Morgan Coming Back

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Gopher Ascension

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I'm not opining on whether I'm happy or upset that Tanner decided to come back. I'm relatively young (30's) and Tanner is certainly the best Gopher Quarterback I can remember (which admittedly is not a high bar). There is a lot of doom and gloom on this board after last night, and understandably so. However, I'm curious what others think the feeling around the program would be had Tanner chosen to move on and we were 4-3 in the same fashion we are now, just with Athan having been the starter all year.

Personally, I think we would be a little disappointed, with hope for the future at the QB position, but there wouldn't be the "sky is falling" mentality I see now. Just an interesting exercise.
 

Gopher Ascension said:
I'm not opining on whether I'm happy or upset that Tanner decided to come back. I'm relatively young (30's) and Tanner is certainly the best Gopher Quarterback I can remember (which admittedly is not a high bar). There is a lot of doom and gloom on this board after last night, and understandably so. However, I'm curious what others think the feeling around the program would be had Tanner chosen to move on and we were 4-3 in the same fashion we are now, just with Athan having been the starter all year.

Personally, I think we would be a little disappointed, with hope for the future at the QB position, but there wouldn't be the "sky is falling" mentality I see now. Just an interesting exercise.
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Tanner Morgan is not the problem. The major problem is our receivers can not get off the line and open and because of this the other teams are stacking the box to stop Ibrahim, rendering him just about useless. Gopher coaches have seen this for 3 games straight now and have been either unwilling or unable to make adjustments.

You can be sure all the rest of the teams on our schedule are watching tape of this and will come up with the same type of game plan to shut down the Gopher offense. I don't care WHO our QB is if our receivers can't get open, it won't matter.
 

Interesting thought experiment.

The challenge is that hard to imagine with a redshirt freshman QB things would have unfolded the same way...4 convincing wins followed by 3 convincing losses...so we then have to mix that record up to get to 4-3.

As fan expectations certainly play into this imaginarium, being at 4-3 might be right in line with what folks thought would unfold. Certainly a HUGE disappointment for this season so far with Tanner back is that we also have 22, 23, and even 24 year old men starting but playing like they are still 19. Whatever the issues, it certainly has the coaching staff stumped so far.

So with all that would the sky be falling for a lot of GHers? Probably not. However, we as fans have every right to have expected more with Tanner et. al. and this is very disappointing.

Also, we miss CrAB very much.
 

Given everyone coming back, Mo et al, it would have been IMHO a bad decision or at the very least controversial to start a redshirt freshman, as talented as he appears to be, over a competent veteran. The pieces were in place for a West division run. If we had dropped the last 3 games with Athan while Morgan was on the bench many of us would have been properly upset. The counter argument amongst fans would have been Athan must have looked better in practice. Of course that is the opposite of our reality here today and purely imaginary. The decision going forward now with the West lost is whether to continue with him over Morgan as a rebuilding effort. That’s debatable.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Given everyone coming back, Mo et al, it would have been IMHO a bad decision or at the very least controversial to start a redshirt freshman, as talented as he appears to be, over a competent veteran. The pieces were in place for a West division run. If we had dropped the last 3 games with Athan while Morgan was on the bench many of us would have been properly upset. The counter argument amongst fans would have been Athan must have looked better in practice. Of course that is the opposite of our reality here today and purely imaginary. The decision going forward now with the West lost is whether to continue with him over Morgan as a rebuilding effort. That’s debatable.
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Totally agree. Once everyone decided to come back the mindset has to be to play them all and go for it this year. It was tried and it didn't work out. But I also think it is fine to pivot your thinking during the season and now look towards next year. Whats really the difference finishing 7-5 or 8-4 or 6-6 at this point anyway? Quick Lane bowl vs Pinstripe bowl?
 


gopherbadgerman said:
But I also think it is fine to pivot your thinking during the season and now look towards next year. Whats really the difference finishing 7-5 or 8-4 or 6-6 at this point anyway? Quick Lane bowl vs Pinstripe bowl?
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In terms of winning percentage and number of wins, Tanner is at or near the very top of QBs in Minnesota history and has been the starting QB for the majority of Fleck's tenure. He came back for a final optional year. If Tanner is healthy and wants to play, Fleck isn't going to say "Oh, hell, what's the difference whether we win 6 games or 8 games anyway. Let's just play Athan in preparation for next year."
 

cjbfbp said:
In terms of winning percentage and number of wins, Tanner is at or near the very top of QBs in Minnesota history and has been the starting QB for the majority of Fleck's tenure. He came back for a final optional year. If Tanner is healthy and wants to play, Fleck isn't going to say "Oh, hell, what's the difference whether we win 6 games or 8 games anyway. Let's just play Athan in preparation for next year."
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Since every team left is going to bring the kitchen sink and our receivers are going to struggle. Morgan is going to struggle and have the happy feet.

Convince me that AK's arm and running don't give us a better chance to win.

Anyone?
 

You'd have to be a court provided defense attorney to argue against AK's running especially. It's hard to criticize his arm/passing 'cuz' even Tom Brady can't be effective when he's running for his life nearly every play. He still looked good in spite of that.
 

Tanner provided a great stabilizing force in the offense during the early Fleck years.

However, his limitations in the passing (and running) game have stunted what we want to do on offense - and, by extension, the type of offense you can market to future recruits. This is a huge issue.
 



gopherbadgerman said:
Totally agree. Once everyone decided to come back the mindset has to be to play them all and go for it this year. It was tried and it didn't work out. But I also think it is fine to pivot your thinking during the season and now look towards next year. Whats really the difference finishing 7-5 or 8-4 or 6-6 at this point anyway? Quick Lane bowl vs Pinstripe bowl?
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If the team goes 8-4 it means it’s the first 4 year stretch with 3 winning conference seasons since 67-70

Going into the year anything less than the west was disappointing
But I also said anything 5-4 or better in conference was at least a mild success
 

Gold Rush said:
Tanner Morgan is not the problem. The major problem is our receivers can not get off the line and open and because of this the other teams are stacking the box to stop Ibrahim, rendering him just about useless. Gopher coaches have seen this for 3 games straight now and have been either unwilling or unable to make adjustments.

You can be sure all the rest of the teams on our schedule are watching tape of this and will come up with the same type of game plan to shut down the Gopher offense. I don't care WHO our QB is if our receivers can't get open, it won't matter.
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Seriously.

Athan was throwing to guys who had DB's covering them like a blanket too.

I'm still a little sore about a few choices Morgan made in the Purdue game, but even there if a guy was open it was ... one guy, and late in the play.
 


Except for the Service academies, the Gophers have been last or close to last in passing, nationally, for two years and Tanner flopped last year against Bowling Green and Illinois and this year against Illinois again ((4 of 12 for 21 yards). If he gets into a funk like that he should be pulled in favor of AK, who at least can hit his 6'7" tight end - and who can surprise with a run here and there. AK needs more experience - give it to him even if Tanner starts, which is the norm for a 6th year senior with an overall good record.
 





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