14-3 to 9-7 is a big step backwards…

[SMPLSGopher]

We put up 431 yards in that "dud" of a game in Iowa, and Tanner threw for over 10 YPA.

Yard don't matter if you don't score. Nebraska is averaging almost 460 yards per game yet they just fired most of their offensive staff.

 

[Dakota2]

I could be wrong, but I get a sense that, once Mo was hurt, Fleck and Sanford decided that they had to play everything close to the vest to have a chance to win.

And, as the depth at RB has shrunk, it seems that the offense has shrunk with it.

On the passing game, I would say this - I would take an 8-yard completion over a long incompletion every day. There needs to be a check-down or short route on every passing play - and with the current Gopher offense - I just don't see those routes. Or the QB can't see those routes.

I would be throwing the ball to BSF at least 4 or 5 times a game. More drag routes. More quick 10-yard down-and-outs. Help Morgan understand that it's not a choice of "20 yards down the field to CRAB" or nothing. It's often a choice between a 7-yard completion vs a sack or a throw-away.

stay out of 2nd-and-long or 3rd-and-long at all costs.

Hard to see the logic of losing your All-American running back and saying "we've got to run more."

 

[NotAFanOfBecky]

I have read many of the discussions comparing KC to Sanford. The one area that I don't think has been mentioned with any real specificity is the fact that Kirk set up his offense to evolve every week.

What I mean by that, is he would literally plan for the defensive coordinator of the other team to game plan to what he had been doing with the offense prior to that point. In the next game he would run some plays the defense would be anticipating. At key moments in the game, he would break out a new play designed to take advantage of the defense reading a past tendency and would exploit it to get a big play for the offense.

Everything he was calling on offense had counter plays that could be run from the original play. It became very difficult for the defense to key in one area because as soon as they began to cheat versus the run he would spring the pass designed to look like those runs. It was really fun to watch him work.

Contrast that to our current OC. His offense is not designed to take advantage of the defense very often. The plays are not set up to create mutiple options from the same set (and I am not simply referring to RPO plays). Even calling different plays from a standard set, there is no deception to the system. They are just different plays that the defense can read and react.

This, in my opinion is a major difference in our two past OC's. About the only time I really remember recognizing a play designed to take advantage of the defense with some level of deception was on the touchdown pass out of the wildcat.

Spot on. That’s a great take!

 

[laazrakit]

I miss Kirk Ciarocca and hope he wants to come back

Yeah, after getting shitcanned at his dream B1G job close to home... It's not as if anyone is beating down his door to acquire his skills. Sure, he's some sort of offensive analyst for West Virginia... but I'm sure he's wondering how he squandered his career. Who knows, maybe he'll be able to resurrect it. Hopefully he won't get a 2nd chance here, though.

Just remember... all the 'Tanner Morgan benefited from 2 NFL-caliber WR's in 2019' talk in here also can be used against against Kirk Ciarocca.

 

[laazrakit]

Hard to see the logic of losing your All-American running back and saying "we've got to run more."

When you're not exactly sure who your QB is going to be throwing the ball to... maybe doubling down on your running game (even when down to your 5th and 6th string RB's) seems appropriate.

 

[hungan1]

I have read many of the discussions comparing KC to Sanford. The one area that I don't think has been mentioned with any real specificity is the fact that Kirk set up his offense to evolve every week.

What I mean by that, is he would literally plan for the defensive coordinator of the other team to game plan to what he had been doing with the offense prior to that point. In the next game he would run some plays the defense would be anticipating. At key moments in the game, he would break out a new play designed to take advantage of the defense reading a past tendency and would exploit it to get a big play for the offense.

Everything he was calling on offense had counter plays that could be run from the original play. It became very difficult for the defense to key in one area because as soon as they began to cheat versus the run he would spring the pass designed to look like those runs. It was really fun to watch him work.

Contrast that to our current OC. His offense is not designed to take advantage of the defense very often. The plays are not set up to create mutiple options from the same set (and I am not simply referring to RPO plays). Even calling different plays from a standard set, there is no deception to the system. They are just different plays that the defense can read and react.

This, in my opinion is a major difference in our two past OC's. About the only time I really remember recognizing a play designed to take advantage of the defense with some level of deception was on the touchdown pass out of the wildcat.

You live and die by the run. It is important to develop high percentage passing plays.

The current Gopher Offense has become predictable. They are not stretching the field or fooling opponents.

There are times when the middle of the field is wide open.

A confident passing attack is much needed in the RPO instead of lobbying long passes that are well defended and usually end up in an interception. Let's see slants, passes up the middle zone, and shovel passes or something.

Make the offense more dynamic depending on the opponent's defense instead of one size fits all.

Iowa and Wisconsin will kill the Gophers' Offense by shutting down the running lanes. Tanner Morgan will be running for his life all day if the protection wall breaks down.

My two bits.

 

[Gold Rush]

That's on the OC we have practice for a reason. We need to bring back the simple short slant routes we need more short passes and less hold on to the ball and wait for the 40 plus yard passes then get sacked or pressured.

I wonder how the Gopher nation will feel if the Gophers lose say 17-6 down in Iowa this weekend. The people calling for a new OC and better play calling will be getting a LOT louder, that's for sure.

I have a high respect for a lot of posters on Gopher hole. They aren't just a bunch of loudmouths/keyboard warriors that have no clue what is going on. They are in tune with what is going on and can see what a lot of the problems are. When you see Ryan Burns' videos and how absolutely pathetic the game calling of the offense looked last week, you really get a pretty good idea what is going on here.

I think Fleck does not want to fire Sanford in the worst way and his contract extension just gave him security to do what he wants. I believe Fleck will be forced to fire him eventually because you can only try to jam the square peg into a round hole so long before you can see it is not going to fit.

This is not to say I want Sanford to fail. Of course not - because if he succeeds the Gophers are doing well and if he doesn't the Gophers can't even beat teams like Illinois and Bowling Green. I just have zero confidence in him - he better figure this out pretty quick or Fleck simply won't be able to have him around. But this will only be because we have experienced more disasters in the weeks to come.

 

[HoustonTXGopher]

I am not an apologist for Sanford, but the Gophers scored the second highest point total against Ohio St thus far. Losing Mo and then Potts for the year has been a huge setback for the offense. I know our freshman have played well, but they have missed blocking assignments and are just no replacement for Ibrahim. I feel pretty strongly that we would have no more than one loss on the year had Ibrahim stayed healthy up to now.

 

[Some guy]

I am not an apologist for Sanford, but the Gophers scored the second highest point total against Ohio St thus far. Losing Mo and then Potts for the year has been a huge setback for the offense. I know our freshman have played well, but they have missed blocking assignments and are just no replacement for Ibrahim. I feel pretty strongly that we would have no more than one loss on the year had Ibrahim stayed healthy up to now.

He has called absolutely dud games.
fireable if the head coach wanted to.


if he puts together the last 3 it will be hard not to forgive him.

 

[Triple D]

2 NFL recievers not on the team anymore. Makes a MASSIVE difference. You see it every game. The level of play out of the WRs is just not the same, way more dropped passes and no big play maker outside CAB. Guys are young and unexperienced right now. They need more time to gROW.

(Also would like to add Sanford started in a Covid year, so it's a little unfair of a comparison...)

Flip side is the OL are all more seasoned and experienced.

 

[Some guy]

Flip side is the OL are all more seasoned and experienced.

Doesn’t really matter how good your line is if you’re running 7 blockers on 8 defenders. If they run fit well they got you even if you go 7/7

 

[Dakota2]

Yeah, after getting shitcanned at his dream B1G job close to home... It's not as if anyone is beating down his door to acquire his skills. Sure, he's some sort of offensive analyst for West Virginia... but I'm sure he's wondering how he squandered his career. Who knows, maybe he'll be able to resurrect it. Hopefully he won't get a 2nd chance here, though.

Just remember... all the 'Tanner Morgan benefited from 2 NFL-caliber WR's in 2019' talk in here also can be used against against Kirk Ciarocca.

Guess they both were ready for NFL right out of high school. Just a waste of time to be showcased in a dynamic offense here with a little coaching thrown in.

 

[SanDiegoGopherFan]

IA has the personnel to shut down the run if thats what they want to commit to and hedge that Tanner cant beat them.

if we lose this, which it sucks to say, i think we come out with an L. Im done for this year, its way too heartbreaking.

we have so much talent. Yes, so what if were down to 2 freshman RBs, guess what! They are good!!

we have no excuses. Outside of OsU, we should not have lost a single game

 

[GFBfan]

I think our definitions of complicated and simple are different.

If there are easy plays available that we simply are not taking, that is my definition of being overly complicated. IMO, take those things until they take them away, then go back to running the football.

You would think an O Coordinator would do that, especially one who is sitting upstairs, having plays signaled in from the sideline at the last moment. I often wonder what the hell he is looking at, because vs. Illinois, there were so many times we could have thrown a 5 yard hitch route and let the WR make a play to get more. But we never did try to do that and his word salad answers to the questions really shows how clueless he is as a play caller.

 

[GFBfan]

I am not an apologist for Sanford, but the Gophers scored the second highest point total against Ohio St thus far. Losing Mo and then Potts for the year has been a huge setback for the offense. I know our freshman have played well, but they have missed blocking assignments and are just no replacement for Ibrahim. I feel pretty strongly that we would have no more than one loss on the year had Ibrahim stayed healthy up to now.

And the DC for OSU was changed shortly after that. Hmm, what a novel idea.

 

[SkiUMah'ed]

2 NFL recievers not on the team anymore. Makes a MASSIVE difference. You see it every game. The level of play out of the WRs is just not the same, way more dropped passes and no big play maker outside CAB. Guys are young and unexperienced right now. They need more time to gROW.

(Also would like to add Sanford started in a Covid year, so it's a little unfair of a comparison...)

Sanford took over a Western Kentucky program that Jeff Brohm built. In Jeff's last year they went 10-2. In Sanford first year they went 6-7 , then in year two went 3-9 and fired.

He then went went to Utah State to be OC and QB coach where he inherited Jordan Love who went for 35 tds and seven ints under previous OC. In his one year there Jordan Love threw 25 tds and 22 ints.

Morgan and the offense has regressed SIGNIFICANTLY under Sanford. Connect the dots.....Sanford is HOT GARBAGE.

 

[Word]

IA has the personnel to shut down the run if thats what they want to commit to and hedge that Tanner cant beat them.

if we lose this, which it sucks to say, i think we come out with an L. Im done for this year, its way too heartbreaking.

we have so much talent. Yes, so what if were down to 2 freshman RBs, guess what! They are good!!

we have no excuses. Outside of OsU, we should not have lost a single game

LOL

 

[gopherbadgerman]

Sanford took over a Western Kentucky program that Jeff Brohm built. In Jeff's last year they went 10-2. In Sanford first year they went 6-7 , then in year two went 3-9 and fired.

He then went went to Utah State to be OC and QB coach where he inherited Jordan Love who went for 35 tds and seven ints under previous OC. In his one year there Jordan Love threw 25 tds and 22 ints.

Morgan and the offense has regressed SIGNIFICANTLY under Sanford. Connect the dots.....Sanford is HOT GARBAGE.

Dang. That’s some history there.

 

[Scoops5]

I could be wrong, but I get a sense that, once Mo was hurt, Fleck and Sanford decided that they had to play everything close to the vest to have a chance to win.

And, as the depth at RB has shrunk, it seems that the offense has shrunk with it.

On the passing game, I would say this - I would take an 8-yard completion over a long incompletion every day. There needs to be a check-down or short route on every passing play - and with the current Gopher offense - I just don't see those routes. Or the QB can't see those routes.

I would be throwing the ball to BSF at least 4 or 5 times a game. More drag routes. More quick 10-yard down-and-outs. Help Morgan understand that it's not a choice of "20 yards down the field to CRAB" or nothing. It's often a choice between a 7-yard completion vs a sack or a throw-away.

stay out of 2nd-and-long or 3rd-and-long at all costs.

I’ll as to this, I remember 2019 feeling like we slant-routed every opponent to death. And we did it because nobody could stop Johnson or Bateman from running the route well and catching a strike from Tanner. I feel like I don‘t see the slant as much or if I do, the ball is getting dropped.

 

[Some Day...Maybe]

I am not an apologist for Sanford, but the Gophers scored the second highest point total against Ohio St thus far. Losing Mo and then Potts for the year has been a huge setback for the offense. I know our freshman have played well, but they have missed blocking assignments and are just no replacement for Ibrahim. I feel pretty strongly that we would have no more than one loss on the year had Ibrahim stayed healthy up to now.

Ohio St’s defense is night and day from when we played them. It’s like playing Robb Smith’s Gopher defense vs. Joe Rossi’s Gopher defense. They switched DC’s.

 

[Some Day...Maybe]

Sanford took over a Western Kentucky program that Jeff Brohm built. In Jeff's last year they went 10-2. In Sanford first year they went 6-7 , then in year two went 3-9 and fired.

He then went went to Utah State to be OC and QB coach where he inherited Jordan Love who went for 35 tds and seven ints under previous OC. In his one year there Jordan Love threw 25 tds and 22 ints.

Morgan and the offense has regressed SIGNIFICANTLY under Sanford. Connect the dots.....Sanford

Sanford took over a Western Kentucky program that Jeff Brohm built. In Jeff's last year they went 10-2. In Sanford first year they went 6-7 , then in year two went 3-9 and fired.

He then went went to Utah State to be OC and QB coach where he inherited Jordan Love who went for 35 tds and seven ints under previous OC. In his one year there Jordan Love threw 25 tds and 22 ints.

Morgan and the offense has regressed SIGNIFICANTLY under Sanford. Connect the dots.....Sanford is HOT GARBAGE.

Fleck has to hire a DC when he came to Minnesota, he hired Robb Smith. Fleck had to hire an OC when Ciarocca left, he hire Fred Sanford and Son. Sanford was a worse hire.

Fleck has to hire a DC when he came to Minnesota, he hired Robb Smith. Fleck had to hire an OC when Ciarocca left, he hire Fred Sanford and Son. Sanford was a worse hire.