MplsGopher
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2017
- Messages
- 36,668
- Reaction score
- 10,138
- Points
- 113
https://247sports.com/college/minne...orgia-Southern-five-takeaways-recap-135616933
1) KIRK CIARROCCA NEEDS TO REVAMP HIS OFFENSIVE PLAY CALLING
I'm not sure there's a nice way to say it, but the play-calling for this game was just brutal. Absolutely brutal.
Head coach PJ Fleck said after the game that this is an inside zone team, which is entirely accurate. This issue though is, all the read option inside zone isn't working. Minnesota ran the ball 48 times on the day for 93 total yards. That's 1.9 yards per carry against Georgia Southern. Now, this is a 10-win team from a season ago, but for a Big Ten team, that's frankly really bad.
Minnesota's ball carriers not named Tanner Morgan rushed the ball for 110 yards on 40 carries, for 2.75 ypc.
We'll get to the offensive line in a bit, but if you're Ciarrocca, you have to give them a chance. Everyone in the stadium knows that inside zone is coming, and when that's the case play-after-play and drive-after-drive, the opposing defensive coordinator likely knows as well. That means your guys up front don't have a chance. The offensive line is already struggling to get a push, but if the opposing front seven already knows the run is coming, plus their +1 in the box (seven guys in the box, with only six Minnesota blockers), you're definitely not going to win. It's not a scenario that is setting your offense up for success.
The play-calling needs to change. You have two wide receivers in Tyler Johnson and Rashod Bateman who for my money, are the best Gopher wide receiver duo that I've seen in my 27 years on this earth. Yet, the first instinct on each drive is to run the ball up the middle, which is an area that you little success in through three games. That just doesn't make sense to me.
You can still be an inside zone team, but the way you go about it HAS to be more creative. A prime example is just the way the second half unfolded.
- Minnesota ran the ball 29 times for 18 total yards. That's less than a yard a carry, YET, Ciarrocca kept going back to it again and again and again.
I just don't understand why. It wasn't working. I know you want to drain the clock as you're leading, but the offense then got off-schedule and Morgan was put into tough situations. In the second half alone, there were five third downs of nine plus yards. That's not a recipe for success. The self-scout and more importantly adjustments have to come after the bye week. Right?
What makes the running game usage even more baffling is Minnesota was on their fourth and fifth string running backs for a majority of this game.