In Review: Minnesota 18-6 West Virginia

It wasn't the destination a lot of fans wanted, nor an opponent who was likely to make things terribly interesting, nor a kickoff time that was easy on either team. But Minnesota's bowl trip ended in a comfortable victory, one that would have been by an even wider margin if not for some early red zone mistakes and a fourth-quarter kneeldown in front of the goal-line.

It was a satisfying way to send off a group of seniors that have played a lot of games since P.J. Fleck's arrival in Minneapolis (and even some games before then). And it capped a weird, often frustrating, but ultimately positive season.

1. The Gophers won on the strength of their ground game.

It was the last college game for four of Minnesota's five starting offensive linemen, the biggest and most experienced group in college football. And they went out exactly as they would have wanted, leading the way in a 283-yard rushing performance.

Guard Blaise Andries and tackle Daniel Faalele, each likely bound for the NFL, were as impressive as they've been all season on the right side of the Gophers' offensive line. The team also got boosts out of tight ends Ko Kieft and Brevyn Spann-Ford. The latter showed just how far he's come as a blocker leading the way on this outside run:

On top of that, the Gophers' running backs took advantage of open spaces more than usual, turning decent gains into explosive plays with quick bursts of acceleration. See how Ky Thomas used a cutback lane to speed past the Mountaineers' safeties all the way to the 9-yard-line.

A few runs on 2nd- and 3rd-and-long deflated the team's success rate a bit, and so did a handful of stops that are bound to happen when the defense knows what's coming and crams the box. (Even one at a considerable size disadvantage.) But as a whole, Minnesota ran at will.

You can find explanations for each stat here.
line yards and success rate are via
collegefootballdata.com.

It was an exemplar of the kind of game the Gophers have sought to play all year. While there are legitimate complaints to be made about this approach and its limits — I've made them — the Gophers are still capable of making it work really, really well on occasion. And a game against West Virginia's lighter defenders, who are used to facing much more pass-focused offenses than exist in the Big ten West, made committing to the run a winning strategy.

2. Minnesota pulled out a couple of trick plays in the first quarter.

The neutral observer who for some reason stayed up late to watch this game is unlikely to remember much about it. But they will probably remember one thing: Faalele's 2-yard touchdown run.

The Gophers have deployed seven and eight offensive linemen at once before. They've used Axel Ruschmeyer as a fullback. But never before have Fleck's Gophers given a lineman the ball in a game that counts. Only in spring games, where Fleck has mandated each team use a trick play, has Faalele (or Blaise Andries) gotten a chance to carry the ball. That Minnesota finally threw the team's 380-pound bowling ball at the Mountaineers in his final game was a fun and effective way into the end zone.

But Minnesota was not done. On the point-after attempt, Brock Annexstad was in for Mark Crawford at holder, and Neal Brown didn't use his last timeout to stop what was coming. Annexstad took the snap darted through a hole inside of the pulling Ko Kieft, scoring almost untouched.

Teams don't try for two-point conversions often enough in general. By taking this opportunity to pad their lead, the Gophers put a little more pressure on the Mountaineers, who couldn't tie the game on their own two-point attempt (which was not a surprise). On top of that, it gave a fifth-year senior his first ever score. Bowls are for moments like that.

3. Tanner Morgan made enough plays.

As was so often the case in 2021, Morgan didn't have a major role. Though asked to throw downfield often enough to convert passing downs and create some explosiveness, the majority of his 13 attempts were relatively easy passes in the short and intermediate areas of the field. Just one pass traveled 20 or more yards in the air, this strike to Dylan Wright:

Wright led the game in receiving yards thanks to making the two longest catches by a player from either team. It was a quiet night from Chris Autman-Bell, meanwhile, who was only targeted twice and made one catch, but the Gophers got along fine without a major impact from their top receiver. Morgan was able to keep his team moving with the guys who were open.

4. In moments, a shoddy playing surface handicapped the Gophers' offense.

To let in pregame skydivers, the stadium's roof was open before kickoff. Somehow, Tuesday being one of the few days a year that Phoenix gets any rain, this choice had an impact on the game. Throughout the proceedings, players just couldn't keep their footing. It started with a slip from Daniel Jackson that resulted in an incompletion:

Later, Morgan stumbled into a rollout for a significant loss of yardage:

And in the most costly moment for Minnesota, Morgan threw his lone interception when the turf claimed another victim, this time Mike Brown-Stephens:

Slick grass probably wasn't the only issue. Playing on a makeshift football field in a baseball stadium surely didn't help matters. Maybe the Gophers didn't pack the right cleats. Regardless of the exact combination of reasons, the grass turned out to be an unexpected obstacle for the Minnesota offense.

5. West Virginia couldn't keep moving in the face of an overwhelming pass rush.

The Mountaineers' offensive line did not have its best showing on Tuesday. Facing a couple of future NFL edge rushers in Boye Mafe and Esezi Otomewo, and a high dosage of stunts, blitzes, and simulated pressures, WVU let Jarret Doege be sacked five times. Otomewo contributed two, including off of this twist:

Defensive coordinator Joe Rossi created a lot of problems for Doege with heavy blitz calls, in this case bringing both linebackers and safety Tyler Nubin in to plant the quarterback in the ground:

Even when the pressure didn't result in a sack, it disrupted West Virginia's passing game. Here, Braelen Oliver pushed through the middle of the line into Doege's face. Doege got off a throw but floated it, and Michael Dixon was there to claim his first interception as a college player.

Doege can make plays, but mistakes have consistently undermined his good moments since he arrived to Morgantown in 2019. Pressure has always been one of his weaknesses, something that exacerbates his worst qualities; even though he typically steps into pressure rather than trying to throw off his back foot or on the run, his accuracy usually suffers when rushers close in. It was key that Minnesota take advantage of this weakness.

Per Pro Football Focus, the Gophers pressured Doege on 17 of 38 dropbacks, or nearly half their opportunities. Three pressured dropbacks ended in completions. That counts as a major success against anyone, but that they did so against a team that leans so much on quick throws is even more impressive. The pass rush deserves ample credit for this bowl win, and so does Rossi.

6. Disruption was vital in a game where the Gophers gave up more ground than usual.

It's not as if the Gophers were just skating by on a few sacks. But these are not pretty numbers.

Nearly three quarters of West Virginia's runs gained at least 4 yards (excluding those from within 3 yards of the end zone), and more than half were considered successful. Though Minnesota mostly prevented big plays and defended the pass well, the Mountaineers were not totally stymied.

The run game in particular was quite effective; if WVU didn't lean so heavily on the pass, it may have hurt the Gophers more. Minnesota's defensive line stepped up a at the goal-line, but the tackles didn't make much of an impact for most of the game.

A bigger issue was the Gophers' pursuit angles and tackling. Jack Gibbens, one of Minnesota's most reliable defenders all season, misjudged a handful of plays and (by PFF's count) missed three tackles. He, Mariano Sori-Marin, and Justus Harris each took the wrong angle on this run and nearly let it turn into a 1st down.

The tackling problems showed up in pass defense as well. Neither Nubin nor Justin Walley were credited with missed tackles, but they each should have done better to take down Sam James on this play:

The players named above weren't the only ones who could have done better. Minnesota's defense got the job done by generating havoc plays and keeping successful runs from turning explosive, but a sounder game would have made those sacks and pressures less vital.

7. Doege was able to complete passes behind the linebackers.

The Mountaineers had some success attacking the middle. According to PFF, on throws between the hashes and within 19 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, Doege was 8-of-11 for 90 yards.

He was also 5-of-5 on throws off of play-action, such as the play above. This is where WVU's quick game was most effective, drawing Gibbens and Sori-Marin's attention to the backfield and then attacking the space they left unoccupied. That the Mountaineers didn't try more of it may have been attributable to the pass rush — note the pressure Harris and Jah Joyner create in the GIF — but it mostly seems like a missed opportunity.

8. Minnesota's safeties supplied a handful of important plays.

It was not a flawless game from Jordan Howden, who missed a couple of tackles. But he combined with the younger Nubin and Dixon to help keep the Mountaineers at bay. The three defensed a total of four passes, with Dixon making an interception. Howden and Nubin made 10.5 tackles, with the latter making a sack and being named the game's defensive most valuable player.

The Gophers' starting pairing at the back as been one of the biggest reasons for the Rossi's defense coming out of the gutter. Nubin's performance in particular took a big jump from what it was in 2020, playing an all-around smarter game and cleaning up plays before they reached the back of the secondary. By collegefootballdata.com's explosiveness metric, the Minnesota run defense leapt from 100th in FBS last season to the top 40 this season. That could not have happened without Howden and Nubin elevating their games.

9. Minnesota won the field position game handily.

The 2021 season was perhaps the best for any Fleck special teams unit at Minnesota. Even with Matthew Trickett's surprising 25-yard missed field goal, Tuesday's game underscored that point from the opening kickoff. When the Mountaineers tried a reverse on the return, the Gophers had it well-covered, and Jalen Glaze made the tackle at the 13-yard line.

Mark Crawford also gave Minnesota a boost, landing all three of his punts within the 20-yard line. West Virginia's lone return lost 2 yards, with Bishop McDonald making the play. Crawford ends the year having put just one punt into the end zone for a touchback.

The Mountaineers started their drives, on average, 18 yards from their own end zone. It was the second-worst average field position for any Minnesota opponent this season, and the Gophers' 17.5-yard advantage in field position was their second-greatest all year. It was the 10th time that they won this battle.

Data exclude drives consisting entirely of kneeldowns.

What you do with the ball obviously matters more than where you get it, but positive field position gives an offense so much more room for error and creates a much tougher task for the opponent. The improvements Minnesota made on special teams are a major reason for the team's 9-4 record.

10. The Gophers took a weird path but ultimately can count 2021 as a successful season.

Was the fan base happy the whole time? Nope (and justifiably). Were there "What if"s and unnecessary frustrations? Definitely. Do Fleck and the Gophers have a lot to fix beyond 2021? Without a doubt.

However, Minnesota won nine games, one of which was over Wisconsin. That doesn't happen a lot. Even in a season where the offense was so disappointing that Fleck fired his coordinator at the end of it, it's hard to view it as a failure. Minnesota rebounded dramatically on defense and still posed enough of a scoring threat to beat up on a handful of teams. The Gophers more or less met expectations overall and enter the winter with reason for optimism.

In 2022, Minnesota's offense will return most key players not on the line, and those in line to replace the departing blockers are not without inexperience. The backfield is certifiably loaded, the receiving group has gotten plenty of reps, and of course Morgan is set to return for a sixth year under a playcaller and quarterbacks coach who in the past got a lot out of him. There's reason for skepticism, and the Gophers still need a greater philosophical shift than bringing back Kirk Ciarrocca will probably coincide with, but it's not unreasonable to see this unit improving substantially.

This season's defense was the best Fleck has ever fielded. The principle of regression to the mean dictates that this would be unlikely to repeat itself even without a number of key losses, but the departures of seven major contributors give more concrete reason. Someone will need to step up on the line and in the secondary (though the Gophers have already found reinforcements in the latter group). But one doesn't have to work hard to find candidates on the roster who can fill a lot of those holes at least competently. There will be a defensive decline, but a collapse seems out of the question.

Regardless of how one feels about their current ceiling, the Gophers look set to maintain a solid level and occasionally compete in the Big Ten West. By their program's standards, they're in good shape.