Fox Sports North: What went right for Gophers football in 2018

BleedGopher

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per FSN:

Gophers chop their way to a bowl game
Back in August, we had five questions for the Gophers before they opened the season against New Mexico State. The big one: How many wins would mark a successful season? We mentioned earning a bowl bid with six wins would be a big step, but one of those wins would have to be a signature victory. That’s exactly what happened. In their final regular-season contest, the Gophers rolled to a 37-15 victory in Madison for their first win against the Badgers since “Finding Nemo” was still in theaters – and clinched bowl eligibility along the way. If the Gophers didn’t chop down Wisconsin, Minnesota would have finished 5-7 overall with no bowl game and Fleck would have just four total Big Ten wins on his resume after two seasons. Instead, it was Fleck’s biggest win and will be a huge talking point to his next recruiting class. And if you really break it down, the win at Camp Randall is the biggest reason we’re putting together a “what went right” gallery instead of looking at “what went wrong.” The 2018 season was officially a success.

Tyler Johnson continues to grow
Johnson’s 1,112 receiving yards ranked second in the Big Ten and were enough to earn him first team All-Big Ten honors, becoming the first Gophers wide receiver to take home the honor since Eric Decker in 2009. It was a big step forward for the junior, who tallied six games of 100+ yards and established himself as a legitimate NFL prospect. He could be Fleck’s next prized product at the position, following in the footsteps of Corey Davis, who was selected fifth overall in 2017 after starring for Fleck at Western Michigan for four seasons. And we’d be amiss not to mention freshman Rashod Bateman. Bateman looks like Fleck’s best recruit so far (he has a “Row the Boat” tattoo, after all), logging 49 catches for 670 yards and six touchdowns. Both Johnson and Bateman will be back terrorizing Big Ten secondaries next season.

Seth Green is finally utilized
Green was ranked as one of the nation’s top dual-threat quarterback recruits in high school while starring at East Ridge in Woodbury, Minn. He was recruited by then-powerhouse Oregon but transferred to Minnesota in 2015 and bounced around the Gophers depth chart last season. It was reported in camp that Green would play tight end as Zach Annexstad and Tanner Morgan battled for the starting quarterback position, but Fleck had other ideas. Fleck designed a special Wildcat package for the 6-foot-4, 240-pound quarterback and utilized him often, especially in the red zone. Green rushed 71 times for 251 yards and eight touchdowns and passed for 36 yards and two scores out of the package.

Tanner Morgan takes the reins, runs away with quarterback job
Annexstad, a true freshman from Norseland, Minn., won the quarterback job out of camp and started the first seven games, going 3-0 in his first three collegiate contests. But Minnesota dropped all four Big Ten games with Annexstad under center, and Morgan took over in the second half of a game against Nebraska after Annexstad left with injury. The two quarterbacks finished with similar stats – Annexstad threw for 1,277 yards, nine touchdowns and seven interceptions while Morgan recorded 1,269 passing yards, seven scores and six picks – but it was Morgan coming through in Big Ten play. He led the Gophers in all three of their conference wins and played well enough to ink his name as QB1 next season.

Defense improves under new coordinator
The Gophers allowed an average of 43.2 points per game over their first six conference games. They surrendered over 50 points to conference bottom-dwellers Nebraska and Illinois. One day after an ugly 55-31 loss to the latter, Fleck fired defensive coordinator Robb Smith and handed the interim position to defensive line coach Joe Rossi. Under Rossi’s leadership, the Gophers ceded just 49 points over their last three games (16.3 average) and kept Wisconsin’s high-powered rushing attack in check to clinch the Axe. The Gophers turned a big weakness into a strength in a matter of three weeks.

https://www.foxsports.com/north/gallery/minnesota-gophers-football-2018-what-went-right-121018

Go Gophers!!
 

A bit of a stretch to say Morgan ran away with the QB job. As pointed out, stats between the two are very similar except completion %. Yes Morgan played against conference opponents but also benefited from the addition of Faalele and improved line play. Should be a fun Spring to watch both Zack and Tanner.
 

A bit of a stretch to say Morgan ran away with the QB job. As pointed out, stats between the two are very similar except completion %. Yes Morgan played against conference opponents but also benefited from the addition of Faalele and improved line play. Should be a fun Spring to watch both Zack and Tanner.

Might as well toss Clark and Krammer in that mix too. I don't think either of their performances "inked" any spots for them.
 

What? No mention of all five OL earning some type of all-conference accolade? I think a hell of a lot went right with the OL this year, particularly after Faalele debuted as a starter. And the move of Schlueter to TE provided some damn tough run formations in a three-TE look.

JTG
 




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