STrib: Depleted Gophers 'have a lot of work to do' after lopsided loss to Michigan

[BleedGopher]

per Randy:

That brings us to Saturday night’s 2020 season opener against Michigan at TCF Bank Stadium. The Gophers scored first, hung within four points of the Wolverines into the second quarter but succumbed to a Michigan offense that overwhelmed Minnesota’s defense in a 49-24 romp. Instead of dictating terms to the opponent as they had most of last year, the Gophers were the ones forced to play lefthanded, and the result was the Wolverines toting the Little Brown Jug back to Ann Arbor for the 45th times in the past 48 meetings.

“That was a really good football team we just played,’’ Fleck said.

The stats back that up. Michigan averaged 8.3 yards per carry on its way to 256 rushing yards, saw quarterback Joe Milton average 10.2 yards per passing attempt, and had nine consecutive offensive possessions that resulted in either a touchdown (six) or a missed field-goal attempt (three). Aside from a first-possession blocked punt, a next-to-last possession turnover on downs and a final kneel-down, the Gophers did not stop the Wolverines.

Depleted Gophers 'have a lot of work to do' after lopsided loss to Michigan

Michigan built big lead and kept it, the same formula in both 2019 Gophers defeats.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[Gophergrandpa]

Goal for Maryland game: Make the Terps punt multiple times. I'll take a blocked punt any day, but it was weird to sit through an entire four quarters and never once see a Gopher field a punt. Our defense played poorly, but it had to deal with way too many situations in which Michigan started off with a short field. Having special teams give us some ray of hope in the field position battle, on both kick offs and punts, could go a long ways toward improving the defenses chances for a stop.

 

[tmvander]

The defense was horrid no doubt about it. I am confident it will get better than that. I mean it has to as there have been far worse teams throughout the history of college football that have made teams punt.

The offense was looking pretty good. Michigan's defense is solid and we ran and threw on them pretty well (not perfect but again a good team we were playing). I think we will put up some points against Maryland and keep our defense off the field a bit more. Just need W's.

 

[BarnBurner]

Goal for Maryland game: Make the Terps punt multiple times. I'll take a blocked punt any day, but it was weird to sit through an entire four quarters and never once see a Gopher field a punt. Our defense played poorly, but it had to deal with way too many situations in which Michigan started off with a short field. Having special teams give us some ray of hope in the field position battle, on both kick offs and punts, could go a long ways toward improving the defenses chances for a stop.

Short field or not, you have to stop the opponent. Once would have been ok......

 

[Gophergrandpa]

Short field or not, you have to stop the opponent. Once would have been ok......

With notable exceptions, the good thing about a long field is that it gives the defense more chances to rehabilitate and make a stop. Also gives the team with the ball more chances to stop itself, with a dropped pass, untimely penalty, etc. Doesn’t mean your team’s defense is better, but it might keep the score of the game closer.

 

[gopher7]

We probably should not be surprised after seeing how we started the season last year. We apparently really need those non conference games to figure stuff out. Hopefully we see the same kind of improvement this year.

 

[nitramnaed]

We probably should not be surprised after seeing how we started the season last year. We apparently really need those non conference games to figure stuff out. Hopefully we see the same kind of improvement this year.

Agreed. I was at that Georgia Southern game and at times it was painful.

 

[Taji34]

We probably should not be surprised after seeing how we started the season last year. We apparently really need those non conference games to figure stuff out. Hopefully we see the same kind of improvement this year.

Yeah, I've said it a few times but had we played Penn State to begin last year it probably would have looked like this year's Michigan game. However we played them mid-season and won, so it's just more evidence that shows PJ's Gopher teams start slow. I hope that trend can be changed, especially with Game 1 vs OSU next year.