What We Learned About the Minnesota Gophers in Embarrassing Beatdown by Iowa

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PJ Fleck: Iowa Hawkeyes at Minnesota Gophers
Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Gophers played the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday night, in a game that oddsmakers probably made a lot of money off of from MN fans. Entering the latest edition of this rivalry matchup, the conditions felt ripe for a Gophers upset.

PJ Fleck seemed to have passed his longtime hatred for passing the football (pun intended), thanks to the arrival of Max Brosmer. Meanwhile, the Iowa defense looked vulnerable last week, during an in-state rivalry loss vs Iowa State. On top of all that, the Gophers were at home.

Unfortunately, that’s not how things played out on the field. After the Minnesota offense started to cook in the 2nd quarter, jumping out to a 14-7 halftime lead, everything fell apart in the second half. Iowa took advantage of the break in play, made all the perfect adjustments in the locker room, and proceeded to stomp on the Gophers in quarters three and four.

Max Brosmer: Iowa Hawkeyes at Minnesota Gophers
Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

From the first snap of the 2nd half, until the final second ticked off the game clock, Kirk Ferentz took PJ to school, on both sides of the ball, especially in the trenches. When the dust settled on a battered and bruised bunch of Gophers, the scoreboard at Huntington Bank Stadium showed 31-14, away team. That’s right, zero points in the 2nd half for Minnesota. Anyway… here’s what we learned about our Gophers, in defeat.

1. Minnesota Gophers have a problem in the trenches

It seemed as if the Minnesota Gophers had fixed their offensive and defensive line issues, in the first half. No doubt, Iowa has one of the best defenses in the Big Ten, and one of the best running backs in the country.

But, the Gophers were able to completely shutdown the Hawkeye passing game, which made it very difficult for them to move the ball, early. Meanwhile, Fleck clearly believes the best way for his team to move the football, is on the right arm of Max Brosmer (more on that momentarily).

In the 2nd half, though, Iowa made adjustments on both lines. On defense, more stunts and ghost blitzers fixed their pressure issues, and flustered Brosmer. On the other side of the football, Ferentz decided he was going to feed his All-American running back and force the Gopher defensive line to play better than his O-line.

It proved to be the perfect strategy. Caleb Johnson carried the ball 21 times, for 206 yards and 3 touchdowns. For those looking for the math… that’s a 9.8 YPC average. QB Cade McNamara threw for just 62 yards. But who needs to throw, when you can run for 10 yards every carry?

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If the Minnesota Gophers cannot fix their problems in the trenches, an area that was supposed to be a strength, entering the season, then they will struggle to reach five, when it’s all said and done.

2. PJ Fleck might trust Max Brosmer too much

We all waited for the day that PJ Fleck would put his trust in a quarterback, and allow his offense to evolve into the 21st century. Since the 2nd half vs North Carolina, he’s proven that Max Brosmer is that QB, allowing him to throw 77 times through three games (25.7 times per game).

But on Saturday, it got a little bit out of control and the reasoning is pretty obvious. See No. 1 above. The Gophers have an offensive line problem, and that’s something that was not supposed to be a concern. Brosmer got into a rhythm in the 3rd quarter and ended up 22 of 37 for 209 yards 2 TD and 2 INT. This was the high point. It got ugly, from here.

I love that Fleck trusts Brosmer. He should. That doesn’t mean we can just ignore the run game, though. PJ and his O-Line coach Brian Callahan MUST get their front-five right, ASAP. Or else…

3. PJ Fleck got cocky and Kirk Ferentz, Iowa Hawkeyes, took him to school

I think this is important to note. PJ Fleck was feeling himself, and his team, a little too much, at the end of the half. It jacked me up at the time, but calling a timeout with one second left, when Ferentz was trying to get to the locker room, was one hell of a choice. I’m not saying that was what motivated the Hawkeyes, coming out of halftime, but it certainly didn’t help.

PJ also called for the Minnesota Gophers to go for it on 4th and short, from their own 35 yard line, during the 3rd quarter. They made it, but only thanks to a 2nd and 3rd effort from Darius Taylor to lunge across the marker.

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The Gophers punted four plays later. Again, Fleck was clearly trying to send messages to the other sideline, in these moments. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the horses in his trenches to back it up.

Next week, the Minnesota Gophers will travel to Ann Arbor, to face the No. 18 Michigan Wolverines, who will be ranked even higher, after completing a comeback victory over the USC Trojans on Saturday afternoon. Unless they can pull out one of the biggest upsets in program history, a 2-4 start to the 2024 season looms…

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