Too much Mo?

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Bob_Loblaw said:
I wish PJ would find a way to find another 10-12 carries per game for our other running backs. I'm pretty agnostic as to who those people are but I really don't love seeing RBs carry the ball 30+ times per game.

This has been happening for years and I don't expect it to change.
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Unless it’s Kent Kitzman!

Seriously, I generally agree with not using a running back too much.
 

We were so vanilla the whole game. Just hoping that our beloved OC can find something different this game. Nubbie will be tougher game than most everyone believes. If it weren’t for the WS, I would betting that the Cornhuskers cover the spread.
 

I get the sense that they were trying to protect Morgan. 17 of his 21 pass attempts traveled 10-yards or less in the air. a lot of short, quick safer passes to reduce the risk that Morgan would get clocked while holding the ball to set up a longer pass route.

as a result, Mo got more work.

having said that, I agree that I would prefer to see Mo kept to about 25 touches a game if possible.
 


balds said:
36 carries, when it wasn't necessary for him to carry such a heavy load? It's a conundrum, as he is our offense. He averages almost 6 yards a carry and we all saw what we look like when he's out.

Coming off the achilles, the injury at MSU, in the medical tent today, and his bruising style of running, combined with such a workload has me concerned for his ability to finish the season. I wish our offense could take more off his plate.
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I'm starting to worry that KC isn't the dynamic offensive mind I hoped he was in 2019.

That being said, our raw talent being Mo is…disappointing, to put it kindly.
 


TheNorthernAmir said:
I'm starting to worry that KC isn't the dynamic offensive mind I hoped he was in 2019.

That being said, our raw talent being Mo is…disappointing, to put it kindly.
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People used to say the Tanner was so good in 2019 because of Bateman and T. Johnson. As I watch this season unfold, I am beginning to think it was KC who Bateman and T. Johnson made look good. Those two ( and Tanner) were able to execute to perfection our extremely simple RPO offense. Without them, the RPO’s simplistic nature now looks uncreative and predictable. Plus, the RPO calls for a pass when the safety moves down to play the run, but we now run a lot, it seems, even when the safety comes down into box. I am glad we beat—overpowered Rutgers—with a relentless run game. Probably works against Northwestern, too. Don’t think we can count in an extremely predictable, 80/20 run/pass ratio to work against Iowa or Wisconsin, however. Time will tell.
 

Agree - he should have been pulled earlier: we have some big games ahead. Tanner should have hit the bench at some point, too, to let Athan get more real game experience. Fleck is strange about not giving his reserves more time when a win is big.
 

No such thing as too much Mo. Just not enough other offense. We should be undefeated and Rutgers should have been 61-0.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
People used to say the Tanner was so good in 2019 because of Bateman and T. Johnson. As I watch this season unfold, I am beginning to think it was KC who Bateman and T. Johnson made look good. Those two ( and Tanner) were able to execute to perfection our extremely simple RPO offense. Without them, the RPO’s simplistic nature now looks uncreative and predictable. Plus, the RPO calls for a pass when the safety moves down to play the run, but we now run a lot, it seems, even when the safety comes down into box. I am glad we beat—overpowered Rutgers—with a relentless run game. Probably works against Northwestern, too. Don’t think we can count in an extremely predictable, 80/20 run/pass ratio to work against Iowa or Wisconsin, however. Time will tell.
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This.

And gotta get through Nebraska first. Yeah, I'm with all the people who say they are who we thought they were -- a bad team. But it's still an intense atmosphere on the road.
 



Speaking of which -- before this past weekend (going to Neb), Illinois had only gone on the road twice in their first seven games. One was to Wisc, the game that got Paul Chryst fired, the other was Week 2 to IU in a game they should've won but found a way to lose.
 

Look at the wrap this dude plays with.
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Gophers_4life said:
This.

And gotta get through Nebraska first. Yeah, I'm with all the people who say they are who we thought they were -- a bad team. But it's still an intense atmosphere on the road.
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I’m with you. Nebraska isn’t playing well and has some line-up weaknesses. It also has a few guys who are very good, including a great WR transfer from LSU. We can’t afford to start slowly at Nebraska if it means we fall behind by 10 (or more) points. We have been light on positive explosive plays lately—and we have proven uniquely unable to “turtle” our way to a win once we suffer a 10 point deficit. Nebbie’s defense is OK; better than its offense. Can’t energize that defense life in front of a big crowd. Key to Nebraska is same as Rutgers. Gophers get up early, play very tough D, and lead wire to wire, breaking Nebbie’s spirit is 2nd Half.
 
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TheNorthernAmir said:
I'm starting to worry that KC isn't the dynamic offensive mind I hoped he was in 2019.

That being said, our raw talent being Mo is…disappointing, to put it kindly.
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I’m a little worried that KC and PJ, through overuse and continuous running into stacked boxes, might expose Mo to an injury that simply didn’t need to happen. If the game is well in hand, why tempt fate by continuing to throw Mo into stacked boxes? If we decide to finish off the season by running Mo into the ground, it shouldn’t surprise if he were not available for the trophy games at season’s end. That would be a tragedy and, depending in circumstances, might even be a self-inflicted wound.
 
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short ornery norwegian said:
I get the sense that they were trying to protect Morgan. 17 of his 21 pass attempts traveled 10-yards or less in the air. a lot of short, quick safer passes to reduce the risk that Morgan would get clocked while holding the ball to set up a longer pass route.

as a result, Mo got more work.

having said that, I agree that I would prefer to see Mo kept to about 25 touches a game if possible.
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As PJ alluded to in the press conference, I think it was the coaches' intention to stay very conservative in the passing game with short safe throws and a lot of runs against a mediocre Rutgers team...assuming the running game was working. I saw Jackson, and maybe other receivers, running wide open at times downfield but Tanner chose another shorter option or chose to run. I'm assuming this tactic was planned. It will need to change against better teams.
 

balds said:
36 carries, when it wasn't necessary for him to carry such a heavy load? It's a conundrum, as he is our offense. He averages almost 6 yards a carry and we all saw what we look like when he's out.

Coming off the achilles, the injury at MSU, in the medical tent today, and his bruising style of running, combined with such a workload has me concerned for his ability to finish the season. I wish our offense could take more off his plate.
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It's not sustainable, and this brand of decision making has been the case since Fleck walked on campus. Potts and Williams are capable backups good for 10 touches per game. Fleck chooses not to. He will run Ibrahim into the ground.

The bigger issue is the 1955 playbook and not trusting your sixth-year QB to throw it more than 20 yards downfield. This is the real cause of the one-dimensional, over-reliance on Mo.

Pretty embarrassing, really, to barely be able to execute a forward pass. Very elite.
 

NorCalGopher said:
It's not sustainable, and this brand of decision making has been the case since Fleck walked on campus. Potts and Williams are capable backups good for 10 touches per game. Fleck chooses not to. He will run Ibrahim into the ground.

The bigger issue is the 1955 playbook and not trusting your sixth-year QB to throw it more than 20 yards downfield. This is the real cause of the one-dimensional, over-reliance on Mo.

Pretty embarrassing, really, to barely be able to execute a forward pass. Very elite.
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Mo has appeared in 7 games this season. In 5 of those 7 he has right around 20 carries or less. He had 30 against PSU (last few were most likely in an effort to get him to 100 yards) and he had 36 against Rutgers (none after the team went up 21-0 thanks to his 3rd TD of the day).

As for your last line.....Morgan was 14 for 21 with 4 drops by the receivers. So if every pass is caught that is an 86% completion percentage with 0 pics in a 31-0 victory. We didn't look to go downfield because we didn't have to.
 

MNVCGUY said:
We didn't look to go downfield because we didn't have to.
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That's one way to look at it. It's not wrong, by any means.

Another way to look at it: the team has struggled with passing, which has a lot to do with timing and execution on route running, as well as play calling (route selection against the expected defense, for the situation). It could have been an opportunity to practice these things, and gain some confidence, with little risk of putting the game outcome on the line.
 

Gophers_4life said:
That's one way to look at it. It's not wrong, by any means.

Another way to look at it: the team has struggled with passing, which has a lot to do with timing and execution on route running, as well as play calling (route selection against the expected defense, for the situation). It could have been an opportunity to practice these things, and gain some confidence, with little risk of putting the game outcome on the line.
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Or....it was a 2 score game entering the 4th quarter. Playing the way we were, it didn't appear like Rutgers had any shot to get back in the game.

Apparently to some that means we should start taking risks and chucking it downfield as opposed to just continuing to do what was working and guarantee the win. Those same fans would of course then be complaining if taking those unnecessary risks had led to Rutgers coming back and winning the game.

Non-Conf game early in the year....maybe you can make a case for practicing some things. Big Ten game later in the season is not the time for that. Especially when you have a team that desperately needs a win.
 

Up 21-0, you pass the ball, if they pick it or get a sack or whatever and it's suddenly 7-21, then you go back to what works.

Guessing we'll just agree to disagree on this, and that's fine.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Up 21-0, you pass the ball, if they pick it or get a sack or whatever and it's suddenly 7-21, then you go back to what works.

Guessing we'll just agree to disagree on this, and that's fine.
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Yep....I'm good with the 31-0 win over a Big Ten team and have no issue with the way we managed that game to secure the victory.
 

PMWinSTP said:
He's been limping since MSU.
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Correct and precisely the point. It's an injury that is going to affect him all year. That's the reason to use him prudently and hope it is not worse and limiting him the last two weeks.
 

I’d have run him 43 times. But I’m biased
 

He never should have got 30 carry’s while Penn St was kicking your A$$ but hey had to keep that 100 yards a game streak going lol
 

TheDudeAbides said:
He never should have got 30 carry’s while Penn St was kicking your A$$ but hey had to keep that 100 yards a game streak going lol
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You are seriously still lurking/trolling here? Shouldn’t you be over annoying the MSU fans or maybe getting a jump on trolling Purdue?
 

MNVCGUY said:
Mo has appeared in 7 games this season. In 5 of those 7 he has right around 20 carries or less. He had 30 against PSU (last few were most likely in an effort to get him to 100 yards) and he had 36 against Rutgers (none after the team went up 21-0 thanks to his 3rd TD of the day).

As for your last line.....Morgan was 14 for 21 with 4 drops by the receivers. So if every pass is caught that is an 86% completion percentage with 0 pics in a 31-0 victory. We didn't look to go downfield because we didn't have to.
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Seriously? You're defending a passing game that completed 14 short passes in a Big10 game? They didn't look downfield because they're incapable of executing it. They were scared to throw downfield against Rutgers. I can't believe someone has to point this out. Maybe whatever you're drinking in that glass half full needs a refill.

Also, there should never be a scenario where you ask a college back to carry the ball 36 times. That is unsustainable for obvious reasons.
 

NorCalGopher said:
Seriously? You're defending a passing game that completed 14 short passes in a Big10 game? They didn't look downfield because they're incapable of executing it. They were scared to throw downfield against Rutgers. I can't believe someone has to point this out. Maybe whatever you're drinking in that glass half full needs a refill.

Also, there should never be a scenario where you ask a college back to carry the ball 36 times. That is unsustainable for obvious reasons.
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31-0. And yeah, we didn't look to throw downfield in this game because we didn't need to....again 31-0.

Our passing game is not great and our WR are really struggling but the passing game against Rutgers was just fine in doing what it needed to do in order to sustain drives.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Potts and Williams, do everything else we need and likely do it better than Evans would this year.
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We won’t know because he is not getting a chance to play. Sure glad Irving was able to play even being a true frosh. Would never had seen him unless the first 4 backs got hurt. You need to give Evan some minutes. Hopefully this decision doesn’t lead to a portal transfer.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
This has been happening for years and I don't expect it to change.
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My theory is he partially likes it as a recruiting tool. He can hold up a Mo or a Rodney Smith as a bellcow back who gets showcased in the B10 against the best teams. He tells recruits that if you come to MN and beat out the competition, I will feed you the ball and you will have great exposure for NFL scouts.

Look at Dameon Pierce, 4 star RB who went to Florida but never exceeded 15 carries in a game, and had only 100 carries his senior year, and goes undrafted.

Obviously more that goes into it. I think he's a control/trust freak and he really trusts Mo.
 

MNVCGUY said:
You are seriously still lurking/trolling here? Shouldn’t you be over annoying the MSU fans or maybe getting a jump on trolling Purdue?
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I’m everywhere and your shit team is ruining my parlay today
 

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