and want to yesterday. This was a good win. Gophers played their gutts out in my opinion.
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Yep. If we are at a point where we can have bad road Big 10 wins, PJ Fleck should get a lifetime contract.
 

Dakota2 said:
Gramps, it is possible to appreciate the good win, tough defense and good play by Morgan and OL -- all under extreme weather conditions -- and still recognize play calling is limiting offense. We were good enough to beat Purdue. We have the talent to be better.
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Your opinion on this particular issue has been made abundantly clear to even the most casual of observers.
 

Get healthy this week and hopefully we are back to full strength at WR for Nebraska. Nice win on the road with tons of pressure going into bye week.
 

Oregon Gopher said:
There is zero data that it would result in improved QB play and would likely result in the maddening throwing off the back foot style that ZA showed during his tenure as starter. You just had a good qb performance so why would you want to start a QB controversy that could kill a team.
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Morgan had one great year with two great WRs. His last two years haven't been great, as I said I wouldn't mind seeing ZA.
 


BradDad said:
Happy with the win.

O-Line is supposed to be a strength. They didn't get much push this week or last.

We don't have the weapons in the passing game we had a couple years ago.
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So, OL didn’t surrender a sack against a Purdue defense that had played very well in its four previous games. Tanner averaged 18.78 yards per completion (which is huge), meaning that there were several deep passes attempted where he held the ball for quite a while before throwing. On the rushing side, Potts had a 5.2 yards per carry average. Now any performance in any game can be improved upon, but I am curious about how much the OL-related stats in the Purdue game would have to be improved upon before you would think of the OL as a “strength.”
 

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