Play Calling

[btowngopher]

We weren't pounding the ball down their throats all game, there was no way we going to just line up and do it when they expected it. A little creativity was probably in order.

 

[WoodburyTim]

Overall I liked the play calling. The end left a lot to be desired. I think there were some chances early on to put the game away by throwing the ball downfield. It was pretty clear that their CB's didn't have the ball skills to play with our WR's. The game could have been put away much earlier. That said, the play calling for most of the game was good. I especially liked the play action rollout to Paulson for about 12 or 13. We just have not shown that at all and Paulson caught the ball with whole side of the field to himself.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

I don't mind being aggressive. I support it. But Morgan has earned the right to be more than just a split end. Maybe a 4th and 2 doesn't have to be a Green/Mo run.

I'd like to complain about that playcall, but the Wildcat has a really high success rate for us. It was a sloppy play all around, timing was off, but I can't rip on that play call.

The one thing I hate is that we have replaced the slant with a deeper pass. I don't understand why we did that.

 

[Mulligan]

As long as they were going for it, I wanted Seth to pass it.

 

[John Galt]

For all PJ’s “flash,” he’s the most conservative coach I’ve ever seen when he’s up in the 4th quarter.

 

[RolGnav]

The play calling the first three quarters was great. Nice, balanced, took shots... 4th quarter, was terrible.

 

[Replacement Gopher]

All game long, the play calling was great. They could not stop us... then Fleck goes into the Run Run 3rd and Long play calling. Should have lost... Sorry but Fleck is clueless.

Same story as the Maryland game.
Does anyone doubt that if this game went into
overtime, he would have attempted an extra point, despite the fact we miss extra points at an alarming rate.

 

[Replacement Gopher]

We continue to go very conservative late in games with small leads. We’re calling plays like the defense is the strongest group and the offense isn’t very good.

It’s almost like Mason is back coaching the team.

 

[Face The Facts]

It’s almost like Mason is back coaching the team.

Except we are winning a higher percentage of the close games.

 

[Replacement Gopher]

Except we are winning a higher percentage of the close games.

True.
Maybe I’m still jaded from watching us punt from the WI 37 last year. I don’t know if I’ll ever see a worse football decision than that one.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

For all PJ’s “flash,” he’s the most conservative coach I’ve ever seen when he’s up in the 4th quarter.

He's pretty conservative in general. We essentially start running out the clock right away.

 

[Face The Facts]

True.
Maybe I’m still jaded from watching us punt from the WI 37 last year. I don’t know if I’ll ever see a worse football decision than that one.

Yeh. That was bad too.
I remember that.
Curious at best.

 

[stocker08]

Check this. We had three straight TD drives leading up to the final two. At this point there was 8:21 left in the game and we were up THREE points.

Run, Run, Run, Run (failed conversion)

We then catch a break and they miss a FG.

Then we go run, run, and have to throw on third and long. Nothing tricky about what was happening there. Brohm stacked the box right up until that last third down when it was painfully obvious that we were going to throw.


This is the Maryland game all over. We got EXTREMELY lucky to get out of that game with a win. Missed FG ties it. Plummer....the Purdue QB who had been on fire all game decides to throw a game sealing INT.

 

[nsmike]

I don't know. If it had worked then we would have called him a genius. The defensive guy got through extremely fast and for some reason Seth didn't look quite right. Will have to find out about as to what happened. Maybe we won't as they'll do it again in the future.

Don't you think that Seth's getting drilled on the pass play might have had something to do with it.

 

[WorkingMyTailOff]

We continue to go very conservative late in games with small leads. We’re calling plays like the defense is the strongest group and the offense isn’t very good.

Exactly! Also let it fly and have fun this year. At this point after a couple of losses there is no need to approach the games so conservatively.
I thought Purdue's offensive scheme was great. That end around or short passes to Moore put their best athlete in a position to make plays all game. I wish Bateman could have had more things planned around him.

 

[WorkingMyTailOff]

Don't you think that Seth's getting drilled on the pass play might have had something to do with it.

He did look tentative, but bigger still was not accounting for the guy coming from the edge. That is probably Green's responsibility to see and adjust on.

 

[stocker08]

Exactly! Also let it fly and have fun this year. At this point after a couple of losses there is no need to approach the games so conservatively.
I thought Purdue's offensive scheme was great. That end around or short passes to Moore put their best athlete in a position to make plays all game. I wish Bateman could have had more things planned around him.

Well....we kind of tried the jet sweep thing with Bateman at the start of the year. It's just that him and Moore are two different types of player. Bateman is a great route runner with great hands and deceptive speed and good field vision. Moore is just a speedy little freak. Bateman can't make people miss like Moore can. That's why it's more effective to get him the ball down the field.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Play calling in the last two possessions was horrific. No denying that. This team continues to put itself in danger or worse by going ultra conservative late. This extends at least to last season. Some of these head scratchers have thankfully been wins.

Agree that the play calling late was terrible. I mean we throw a pass on third down but the pass we throw is behind the line of scrimmage when we need what like 8 yards? I'm good with a pass there but at least go downfield some.

Apparently Fleck commented on his show that we have been throwing downfield all year just not connecting, that may be true but this was the first game where it felt as a fan like we were taking shots downfield with our receivers.

Loved seeing CAB play a big role in our passing game. We need a second option to be a legit threat in the passing game in order to take some of the pressure and defensive focus off of Bateman.

 

[oak_street1981]

All game long, the play calling was great. They could not stop us... then Fleck goes into the Run Run 3rd and Long play calling. Should have lost... Sorry but Fleck is clueless.

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

In the 4th down from our own 34, the man in motion just trotted away from the tackler. The O-line actually drove a four yard wedge into Purdue and the first down would have been easy, but no one picked up the cornerback or whatever he was. Bad call, you never risk giving up the ball on your side of the 50, much less the 34. Totally weird thinking on PJ's part.

 

[EG#9]

So I went back and checked and the Gophers ran the ball on EVERY first down in the 2nd half. That's 10 straight first down runs (not including first down kneel down post game clinching INT). I am extremely concerned with Sanford going forward, but this also speaks poorly of PJ and his inability or unwillingness (not sure which would be worse) to change. We're going to lose far more games than we win with playcalling like we saw against Maryland, Iowa, and now Purdue. In each of these games we had huge moments where we went way too conservative and it didn't work in any of them. I don't understand why there wasn't a first down pass on one of those two 4th quarter drives after 8 STRAIGHT runs on first down. I don't understand what we're waiting for with the Seth Green pass out of the Green Line (would have been nice to use on one of those 4th downs we didn't go for against Wiconsin last year)? Seth could pass it one out of every three times he takes a snap and it still would have a decent chance of catching the defense sleeping. Whether you throw it once out of every 20 times or once out of every 30 won't have a bearing on how the defense plays you in that Green Line formation. Plus showing the pass, might make converting some of those 4th and shorts easier? The 3rd down short crosser to Bateman on our last possession was the 3rd time just that game we'd thrown a crosser (though this was the shortest of the bunch as far as depth of target) on 3rd down. The lack of creativity there and in many other high leverage spots over the past two seasons is disconcerting.

I am not sure how we get to where we all want to be without taking chances to try to win games rather than hoping not to lose them. I thought the end of the PSU game would have been a wakeup call. Then I thought for sure things would change after the 4th and short decisions against Wisconsin (in addition to the 3 and 8 runs in that game...remember those?) , but here we are and in year 4 we're coaching the same way with a much worse defense and arguably a worse special teams unit.

 

[RolGnav]

So I went back and checked and the Gophers ran the ball on EVERY first down in the 2nd half. That's 10 straight first down runs (not including first down kneel down post game clinching INT). I am extremely concerned with Sanford going forward, but this also speaks poorly of PJ and his inability or unwillingness (not sure which would be worse) to change. We're going to lose far more games than we win with playcalling like we saw against Maryland, Iowa, and now Purdue. In each of these games we had huge moments where we went way too conservative and it didn't work in any of them. I don't understand why there wasn't a first down pass on one of those two 4th quarter drives after 8 STRAIGHT runs on first down. I don't understand what we're waiting for with the Seth Green pass out of the Green Line (would have been nice to use on one of those 4th downs we didn't go for against Wiconsin last year)? Seth could pass it one out of every three times he takes a snap and it still would have a decent chance of catching the defense sleeping. Whether you throw it once out of every 20 times or once out of every 30 won't have a bearing on how the defense plays you in that Green Line formation. Plus showing the pass, might make converting some of those 4th and shorts easier? The 3rd down short crosser to Bateman on our last possession was the 3rd time just that game we'd thrown a crosser (though this was the shortest of the bunch as far as depth of target) on 3rd down. The lack of creativity there and in many other high leverage spots over the past two seasons is disconcerting.

I am not sure how we get to where we all want to be without taking chances to try to win games rather than hoping not to lose them. I thought the end of the PSU game would have been a wakeup call. Then I thought for sure things would change after the 4th and short decisions against Wisconsin (in addition to the 3 and 8 runs in that game...remember those?) , but here we are and in year 4 we're coaching the same way with a much worse defense and arguably a worse special teams unit.

Agreed, but geeze, the first 3 quarters we actually mixed it up and did great. 5 Red Zone appearances and 5 scores. Then all of a sudden, shutdown mode and rely on the defense. That's happened in almost all the games. It's on Fleck no matter who the play caller is.

 

[RolGnav]

Can someone who is from the media ask Fleck "Why do you guys go into full shutdown mode on offense with small leads and then rely on the defense when it obviously isn't the strength of this team?"

 

[Mulligan]

Day and night difference between play calling in the Indiana game today and the Gophers most of this year. The offensive talent is pretty even I would think. I know PJ is more about ball control and managing the clock and Indiana has been playing from behind, but I love the Hoosiers' aggressiveness.

 

[Wally]

The one thing I hate is that we have replaced the slant with a deeper pass. I don't understand why we did that.

Announcers on tv said the Purdue defence was taking away the quick slant...

 

[cncmin]

Announcers on tv said the Purdue defence was taking away the quick slant...

ALL teams are taking away our inside game, which is why the outside and the deep are so open. But in the 4th quarters in close games, our coaches keep deciding for force things in the middle instead of taking what is open and available. This is infuriating.

 

[From the Parkinglot]

They actually threw the ball deep into 1 on 1 coverage and allowed their more talented receivers to make a play. I know they run long time consuming drives, but it’s like when they got the ball back with 8:30 minutes they were just going to run it 3.5 yards a crack and not give Purdue the ball back. That’s playing not to lose and not playing to win. Also it’s insanity if fleck beloved he could not move the ball and his defense would simply stop Purdue.

 

[PMWinSTP]

I know for a fact he isn’t given every play call to “approve”. Good try.

He did on the 4th down call...

 

[#2Gopher]

He did look tentative, but bigger still was not accounting for the guy coming from the edge. That is probably Green's responsibility to see and adjust on.

That guy was coming in pretty fast (left side). Supposedly the running back is suppose to get him. However if you see it again, you'll notice two other Purdue players coming in as well. Need a better picture of it as it seems as though the whole blocking assignment was out of whack.

 

[PMWinSTP]

He's pretty conservative in general. We essentially start running out the clock right away.

Yep. Fleck has said many times that his offense is run first and pretty simple...just a bunch of variations on a core set of plays.