When do you bench Tanner?

It does seem like the pass patterns take a long time to develop, but I really just don't know at this point. It is probably a confluence of things, and in my opinion that falls squarely on the OC. The offense for whatever reason has periods of clunkiness and guys just don't seem to be on the same page. Maybe the schemes are overly complex or perhaps the coaches are overthinking things to the point of being ineffective.

One thing I would like to see them do is mix tempos throughout the game. Play up-tempo at times, grind it out for others. Anything to throw the defense off and to keep them a bit more honest. Illinois was consistently stacking 7 to sometimes 8 in the box. That is going to leave vulnerabilities other places, but we could not for whatever reason exploit them.

Absolutely perplexing game. I admit to being biased but Morgan and the team were not given a chance to succeed yesterday. Sanford must be fired, and soon.
 

Absolutely perplexing game. I admit to being biased but Morgan and the team were not given a chance to succeed yesterday. Sanford must be fired, and soon.
I think that is fair to say Morgan and the team were not put in a position to succeed. Did they pull some boners of their own? Certainly. But schematically, the entire operation seemed out of whack with no rhythm to it. That, in my opinion, is coaching.

It feels like a Robb Smith 2.0 situation where the guys are spending entirely too much time thinking and not enough time just reading, reacting and making plays. Maybe Morgan and team just play better when they can have fun and not have to solve a 4th degree polynomial before every snap of the ball.
 


Derek burns with a nice little thread here that basically ends up sharing my feeling of why I blame the first half on the wideouts not getting separation on what they were asked to do and the second half I blame on the coaches who didn’t adjust the plan
And while Morgan didn’t play well, he was a distant 4th in who to blame (with the o line finishing 3rd in the blame game)
 

Yep, the question is why. As I stated before part of the TD numbers is the tendency to go with ground and pound, Cole in the red zone. I don’t have any stats in front of me but I’d guess what, 80+% rushes in the red zone?
Gophs used Green in the red zone in 2019. You can seriously argue his numbers were better (not much) last year with seven games, than this year through nine.
 

Gophs used Green in the red zone in 2019. You can seriously argue his numbers were better (not much) last year with seven games, than this year through nine.

It seemed to me they only used Green in short yardage situations, goal line situations. The “wildcat” role seems dramatically expanded this year.
 


It seemed to me they only used Green in short yardage situations, goal line situations. The “wildcat” role seems dramatically expanded this year.
Depends what you consider as dramatically. Kramer is averaging just under one more carry per game than Green.

Edit: Kramer has only been in six of nine games so it is about 5 carries to Green's 2.5 in 2019.
 

Absolutely perplexing game. I admit to being biased but Morgan and the team were not given a chance to succeed yesterday. Sanford must be fired, and soon.
I'm in this camp. I was worried about Illinois game all week. I knew they were fast and have good coaches. It was frustrating sitting in the stands and seeing what Illinois was doing and what we saw the Gophers doing. The inability to adjust was baffling to me. With a QB with Tanners experience level, should be given more autonomy to change plays. Not so sure the WR's can adjust on the fly yet. There are a lot of new guys outside of CRAB. I'm not that down on Morgan, he didn't play well but the Oline on the left side Saturday, we have seen a lot of football from there, and they had a bad game. Biggest complaint was not adjusting to what the defense was doing. None of us are coaches but when we can see the obvious, you know things were poorly planned and executed. So I guess we turn the page and hope for better. Sanford and Simon and Burns and Callahan better step up the game this week, this will be a much better defense.
 
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In short, to answer the thread title, no, Tanner shouldn't be benched this week. Starting a rookie QB at Kinnick would be like throwing raw meat to wolves.
If you watched my beloved Packers yesterday, that is exactly what will happen to any Gopher QB at Iowa. Blitzers coming in all positions and degrees. Love had no chance and neither will our QB. Sad
 

If you watched my beloved Packers yesterday, that is exactly what will happen to any Gopher QB at Iowa. Blitzers coming in all positions and degrees. Love had no chance and neither will our QB. Sad
So ...... such a plan won't work against Tanner. You're saying?
 



Depends what you consider as dramatically. Kramer is averaging just under one more carry per game than Green.

Edit: Kramer has only been in six of nine games so it is about 5 carries to Green's 2.5 in 2019.

My primary point was it seems like the ratio of run to pass in the red zone has become very skewed this year. I could be wrong as I don’t have any stats in front of me but that’s my impression.
 

Tanner had some issues on Saturday but in my opinion the bulk of the issues during the game goes with Sanford (Play Calling), Fleck (game plan and allowing the play calling as well as hiring Sanford and Reeves), Offensive Line (for poor pass protection and inability to block for consistent 1 yard gains on 3rd and 4th downs), Reeves for missed field goal and extra point. I could quibble with Rossi not stopping or putting up more resistance on at least the 2nd Illinois drive but they shut it down from there but at the same time Illinois had a 2 score lead and were going to take fewer risks. I like Rossi and he has shown himself to be a good coach not as good as the defensive coordinators at Wisconsin or Iowas because they don't seem to have defensive breakdowns 2 possessions in a row.
 

This is Morgans worst game.

yes, there has been like 3 drops, maybe 4.

but also morgan missed on wide open receivers badly.

the reason why i say this is his worst game is because THIS is the game situation that we NEED him to step up!
 

This is Morgans worst game.

yes, there has been like 3 drops, maybe 4.

but also morgan missed on wide open receivers badly.

the reason why i say this is his worst game is because THIS is the game situation that we NEED him to step up!
He is being outplayed by a sophomore making his first start. And it's not even close.

I don't know what the hell happened to the guy, but he needs to sit.
 




Zack should have been playing 2 months ago. No reason to not let him play. No team in the Big Ten has hung with the same starter and not given their backups snaps. ZA has been wasted for almost 3 years with no opportunity to get on the field. He did beat out Tanner when he was a healthy freshman.
 

Ferentz makes a QB change and IA is revitalized.

PJ sticks with the shell that was TM 2019 and this happens
 

Now. Pointless to keep playing him. He’s not good.
 

No big plays being produced, missed WRs, total regression, stagnant passing game, all add up to the need for a change NOW - actually before this game! Competent Qb play could have led to at least 2 more wins.
 

Tanner with terrible pocket awareness.

really bad throws in key moments all game

couple that with terrible play calling by sanford in the worst situations

2021 Gopher Football will be known as the what if year. This team stuck with OSU, could have won had literally a few plays gone their way.

Sigh…being a gopher fan sucks sometimes
 

Tanner has been terrible, but the receivers aren't good either. I honestly don't remember the receivers winning a single 50/50 ball this year (unlike 2019 when it seems like they won about 80% of them). If the Gophs have an athletic QB waiting in the wings, even if rough around the edges in passing, give him a shot. An unathletic QB with mediocre receivers is a terrible mix.
 

Morgan had a Case Keenum like season in 2019. Last year he got a pass for Covid, but it made wonder if '19 was an aberration. Unfortunately that appears to be the case.
 

Morgan had a Case Keenum like season in 2019. Last year he got a pass for Covid, but it made wonder if '19 was an aberration. Unfortunately that appears to be the case.
Morgan has been the starter for this team for pretty much four years outside of the few games annexstad starting during their freshman season. He has only passed for more than ten touchdowns in one of those seasons (2019). Outside of 2019 when he had 2 NFL recievers and Crab as his third, he has been downright average at best. He is a game manager. There is a reason the Gophers run the ball 68% of their plays. He isn't elite enough to win games throwing the ball.

Career Stats​

See All
STATS
2021
2020
2019
2018

CMPATTCMP%YDSAVGTDINTLNGRTG
10217060.01,3578.06 (7 after today)754130.5
10618357.91,3747.57545128.1
21031866.03,25310.230773178.7
8915258.61,4019.29686147.6
 

To answer the title question - tomorrow will be the fine.
 

The season’s over just let him play it out at this point.
 

Just watched the PJ post game.

its funny, unless you specifically ask PJ about some of the bad throws Tanner made, he will never admit that first. He always says, we had some dropped balls. Its never, Tanner had some bad throws that im sure he wished he had back or he missed a couple open guys
 

Morgan has been the starter for this team for pretty much four years outside of the few games annexstad starting during their freshman season. He has only passed for more than ten touchdowns in one of those seasons (2019). Outside of 2019 when he had 2 NFL recievers and Crab as his third, he has been downright average at best. He is a game manager. There is a reason the Gophers run the ball 68% of their plays. He isn't elite enough to win games throwing the ball.

Career Stats​

See All
STATS
2021
2020
2019
2018

CMPATTCMP%YDSAVGTDINTLNGRTG
10217060.01,3578.06 (7 after today)754130.5
10618357.91,3747.57545128.1
21031866.03,25310.230773178.7
8915258.61,4019.29686147.6
watching him this year has me wondering how the hell he threw for 30 TDs and 3000+ yards even with 2 NFL WR
 

Leidner and Adam Weber had big stats, too, but both were inconsistent. They were the best we had at the time, or so it was thought. St. Paul Cretin produced a Heisman QB who could take a team to the national title - but he went to Florida St.
 

Tanner has been terrible, but the receivers aren't good either. I honestly don't remember the receivers winning a single 50/50 ball this year (unlike 2019 when it seems like they won about 80% of them). If the Gophs have an athletic QB waiting in the wings, even if rough around the edges in passing, give him a shot. An unathletic QB with mediocre receivers is a terrible mix.

Maybe, but there haven't been that many 50/50 balls to win. Between some combination of a heavy run-first philosophy, a general neglect of the passing game even when opportunity presents itself (comfortably leading against an inferior opponent), and Tanner's consistent inaccuracy leading to more run up the middle, most of the receivers other than MBS aren't seeing a whole lot of catchable balls.

If someone in the game told me that the receivers were poorly executing their routes, I'd believe it. But I just don't think contested catches or lack of receiving talent are that high on the list of why our passing game is so pathetic.
 


Undisclosed injury.....Yet he played up to the last snap before half.
 




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