The 4 Big Ten football teams with the most to prove in Week 2 (#3. Minnesota)

[BleedGopher]

per Ryan:

3. Minnesota

This one has upset written all over it. Minnesota’s game at Fresno State will start late Saturday night in another time zone, with a Bulldog team that nearly beat the Golden Gophers in Minneapolis last season. Fresno State did wind up beating UCLA and Arizona State last year, which is why it is only a 3-point underdog.

The Golden Gophers were a cute pick to win the West, with all of their returning talent. But then South Dakota State came to town and out-gained them 367-308. Minnesota trailed in the fourth quarter.

Let’s see if P.J. Fleck opens it up a little more and tries to get star receiver Tyler Johnson going. The All-America candidate had just three catches for 28 yards. In fact, Minnesota ran the ball 39 times to just 18 pass attempts from Tanner Morgan. That’s not a lot of confidence in a returning starter at quarterback.

https://saturdaytradition.com/big-t...tball-teams-with-the-most-to-prove-in-week-2/

Go Gophers!!

 

[RememberMurray]

39 rushes to 18 passes is the right ratio for this team and this offense.

We need to execute better, rather than just throw it more for the sake of throwing it more.

 

[cjbfbp]

39 rushes to 18 passes is the right ratio for this team and this offense.

We need to execute better, rather than just throw it more for the sake of throwing it more.

The "right" ratio depends upon what their defense is giving us and how well our defense is playing. This offense has the potential to be the most effectively balanced offense in quite a few years. It may be true that executing mostly running plays may have the effect of wearing down the defense by the latter stages of the game, but that strategy likely will also limit yardage gained. That may be fine if our defense plays a great game but if we need to score early and often, we're going to have to mix in a good number of pass plays. If we end up needing 400+ yards in this game, I don't think we can be confident of getting 250 on the ground.

Last week, I think Fleck was committed to giving Rodney and Mo a lot of work and he may have gotten a bit too comfortable after that pick 6 in the 3rd quarter. The mix of plays could be a bit different this week.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

It seems like there are a lot of peanut gallery folks that want to see NFL style game play and run/pass ratios. MN was at 69% for the game which is probably a bit above where they want to be but was nursing a lead going into the second half. MN struggled to move the ball most of the second half due to a combination of penalties, poor protection, and a drop. They ran the ball effectively when they had to go get the game winning TD.

I don’t hink we’re going to see a Purdue style attack throwing 40-45 times per game and that’s ok if we can move the ball efficiently with some explosive plays here and there. There’s more than one way to skin a cat.