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noamfromm said:
He also ran a really high flying offense at the juco he came from in OK
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That’s right. I remember reading a little about his background when he came in.

Truthfully I don’t think PJ will change anything until after the season, but I sure hope I’m wrong.
 

skiumah1 said:
That’s right. I remember reading a little about his background when he came in.

Truthfully I don’t think PJ will change anything until after the season, but I sure hope I’m wrong.
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If we are comparing the Robb Smith experience to the Mike Sanford one I think allowing 42+ points 4 times is equivalent to only scoring 16 points against Illinois and Bowling Green.
 

I thought we started out as Receiver-U with Fleck’s background. You can’t have a coach that destroys the QB. Move on from Sanford!
 

I'm ready to move on from Sanford. The question is, would it be better to do now (potential for a "fix" but also potential for "chaos") or do you wait til the end of the season?
 


Word said:
I'm ready to move on from Sanford. The question is, would it be better to do now (potential for a "fix" but also potential for "chaos") or do you wait til the end of the season?
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I think swelna is right -- you let Patterson coach the QB's -- either he or Simon is the interim OC and take a GA to coach the tight ends. Our receivers can't get open -- but you need to play with the cards your dealt and he's not doing a great job.
 

MirandaB said:
I thought we started out as Receiver-U with Fleck’s background. You can’t have a coach that destroys the QB. Move on from Sanford!
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Yup. Plus, I know we have talked about this many times on GH but being @ the game today and seeing that we truly do not have a hurry up game plan was maddening. We have discussed a variety of TM2 issues but that endless staring @ the side lines has to end. You have a 5th year senior that you apparently trust then let him play.
 

Sad thing is if Sanford wasn’t so incompetent and we won we would have moved up a ton in rankings with a lot of other top teams losing. Regardless every game we play it has been a crap shoot if we won even if we were much better. If we truly are the better team we shouldn’t be in these positions constantly like Sanford puts us in.

even Rossi made the in game adjustment and we dominated and held them from 1st qtr on! Give Rossi a big raise
 

MirandaB said:
I thought we started out as Receiver-U with Fleck’s background. You can’t have a coach that destroys the QB. Move on from Sanford!
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Definitely concerning. Take an honest look at recruiting. Given the performances of our offense, if you are a current recruit with any kind of ceiling at all and have aspirations of playing in The League WHY-would you ever consider committing here?

Our current QB had NFL aspirations and justifiably so after 2019, sad to see that he has now been coached into a puddle of jittery nerves.

Maybe most disappointing of all, our supposedly world class offensive line was going to be the strength of this team. IMO they’ve honestly been a joke most of the year. I’m sick of hearing how they have 200+ starts between them and then they play like they did today. Last time they played this poorly we were told they were confused by the Bowling Green juggernaut or we were rotating too many in at too many positions. What will we hear tomorrow?

Our wide receivers are being ridiculed for never being able to get separation in the BIG10. It's hard to get separation when they are stuck running routes that take 3 to 5 seconds to develop with no check downs.

Last but not least our running backs, they are perhaps the only group I’d say that has performed in spite of the coaching. Look out though, if you choose us and you're good you'll be so beat up by the time your eligible to leave, you’ll be damaged goods.

These coaches talk about a development culture. If I were a recruit I’d be heading in different direction if I needed any kind of development and had the tools and dreams to reach the NFL.
 



Yep I’m not convinced it’s the receivers. There is talent there. I think it’s the routes and game plan. Obvious passing downs leading to heavy coverage. Few guys in routes, etc. Can it be fixed this year? Man I hope so!
 


Word said:
I'm ready to move on from Sanford. The question is, would it be better to do now (potential for a "fix" but also potential for "chaos") or do you wait til the end of the season?
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I would prefer to do it now so you can give the interim OC a 4-game tryout similar to how Rossi got a 4-game tryout as interim DC.
 

Watch some of these other decent teams and there playcalling. It makes it even more frustrating for me to watch ours.

The deception and design that some of these other coaches use is great
 



noamfromm said:
He also ran a really high flying offense at the juco he came from in OK
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Right, but we also have a guy who developed offensive game plans all of 2019 and called the plays in the bowl game, still on staff.

Don't get me wrong, Patterson as QB coach and passing-game coordinator, is an obvious move.
 
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Burns' top 5 takeaways. No surprise what is #1.

1) Mike Sanford's passing offense needs a long look​


I think the headline says it all, but you look at the last two losses for Minnesota now, they've scored a total of 16 points. And in both games they were two-touchdown or more favorites.

But the thing is, it's not just one thing that's plaguing this offense when results like today happen. I will get into Tanner Morgan and that whole thing here in a bit, but if you're placing 100% of the blame on the quarterback here, we're just not going to see eye-to-eye.

What I can't get over is the number of Minnesota passing plays that needed four or more seconds to get open. It was clear that the Gophers offensive line wasn't playing well overall, yet the Gophers kept calling plays that needed forever to get open. And to the surprise of no one, it wasn't working with the pressure that the Illini were getting. And then finally with 9:45 left in game, the Gophers went to a quick-hitting passing attack, and that was the lone drive that Minnesota was able to finish with points.

But it's the fact that it took 50 minutes of game time for the play-calling to finally incorporate the short / quick-hitting passing game is concerning. I don't understand what took so long as it wasn't like the long developing passing plays were finding success. The adjustment needed to come quicker from Mike Sanford as the play-caller.

But this Minnesota offense was just constantly behind the sticks all game.
In their three previous games against Nebraska, Maryland and Northwestern, the Gophers standard down (1st and 2nd downs) success rate was tremendous as they were #1 in the Big Ten in that span. They were constantly in second and third and shorts as offense and it's no surprise that the scoreboard lit up as a result. The Minnesota offense scored 30+ points in each one of those games because of how well they were moving on those early downs.

But today against Illinois, Sanford's offense was always in these long yardage situations. On second down today, the average distance to go was 8.2 yards. And it got even worse on third down where Minnesota was 4-13 today. The Gophers average yards to go on third down today was 10.8 yards. For an offense that wants to be built on the running game, having over 10 yards per third down isn't going to help that.

Some of that was untimely penalities on the offensive line.
- Axel Ruschmeyer is called for a false start on a 2nd-and-7, and after a Morgan sack, it's 3rd-and 17
- Before halftime, Morgan scrambles for five yards on 2nd-and-11, but LT Sam Schueter was called for a hold, and instead, it's now 2nd-and-21
- Ky Thomas with a four-year rush on first down at midfield, and Ruschmeyer is hit with a holding call. Instead of 2nd-and-6, it's 1st-and-20
- Mar'Keise Irving with a four-year rush on first down, and Daniel Faalele is hit with a hold. Instead of 2nd-and-6, it's 1st-and-20

I'm just mystified at times with this offense as it's been incredibly hit or miss. They either score 30+ points or just can't find anything like we saw today.

But this issue has to fall on the shoulders on the play-caller and offensive coordinator in Mike Sanford. The route combinations need to be better. The protection adjustments needs to be better. The in-game adjustments need to be better. The quarterback has to be more prepared for what looks he may see. The adjustments to the play-calling when something isn't working need to be better.

It's Mike Sanford's offense. And statistically, Illinois wasn't the best defense that Minnesota will face in November as Wisconsin and Iowa's defenses are still on the docket. It's got to be a lot better next week against Iowa, but it's only going to get tougher for this offense. But Sanford has got to get this offense playing better.
 

And then from the (obvious) #2 issue:


But it's interesting to look at Tanner's last two seasons compared to that magical 2019 campaign.

- 2019 (13 games): 210/318 (66.0%) for 3,253 yards with 30 touchdowns and 7 interceptions
- 20/21' (16 games): 208/354 (58.7%) for 2,731 yards with 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions
 

This has been posted before, but it still is pretty incredible to see the caliber of QB's that Mike Sanford has "for some reason" caused to take stumbles.

Mike White - the guy who threw for over 400 yards as the NY Jets starter last week
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/mike-white-6.html

(Sanford was HC at WKU in 2017)

YearSchoolConfClassPosGCmpAttPctYdsY/AAY/ATDIntRate
2013South FloridaAmericanFRQB69317553.110836.24.239100.5
2014South FloridaAmericanSOQB1112224250.416396.86.187112.4
*2015Western KentuckyCUSAJRQB
*2016Western KentuckyCUSAJRQB1428041667.3436310.511.5377181.4
*2017Western KentuckyCUSASRQB1336856065.741777.57.7268140.8


Jordan Love - who I assume will start for the Green Bay Packers today
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/jordan-love-2.html

(Sanford was OC at USU in 2019)

YearSchoolConfClassPosGCmpAttPctYdsY/AAY/ATDIntRate
*2017Utah StateMWCFRQB1212923554.916316.96.586119.3
*2018Utah StateMWCSOQB1326741764.035678.69.4326158.3
*2019Utah StateMWCJRQB1329347361.934027.26.42017129.1
 

For Fleck to continue to "ignore" all of the above .... there is only one possible conclusion that can be made.

It is Fleck's, really main and perhaps only major flaw that has been exposed since coming to Minnesota:

Nepotism.
 

MplsGopher said:
Right, but we also have a guy who developed offensive game plans all of 2019 and called the plays in the bowl game, still on staff.

Don't get me wrong, Patterson and QB coach and passing-game coordinator, is an obvious move.
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We don't exactly know what Simon did in 2019. Ciarocca game plans looked much different than Sanford game plans so I'm not sure what effect Simon had in developing plans under both coordinators. Called a helluva game against Auburn though.
 


FanSinceTheFifties said:
Illinois D-line out bruted our O-line. That was the game.
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They certainly did, at times. But that absolutely was not the game. Not even close.

That was maybe the #3 reason or #4 behind WR's having difficulty getting separation.
 

noamfromm said:
We don't exactly know what Simon did in 2019. Ciarocca game plans looked much different than Sanford game plans so I'm not sure what effect Simon had in developing plans under both coordinators. Called a helluva game against Auburn though.
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No point in arguing when, as you correctly say, we don't know.

I can't imagine either Patterson and/or Simon as OC could be worse than what we have now.
 

All this said: zero -- I mean 0.0000000% -- chance that Fleck changes anything for Iowa.

Not a thing. That's not what Fleck does. He's literally afraid to death of making changes.


Sanford will be OC. Tanner will be QB. And the game plan will largely be the same.

"Just gotta execute better."
 


Burns nailed it we play for 3rd down constantly, always behind the sticks. This is some of the worst offensive coordinating I've seen, it's a system built to fail.
 



Sanford was terrible yesterday...absolutely terrible. He was pretty good the previous 4 weeks. At this point I have no idea what to think or what would be best for the team, but he's at least shown he's not an "elite" coach...so I'd be fine with Fleck moving on at any point.

To my eyes he seems to do a great job in film study and installing a game plan during the week. If that plan is successful early, the offense is fine. If that plan doesn't work, there's no other plan. They stick with formations, personnel, and route concepts that aren't working -- and they just keep HOPING they'll work because according to their film study they SHOULD be working.

The 5-wide sets and long-developing PA passes yesterday are a good example. Those have worked earlier in the season, and perhaps other teams have beated Illinois with those looks...but they weren't working early yesterday and should've been abandoned for more of what we saw on the scoring drive: short passes out of 3 and 4 WR sets with an extra OL or BLOCKING TE (not BSF) left in to assist -- especially Schlueter.
 


MGGopher said:
If that plan is successful early, the offense is fine.
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Yeabut ... didn't our first drive actually start out with a couple really nice plays??

It was an unfortunate tipped pass interception, which I don't actually agree was due to pressure. Tanner started his delivery before the DL beat our guy.
 

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