Y'all are blaming the wrong thing for that loss...

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Minnesota rushing:
  • Marcus: 20 for 73 (3.7 avg)
  • Christian: 1 for 5
  • Daniel: 1 for 5
  • Jordan: 2 for 3
The run game was bad. The run scheme was bad. UNC was blanketing receivers because Minnesota couldn't move the ball on the ground. Harbaugh should not be calling plays. It's not as bad as Sanford, but it's still bad.
 

Why does Fleck hire Harbaugh Jr? No other respectable Power 4 school would even consider him for OC. It’s an insult to the people of MN. We’re paying Fleck $6M a year and he hires that? His teams without Kirk Ciarocca have absolutely sucked.
 
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Not sure what your point is. North Carolina stuffed the run and blanketed the receivers? What chance did we have?
 

Not sure what your point is. North Carolina stuffed the run and blanketed the receivers? What chance did we have?
My point is that we have threads in here blaming the receivers and QB when the run game was atrocious. The pass game was pretty damn good especially given the fact that the Gophers were throwing into a blanket.
 

My point is that we have threads in here blaming the receivers and QB when the run game was atrocious. The pass game was pretty damn good especially given the fact that the Gophers were throwing into a blanket.
You need to be a pass threat to be able to run the ball, and some of the formations we run, particularly bunch formations, kill any and all potential we have to get the offense rolling. We need some reliable passing audibles when the offense clearly sees 8/9/10 in the box. Harbaugh's playcalling is hot garbage and Fleck continues to either tolerate it or promote it. If it doesn't improve in the next few weeks, he's gotta go.
 


Minnesota rushing:
  • Marcus: 20 for 73 (3.7 avg)
  • Christian: 1 for 5
  • Daniel: 1 for 5
  • Jordan: 2 for 3
The run game was bad. The run scheme was bad. UNC was blanketing receivers because Minnesota couldn't move the ball on the ground. Harbaugh should not be calling plays. It's not as bad as Sanford, but it's still bad.

That's a great point.

When Brosmer missed a couple passes I said, run the ball. Do what works. But they couldn't.

Carolina outplayed o line.
 



My point is that we have threads in here blaming the receivers and QB when the run game was atrocious. The pass game was pretty damn good especially given the fact that the Gophers were throwing into a blanket.
The run game was atrocious because North Carolina could and did stack the box and dared Minnesota to throw which they couldn’t. It will be stacked boxes all year if they can’t develop a passing game. The o-line and RB’s have no chance when there are 8-9 guys at the line of scrimmage.
 
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Minnesota rushing:
  • Marcus: 20 for 73 (3.7 avg)
  • Christian: 1 for 5
  • Daniel: 1 for 5
  • Jordan: 2 for 3
The run game was bad. The run scheme was bad. UNC was blanketing receivers because Minnesota couldn't move the ball on the ground. Harbaugh should not be calling plays. It's not as bad as Sanford, but it's still bad.

I'm not sure who you're targeting with this post, because most people I see are primarily upset with the OC, Harbaugh, play calling, offensive approach, etc. Yes, the O-Line got bullied by a very, very good d-line, but overall the offensive scheme was incredibly disappointing.

Regarding your point about UNC coverage - we moved the ball extremely well when exactly they expected us to pass so I don't buy it that we couldn't have gone more pass-heavy in the first 3 quarters. They were dropping 7 during the 2-minute drill and we looked better than we did all night.

We're all just sick of PJ's conservative offensive philosophy, and it seems to have spanned across multiple OC's at this point. The rest of good to great teams aren't afraid to push the ball downfield, even if their run game is stifled

PJ needs to have a serious talk with Harbaugh because this scheme and play calling will not win big games in the B1G.
 

I'm not sure who you're targeting with this post, because most people I see are primarily upset with the OC, Harbaugh, play calling, offensive approach, etc. Yes, the O-Line got bullied by a very, very good d-line, but overall the offensive scheme was incredibly disappointing.

Regarding your point about UNC coverage - we moved the ball extremely well when exactly they expected us to pass so I don't buy it that we couldn't have gone more pass-heavy in the first 3 quarters. They were dropping 7 during the 2-minute drill and we looked better than we did all night.

We're all just sick of PJ's conservative offensive philosophy, and it seems to have spanned across multiple OC's at this point. The rest of good to great teams aren't afraid to push the ball downfield, even if their run game is stifled

PJ needs to have a serious talk with Harbaugh because this scheme and play calling will not win big games in the B1G.
Harbaugh is our OC because he won't push back on PJ. Harbaugh is doing exactly what PJ wants him to do.

We've seen this before, absolutely. We will see it again.

However, this will not be the best game we play all season. This will also likely not be the worst, either. One data point does not a season make.

PJ is who he is. You can't hide it after 8 years. Too many similarities no matter who is around him. While this game won't necessarily define the season, PJ has defined himself to be exactly what we see, year in and year out. This is not a single data point. Early on, he seemed to find a way to overcome games like this and pull it out. He even did it last year against Nebby. We have a growing string of not pulling out shit shows now. This was one of them. 2019 is the aberration (hey, maybe we'll end up playing against 5 backup QBs in conference again this year and have another "Magical Season")

The AD and admin are perfectly fine with his performance.

I'm guessing that he'll be linked by one particular reporter and his agent to multiple jobs after this season.

Coyle will give him a raise.

This is the new era of Gopher Football.

Wash, rinse, repeat.
 

Harbaugh is our OC because he won't push back on PJ. Harbaugh is doing exactly what PJ wants him to do.

We've seen this before, absolutely. We will see it again.

However, this will not be the best game we play all season. This will also likely not be the worst, either. One data point does not a season make.

PJ is who he is. You can't hide it after 8 years. Too many similarities no matter who is around him. While this game won't necessarily define the season, PJ has defined himself to be exactly what we see, year in and year out. This is not a single data point. Early on, he seemed to find a way to overcome games like this and pull it out. He even did it last year against Nebby. We have a growing string of not pulling out shit shows now. This was one of them. 2019 is the aberration (hey, maybe we'll end up playing against 5 backup QBs in conference again this year and have another "Magical Season")

The AD and admin are perfectly fine with his performance.

I'm guessing that he'll be linked by one particular reporter and his agent to multiple jobs after this season.

Coyle will give him a raise.

This is the new era of Gopher Football.

Wash, rinse, repeat.
Well said.

I actually understood PJ's approach when he first got here - he was lacking in talent and the sort of hyper-obsessive, conservative ball-control offense made sense to limit mistakes and use ToP to keep us in games.

But he has recruited (relatively) well and this is his team now. Every guy on this roster is a PJ guy, whether out of high school or transfer. He has to open it up.

I'm stunned that we went with Harbaugh. It's bizarre that PJ, a former WR, still insists on hiring OC's that have a run-heavy high school level offense. just pathetic
 




You need to be a pass threat to be able to run the ball, and some of the formations we run, particularly bunch formations, kill any and all potential we have to get the offense rolling. We need some reliable passing audibles when the offense clearly sees 8/9/10 in the box. Harbaugh's playcalling is hot garbage and Fleck continues to either tolerate it or promote it. If it doesn't improve in the next few weeks, he's gotta go.

Those bunch formations are horrendous.
 


The game was played as even as you can get. The Gophs put themselves in a position to win at the end. Our supposed stud kicker went 1 for 3 while theirs went 4 for 4. Game set match. It's not hard.

UNC was playing 9 guys near the LOS at times and did a good job pressuring Brosmer. They took a page from Illinois and it worked. Kudos to them. I got the sense the Gophs weren't prepared to play on a wet slippery field...at least on O.
 

Why does Fleck hire Harbaugh Jr? No other respectable Power 4 school would even consider him for OC. It’s an insult to the people of MN. We’re paying Fleck $6M a year and he hires that? His teams without Kirk Ciarocca have absolutely sucked.
I've theorized before that one of the following must be true:

1. PJ is too insecure to hire a proven O.C. or at least an experienced O.C. with a modicum of success.
2. A proven O.C. or an O.C. with experience and at least a modicum of success wouldn't put up with PJ's schtick.
 

The game was played as even as you can get. The Gophs put themselves in a position to win at the end. Our supposed stud kicker went 1 for 3 while theirs went 4 for 4. Game set match. It's not hard.

UNC was playing 9 guys near the LOS at times and did a good job pressuring Brosmer. They took a page from Illinois and it worked. Kudos to them.
I got the sense the Gophs weren't prepared to play on a wet slippery field...at least on O.
Fixed it for you.
 

You need to be a pass threat to be able to run the ball, and some of the formations we run, particularly bunch formations, kill any and all potential we have to get the offense rolling. We need some reliable passing audibles when the offense clearly sees 8/9/10 in the box. Harbaugh's playcalling is hot garbage and Fleck continues to either tolerate it or promote it. If it doesn't improve in the next few weeks, he's gotta go.

Those "bunch" formations (tight line splits) are done to minimize stunting/twisting defenders getting penetration. UNC is good at that. UNC ate up the Goph OL at times when they took wider splits. Yeah, the Gophs still needed to figure out how to get the ball out and over the 9-man boxes.
 


Those "bunch" formations (tight line splits) are done to minimize stunting/twisting defenders getting penetration. UNC is good at that. UNC ate up the Goph OL at times when they took wider splits. Yeah, the Gophs still needed to figure out how to get the ball out and over the 9-man boxes.
You could also run 10 bubble screens get the ball out fast and attack the DBs who were put on an island from the nine men in a box formation. It doesn’t matter why he’s playing the tight formations they just didn’t work.
 

I've theorized before that one of the following must be true:

1. PJ is too insecure to hire a proven O.C. or at least an experienced O.C. with a modicum of success.
2. A proven O.C. or an O.C. with experience and at least a modicum of success wouldn't put up with PJ's schtick.
3. All of the above
 

2. A proven O.C. or an O.C. with experience and at least a modicum of success wouldn't put up with PJ's schtick.
This is the correct answer. Any coordinator with a throw-the-ball scheme knows that they will be a square peg in a round hole. PJ has a MO that eliminates most of the quality candidates before he even starts to look.
 

We're all just sick of PJ's conservative offensive philosophy, and it seems to have spanned across multiple OC's at this point. The rest of good to great teams aren't afraid to push the ball downfield, even if their run game is stifled

PJ needs to have a serious talk with Harbaugh because this scheme and play calling will not win big games in the B1G.

Given the first bolded line, maybe the second should be reversed and Harbaugh needs to have a talk with Fleck.

As you said, this style of play isn't new. We know that Fleck is absolutely determined to get his running game going especially early in the season. I remember the almost miraculous win against Georgia Southern early in the 11-2 season. The running game was terrible in that game but Fleck kept going to it. Finally, in a do or die situation late in the game, they didn't have enough time to do anything but throw and Tanner and the great receivers were able to pull out the win. The differences between that game and last night were that we were playing a much better team yesterday and our current receivers as a group are not as good as the ones on that team.
 

Those "bunch" formations (tight line splits) are done to minimize stunting/twisting defenders getting penetration. UNC is good at that. UNC ate up the Goph OL at times when they took wider splits. Yeah, the Gophs still needed to figure out how to get the ball out and over the 9-man boxes.
I fully admit that I don't know much about why which formations are used, etc, and I fully accept your explanation, which makes sense. But having the wide receivers tight to the line gives the defense a perfect opportunity every time to run blitz or collapse on the qb before a pass route can develop. You can't do jack with that. Maybe it works on inferior opponents, but we had time to gameplan this considering we knew what our opponent brought to the table and it looks like an abject failure.

I'm really upset simply because this we had this game in pocket and should've won by two scores. Instead we missed a game winning field goal after a circus show of a second half of offense. Unleash Brosmer and the pass game. You don't go into a shell up by one score at the half.
 

Why does Fleck hire Harbaugh Jr? No other respectable Power 4 school would even consider him for OC. It’s an insult to the people of MN. We’re paying Fleck $6M a year and he hires that? His teams without Kirk Ciarocca have absolutely sucked.
Probably because he's someone that would come in and runs things the way PJ wants to. An OC and head coach always have to be on the same page as far as general philosophy but I get the feeling PJ is very involved in what he wants to see.
 

Disappointing loss. Poor play calling and we can't blame that on the QB these days. Monday's practice should be Tackling 101 and Route Running 101.
 

Minnesota rushing:
  • Marcus: 20 for 73 (3.7 avg)
  • Christian: 1 for 5
  • Daniel: 1 for 5
  • Jordan: 2 for 3
The run game was bad. The run scheme was bad. UNC was blanketing receivers because Minnesota couldn't move the ball on the ground. Harbaugh should not be calling plays. It's not as bad as Sanford, but it's still bad.
I couldn’t hate the RPO anymore if I tried. It’s a second rate scheme and this team executes it poorly anyways.
 





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