Performances like today are how you end up with super small crowds.
Worst loss in PJs tenure?
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Gophergrandpa
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If we continue with the 75%+ run, under 25% pass play allocation—making us excruciating predictable and simple to defend—this season will be lost. Against two MAC teams, we have attempted a total of 30 passes (completing 13) against 87 rushing plays. I have heard folks explain this conservatism by saying we are doing just enough to win. But in every game we should be pulling out the stops and doing way more than what we think is “needed to win.” Lot more room for error …
GopherPharmaBiz
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Great points. And how do you grow and get better in the passing game if you’re not attempting them against MAC competition?
Morgan isn't getting yanked because that would be an admission from Fleck that the coaching staff has failed. They'll stick with him and hope that we can get to 7/8 wins this season.
The real problem is the defense and special teams can't pick up the slack when the offense struggles. I'm still hopeful that Fleck and Co get this mess figured out. But every loss just keeps the frustration mounting.
At some point, with a veteran team, you have to hope that some leadership emerges. Today was a massive setback to this program. Attendance/student turnout will start to decrease and that affects recruiting.
I expect things get worse before they get better. But I fully expect this team to qualify for a bowl game. The ceiling looks like 8-4. In August, everyone thought that was the floor.
The real problem is the defense and special teams can't pick up the slack when the offense struggles. I'm still hopeful that Fleck and Co get this mess figured out. But every loss just keeps the frustration mounting.
At some point, with a veteran team, you have to hope that some leadership emerges. Today was a massive setback to this program. Attendance/student turnout will start to decrease and that affects recruiting.
I expect things get worse before they get better. But I fully expect this team to qualify for a bowl game. The ceiling looks like 8-4. In August, everyone thought that was the floor.
Gophergrandpa
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Passing game: use it or lose it. If you don’t pass on a somewhat regular basis, do your QB and receivers lose confidence, lose coordination? It boggles the mind that we attempted only 13 passes against Bowling Green (while attempting 25 against Ohio state). If the OC has lost confidence in Tanner as a passer (and Tanner, God love him, is no runner), then make a change at QB. If the OC is suffocating our passing game, rendering us fatally predictable, then make a change at OC.
Gophergrandpa
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It is tough to criticize the defense when it held Bowling Green to 193 yards of total offense (170 passing and 23 net rushing). When you hold a team under 200 yards total offense, you have done the basic job needed to win. The defense could have done more, of course (pick sixes; more fumbles?), but it did enough to win. Special teams? Meh. This loss is on the offense and more particularly on the offensive play calling and the OC’s seeming strangulation of our once very nice passing game.
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8-4 would be 6-2 down the stretch. I hope we can do that but seems very, very optimistic. 6-6 even seems optimistic. I think the only one I feel comfortable with right now is Illinois. If we go 6-6 or less this year, the wheels are officially off and next year will be chalked up to re-building as well. As a Gopher fan, we have heard this song before.
Needed to make a QB change yesterday, but pj said no. So fire the OC? That makes a lot of sense. Pj didnt have the team ready mentally, and he wouldnt make a qb change when it was badly needed. If there’s a runner in the qb room, get him warmed up, cause that’s one dimension that’s needed and missing.
Ask BG, defense is easy when there’s no qb run and the passing game is sputtering. Mo was good enough for the qb run to not be an issue, but it was exposed yesterday.
Ask BG, defense is easy when there’s no qb run and the passing game is sputtering. Mo was good enough for the qb run to not be an issue, but it was exposed yesterday.
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fmlizard
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So the staff should have put in an undetermined backup in his first career college action (or first in over 2 years) in a situation where 2/3 of the passing plays had rushers making a free run at the QB and with backup WRs not getting any separation?
Sounds like a good way to demoralize our future at the position and get all the fans down on him after a quarter or two.
If they want to make a change between games that's fine. I agree that a running dimension from the QB may help this year's team.
I was concerned for Tanner's safety out there at times yesterday.
Yes, but only if they wanted to win. The qb room must be pretty terrible, isn’t there a young hotshot that can also run, chomping at the bit?. Could have completely lifted the team with a change.
fmlizard
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I don't think that bringing in a backup for Tanner Morgan to throw mostly passes would have worked yesterday. If it would have the future is damn bright because that's a very hard situation Tanner was in, even if the opponent was Bowling Green.
I would have liked to have seen Cole Kramer running more wildcat plays than just one more after the TD. I think they could have tried that as a base look for a series or two because it seemed to fool the Falcons and counter their blitzes. Personally I think that's the only QB change that could have won.
Goldmember
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We did?
Go back and look at the prediction thread. Most thought 10-2 was very realistic.
This is well beyond blaming things on the loss of Mo.
We all understand what TM has had to deal with in the last year. There's likely even more going on behind the scenes than we, as fans, know with Tanner. But Fleck .needs to figure this out and figure it out fast. This season could spiral out of control real quick.
Bowling Green is a horrible program and Saturday's loss was real bad. It's hard to comprehend how the staff could be so poorly prepared.
Goldmember
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Oh, is that poll official or just for fun?
ESPN’s matchup predictor was 6-6 in the preseason.
It now predicts 3-8.
For fun, but the vast, vast majority of folks that post here seem overly optimistic. Fleck's preseason comments gave the fans hope. Veteran team doesn't mean talented team.
The season is still early. A bowl game is still a possibility. But a loss next week and the wheels could come off.
Ans ESPN is trash on rankings, btw.
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I wouldn’t put my own money on their predictor. But I’d be willing to use any objective measure of reasonable pre-season expectations to establish a baseline for any particular game.
A fan poll captures a lot of people who are just hoping magic happens.
MplsGopher
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In terms of pure disgust and disappointment for a home game outcome -- the 2019 dud against Wisconsin has to be up there with this one.
It's not just the opponent (although that is plenty bad enough!). The difference in expectations between this year and that year are quite large. We had no particular reason to believe we had a good team entering the 2017 season. We were just hoping for the best. The good showing in non- conference might have boosted our confidence a bit but we knew we had a bad team by the middle of the Big Ten season. We expected a good team going into this season, maybe not 2019 good, but not significantly worse.
As someone else said on this board, going from the type of performance we had against Colorado to the one we had against BGSU, gives a fan no power of faith in what this program will do from week-to-week. The only good thing we can say about the BGSU game is that the defense has now had two good games in a row after two mediocre games in a row. If that side of the ball maintains consistent quality, at least that gives us some hope for the season.
I can't say that because we were 10-1 going into that game and the worst we could end up in the regular season was 10-2. Right now, we're 2-2 and it's hard to see a final regular season that is anything close to that one. Context matters I think.
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Bob_Loblaw
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It's not even close. Considering where we are as a program, it's the worst loss since the Brewster era.
We were not a rebuilding team. We have veterans along the OL, DL, secondary, QB and we laid an absolute egg against a pretty bad football team.
For me, yesterday was the worst and I don't even think it's close.
We were not a rebuilding team. We have veterans along the OL, DL, secondary, QB and we laid an absolute egg against a pretty bad football team.
For me, yesterday was the worst and I don't even think it's close.
MplsGopher
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Asking for a friend: what makes BG objectively a pretty bad football team?
What if they win the MAC East this year? Would that mean anything? Guessing they won't.
What if they win the MAC East this year? Would that mean anything? Guessing they won't.
Good question. While I agree that this is the worst loss since I've been a dedicated Gopher football fan (in my case, that's only since 2013), BG might end up having a pretty good season by MACC standards. This could be the game that gives them the confidence to perform at a higher level in their conference. Their defense certainly did well yesterday and their offense, while not particularly efficient or impressive, was capable of making some big plays.
Yes, but the season is just in the early stages and we all knew that spread was too large given our style of play on offense. Bowling Green had a period of four consecutive bowl appearances within the last ten years and had two 10 win seasons in that stretch. It's not impossible that they could catch some fire in the MACC this season.
GO4INLALALAND
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They say any publicity is good publicity. I don’t think this is the case here. You really don’t know what team is going to show up. This was a brutal loss and can potentially affect this team’s confidence moving forward. We’ll see if they have a hangover from this loss next week against Purdue.
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hello-world
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We've seen Morgan run a very good offense in the past. I don't think he's the problem. I think it's Sanford, and he needs to be gone yesterday.