[POST GAME THREAD] - Maryland defeats Minnesota 42 - 13

We've been saying the same thing for 50 years. . .

We all want the Gophers to be competing for the division over night but we aren’t hiring a Saban so it’s going to be a process. To me today was in part down to poor conservative coaching but for the most part it was a talent difference. You aren’t fixing that overnight. We looked really really slow today and not just mismatch slow but guys we count on were getting burned so until we can close the talent gap and get these freshmen experience it’s going to be a battle.

With that said...outside of Ohio State, we aren’t seeing that kind of speed the rest of the year so we should do better against the rest of our schedule. Just a tough one to take but there’s pieces there to grow with. Let’s see how they come back against Iowa.
 

I didn't have an opportunity to watch the game today as this is my grandsons big outing day with grandma and grandpa. I suspected the Gopher will lose but, I was surprised that it turned into a rout by an inspired Maryland team.

It shows that Maryland has stocked up with more and better talent the last three recruiting cycles than the Gophers.

The Gophers will learn something from this defeat. The first lesson is that they have a lot of work to do.
 

Some thoughts on a very discouraging performance

- On the first drive of the game, the Gophers forced Maryland in to a 3rd and 15 and then they allowed a pretty terrible passer to complete a pretty much uncontested pass for 13-14 yards to set up a 4th and short. Hold the Terps to a 10 yard gain there and they punt. The next play was the Winfield injury. The play after that was a touchdown. Now our Freshman QB sees the filed on the road for the first time trailing 7-0.

- Score is 14-3 and Autman-Bell appears to make a spectacular catch on 3rd down to set the Gophers up deep in Maryland territory. Only he didn't catch the football. I was disappointed in the staff that they didn't get to the line and get a play off before the catch was reviewed. It seemed like they certainly could have gotten a play off there, but there was clearly no urgency from Annexstad in getting the ball snapped. Even a FG on that possession may have changed the game.

- Maryland TD to make it 21-3. What a ridiculous failure by the Gophers to not come up with a sack here. Then the safety and Shenault combine to completely misplay the ball and can't track down the receiver. That was a 3rd down play. Get off the field here and it's just a 14-3 game.

-4th down to start the 4th quarter trailing 35-13. Zach has his slot (I am pretty sure it was Douglas) WIDE open on this play and it appears it is his first read. He doesn't throw the ball and ends up fumbling. Make that throw and it's a two score game with a ton of time left.

Bigger picture concerns:

I've stated numerous times this season that I've been very concerned with both lines. Today, the Oline was absolutely putrid in pass protection and played a large role in the terrible performance. This team or any team can't be expected to win often, much less consistently, if it gets outplayed in the trenches. The Gophers simply aren't strong enough or athletic enough on either side of the line. This is something that can't be blamed on PJ yet, you don't win with Freshman or Sophomore's playing on the OL. You've got to build these guys in the weight room. Oseland and Dovich being Redshirt Juniors and not being contributors is a big deal and appearing to miss on the JUCO addition from last year Ben Davis is too. It's not talked about much but Jason Dickson's inability to play (eligibility issues were suggested by Ryan Burns) also hurts. Defensively, the only guy on the line to apply any pressure is Carter Coughlin. The Gophers look like FBS team at best size wise when Devers or DeLattiboudere are playing the other end opposite Coughlin. To give up that much size and not get pressure off the edge is brutal. On the interior, there just isn't much talent though OJ Smith flashed nicely on one big run stop. The two JUCO DT's coming in next year combined with a year in the weight room for Jamaal Teague should provide a big boost next season. I still question where the help at DE will come from.

I think Robb Smith has some questions to answer after his squad got gashed for numerous big plays today. On a couple of the big td runs, there was no second level to the Gopher defense and once the back got past the line it was just him and a safety one on one. On the first of these plays, the safety (I believe Huff) ran up to try to meet him and missed the tackle and on the second the safety (Houden a walk on freshman) took one step down towards the back and then took a horrible angle and simply got out ran to the house. On many of the Terps big runs it seemed like the Gophers were playing with like 7 guys out there given all the open filed. I would assume this was because they were either mis-aligned or getting out schemed. Either way, Coach Smith has to get this group playing much better.

I was actually fairly impressed with the offense from Kirk Ciarrocca as I felt like we had receivers open all day long, but the combination of the line simply not pass protecting and Zack having a horrific day with both his accuracy and his decision making was too much to overcome. I kind of wish they saved the wrinkles with the passes to the TE and the Seth Green comes in motion to replace Zach at QB for another game, but hopefully Coach Ciarrocca has more in his bag. My biggest gripe with Ciarrocca was probably the decision to run on 3rd down in the red zone twice in the second half and on both possessions they ended up going for it on 4th down. I would have much preferred two shots through the air in both cases.

We need a back like McFarland on the roster and the Gophers haven't had someone that dynamic taking a hand-off since Maroney. Coach Fleck has upgraded the WR talent, but he needs to find a back that can outrun people too.

Tyler Johnson has to stop dropping the football. He's had at least one absolutely brutal drop in every game this season.

The true Freshman QB playing his first road game of his career played as you would expect most true Freshman QB's playing their first road game would play. Hopefully Zack learns from this but he was skittish in the pocket, sloppy with his footwork, inaccurate with his passes, and didn't make good decisions. I personally feel like the OL deserves more blame than the QB, but the QB still has to do so much better than he did today.
 

Maryland should have won that 2017 game in our house by more than 7 points if we're being honest. That Maryland team didn't win any other conference games that year.

When I saw that Maryland had most of the guys that gashed us last year back for 2018, I had a feeling the same sort of B1G ten lid-lifter ambush was on the cards for us. Especially with how over-inflated young egos can get with success before they've tasted conference football.

Not a big Xs and Os dude, but it's interesting how matchups (roster or scheme-wise) can skew projections and predictions much more in college versus the pros. Probably due to the fact that a consistent downfield passing game is a wild-card at the college level. You've got to get creative with offense.

Weird happenings:

- Maryland losing to an 0-2 Temple (that lost to frickin' Villanova) but earlier beat a dangerous, probably top 25 Texas team.

- Army taking Oklahoma to overtime in Norman this weekend.

- Northwestern and Purdue are solid football teams and will claim their share of scalps in conference play.

Not trying to deflect the blame as Minnesota definitely not being good enough (either flat or talent gap) definitely outweighs any sort of matchup issue, but I'll be glad to see some of those Maryland cats graduate.

As usual, the season will come down to who takes care of business in their division. Gophers, you are 0-0 in the West. You dropped a winnable game in the East, so now we've got to steal an upset along the way.
 

As usual, the season will come down to who takes care of business in their division. Gophers, you are 0-0 in the West. You dropped a winnable game in the East, so now we've got to steal an upset along the way.

Who wants to tell him?
 


1. Carter Coughlin's penalty took them from 4th down and punting to running out the clock and scoring the final 7. On that same drive, on the TD, the right DE gets sucked inside. (game was well over at this point but made things look worse.
2. Second to last TD (I believe) Barber gets fooled and misses his gap and their RB looks faster than Robert Smith against our secondary. Re-watch that play sometime and look how fast he pulls away from our DB.
3. Early drive, 3rd and 15 down to 4th and 2.
4. It's a shame our backup to Winfield (of all locations) appears to be a walk-on. Talk about a drop off in talent.
5. Two possessions in the red-zone with turnovers. One fumble, one pick. Decent drives up until that point.

I thought the offense actually moved the ball fairly well, but Maryland was WELL WELL WELL prepared for the bubble screens. Those seemed to be our best drive killers along with TJ dropping the ball.

I love the work from our TE, but he's not a pure receiver, that's evident.
Our D-line and O-line both need work.
ZA didn't have his best game, but if he had an extra 1-2 seconds each time he drops back, he'd probably play better.

Gopher eliminate some mistakes and it's a better game.

Our WR's are good enough to win Big Ten games (as long as TJ doesn't keep dropping passes).
 

People ripping on Annexstad need to realize he has a bad ankle. That makes a difference. Look how he scrambled/moved around the first 3 games. Makes it tough when you don’t have the mobility/escapability. Especially when you’re a true freshman in your first Big Ten game, on the road, and the rest of your team isn’t playing well.

Hopefully the bye week allows him to fully heal. We need Winfield to stay healthy! He’s an emotionally leader and sets the tone for that D. Gives them confidence. Someone else needs to step up and fill that role if he’s out! The true frosh Howden looks like he could be a good one as he gets experience and muscle.


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People ripping on Annexstad need to realize he has a bad ankle. That makes a difference. Look how he scrambled/moved around the first 3 games. Makes it tough when you don’t have the mobility/escapability. Especially when you’re a true freshman in your first Big Ten game, on the road, and the rest of your team isn’t playing well.

Hopefully the bye week allows him to fully heal. We need Winfield to stay healthy! He’s an emotionally leader and sets the tone for that D. Gives them confidence. Someone else needs to step up and fill that role if he’s out! The true frosh Howden looks like he could be a good one as he gets experience and muscle.


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I don't know how you can really rip on Annexstad right now.
He's a highly recruited PWO and he's played above that level IMO.

The people who you need to rip if you are going to rip people are the people who are highly recruited who aren't performing to expectations as well as the people who should no longer be "learning" at the pace of drinking out of a firehose.

Our O-line seems to be #1 issue.
Inability to stop the run (D-line and LB's) is issue #2

When PJ arrived, he called out two areas for being not sufficient.
1. O-line. Only had 4 healthy guys.
2. D-Line.

Turns out PJ didn't solve either of those problems in 21 months.

The area we were strong with PJ coming in was LB's.
This should be a strength and it wasn't yesterday.
 

Maryland should have won that 2017 game in our house by more than 7 points if we're being honest. That Maryland team didn't win any other conference games that year.

When I saw that Maryland had most of the guys that gashed us last year back for 2018, I had a feeling the same sort of B1G ten lid-lifter ambush was on the cards for us. Especially with how over-inflated young egos can get with success before they've tasted conference football.

Not a big Xs and Os dude, but it's interesting how matchups (roster or scheme-wise) can skew projections and predictions much more in college versus the pros. Probably due to the fact that a consistent downfield passing game is a wild-card at the college level. You've got to get creative with offense.

Weird happenings:

- Maryland losing to an 0-2 Temple (that lost to frickin' Villanova) but earlier beat a dangerous, probably top 25 Texas team.

- Army taking Oklahoma to overtime in Norman this weekend.

- Northwestern and Purdue are solid football teams and will claim their share of scalps in conference play.

Not trying to deflect the blame as Minnesota definitely not being good enough (either flat or talent gap) definitely outweighs any sort of matchup issue, but I'll be glad to see some of those Maryland cats graduate.

As usual, the season will come down to who takes care of business in their division. Gophers, you are 0-0 in the West. You dropped a winnable game in the East, so now we've got to steal an upset along the way.

Was it winnable, though?? I don’t like the attitude of some on here that programs like Maryland, Rutgers, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, and Northwestern are “winnable” or “should wins” automatically because of the name on the front of the jersey. These teams all spend many millions on football, have high paid coaches, have multi-million dollar stadiums, have players that were recruited to Big Ten programs.

We’re gonna have a dog fight in our ha ds to get 3 more wins, which is crucial for this season, I think. It is doable!!
 



People ripping on Annexstad need to realize he has a bad ankle. That makes a difference. Look how he scrambled/moved around the first 3 games. Makes it tough when you don’t have the mobility/escapability. Especially when you’re a true freshman in your first Big Ten game, on the road, and the rest of your team isn’t playing well.

Hopefully the bye week allows him to fully heal. We need Winfield to stay healthy! He’s an emotionally leader and sets the tone for that D. Gives them confidence. Someone else needs to step up and fill that role if he’s out! The true frosh Howden looks like he could be a good one as he gets experience and muscle.


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Yep he gets a mulligan but he’s definitely a liability on a bad wheel in terms of moving in the pocket, rolling out which is why it’s curious they didn’t give TM a shot. It really calls into question if they were as “close” in camp as PJ said. The bad ankle doesn’t explain away his penchant for flinching back from real or imagined pressure either. At times he delivers a good ball but there are way too many times he’s not willing to step into pressure.
 

When two teams want to win a game, only one can win.

Maryland isn't rolling over and I believe they were favored to win.

The 42-13 score looks bad, but a couple really bad plays / penalties prolonged drives that ended up in TDs.

Also, Gophers had two turnovers in the Red Zone and some key drops.

Two plays defensively.
Two big plays offensively.
Different game.
 

When two teams want to win a game, only one can win.

Maryland isn't rolling over and I believe they were favored to win.

The 42-13 score looks bad, but a couple really bad plays / penalties prolonged drives that ended up in TDs.

Also, Gophers had two turnovers in the Red Zone and some key drops.

Two plays defensively.
Two big plays offensively.
Different game.

You can’t do that.
 

We all want the Gophers to be competing for the division over night but we aren’t hiring a Saban so it’s going to be a process. To me today was in part down to poor conservative coaching but for the most part it was a talent difference. You aren’t fixing that overnight. We looked really really slow today and not just mismatch slow but guys we count on were getting burned so until we can close the talent gap and get these freshmen experience it’s going to be a battle.

With that said...outside of Ohio State, we aren’t seeing that kind of speed the rest of the year so we should do better against the rest of our schedule. Just a tough one to take but there’s pieces there to grow with. Let’s see how they come back against Iowa.

ummm. . .Iowa is a better team the Maryland.

This has been a 50 year process of people saying that this is a process. We went from a 9-4 season to now going 2-8 in the Fleck Big 10 Era. Part of the process should be progress, but for two years in a row, we got our butts handed to us by the same team
 



I don't know how you can really rip on Annexstad right now.
He's a highly recruited PWO and he's played above that level IMO.

The people who you need to rip if you are going to rip people are the people who are highly recruited who aren't performing to expectations as well as the people who should no longer be "learning" at the pace of drinking out of a firehose.

Our O-line seems to be #1 issue.
Inability to stop the run (D-line and LB's) is issue #2

When PJ arrived, he called out two areas for being not sufficient.
1. O-line. Only had 4 healthy guys.
2. D-Line.

Turns out PJ didn't solve either of those problems in 21 months.

The area we were strong with PJ coming in was LB's.
This should be a strength and it wasn't yesterday.

This
 

People ripping on Annexstad need to realize he has a bad ankle. That makes a difference. Look how he scrambled/moved around the first 3 games. Makes it tough when you don’t have the mobility/escapability. Especially when you’re a true freshman in your first Big Ten game, on the road, and the rest of your team isn’t playing well.

Hopefully the bye week allows him to fully heal. We need Winfield to stay healthy! He’s an emotionally leader and sets the tone for that D. Gives them confidence. Someone else needs to step up and fill that role if he’s out! The true frosh Howden looks like he could be a good one as he gets experience and muscle.


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He is hurt. I agree.

However, why in the hell was PJ playing him last week after he was clearly hurt? It made no sense at the time and still doesn't.
 

ummm. . .Iowa is a better team the Maryland.

This has been a 50 year process of people saying that this is a process. We went from a 9-4 season to now going 2-8 in the Fleck Big 10 Era. Part of the process should be progress, but for two years in a row, we got our butts handed to us by the same team

Sometimes you can play a team on a bad day. Heck, look at the Bills and Josh Allen playing their best today against the Vikings.
Maryland arguably has better talent than Iowa, and they played a heckuva game yesterday. Maryland has lacked consistency compared to Iowa I would say.
 

Gophers seemed a little flat from the beginning, which often happens in a road game following a big emotional win at home. Took forever to get plays off - had no snap or urgency, didn't take the game to MD. Coaches showed nothing new on offense. Watching games on TV last night, you could see with team after team how important the tight ends are in the passing game - I remember maybe one pass to a tight end yesterday. We miss Smith and Brooks BADLY. Young receivers still looked good, but Z.A. was immobile with that bum foot. Defense couldn't handle MD's speed, Winfield out really hurt, guys out of position, etc. Five wins is possible in a much improved West - will have to upset somebody to get the sixth one.
 

Finally watched game.
Not sure what to think of Annexstad. When he stands tall and steps into his throws, he looks the part of a good to Great BIG QB. When he drifts and throws off his back foot he looks worse than anybody we’ve put back there. He is a FR, but he hasn’t improved in pocket awareness since the start of season. Would think we would see some improvement in that by now, but he looks like he’s afraid to get hit and so he drifts and throws off back foot. His first int was all on him not standing in there and stepping into the throw to a wide open Ko. Then he makes no effort what so ever to prevent it from being a pick 6. Yes he has a bad ankle but if it’s so bad that he can’t move why have him play? He was hurting the team with his lack of mobility. Get someone else in who can move some OR adjust your game plan to get the ball out quicker. The play where he missed Throwing to Douglass down the middle is inexcusable. They were doubling Tyler most of the game, when he went in motion Maryland was confused on what to do but still doubled him. Yet Zack locked in on Tyler when his first look should have been the easy slant to Demetrius for 6. He did make an excellent throw to Bateman for 6 because he stood in there and released it. Had a couple other nice throws as well but still way to many were off his back foot. That has to change because he’s developed big some really bad habits right now.
The o line was not good most of the game. When you keep 7 in to block and the other team rushes only 4 and gets pressure somethings wrong. All game the Maryland D Line was getting under the pads of the OL. That’s a coaching technique problem that needs to get fixed
Defensively we had no answer to what Maryland did. It’s like they knew which way our DL was going to slant and would run away from that leaving us with 1 guy in the hole to locate ball, fight off a block sometimes and make the tackle, which we didn’t do.
Those saying a couple plays here or there and the game would have been different, forget that Maryland gifted us quite a bit with dumb penalties otherwise it could have been worse. That’s also like saying had the Vikes made a stop on the first drive today the game would have gone in their favor.
Gophers get a couple weeks to figure some things out. Hope they’re able to make some adjustments and bring home Floyd.


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Maybe Fleck feels that if he starts TM over Zach, that Zach will completely have his confidence shot and feel like he has been demoted? Could be a psychology thing? Thinking for the long term? Who knows. But appears that unless one or both of ZA’s legs are cut off, he’ll be out there. Damned if the team goes 1-8 in Big Ten play.
 

Well, this week and last definitely sends a signal to TM that he’s only going to play in the event of a blowout or total disability of ZA. Seems like he’s been targeted for transfer and we’ll roll with the MN kids and Clark next year.
 

Well, this week and last definitely sends a signal to TM that he’s only going to play in the event of a blowout or total disability of ZA. Seems like he’s been targeted for transfer and we’ll roll with the MN kids and Clark next year.

Yeah, considering how the position was handled last year, It’s mystifying why Tanner hasn’t seen more action these past two weeks.


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Well, this week and last definitely sends a signal to TM that he’s only going to play in the event of a blowout or total disability of ZA. Seems like he’s been targeted for transfer and we’ll roll with the MN kids and Clark next year.

Long season, will have to see how ZA progresses, and if TM gets a chance or not. But if both Clark and the EP Qb are enrolling early, four QB’s is probably too many in spring to give each a fair eval. TM might be the odd man out in the spring battle.
 

Yeah, considering how the position was handled last year, It’s mystifying why Tanner hasn’t seen more action these past two weeks.

He stuck with Croft until the bitter end. Something has obviously been instilled into his foundation, whether it was from Schiano or elsewhere, you stick with one QB and you don’t flip flop with the backup.
 

He stuck with Croft until the bitter end. Something has obviously been instilled into his foundation, whether it was from Schiano or elsewhere, you stick with one QB and you don’t flip flop with the backup.

Context needs to be taken. In both cases I don’t think the alternative is markedly better, though we’re trusting PJ’s analysis of Morgan. Rhoda was nothing special and it appears that ZA is superior to TM. So ride it out. Don’t make a change just to make a change.

Now if we’re sitting at 4-5 in a few weeks and you want to see what you have in Morgan, I don’t mind it.
 

Context needs to be taken. In both cases I don’t think the alternative is markedly better, though we’re trusting PJ’s analysis of Morgan. Rhoda was nothing special and it appears that ZA is superior to TM. So ride it out. Don’t make a change just to make a change.

Now if we’re sitting at 4-5 in a few weeks and you want to see what you have in Morgan, I don’t mind it.

I think ZA5 is still the guy. I just wish PJ would play TM2 when the games are out of hand or when ZA5 is injured. It's pretty likely that a backup QB will be needed at some point during the season (true of any team), so why not take the opportunity to let the backup get some reps so they are better prepared when the opportunity arises.
 

Context needs to be taken. In both cases I don’t think the alternative is markedly better, though we’re trusting PJ’s analysis of Morgan. Rhoda was nothing special and it appears that ZA is superior to TM. So ride it out. Don’t make a change just to make a change.

Now if we’re sitting at 4-5 in a few weeks and you want to see what you have in Morgan, I don’t mind it.

We could EASILY be 3-3 after Ohio St. Might even been likely. The three after that, at Nebraska, vs Indiana, at Illinois .... Nebraska might be the best chance for a win. So I'd argue if we go into that game 3-3 and come out 3-4 ... even then it might be time ...
 

Sorry to still be thinking about this terrible game, but one of the reporters asked Fleck in the press conference if they thought about stacking the box like Temple did to make Hill beat them by throwing the ball.
I thought it was a good question.
 

Sorry to still be thinking about this terrible game, but one of the reporters asked Fleck in the press conference if they thought about stacking the box like Temple did to make Hill beat them by throwing the ball.
I thought it was a good question.

What was his answer?


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He sidestepped it. I cannot remember exactly how he did but something to the effect of they knew what kind of offense Canada would run (bangs head on wall then why didn’t you try to stop the run)?
 

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