Special Teams Coach Bob Ligashesky will not be retained for next season.

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pharmacygopher said:
Another contributing factor IMO is they had some serious misses in the 21 and 22 OL classes. Those are guys would should be upperclassmen and being contributors.

2021
Cameron James - transferred to Jackson State 2022
Logan Purcell - don't recall meaningful snaps. Left in 2024 it looks like
Saia Mapakaitolo- transferred to Arizona in 2022

2022
Ashton Beers- solid B1G starter
Tony Nelson- has played some. Hopefully continues to develop
Cade McConnell- transferred to Vanderbilt in 2024
Spencer Alvarez- no meaningful snaps to my knowledge. I think left the program

That's 1-2 B1G players in 2 classes. Not good.
2023 was a bit better ID'ing talent at least with Johnson (starter), Williams (TBD), Daniels (starter but transferred to OSU), Tripp (miss, transferred out), Mister (transferred to Howard).

The next season or 2 will be paramount to see if Callahan needs to be replaced.
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I believe Reese Tripp the huge offensive lineman from Kasson, MN recently entered the transfer portal.
 

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GoGophersUMN said:
I don't agree with Koi Perich being a bright spot on special teams. He has the one punt he nearly ran back for a TD but he also muffed 2 punts and his average punt return decreased by nearly a third compared to last year.

Weston was also 12th in average punt distance in the conference of punters with significant playing time compared to being 9th in the conference in 2024.

Hard to tell what was coaching vs players but special teams was a weak point this year.
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Punting teams take into a account who is returning the punts and after Perich's success as a freshman, they have likely schemed their punts in ways to limit either his ability to field the punt or in a direction that limits space for a return. Directional kicking is a thing.
 

GoGophersUMN said:
I don't agree with Koi Perich being a bright spot on special teams. He has the one punt he nearly ran back for a TD but he also muffed 2 punts and his average punt return decreased by nearly a third compared to last year.

Weston was also 12th in average punt distance in the conference of punters with significant playing time compared to being 9th in the conference in 2024.

Hard to tell what was coaching vs players but special teams was a weak point this year.
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The net punt average this year was 1 yard worse than 2024. I am not sure that is of huge concern.
 

Taji34 said:
Well, I think we all can agree at least one of them needs to go.

I personally think both, but at minimum you either find a new OL that can work with the offensive scheme Harbaugh runs, or find an OC that runs an offense that meshes with Callahan's strengths as an OL coach.

The worst thing to do is keep them both when obviously it hasn't been working.
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Callahan has earned (at least) one more year, and I think there's zero chance he won't get it.

If the OL plays as abysmally as it did this year, again next year, then I think that's when you have to think about letting him go.
 

60's Guy said:
What you say has logic but overlooks the fact the O-Line coach has proven success and Harbaugh has only floundered.
Seems like a poor percentage play to me but you can't keep doing the same thing again this year and somehow expect different results. Something has to change. Seems clear to me these two guys do not work well together. So, ya...do something to fix it.
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I agree you can't keep doing the same thing. Have to look at what does work and lean into that
 



The Deliberate Stranger said:
I agree you can't keep doing the same thing. Have to look at what does work and lean into that
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I personally think zone running is weak, unless you have really good, powerful OL. It might work better in an RPO scheme with the OL we have.

Would like to see a commitment to switching to run blocking schemes based on pulling linemen and misdirection.

That is something NDSU has built as its identity on offense for over two decades now. It works
 

GoldRush said:
The net punt average this year was 1 yard worse than 2024. I am not sure that is of huge concern.
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Agreed, it's not a huge concern but it's also not a bright spot. Punting and punt returns were mediocre, kicking and kick coverage were bad.
 

GopherGrit said:
I personally think zone running is weak, unless you have really good, powerful OL. It might work better in an RPO scheme with the OL we have.

Would like to see a commitment to switching to run blocking schemes based on pulling linemen and misdirection.

That is something NDSU has built as its identity on offense for over two decades now. It works
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Agreed. It's exactly why we can't beat the better teams because in zone / gap running it's basically power versus power. We need schemes that allow us to have leverage, angles, and even more lineman versus defenders because of pulling lineman and. misdirection
 
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GopherGrit said:
I personally think zone running is weak, unless you have really good, powerful OL. It might work better in an RPO scheme with the OL we have.

Would like to see a commitment to switching to run blocking schemes based on pulling linemen and misdirection.

That is something NDSU has built as its identity on offense for over two decades now. It works
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You should try watching a game from the last two years.

We rarely run zone and are a gap scheme run game like you’ve asked for
 

Texan Gopher said:
Agreed. It's exactly why we can't beat the better teams because in zone running it's basically power versus power. We need schemes that allow us to have leverage, angles, and even more lineman versus defenders because of pulling lineman and. misdirection
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You guys are knuckleheads. We are zone blocking royalty here in town with the best running game in college football for years doing it under Mason. I have no idea WTF you guys are talking about. It works fine as to other schemes it’s all about just identifying which guy to block and staying on him to the count of two or three versus whiffing which we do a lot of right now.
 








DarrenTheGreek said:
I don't disagree with your assessment of the offense but they are bound and determined to implement an NFL -lite offense and they view these growing pains as necessary. Harbaugh has a long leash and I am OK with keeping him around.
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I agree when you compare some of the things we're doing now especially Oregon game and on with how the offense looked under Kirk I think we are better for it
 

STPGopher said:
Ball control, run clock, shrink game.
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Old school thinking not based in any analytics. This actually only makes sense to play this style if you are worse than the other team.

More possessions = less variance & more likely better team wins
 

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