What will the 2023 Gopher Offense look like?

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Tvans022 said:
PJ during his weekly radio show with Grim and JG called out what I've been barking about for week's on Twitter. He coaches to his strengths. Whatever gives him the best chance to win. MN had (2) 1k yard receivers in Johnson and Bateman for the first time. If he's sooooooo conservative that doesn't happen. Point being, if we have the skill we'll play to it.
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PJ averaged about 60/40 run to pass ratio at WMU. He had the QB and WR's to do it well, especially the last two seasons.
 

upnorthkid said:
I think they will do more of the quick hitters with Athan. Within the first drives against cuse they ran a couple outs and a TE stick or two (they also did this vs PSU). It’s clear the O will be different with Athan (or he’s just more willing than Tanner to try fit the ball or throw those routes). Will be fun to watch. I’m sure we’re going to give the ball away more, but think our explosive play number and percentage will go up pretty drastically
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Can definitely see this happening. Mo never fumbled.
 

btowngopher said:
I think they may let AK pass more, but I don’t see them ever changing the clock milking strategy. I don’t particularly mind it. It can back fire from time to time, but so can a more aggressive strategy.
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No question they will pass more. The bowl game highlights that in spades. Fleck will always want to win TOP, but I think he'll settle for something less extreme for a more explosive offense.
 



Here's one of the unfavorable things that happens when passing when you've rushed successfully all game:
 


Replacement Gopher said:
Agreed, it is amazing we never go up temp. Even when we are losing in the fourth quarter.
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Amazing thing is that practices are all up tempo, every minute yet games are at the tempo of a slug crawling through a garden. Always playing slow, always milking the clock, makes your offense predictable in one key respect and gives defenses the time comfortably to prepare for the coming play. I favor a mix of up tempo vs. tortoise tempo. Make it difficult in occasion for the D to switch personnel or to get set. Get the defense on its heels sometimes.
 




hungan1 said:
If Athan gets stronger and masters the progression reads with his strong arm and scrambling ability, he will be very dangerous for opposing defenses.

We'll see if his accuracy improves over where he is at this stage career-wise. KC has a ton of work in quarterback development with a couple of very intriguing QBs.
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I don’t know WTF you’re talking about the kid is accurate as hell he’s ready to roll.
 

Y
Word said:
Do you even watch the games? AK does it every play just like Morgan.
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i watched the games and AK didn’t do it very often. There’s a much better energy when he’s in the game.
 

Willwin40 said:
Y

i watched the games and AK didn’t do it very often. There’s a much better energy when he’s in the game.
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I rewatched the bowl game on the DVR and Athan looked to the sideline pretty much every play. He doesn't make it as obvious as Morgan though so maybe you didn't notice. AK just turns his head whereas Morgan turns his whole body to face the sideline.
 

I'm not quite sure why AK is being called a "scrambler"? There were few if any plays that he dodged the rush to make a gain or ran up through a hole in the line with any success. When pressured he mostly got sacked. He may be more mobile than Morgan but he ain't no Bryce Young.
 



Word said:
I rewatched the bowl game on the DVR and Athan looked to the sideline pretty much every play. He doesn't make it as obvious as Morgan though so maybe you didn't notice. AK just turns his head whereas Morgan turns his whole body to face the sideline.
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You could have fooled me. It must be very subtle. I notice he takes the snap usually at 10 to 15 sec. Not 1 or 2 sec. like
Morgan.
 




The offense will look very similar next year. We will be a 60-40 Run pass ratio. The difference will be in yards gained by the run (less) and pass (more), provided AK plays all year.
The Running game, like SON said, will be by committee, with Potts and Evans being the two who will start the year rotating and the two FR getting their chance. here and there until they can prove to be reliable.
The passing game will feature Jackson, CrAB and Brockington with the two portal kids getting reps as well. I feel D Wright will be the odd man out which could be a problem in the WR room. BSF will put up slightly better numbers next year as well.
 

GFBfan said:
The offense will look very similar next year. We will be a 60-40 Run pass ratio. The difference will be in yards gained by the run (less) and pass (more), provided AK plays all year.
The Running game, like SON said, will be by committee, with Potts and Evans being the two who will start the year rotating and the two FR getting their chance. here and there until they can prove to be reliable.
The passing game will feature Jackson, CrAB and Brockington with the two portal kids getting reps as well. I feel D Wright will be the odd man out which could be a problem in the WR room. BSF will put up slightly better numbers next year as well.
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Think this is probably pretty accurate. We will still be a run first control the clock kind of team but hopefully the balance will be much more like 2019 when we were able to hurt teams on the ground and through the air by taking whatever they were giving us and exploiting it.

The thing that made that 2019 offense so deadly was its efficiency. We limited possessions in the game but we also maximized a high percentage of ours which put tremendous pressure on our opponents. Hopefully we can get back to having that kind of offense again.

There is zero doubt the offense is going to look different with the best player at QB as opposed to RB. But those expecting a drastic shift in play style are going to be disappointed because the overall framework of the offense will almost certainly remain pretty consistent.
 

Our other backs are not good enough for the abysmally slow handoffs. At least Williams and Potts. These need to happen faster or you will see a lot more runs like the first play of the Purdue game where we somehow ran it up the middle for a 5-yard loss (Potts).

Have to be faster.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Think this is probably pretty accurate. We will still be a run first control the clock kind of team but hopefully the balance will be much more like 2019 when we were able to hurt teams on the ground and through the air by taking whatever they were giving us and exploiting it.

The thing that made that 2019 offense so deadly was its efficiency. We limited possessions in the game but we also maximized a high percentage of ours which put tremendous pressure on our opponents. Hopefully we can get back to having that kind of offense again.

There is zero doubt the offense is going to look different with the best player at QB as opposed to RB. But those expecting a drastic shift in play style are going to be disappointed because the overall framework of the offense will almost certainly remain pretty consistent.
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Gophers threw about 40 more passes in 2019 than they did in 2022. They also ran more plays per game in 19. You nailed it with the efficiency side of it all. That was the biggest difference between the offenses.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
whatever happens with the RB's, MN under Fleck is not going to start throwing the ball 60% of the time. I would really be surprised if it passed 50/50.
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Yes, even 50/50 would be very surprising. Most of us probably remember 2019 as a year of great passing offense (relatively speaking anyway) but the Gophers threw the ball on just 36.5% of the plays that season. Passing plays were 32.6% of the offensive plays this season and 30.2% in 2021. The comparatively high amount passing yardage in 2019 was more of a function of great passing efficiency than volume that year.
 


hungan1 said:
PJ & KC need not ride one RB for a chunk of the running attack next season but figure out who can legitimately be the dynamic runners to get production.

It could be a one-headed, two-headed, or three-headed monster. Get the most mileage out of the most productive runners. If the incoming guys put the Gophers' running attack at a high level, they should utilize them.

The wrinkle that I'd like to see is a pass-catching RB and other utilitarian plays.

I am excited about the pass-catching TEs next season.

If KC and PJ are true to their offensive philosophy, they will tailor the offense to the type of talent at their disposal and not be too conservative.

I'd like for them to have a more killer instinct instead of opting to milk the clock. I was cringing that they would let Syracuse beat them at the last second with their minimalist approach. It worked. But it was too close for comfort.

That may not work against Purdue, Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin with the infusion of new coaching, QBs, and other talents they will have at their disposal.

They may not be able to rely on the strengths of their defense against these teams alone.

Play to win. Don't play to risk losing. I hate it when that happens in the final moments of the game.
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You're basically saying you want Fleck to change his entire offensive philosophy. It's not going to happen. What you're describing is a different head coach.
 

crunched some numbers.

looked at average passing yards per completion.
see if you can tell which year is not like the other years.

2018: 14.3
2019: 15.5
2020: 13.0
2021: 13.8
2022: 13.8

individual leaders -
2018: CrAB 16.0; Johnson 15.0; Bateman 13.8
2019: Bateman 20.3; Johnson 15.3; CrAB 13.3
2020: CrAB 19.5; D Jackson 13.9; Bateman 13.1
2021: D. Wright 20.3; MBS 17.0; CrAB 14.1
2022: CrAB 19.5; Brockington 18.5; Wright 16.5; MBS 15.4
 

roadrunner said:
I'm not quite sure why AK is being called a "scrambler"? There were few if any plays that he dodged the rush to make a gain or ran up through a hole in the line with any success. When pressured he mostly got sacked. He may be more mobile than Morgan but he ain't no Bryce Young.
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Scrambler doesn't always mean rushing for yards. He mostly has scrambled out of trouble/pressure and passed. The cross field throws is an example from the bowl.
 

QB rushing comparison:
Morgan 4 TD, 1.6 YPR, 8 SACKS
Kaliakmanis 1TD, 4.1 YPR, 7 SACKS
So although Athan used the RPO running option to gain more yards, adjusting for game time, he was sacked more often.
I contend again that he is not a scrambler.
 

MNVCGUY said:
One thing we can all rest easy in is knowing that no matter what the 2023 offense looks like we will have some posters here that hate it and complain about it all the time.
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And regardless of the decisions by the staff some folks on here will be personally offended anyone even mildly criticizes a decision.
 

I think it will look similar to last year with slightly more passing.

I think we will throw the ball a bit more from max protect sets. I think it’ll be power-play action (which means not a ton of receptions for RBs typically) and im hoping we throw more on early downs.

Other than that, it’s going to be the same ole same. We recruit and develop to our identity and that’s how we’ll play.
 

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