What grade would you give the Gophers coaching in the loss to Iowa?

What grade would you give the Gophers coaching in the loss to Iowa?

  • A

    Votes: 3 3.4%

  • B

    Votes: 2 2.3%

  • C

    Votes: 2 2.3%

  • D

    Votes: 16 18.4%

  • F

    Votes: 64 73.6%
  • Total voters
    87
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What grade would you give the Gophers coaching in the loss to Iowa?
 



someone put a B.....PantherHawk is back!
 



The team looked flat and uninspired from basically beginning to end, and I believe that *has* to be on the coaching staff. If they can't get these boys roused up to play against Iowa on national TV on a Friday night, then I don't even know what to say beyond the fact that I'm just terribly disappointed with this egg they laid tonight.
 

No imagination on offense
HC gets a stupid penalty at a pivotal point in the game.
Defensive preparation is abysmal
Special Teams are a mess
Leaving starters in two straight games when the game is out of reach and not giving back ups a chance to play is ridiculous on so many levels.
If I’m a back up I would be seriously looking at a transfer since PT is given to starters only.
 

Game-killing penalties, dull, predictable offense, nothing new there; defense giving up 10 yard plays at times - in a row. Going for a field goal on fourth and seven when you're down 14 and are on the Iowa 20 and know they'll score more. Plain dumb.
 

GFBfan said:
No imagination on offense
HC gets a stupid penalty at a pivotal point in the game.
Defensive preparation is abysmal
Special Teams are a mess
Leaving starters in two straight games when the game is out of reach and not giving back ups a chance to play is ridiculous on so many levels.
If I’m a back up I would be seriously looking at a transfer since PT is given to starters only.
Click to expand...
Definitely need to get the backups some PT. We gotta develop more of these young guys to offset the players that will be gone (extra year I think will still not inspire many to return IMHO). It does no good to not try to develop these young guys, they will be needed.
 



Anything higher than an F means you are addicted to the Pollyanna kool-aid.
 


Its been bad all year.

There is no way a Big Ten defense should be that bad no matter who you lose.

That said, PJ is the guy.
 

Lack of creativity on offense really did the team in last night. There was not one point in time that the Gophers offense had the Iowa defense off balance with the exception of the 10 minute drive. Right now this coach plays to much of not to lose by too much, instead of winning football.
 



gopherdudepart2 said:
Lack of creativity on offense really did the team in last night. There was not one point in time that the Gophers offense had the Iowa defense off balance with the exception of the 10 minute drive. Right now this coach plays to much of not to lose by too much, instead of winning football.
Click to expand...
The signs were there the first year and everyone said wait til he has his players...well here we are.
 


Minnesota lost the line of scrimmage on both sides and there's little the coaches could have done to change that.
 

"Mr Blutarsky, you have not grade point average, all courses incomplete!"
 


Just like Mase...Urban's a great comment guy. Very enjoyable.
 

Fornhimors same you need to check out tcu’s qb stats. Jerry needs to be out of college football.
 

This was the worst coached game of the Fleck era and it's not close. My biggest concern is that Fleck/his coaching staff continue to make the same mistakes they made last year (even in a good season) that were easily correctable. Against Iowa, you need to pass to set up the run. They play a conservative zone defense and easy pitch and catch is available to you. Running on first down, running on 2nd down (even on some 2nd and 9's or longer!) and throwing on 3rd down is exactly what they want you to do. The Gophers should have opened the game with Tanner throwing early and often. It's also very important to try to get out to a lead against Iowa due to their conservative nature on both offense and defense. Instead, PJ tried to "out conservative" one of the most conservative programs in the nation. That brings me to my second point, in these rivalry games, you have to come out with something different. Last year, Iowa came out with a lot more play action and more aggressive approach to take an early lead against the Gophers. They were out-manned, but that coaching decision gave them a big enough early cushion to beat the Gophers (who were too conservative in that game as well). Look at Wisconsin last year, pulling out all the stops: going for it twice on 4th down, the big wheel route to Taylor, etc. The Gophers were running on 3rd and 10 in that game and passing up short 4th down conversion opportunities. This year, Iowa tired a flea flicker in the first half while the Gophers punted from the Iowa 40. The whole gameplan for Minnesota should have been to be aggressive on offense and make Iowa's putrid QB play from behind or at worst compete in a shootout.

Specific plays that stand out as especially egregious (off memory):

Gophers have like a 2nd and 4 or so with around 1:50 left in the half near their own 40. PJ calls a timeout! They had 3 timeouts left here. The clock was no issue! The clear play here was to run your 2nd (and if necessary 3rd) down play with the clock running. What you don't want to do is put in play having to punt the ball back to Iowa and allow them a chance to expand on a 14-0 lead. Tanner would end up throwing a horrible interception on that 2nd down play after the timeout. Consider if it was just incomplete though? Now you still have ~1:42 left on the clock and a 3rd down coming up. If you don't get the first, you are punting back to Iowa with plenty of time on the clock.

The more egregious play was the 3rd and 6 from the Iowa 20 late in the 3rd quarter in a 14-0 game. You'd already wasted so much time on this drive that a touchdown almost seemed mandatory which is comical enough on its own. Now you call a timeout to set up a short side zone run? On 3rd and 6? PJ's explanation after the game about the decision was really troubling. Essentially he suggested they were planning to go for it on 4th and that they thought the run would get them some yards? WHAT? It's 6 yards! You call a play to set up a shorter 4th down on 3rd and 6? What is this 1920 instead of 2020? You have two chances to complete a short pass and keep the sticks moving....USE THEM.

A huge problem with PJ's coaching is that conservative decision making does not play to his teams strengths or his strengths as a coach. He's very, very bad at timeout management and crucial decision making. How many times last year (when they were successful!) did we waste timeouts on a 4th and short after failing to convert on 3rd and short? We should know in advance what we are doing in that situation (often times getting quckly to the line and QB sneaking would work) and instead we waste a timeout allowing the D to get set or worse yet to run on the punt or fg team. Then you have the fact that we are terrible in special teams and constantly lose the field position game because of it. A game played on the margins where we milk the clock and play super conservatively magnifies the importance of being very competent on special teams.

PJ insists on playing even more conservatively in these rivalry games as if making a mistake with aggression is the worst thing in the world. Not going for those 4th and shorts against Wisconsin in the first half last year changed that game. We had the 4th and short against Iowa in the first half yesterday as well as the 4th and 6 deep in their territory late in the 3rd quarter. He chooses the conservative route and we never get closer to flipping that game around. What's worse is both games ended up as blowouts (in the final score) which oddly seems like what PJ is trying to avoid with his decision making.
 

GFBfan said:
No imagination on offense
HC gets a stupid penalty at a pivotal point in the game.
Defensive preparation is abysmal
Special Teams are a mess
Leaving starters in two straight games when the game is out of reach and not giving back ups a chance to play is ridiculous on so many levels.
If I’m a back up I would be seriously looking at a transfer since PT is given to starters only.
Click to expand...
AMEN brother...especially upset with not giving backups a shot at PT
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
Lack of creativity on offense really did the team in last night. There was not one point in time that the Gophers offense had the Iowa defense off balance with the exception of the 10 minute drive. Right now this coach plays to much of not to lose by too much, instead of winning football.
Click to expand...
Sounds like how I used to describe Mason.

PJ literally played for the tie at Maryland.
 

EG#9 said:
This was the worst coached game of the Fleck era and it's not close. My biggest concern is that Fleck/his coaching staff continue to make the same mistakes they made last year (even in a good season) that were easily correctable. Against Iowa, you need to pass to set up the run. They play a conservative zone defense and easy pitch and catch is available to you. Running on first down, running on 2nd down (even on some 2nd and 9's or longer!) and throwing on 3rd down is exactly what they want you to do. The Gophers should have opened the game with Tanner throwing early and often. It's also very important to try to get out to a lead against Iowa due to their conservative nature on both offense and defense. Instead, PJ tried to "out conservative" one of the most conservative programs in the nation. That brings me to my second point, in these rivalry games, you have to come out with something different. Last year, Iowa came out with a lot more play action and more aggressive approach to take an early lead against the Gophers. They were out-manned, but that coaching decision gave them a big enough early cushion to beat the Gophers (who were too conservative in that game as well). Look at Wisconsin last year, pulling out all the stops: going for it twice on 4th down, the big wheel route to Taylor, etc. The Gophers were running on 3rd and 10 in that game and passing up short 4th down conversion opportunities. This year, Iowa tired a flea flicker in the first half while the Gophers punted from the Iowa 40. The whole gameplan for Minnesota should have been to be aggressive on offense and make Iowa's putrid QB play from behind or at worst compete in a shootout.

Specific plays that stand out as especially egregious (off memory):

Gophers have like a 2nd and 4 or so with around 1:50 left in the half near their own 40. PJ calls a timeout! They had 3 timeouts left here. The clock was no issue! The clear play here was to run your 2nd (and if necessary 3rd) down play with the clock running. What you don't want to do is put in play having to punt the ball back to Iowa and allow them a chance to expand on a 14-0 lead. Tanner would end up throwing a horrible interception on that 2nd down play after the timeout. Consider if it was just incomplete though? Now you still have ~1:42 left on the clock and a 3rd down coming up. If you don't get the first, you are punting back to Iowa with plenty of time on the clock.

The more egregious play was the 3rd and 6 from the Iowa 20 late in the 3rd quarter in a 14-0 game. You'd already wasted so much time on this drive that a touchdown almost seemed mandatory which is comical enough on its own. Now you call a timeout to set up a short side zone run? On 3rd and 6? PJ's explanation after the game about the decision was really troubling. Essentially he suggested they were planning to go for it on 4th and that they thought the run would get them some yards? WHAT? It's 6 yards! You call a play to set up a shorter 4th down on 3rd and 6? What is this 1920 instead of 2020? You have two chances to complete a short pass and keep the sticks moving....USE THEM.

A huge problem with PJ's coaching is that conservative decision making does not play to his teams strengths or his strengths as a coach. He's very, very bad at timeout management and crucial decision making. How many times last year (when they were successful!) did we waste timeouts on a 4th and short after failing to convert on 3rd and short? We should know in advance what we are doing in that situation (often times getting quckly to the line and QB sneaking would work) and instead we waste a timeout allowing the D to get set or worse yet to run on the punt or fg team. Then you have the fact that we are terrible in special teams and constantly lose the field position game because of it. A game played on the margins where we milk the clock and play super conservatively magnifies the importance of being very competent on special teams.

PJ insists on playing even more conservatively in these rivalry games as if making a mistake with aggression is the worst thing in the world. Not going for those 4th and shorts against Wisconsin in the first half last year changed that game. We had the 4th and short against Iowa in the first half yesterday as well as the 4th and 6 deep in their territory late in the 3rd quarter. He chooses the conservative route and we never get closer to flipping that game around. What's worse is both games ended up as blowouts (in the final score) which oddly seems like what PJ is trying to avoid with his decision making.
Click to expand...

You are 100% correct about the 3rd and 6 play. I can’t believe his strategy was to set up 4th and 2. What in the world was he thinking?
He has mentioned a few times he scored an 18 or something near there on his ACT. Sometimes it shows.
 


I listened to the pregame on KFAN and PJ commented on how they had the best week of practice he could remember leading up to the game. If true, then the kids were ready for what the coaches prepared them for. F.
 

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