[POST GAME THREAD] - Iowa defeats Minnesota 48-31


We have legit WRs. The rest of our team needs to pull it's $hit together. Interested to read the dumpster fire that will be GH this week
 

Poor, but not entirely unexpected. Thought the defense would be better ... they looked positively outmatched and outcoached.
 

Faalele played second half.

Seemed to dominate his guy every play I watched.
 

A few quick thoughts:

- While the run defense was much improved, the inability of the defense to stop the tight ends and pick up crucial stops on 3rd down was very disappointing. Everyone knows Iowa likes to utilize their tight ends and they absolutely gouged us today.
- I still think Annexstad is the future QB of this program, but his decision making needs to be improved greatly.
- Schluter was a disaster in pass protection all day, as he has been in previous games. It will be interesting moving forward to see if the staff is willing to burn Faalele's red shirt.

On the bright side, the run defense looked much improved, the offensive line was able to generate some solid push against a good Iowa defense, and the receivers continued to make plays and generate space on the outside.
 


I like our receivers especially, Bateman. The guy is “special”. The defense couldn’t stop anything and outmatched like Gopher07 suggested. The offense is almost good. In a year or two it could be great. Special teams was atrocious especially punting and coverage. Coaching was terrible.

I think the team will make strides and in a couple of years can make some major noise. We are heading in the right direction.
 

I’ll say it again. Honestly, in a 2 score game at home with over 12 minutes left you put Seth Green in at QB near midfield and don’t even play action, just a straight drop back bomb!

Fleck wanted the quick score but he needed to eat some clock, give the D a rest and there was plenty of time.

Also, kick the damn kickoff in the back of the end zone. The kick coverage team is not that good.

Even after the Green debacle play call he has ZA slinging it downfield. Totally abandoned the run after Green got them down to the 30 two series prior.

Frustrating. He had time and we had momentum! But decides to just starting throwing it up for grabs. 12 damn minutes left! At mid field!!!!


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Couldn’t get ANY pressure on the QB. Had no answer for the QB rollout. IA picked up the blitz’s pretty much every time.


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Doogie being the voice of reason?? Color me shocked, but I think he sums it up well:

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Offense: Positives for me were our WRs and O-line once Faalele got in. His redshirt simply has to come off. We looked pretty good in the second half when we didn't switch to the wildcat for painfully long durations. I thought Annexstad played okay, but he made a lot of Freshman mistakes. Seems like we only throw fades or crossing routes. Would be really nice to see some quicker options so CAB and Bateman can do something in space. Our RBs need to add some strength to break more tackles. I think we saw some progress today, and I feel much better than I did after MD.

Defense: Run defense was solid all day but it obviously didn't matter since our pass D was atrocious. We don't have the size at D-end to get a pass rush, and we don't have very much talent at DB, but man did we get out coached. You could just see Iowa working through play progressions and we had no answer for it. Soft coverage on third and long for easy conversions. I guess I don't know what I would do differently (we need an influx of talent) but we have a terrible defense right now. Hopefully all those D line recruits pan out next year quick.

Coaching: Really disappointed with all of our coaches. The fake field goal was bad, but so was our fake punt (nice ball by Herbers, though). If you're gonna run a fake, at least add some trickery, don't just throw it up on a fade (although that's what we did all day on offense, too). I thought the game ended when we were rolling in the 2nd half and then for no reason we just went wildcat crazy which killed our drive and then led to a pick. Also thought we abandoned the run game way too fast. Our passing offense isn't good enough to just gun it 35 times a game. That last TD drive we had was what we should have done all game.
 

Doogie being the voice of reason?? Color me shocked, but I think he sums it up well:

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If this isn't the gopher mantra. Wait til next year.
 

The two RB’s averaged 5.2 yards per carry on 18 carries. But Fleck abandoned it at the start of the 4th quarter.


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Offensively they have actual WRs.

The QB needs a whole lot of work as well as the OLine.

Defensively nice job against the run but way too many guys running wide open down the field.

This program still has a long ways to go. IIRMC, Fleck said they would get worse before they got better. Pretty much saw that today.


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Is it worth burning his red shirt for this season?

Yes. There are 7 games left and it's still possible for this team to make a bowl but they need a better offensive line. The offense was instantly better once he played. What's the point of redshirting a freshman with 7 games left when he appears much more capable than the players in front of him who apparently can't do that job?
 
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Yes. There are 7 games left and it's still possible for this team to make a bowl but they need a better offensive line. The offense was instantly better once he played. What's the point of redshirting a freshman with 7 games left if he is better than the players who were playing before him?

To have him for the next 4 years instead of just 3?
 

To have him for the next 4 years instead of just 3?

Aye, ye, ye. Are you guys unfamiliar with the George Allen quote, "The future is now!" You don't punt seasons because that might improve a future season. This isn't pro sports where you get better draft picks if you're a bigger loser. There's still 60% of this season left, more if we make a bowl game.

How do you know he would play here four years after this year anyway? If he's good enough he might go pro before that.
 


I get the making a bowl game this year angle. I don’t think Fleck views it that way.

He knows he will be given time to try and get this going. Making a bowl game this year not the top priority.


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Doogie being the voice of reason?? Color me shocked, but I think he sums it up well:

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Yeah, Doogie has been feigning interest in Gopher football for a long time Like all local media, he'd rather drive terrible Twins and T wolves dribble into the ground than cover gopher football.
 

Is it worth burning his red shirt for this season?

That's the question, right?
What are you playing for?

PJ isn't one to sacrifice his long term vision, but if he needs to... who knows.
 


To have him for the next 4 years instead of just 3?

Lots of things can happen in the next few years. If he is a meaningful upgrade now, he should play. Maybe he gets drafted, gets hurt, or transfers before year 5. I remember when we burned Nelson's redshirt, lots of people were annoyed, but we didn't even get 4 years out of him (much less have a shot at a fifth). The most insightful post I saw in that conversation was something to the effect of "if we can't get a suitable replacement ready four years down the road, we've got a bigger problem than one guys redshirt"
 



Final score was a huge bummer consider we were only down by 1 score in the 3rd Quarter. Pretty bad collapse. Defense stunk.
 

In his interview after the game, Fleck made it sound like Faalele will be playing the rest of the season.


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Lots of things can happen in the next few years. If he is a meaningful upgrade now, he should play. Maybe he gets drafted, gets hurt, or transfers before year 5. I remember when we burned Nelson's redshirt, lots of people were annoyed, but we didn't even get 4 years out of him (much less have a shot at a fifth). The most insightful post I saw in that conversation was something to the effect of "if we can't get a suitable replacement ready four years down the road, we've got a bigger problem than one guys redshirt"

Maxx Williams was a guy we red shirted and he only played two years here before going to the NFL.

If Faalele has a decent shot at the NFL (which I guess I thought he was supposed to) and he can help the team right now, then play him.
 




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