MGGopher
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Like many of us, I expected to see a greatly improved Gophers team this year that had built upon the successes from the end of last year and would come into this season kicking a$$ and taking names -- especially on the ground. I had a few minutes tonight, so I pulled up a condensed version of the GT game to see what changed in the offense. I expected to see BIG differences: a dozen formations, tons of motion, exotic plays, etc. What did I find? Very little difference. Here's a few things that stood out to me, in no particular order:
What does this tell us about this year? I have no idea. I just found it interesting that I'd built that game up in my head to be some kind of woodshed performance, when it was actually opportunistic passing (2 incredible plays to TJ and another long ball to CAB when Morgan eluded huge pressure), great defense that kept us in a positive game script, and a ton of hard and smart running by Ibrahim -- many times when it looked like there was nothing there. TOP was almost exactly even, and MN had two drives over 5 minutes -- both of which ended in FGs.
If somebody else wants to watch the full game (and perhaps the Wisc game as well), I'd be interested in your thoughts. For my money, I think I overrated how good our favorite team was at the end of last year, and therefore would be coming into this year. That said, I DO think they're capable of performances (and final scores) like that this year, and I wouldn't be surprised with 8 wins -- even after this shaky start. Just based on what I saw in the GT game, I think the biggest factors will be these:
- Especially early in that game, MN was stuffed quite a lot on the inside zone. It looked very similar to this year.
- Formations looked basically the same. Probably more motioning across to kick out edge players, but we've seen some of that this year as well.
- MN did seem to run a lot more outside zone/stretch plays...and the TEs dominated GTs DEs and OLBs, so Ibrahim frequently got the edge. Witham and Schlueter were especially effective. I'm starting to think this was just a general weakness identified in GTs scheme or personnel rather than something our coaches want to do a lot more of.
- I did see a few screens and quick stop routes to our WRs. We haven't seen too much of that this year, and the one I remember against SDSU was a bust with Green whiffing on his block.
- Morgan was under a lot of pressure in that game. He escaped much of it and made yards with his legs or kept his eyes downfield and found WRs. It looked really similar to this year.
- Ibrahim found EVERY crease and must've made 150 yards after contact. The OL was not frequently dominating until very late in the game when it was out of reach. I saw a play in the 4th quarter where the GT DT pushed our guard 4 yards into the backfield, but Ibrahim just cut right underneath it and made a huge gain.
What does this tell us about this year? I have no idea. I just found it interesting that I'd built that game up in my head to be some kind of woodshed performance, when it was actually opportunistic passing (2 incredible plays to TJ and another long ball to CAB when Morgan eluded huge pressure), great defense that kept us in a positive game script, and a ton of hard and smart running by Ibrahim -- many times when it looked like there was nothing there. TOP was almost exactly even, and MN had two drives over 5 minutes -- both of which ended in FGs.
If somebody else wants to watch the full game (and perhaps the Wisc game as well), I'd be interested in your thoughts. For my money, I think I overrated how good our favorite team was at the end of last year, and therefore would be coming into this year. That said, I DO think they're capable of performances (and final scores) like that this year, and I wouldn't be surprised with 8 wins -- even after this shaky start. Just based on what I saw in the GT game, I think the biggest factors will be these:
- RBs finding creases when it doesn't look like there's a crease...plus breaking tackles when 1-1. Smith started slow this year, but he looked much better Satruday before going out...something like 5 YPC. Ibrahim has looked equally as explosive (and hard to tackle) as last year, but I'm not wondering if he hasn't been battling a slight injury. In either case, the dropoff from healthy Smith and Ibrahim to Wiley to Williams was obvious, despite the OL being the same. I'm starting to think it takes time for the RBs to get back at game speed with finding holes in this zone scheme (esp with Smith coming off an injury...and esp with few obvious creases so far), so I can see big improvements coming in that area.
- OL gel to the point where they at least get stalemates upfront -- or only one guy gets whipped. This year we've frequently seen two or more guys screw up on the same play which leads to a total breakdown.
- OL learn to deal with basic stunts and blitzes so there isn't instant pressure (or from multiple places). Morgan is really good at eluding one man if he has a second to survey things. It's these multiple "jailbreak" scenarios this year where he's got no hope.
- More quick hitting stuff to the WRs and stretching the D horizontally rather than just vertically -- both in the passing game and through stretch type running plays. Right now everybody is just coming straight downhill on our running and passing games at mesh point because every run (and many throws in RPO) is between the hashes. In the bowl game a lot more stuff went outside.
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