What a disappointment. My goodness was that painful to watch at the end. The Gophers lost to Iowa 13-10 for the eighth consecutive time in their rivalry. Minnesota is now out of the running for the Big 10 west with a loss. The only way to sum up this loss is terrible play calling. Gopher fans deserved better than this. The players deserved better than this and P.J. should be ashamed of the coaching that took place this afternoon. With that let’s take a look at my Minnesota Gophers Week 12 takeaways.
Playing Calling Lost Us The Game
The play calling today was just awful. Too many times you ran the ball when you should have passed and passed the ball when you should have run. I’ve seen this incompetence this season, but not to this extent. I don’t know whether it’s P.J. or Ciarrocca but whoever is deciding if it is a run, or a pass play seriously needs to reevaluate their strategy. They have to understand that you can’t run the ball constantly.
They had times on 4-and-1 where they didn’t go for it. I mean P.J. called a timeout on a 4-and-1 and then decided to punt. What a waste of a timeout. How are we not going for it on 4-and-1 with Mohamed Ibrahim and Athan Kaliakmanis (who is more mobile than Morgan)? I’m just baffled at the play calling today and the final score and stats reflect that. Fleck and Ciarrocca should be ashamed of losing this game. Mo had 263 yards rushing; Iowa had 280 yards of total offense. Just unacceptable coaching today.
Turnovers and Missed Opportunties
An interception, Mo’s second fumble of the season and a missed field goal really hurt the Gophers today. The interception for me was just a bad play call. Not because it was a pass play, but because you took out Mo. Why on Earth do you take him out on a pass play? You might as well just have the PA announcer say you’re going to throw the ball. At least keep him in to keep the defense guessing. It was just a stupid decision.
The fumble and missed field goal were unfortunate. Ibrahim fumbled for just the second time this season. He had gone six games since his last one. Trickett has been good this year and him missing it was similar to Ibrahim fumbling. They were just bad breaks. Pair that with terrible play calling and you got yourself an embarrassing loss.
How Did We Lose This Game With Mo Going Off For Over 250 Yards!?
Yeah, that’s right Mohamed Ibrahim went off for 263 yards on 34 carries and a touchdown, averaging 6.7 yards per carry and we still lost. Ibrahim was a beast today, probably having his best game of the season. Sure, he had games with three touchdowns, but 263 yards! Yeah, that’s insane.
Mo made him miss, and picked up big yards. 😵@_MoIbrahim x @GopherFootball pic.twitter.com/e6noEDQA6r
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 19, 2022
Even with this phenomenal performance in which he keeps his 100-yard rushing game streak alive, he also almost outgained Iowa all by himself. Mohamed Ibrahim rushed for 263 yards and Iowa had 280 yards of total offense. Iowa outgained Mo by 17 yards! How the hell do we lose this game! If you want to talk about a fan base giving up, this is the game that will do it. P.J. just keep the axe for another year at least.
Quarterback Trust Issues
For me the biggest thing I’m seeing over the past few weeks is that P.J doesn’t trust his quarterbacks. It doesn’t matter if it’s Morgan or Kaliakmanis. Whoever is in just doesn’t seem to have P.J.’s trust and so they just run the ball because of it. I doubt this is true, but what else am I supposed to say when you refuse to throw the football? Athan Kaliakmanis threw 15 times against Iowa. You want to know why we lost? Because we threw it 15 TIMES! Iowa threw the ball 24 times and ran 28. Our pass to run ratio was 15-to-50. How are we that one dimensional?
Whenever we were forced to throw it was so obvious. This just says you don’t trust your quarterbacks (who are reliable for the most part). Just say we don’t want to win. At least try to find ways to win a game and not just stick to a game plan that is needing an assist. I get it you want to run the ball, and you should with Mo on your team, but for crying out loud throw the dang ball!
A Look Ahead
Next week the Gophers travel to Madison to take on the Wisconsin Badgers (6-5) in the annual rivalry game. The Badgers are coming off of a 15-14 win over Nebraska.
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