Big Ten Daily (Aug. 30): Same Demons Continue to Haunt Minnesota
The ghosts of P.J. Fleck's past returned to Huntington Bank Stadium in Minnesota's opener against North Carolina on Thursday night. Once again, it was the inability to move the ball offensively that cost the Gophers in a 19-17 loss to the Tar Heels.
Minnesota managed just 244 yards of total offense and finished the game converting a measly four-of-12 of its third-down attempts on Thursday night. Transfer quarterback Max Brosmer struggled to find a rhythm early. Kicker Dragan Kesich missed two field goal attempts.
At the end of the night, a lot of Gophers fans were left standing in the "surrender cobra" pose, wondering how their team let this one slip away.
Nobody expected Minnesota's offense to resemble a Bugatti Chiron Super Sport this season. But by landing Brosmer in the offseason, having a sturdy offensive line and enough talent at the skill positions, there was an expectation that the Gophers would show improvement from last season.
Instead, Greg Harbaugh Jr.'s offense operated like an old, clunky jalopy.
Brosmer didn't have the debut many hoped to see. He completed 13-of-21 passes for 166 yards with his lone touchdown coming on the ground. That wasn't the most concerning part, though. Minnesota's offensive line — supposedly much improved from a season ago — surrendered five sacks to North Carolina's defense.
The Gophers managed just 78 yards on the ground, with Marcus Major carrying almost all the weight. He ended the night with 73 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. There were a few big runs, but Minnesota lacked the ability to get consistent push up front.
Thursday night was Brosmer's first game as an FBS quarterback. The Gophers were without lead running back Darius Taylor. North Carolina isn't the easiest Week 1 opponent to battle. All of those things are true.
It's also true that Minnesota's offense ranked 110th nationally in scoring, 125th in total offense and 126th in passing in 2023. On Thursday night, nothing really looked much better.
Fleck has done a remarkable job in his time at Minnesota. The Gophers are 50-35 since he took over in 2017 and have reached nine wins or more three times in the last five years. But if there's been a knock against the coach since his arrival in Minneapolis, it's been his overly conservative offensive style and reluctancy to invest in the passing attack.
It's only been one game, so maybe something will change. Did Thursday night's performance give you any indication that things are going to be any different for Minnesota in 2024?
Illinois dominates Eastern Illinois
Nearly a decade has past since Illinois has put on a performance as dominant as the one we saw Thursday night against Eastern Illinois.
The Fighting Illini started the year off 1-0 with a 45-0 win over the Panthers at Memorial Stadium. That was the program's largest margin of victory since defeating Murray State 52-3 in 2016.
A game against Eastern Illinois isn't the best litmus test, but it's a positive to see Bret Bielema's squad dominate an inferior opponent.
Luke Altmyer ended the night with 213 yards and four touchdown passes while completing 19-of-24 attempts. Kaden Feagin rushed fro 108 yards and Aidan Laughery added 79. Three receivers — Pat Bryant, Malik Elzy and Ashton Hollins — had more than 40 yards.
We're going to find out a lot more about Bielema's team next week when No. 22 Kansas invades Memorial Stadium. But on Thursday night, the Illini were dominant. That's not something we've seen too often, regardless of opponent.
Who is the fastest Big Ten coach?
Let's end the week on a fun note, shall we?
This week, as we dive head-first into Big Ten football, CBS Sports released a video asking coaches from around the league a very important question: Who is the fastest head coach?
Minnesota's P.J. Fleck, Oregon's Dan Lanning and UCLA's DeShaun Foster (duh) received the most votes among their peers. But really, the best part of the video is at the very end, when Penn State's James Franklin provided his answer.
Enjoy:
Which @B1Gfootball coach are you going with to run the fastest 40 time? 💨 pic.twitter.com/nvf7XY4nyG
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) August 29, 2024
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