Still Seriously Concerned With Our Running Game

GopherinPhilly

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After two games the running game is in serious trouble. Not opening holes, not getting downfield blocks & not sealing the backside has left us with very few explosive running plays and very many short gains or losses. We are averaging just 3 yards per attempt and 139 yards per game against much smaller defenders. Our entire offense is based on being able to run the ball to make the RPO & Play Action work. And it isn't like our pass protection has been stellar either. Going to be a long Big Ten Season if we can't figure out our Oline issues.
 

I'm not too concerned. Its going to be a grit and grind run game. The other team will know it's coming, which is why the average per attempt could be low... but as long as you get positive yards, the game plan is working. It sets up for a lot of 3rd and shorts, and some good play action possibilities...and of course, in theory, wears a defense down. Gophers o-line and running game imposed their will in the 2nd half of the Fresno game

Take a look at the vastly outmatched Army team who nearly took down Michigan this week. 61 runs with only a 3.3 yard average. Slow, methodical, effective. Just keep it churning. Chew up the clock, and wear the defense down.

Also take a look at the Gopher's TD drives...Not a lot of explosive running plays, just some quality positive yardage, mixed with a few clutch passes to keep the chains moving. Gopher's completely had them worn down in the 2nd half with this running style and gameplan, despite not averaging many yards per carry.
 

Not too worried either.

Fresno State had the #3 scoring defense in the country last year and returned their entire starting D-line. SDSU also returned all 7 starters in their front 7.

Last year we only rushed for 132 yards against Fresno for an average of 2.93 yards. Then we ran for 200+ on Wisconsin and 260+ on Purdue and Georgia Tech. O-line's can sometimes take sometime to develop cohesion. And we still scored 28 points in regulation, 38 in total.
 

We were better than the first game and I think improvement will continue. Still a young line and relatively without that much game experience working together. Also I think (hope) that we're not seeing the whole offense. Yes, we're big but the first two games we've basically tried to run it between the tackles. Both SDS and FS knew what was coming. Morgan has been good but he's not a running threat. Would assume they'll add some wrinkles and new stuff for the defense to worry about. Am surprised we haven't had longer bursts but they'll come.
 

We were better than the first game and I think improvement will continue. Still a young line and relatively without that much game experience working together. Also I think (hope) that we're not seeing the whole offense. Yes, we're big but the first two games we've basically tried to run it between the tackles. Both SDS and FS knew what was coming. Morgan has been good but he's not a running threat. Would assume they'll add some wrinkles and new stuff for the defense to worry about. Am surprised we haven't had longer bursts but they'll come.

I don't even care if they kept running between the tackles, and Fresno knew it was coming. If you are getting 3-4 yards a pop, and they know its coming, its a win. Gopher's completely wore down Fresno doing this, while not even completely dominating ToP. Take some awful mistakes like the botched punt, and the face grasp from the shoving match, Gophers easily had a 15 minute advantage in ToP...Even with these two absurd mistakes, Gophers still won ToP, and wore down Fresno. Gameplan was perfect. Execution on all other aspects was sub-par.
 


Well if you guys aren't going to be concerned, I won't be either as to a sign of relief. I'm hoping that it will come together as the season wears on.
 

Despite the 3 ypa on runs, the running game/plan is what put the Gophers in position to win the game. It's how they became nearly unstoppable on offense in the second half. The only thing that nearly stopped them was atrocious mistakes, but the run game kept chugging, and Fresno couldn't stop them, even when they knew it was coming. Seemingly every time the Gophers needed 2-3 yards on the ground, they got it.
 

As noted it isn’t an explosive run game at this time but has shown some flashes against lesser competition. Someone smarter than me like Daniel or one of you will need to really review the plays and see what’s going on. This is where it’s also helpful to get the input of someone like former lineman Derek Burns. Are the numbers not favorable? Are one or more linemen not consistently doing their jobs (Rockford suggests this)? Are the backs themselves just not that great? Rodney doesn’t look 100%. Ibrahim runs hard and looks healthy but no one will mistake him for Saquon in the open field. He hasn’t been able to crack too many open yet.

Hopefully as the line gets better, Rodney (and Brooks) get healthier, pass game gets even more efficiently deadly things will start to really hum.
 

Getting Brooks back for (hopefully) Purdue should help with some of the explosiveness as well.
 



This is like using the jab in boxing as an effective weapon to tenderize the opponent. Then, out of the blue a knock out punch.
 

Not counting but Big Dan is probably on track for a good 2-3 penalties a game.

This needs to improve by November...
 

I saw big improvement by the line from game 1 to 2. Both teams we’ve played are better than you’d think given their record/conference. I think Morgan throws single digit passes this week.
 

The improvements we saw late last year pointed to the Gophers having the best offensive line of the TCF Bank Stadium era and it was natural to assume things would further improve and reach a new level this season. That hasn't happened. This is a concern. Not giving up on the O line but they are not yet the improved group I was anticipating. This has held everything else back, in my opinion.
 



An inside zone scheme is very difficult to run, it more often looks soft but that is the nature of the scheme. It is not an explosive come off the ball scheme. In young off. Lineman their uncertainty about their targets gets magnified. The times when we ran more of a power type scheme they came off with much more authority and what we expected them to be capa5 of.
 

Our running game is about the same as it was last year at this time. 3ish YPC. SDSU is a much better team than NMSU, or even Miami OH.
 

I would like to see the Gophers run some more quick hitting run plays. They are using the read option appearance to try to make the defense respect the QB but I think the vast majority of these plays are called handoffs. This long mesh point allows the interior to collapse a bit especially when you are playing against smaller, quicker DL. Just would like to see them mix in a few quick hitting hand offs without the mesh point which will help to use our OL size more to their advantage.


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The penalty he was called for this game was a terrible call.

Yep. It was actually a great play by Dan and he did what O-lineman are taught to do. If the defender lunges too far forward then rip their base out from under them.
 

I'm not too worried

I do get frustrated that no matter the OC, RUTM seems to be our favorite play
 

Yards per carry against Fresno.

Mo: 5.2 (17 carries, 88 yards)
Rodney 2.8 (22 carries, 61 yards)

To be fair, Rodney had slightly better numbers than Mo against SDSU, but the eye test has me concerned. He seems to have lost his burst, and he’s not nearly as tough to bring down as Mo.


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The Gopher needs to run four down offense this year once they are within 25 to 30 yards of the red zone area. They have two excellent running backs at the moment and hopefully more as the season progresses. And: they have the WILDCAT. Their identity needs to be what the coach has built their identity to be. A balanced offense that places special emphasis on running the ball and forcing the other team to defend their run. Wear the other team down. shorten the game with dominant clock possession and a relentless conflict between the Gopher running backs and offensive line and the opposition defense. Utilize the short to medium pass game from the rpo and when needed, implement the devastation that facing a 4th down offense run out of the wildcat formation can force opposing team to deal with. This can help to make the 3rd and 4th quarter a huge Gopher advantage. 50 yard field goal attempts are ok if you have a kicker who converts 70% of those long kicks. But, if you can impose a four down offense on your opponent's defense and convert 70% of the time, keep the drive going and exhaust the opposing defenders, I will take that. Fitz @ Northwestern converts 4th and short quite frequently. If he can do that...Fleck can do that too.

When the winds of November make throwing the ball tougher...a nice 18 to 22 passes per game will prove to be the kind of balance that this Gopher team is built for. This line will continue to improve as this year progresses.

The Fresno win was exactly what the GOPHER needed at this point in time.

Make TCF BANK STADIUM the home of the four down offense in 2019. This 2019 team is built to run a four down offense into a very nice bowl game!

Beat the stinking badger and the stinking hawkeye GOPHER!
 
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Dude I'm concerned with EVERYTHING.

We've seen our OL play HORRIBLE. That could spell disaster for a season.

We've seen our DK play HORRIBLE. That could spell disaster for a season.

We've seen LOTS of dork ups. That could spell disaster for a season.

Some other misc stuff like guys running free in our defensive secondary, or straight up open dudes back there.... That could spell disaster for a season.
 

I have a question for the X's/O's experts here.

On RPO plays, you can't send the OL downfield to block the linebackers, correct? Because that would give you a penalty if you did pass the ball (illegal downfield block). I guess the idea is that the threat of a pass is supposed to confuse the LBs and send them running to pass coverage, or at least prevent them from attacking downhill like a run play?


Are our RPO plays working well this season so far? Or do you think more designed runs and designed play-action passes is a better way to go?
 

Yards per carry against Fresno.

Mo: 5.2 (17 carries, 88 yards)
Rodney 2.8 (22 carries, 61 yards)

To be fair, Rodney had slightly better numbers than Mo against SDSU, but the eye test has me concerned. He seems to have lost his burst, and he’s not nearly as tough to bring down as Mo.

A more apples to apples analysis would require to compare runs when the situation was as close to the same as possible. Similar down & distance, similar areas of the field (not goal line), similar game clock (not 2-minute or catch-up offense). Would be curious to see it then. Probably a lot of work, and then just ends up about the same as comparing the simple stat-lines.
 

I have a question for the X's/O's experts here.

On RPO plays, you can't send the OL downfield to block the linebackers, correct? Because that would give you a penalty if you did pass the ball (illegal downfield block). I guess the idea is that the threat of a pass is supposed to confuse the LBs and send them running to pass coverage, or at least prevent them from attacking downhill like a run play?


Are our RPO plays working well this season so far? Or do you think more designed runs and designed play-action passes is a better way to go?

I guess in theory but when is the RPO choice being made?

Our pattern seems to be to look to the sideline for a possible play change / adjustment / and then the QB yells to everyone including the linemen.

Now maybe that is all for show (or sometimes is and isn't) but if it isn't you'd think he could tell the linemen what to do (block downfield) or not.
 

I have a question for the X's/O's experts here.

On RPO plays, you can't send the OL downfield to block the linebackers, correct? Because that would give you a penalty if you did pass the ball (illegal downfield block). I guess the idea is that the threat of a pass is supposed to confuse the LBs and send them running to pass coverage, or at least prevent them from attacking downhill like a run play?


Are our RPO plays working well this season so far? Or do you think more designed runs and designed play-action passes is a better way to go?

Refs rarely throw the downfield lineman flag unless it's really obvious. The throw has to be made within 3-4 seconds or else the QB is risking the call being made.
 

If rpo works well with Morgan it may be helping his passing. Fewer long sideline patterns for him just may be something the coaches try to limit. He may not be a true drop back pocket passer. Arm strength? Actually, I think the passing game has been pretty effective the way it is being run. To me it looks like this system works for this qb.
 


I guess in theory but when is the RPO choice being made?

Our pattern seems to be to look to the sideline for a possible play change / adjustment / and then the QB yells to everyone including the linemen.

Now maybe that is all for show (or sometimes is and isn't) but if it isn't you'd think he could tell the linemen what to do (block downfield) or not.

I thought the RPO's run/pass decision was made during the first moments of the play, not pre-snap. Like a read-option's handoff/keep decision. I may be completely misunderstanding the RPO play!
 

I'm more concerned that Maryland will put 60 on us.
 




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