We Are Maroon and Gold Episode 208

The Gophers' surprise blowout win at Michigan State and their upcoming game against Purdue.

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2022 Minnesota Game Poster: Purdue

Last time around, I made something kind of stupid that didn't require a tremendous amount of effort. This time, though, I've made something kind of stupid that took a lot more effort. Behold, Goldy Gopher as Bob Dylan on the cover of 1966's Blonde on Blonde:

If there is any justification for this week's selection, it's that it's the homecoming game. After all, Bob Dylan is probably the most famous University of Minnesota participant. More than anything, it was an idea I just liked because it has an obvious place to put Goldy.

A few notes: I drew this all with a stylus in GIMP 2, using the ink tool. (That's how most of these will be made from here on out.) I kept Bob's scarf the same but changed his coat to maroon. There wasn't a perfect way to pull off the hair, but I think I basically got it right enough. The original cover features a photo that's out of focus. The way I tried to replicate that is by duplicating Goldy a couple times, and then blurring and offsetting the two new layers on top. They are mostly transparent in the final product, but the effect is most visible on the scarf and Goldy's eyes. The block M, as well as game information, is located in the top left corner, where Columbia's logo normally would be.

Previous posters can be found by clicking the Art label at the bottom of this post.

Midweek Review: Minnesota 34-7 Michigan State

It is possible that Michigan State is yet another bad opponent on Minnesota's schedule. But if the Spartans aren't bad — and we should think they aren't, aside from a debilitating secondary — then Minnesota has recorded their first truly impressive win of 2022. Against a conference opponent that won 11 games a year ago, the Gophers had no problem changing their style of play, won almost as handily as they did against the non-conference cupcakes, and now sit at 4-0. More tests remain, but they made a definitive statement in passing the first one.

1. The Gophers took what the defense gave them.

P.J. Fleck and Kirk Ciarrocca have often spoken about what offensive "balance" means to them: essentially, being able to move the ball however is needed to win on a given day. Especially in the Mike Sanford Jr. years, Fleck's Gophers have not stuck to that. They've run the ball repeatedly, on any down or distance, and regularly into heavy boxes. This has been a run-first team.

Michigan State's defense was not likely to give as much on the ground as Minnesota's first three opponents did. Though the Spartans were woeful defensively against Washington, the blame was solely with the pass defense. That was the team's biggest problem in 2021, and their game against Washington confirmed that the problem was not fixed. For any opponent facing Michigan State, the blueprint became clear: Throw until the defense stopped you.

Having established a bullheaded approach over the years, it was no certainty that Minnesota would actually do that, though. Down their top wideout, always confident in their running game, would the Gophers really do what was needed to win?

The answer, resoundingly, was yes. Tanner Morgan threw the ball on 26 of Minnesota's first 58 snaps, completing 23 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns. It was as efficient as Morgan has been in some time.

2022 Minnesota Game Poster: Michigan State

Last season, I made 13 game "posters" over the course of the Gophers' season: basically, a piece of art for every game, parodying a video game and at times involving the opposing team. Goldy was the star of each. I felt better about some than I did others, but in general, I felt happy with this project.

By the time the season was over, I already had ideas for another set of posters for 2022. This time, each one would parody a famous album cover, or at least the cover of an album I hold in high regard. However, I was not mentally ready for such a project. I was tired. I wanted to go places and see friends. More than usual, I needed the offseason. And even when I wanted to think about football, I wanted to work on ideas for posts before another big art project. I completed nearly the whole set of regular season posters last year during the summer. This time, I got a few ideas written down, but by the time it was time to start writing previews, I didn't do any posters.

I still wanted to do a few this year, though. I decided not long after the New Mexico State game that I could make time to make some for the conference schedule. Probably not a poster for all nine, but at least one for each of the biggest handful of games. (Specifically, Illinois, Rutgers, and Northwestern are most iffy.) Whatever I'm able to work out — in addition to all the writing and data work I do for the actual football, I do have a "real" job, a social life, and the occasional wish to not devote every second of my free time to football-related thoughts.

The first appropriately big game on the schedule to deserve a poster is this week's matchup with Michigan State. The initial album cover idea involved matching the chronological order of each game on the schedule with a corresponding album within a given artist's career. So, for example, the New Mexico State game would be an artist's first LP, the Western Illinois game would be a different artist's second, and so on. I won't be sticking to that pattern for however many posters I make, but I will do so for this one. There were plenty of classic records to go with Game No. 4, but I settled on Talking Heads' Remain in Light.

And you may say to yourself: My God! What have I done?

Now, Remain in Light's cover is more iconic and striking than it is pretty. My parody of it therefore contains no more beauty, and probably has less, considering the appearance of previous Goldy iterations. I decided to use different versions of Goldy in place of the band because it seemed more suitable than using different players, coaches, or Sparty. The bottom left Goldy, from the 1950s, is probably the one that most resembles the ground squirrel Goldy is based on, but he is hardly lovable. Other pictures, in counter-clockwise order, come from the 80s, 90s, and the current day. I desaturated the modern Goldy's photo and gave them all a maroon tint.

The style of the cover, being so primitive by today's design standards, is not that hard to replicate in any program with a square brush. (I used GIMP.) There wasn't an ideal letter in "Golden Gophers" to flip like the A's in "Talking Heads," so I just flipped the three A's in "at Michigan State" at the bottom. Because the text looks so small, it looks a bit like "vt Michigvn Stvte, which I accept.

Midweek Review: Colorado 7-49 Minnesota

1. Just as the Gophers get back one starting wideout, they lose another.

Daniel Jackson, injured during preseason camp, had warmed up for the first two games of the season but only made his 2022 debut against Colorado. It was a fairly quiet game for him, but Jackson came away with a couple of catches for 26 yards. The Gophers will be glad to have Jackson, entering his third season as a starter, back in the lineup.

Jackson's return is especially welcome after Minnesota lost sixth-year receiver Chris Autman-Bell to a non-contact injury in the second quarter. Autman-Bell's departure put a damper on what was otherwise a shining capper to the non-conference schedule.

P.J. Fleck confirmed on Monday that Autman-Bell will miss the season. Whether he'll receive (or use) a medical redshirt is currently unknown, meaning this might have been Autman-Bell's last appearance in a Gophers uniform. It would be cruel way for his Minnesota career to end. He could have finished the game with 2,000 career receiving yards, a mark just eight other Gophers have achieved. A successful, complete final season might have gotten him into the NFL Draft. Now, his pro prospects look even more uncertain.

The cold reality of sport, though, is that the Gophers must get on with it. If there's some solace to take, the depth chart at receiver looks fine enough for that task to not be insurmountable. Jackson and Michael Brown-Stephens have shown the ability to play both in the slot and on the outside. Brown-Stephens can also play the deep threat, a role that Dylan Wright has played in more intermittent spells. Brevyn Spann-Ford has demonstrated his reliability as a receiving tight end. The passing game should not fall apart in Autman-Bell's absence.

None of the players stepping up, however, have proven themselves to the level that Autman-Bell has. Those behind them have even smaller track records. Until these players actually play in bigger roles, we cannot know whether the passing game has the extra gear it likely needs to win the Big Ten West.

We will see whether, in the absence of a clear No. 1 receiver, a new one steps up, or if Fleck and offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca again place a greater emphasis on running the ball.

We Are Maroon and Gold Episode 207

Minnesota's win over Colorado, the Chris Autman-Bell injury, and previewing Michigan State.

At the time of recording on Sunday, we didn't know Autman-Bell's status and were hoping for, at the very least, not the worst. We now know.

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We Are Maroon and Gold Episode 206

The week that was in college football, including Minnesota's blowout win over Western Illinois, and the week that will be, including Minnesota's upcoming game against Colorado.

One note of correction: In the span of about 10 seconds, Chandler identifies Jake Dickert as a "Madison native" (he's from a completely different part of Wisconsin) and says his team, Washington State, beat Washington this weekend (they beat Wisconsin, obviously). We didn't catch those errors until editing the podcast, and there was no way around them, so they're still in there. Chandler knew what the actual facts were coming in, but by Wednesday evening, his brain was clearly a bit fried. Apologies.

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Midweek Review: Western Illinois 10-62 Minnesota

The Gophers' Week 2 was a lot like their Week 1, except a bit more explosive. They did what was expected of them against a vastly inferior opponent, never trailing and giving more than a quarter of playing time to their backups. We saw a few new things, a lot of touchdowns, and very little drama. You can't find much fault in how Minnesota has started the 2022 season.

1. The Gopher passing attack led the way.

Early on, Western Illinois was determined to not get plowed over on the ground. Especially against 12 personnel (which is not what's depicted below), they stayed out of nickel and kept all their linebackers either in or just outside the box. Facing a severe size advantage up front, that was their only hope of slowing down Mohamed Ibrahim and Trey Potts.

The strategy didn't quite work — we'll get to that momentarily — but it did manage to cause a few negative runs. That was more than New Mexico State ever managed the week before.

In part because of this inconvenience, but mostly because of what space the Leathernecks were giving them, the Gophers opened up the passing game a bit. Tanner Morgan threw for 287 yards, his most since the bowl win over Auburn on New Year's Day 2020.

We Are Maroon and Gold Episode 205

The Gophers' season-opening win over New Mexico State and a preview of Western Illinois.

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Midweek Review: New Mexico State 0-38 Minnesota

The start of Minnesota's season was not supposed to be eventful or particularly interesting, and it wasn't. Not even the titanic drama of our time, that of Jerry Kill potentially not shaking P.J. Fleck's hand, maintained its tension beyond warmups. Once the Gophers got going, they didn't stop but became more deliberate, gradually but decisively defeating a vastly inferior opponent without allowing a score. Nearly all went to plan.

1. The Gophers' offensive strategy was straightforward: crush.

Minnesota had bigger, stronger, and faster players, and they weren't going to get exotic. This has gotten them in trouble before, but the talent gap on Thursday was wider than in any other game Fleck has coached the Gophers. If the Gophers didn't turn the ball over and finished drives, their Death-Star-trash-compactor pace would not cause problems.

Minnesota only had eight possessions the whole game but scored on all but one of them. Just over two-thirds of the plays the Gophers ran were designed runs. They held the ball for an average of 33.4 seconds per offensive snap. They didn't create explosive plays but instead repeatedly battered the Aggie defense on the ground.

It was a thorough beating. Only two of the Gophers' runs were stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage. They gained at least 4 yards on nearly 70 percent of their attempts. Brick, meet ant.

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

There wasn't a bad performer among the Gophers' five starters up front. John Michael Schmitz was quality, as always. Experienced guards Axel Ruschmeyer and Chuck Filiaga were both sound, with Filiaga using his bulk to good effect against a much smaller defensive line. At left tackle, Aireontae Ersery looked especially impressive in the first half, and Quinn Carroll wound up with the group's best run blocking grade on Pro Football Focus. Additionally, the Gophers got contributions from their tight ends. The gulf in talent is a caveat hanging over analysis of every part of this game, but the players still had to show up and perform. The Gophers' blocking unit did just that.

We Are Maroon and Gold Episode 204

Our last Gophers preview question: What will the Gophers' record be? Also, a preview of New Mexico State and what other games you should watch this weekend.

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