Preview 2019: Previewing and looking ahead to the Minnesota Golden Gophers season with what you need to know.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Recruiting Class Analysis | Schedule Analysis
– Minnesota Previews 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2018 Record: 7-6 overall, 3-6 in Big Ten
Head Coach: PJ Fleck, 3rd year, 12-13
5. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE MINNESOTA OFFENSE
– As long as the running game is working, all is fine with the Minnesota world. The backs are there to be magnificent after the team finished eighth in the Big Ten averaging 173 yards per game, but it all depends on whether or not all the parts can play. Mo Ibrahim took over the workload and turned in a 1,160-yard, nine-touchdown season, and Bryce Williams added 502 yards as a freshman, too. If Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks can make some sort of an impact early on after returning leg and knee injuries, respectively, look out.
– The O line has to replace OT Donnell Greene and C Jared Weyler after doing an okay job in pass protection and coming together for the ground game. The puzzle will be a work in progress throughout fall camp, but MASSIVE 6-9, 400-pound Daneil Faalele is almost certain to start at one tackle job, and veterans Conner Olson and Blaise Andries will get the call somewhere in the interior. If nothing else, this will be a Big Ten-sized front five.
– When was the last time Minnesota had a receiving corps this good? Tyler Johnson is a legitimate top 100 pro prospect with good size and deep play ability, and the young group that got its feet wet last season is now about to blossom – if the quarterback play is stronger. The Gophers have depth – that goes for the tight ends, too -there’s a fantastic No. 2 guy in Rashod Bateman, and there are plenty of options. That means …
– The Gophers need steadier, better quarterback play. It’s not that Tanner Morgan and Zack Annexstad were bad, but they weren’t great. Morgan was able to be a little more explosive down the field, but Annexstad was the main man for the first half of last season. The running game will butter the bread, but if one of the QB options – throw freshmen Jacob Clark and Cole Kramer in that ring, too – can be consistent, the O will be terrific.
NEXT: What You Need To Know About the Defense, Top Players, Keys to the Season, What Will Happen
4. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE MINNESOTA DEFENSE
– All of a sudden, the defense went from disastrous in early November – giving up 55 points to Illinois after allowing 31 to Indiana after getting hit by Nebraska for 53 – to fantastic, allowing just 59 points over the final four games against Purdue, Northwestern, Wisconsin and in the bowl game over Georgia Tech.
The secondary didn’t allow much down the field – finishing first in the Big Ten in yards per completion – and the run defense stiffened up. This year, the Gophers need more of a pass rush and they need to be far, far more consistent. First …
– Generating more plays behind the line is a must. Carter Coughlin leads the charge after coming up with 9.5 sacks, but he needs the rest of the defensive line to do its part. The pressure mostly came from the linebacking corps, and now ends Mayan Ahanotu, Boye Mafe and Tai’yon Devers have to step up. The ends will have the spotlight on with a shaky situation in the interior, needing 6-4, 300-pound Notre Dame grad transfer Micah Dew-Treadway and Sam Renner to be rocks while the depth has time to develop.
– The linebacking corps will be a killer. Coughlin is a true tweener as an edge-rushing outside linebacker and defensive end. The trio of Thomas Barber inside and Kamal Martin and Thomas Rush outside should allow Coughlin to move around where needed. As long as the good-sized top three linebackers stay healthy, they’ll be able to clean up a whole lot of messes while the front four figures out what its doing.
– As long as Antoine Winfield is at safety, the secondary will be fine. It’ll take a little work to find his running mate, and the young options have to emerge early on, but all is okay if he can stay in one piece after missing most of last year with a foot injury. The corner situation is stronger with a deep group to work around junior Coney Durr.
NEXT: Top Players, Keys To the Season, What Will Happen
3. TOP MINNESOTA PLAYERS
Best Minnesota Offensive Player
WR Tyler Johnson, Sr.
The 6-2, 200-pound senior went from being a dangerous deep threat as a sophomore to a dangerous all-around target as a junior, catching 78 passes for 1,169 yards and 12 scores, averaging 15 yards per catch. He was able to come up big from time to time – Minnesota was 4-0 when he caught multiple touchdown passes – but his consistency with four catches or more in every game but one was exactly what the offense needed.
2. RB Mo Ibrahim, Soph.
3. OG Blaise Andries, Soph.
4. OT Daniel Faalele, Soph.
5. RB Rodney Smith, Sr. (Note: He’s No. 2 if he’s healthy)
Best Minnesota Defensive Player
DE/LB Carter Coughlin, Sr.
Along with Blake Cashman, Coughlin did a whole lot to get into the backfield, coming up with a team-high 9.5 sacks with 15 tackles for loss and 48 stops. The 6-4, 245-pounder is a hybrid edge rusher who’s listed at linebacker, but is really more of a defensive end with the burst to live behind the line. A one-time great recruit for the program, he has more than lived up to the expectations.
2. S Antoine Winfield, Jr.
3. LB Thomas Barber, Sr.
4. LB Kamal Martin, Sr.
5. CB Coney Durr, Jr.
NEXT: Keys to the Season, Prediction & What Will Happen
2. KEYS TO THE SEASON
Biggest Key To The Minnesota Offense
Stop fumbling the ball, and always score when the opportunities are there. The fumbles slowed down late in the season, but the Gophers lost the ball at least once over a stretch of eight games in nine. When they turned it over on the ground two times or more, the team was 0-4.
The O has to also get a whole lot better in the red zone – a problem so far in the PJ Fleck era – it came away empty on 11 of the 59 trips inside the 20. That didn’t turn out to be a problem in any close losses – there weren’t any – but losing even one game this year if there’s a missed chance or two could be devastating.
Biggest Key To The Minnesota Defense
Consistency, consistency, consistency, and that starts with the run defense that should get a whole lot of help from the linebackers, but needs the tackles to rise up and rock right away. The Gophers were able to stuff Wisconsin for 170 yards, and they held down the Georgia Tech option attack – relatively speaking – but they were hammered by Illinois for 430 yards, couldn’t stop Nebraska, and got ripped apart for 315 yards by Maryland. Under Fleck, Minnesota is 8-0 when holding running games to under 92 yards.
Key Player To A Successful Season
DT Micah Dew-Treadway, Sr.
The 6-4, 300-pound Notre Dame transfer gets two years with the Gophers, and it’ll be up to him to make the interior of the defensive front his own. He saw a little bit of time with the Irish, but was never able to do much after suffering a foot injury early on in his career. He’s got the quickness, the size, and the opportunity to be a force along with 305-pound sophomore Jamaal Teague and 270-pound senior Sam Renner.
Key Game To The Minnesota Season
at Iowa, Nov. 16
With Penn State the opening game in November, a trip to Northwestern over Thanksgiving weekend, and an angry Wisconsin team to deal with – after giving up the Paul Bunyan Axe in an ugly loss last year – at the end of the regular season, coming through against Iowa could be for Minnesota’s season survival.
It’s been an ugly run with three straight losses in the series and five in the last six. Iowa will be coming off a trip to Wisconsin, and at this point, it’s likely that the loser of this game will be knocked out of any hope of winning the Big Ten West.
– Minnesota Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2018 Minnesota Fun Stats
– Minnesota 1st Quarter Scoring: 65 – 2nd Quarter Scoring 136
– Time of Possession: Minnesota 32:09 – Opponents 27:51
– Punt Return Average: Minnesota 22.2 yards – Opponents 1.1 yards
NEXT: What Will Happen
1. MINNESOTA WIN TOTAL PREDICTION: WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN
If Northwestern could pull off a Big Ten West title last year, why can’t Minnesota do it?
It didn’t take a perfect storm for the Wildcats to get to the Big Ten Championship, but it required a whole lot of breaks, starting with a down West with Nebraska not there yet, Iowa just above-average, and Wisconsin going bye-bye once Alex Hornibrook got hurt.
Nebraska has to come to Minnesota, and so does Wisconsin. The Iowa and Northwestern games are tough, but there’s no Ohio State, Michigan, or Michigan State to deal with from the East, and the Penn State game is at home after getting a week off to prepare.
So understanding that this might be way low if the Gophers can win at Fresno State early on and get by Purdue on the road in the Big Ten opener …
Set The Regular Season Win Total At … 7
The running back and wide receiver situations are as strong as the program has had in a long, long time. However, the quarterbacks are just okay, the offensive line has to undergo some retooling, and the defensive front has a few question marks in the interior.
And then there’s the consistency factor. Is this going to be the team that was so good in the finishing kick last year, or will it be the one that got its doors blown off by Maryland, Nebraska, and Illinois – three teams that didn’t go bowling – on the way to an ugly 1-5 start to the Big Ten season?
It’ll be somewhere in between, and it should make Minnesota the Big Ten’s biggest wild-card team.
And, maybe this year’s Northwestern.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– Recruiting Class Analysis | Schedule Analysis
