Gophers Notebook: Eastern Michigan 6-25 Minnesota

Darius Taylor wowed in his first substantial taste of FBS action. In Week 1 against Howard, Eastern Michigan entered halftime ahead 30-9. Coming out of the break, the Bison changed their approach. No more letting quarterback Quinto Williams sail passes over his receivers; over their next three drives, the Eagles ran the ball on two-thirds of their plays. They paired that with an increase in tempo to try and catch EMU flat-footed.

Those 18 runs went for 147 yards, or 7.7 per attempt. Howard's greatest success came on the outside, attacking the edge and forcing the Eagles' linebackers to chase their tailbacks. It's one of the biggest reasons the Bison cut their deficit to just 30-23 before the end of the third quarter.

And it gave Eastern Michigan's next opponents all the justification they needed to run and run and run until EMU showed they could stop it. Minnesota's greatest successes came between the tackles — according to Pro Football Focus, non-sneak runs through the A and B gaps averaged 2 more yards per carry than those to the outside — but the Gophers were successful any way they wanted.

And their greatest contributor was Taylor, the true freshman who had just one carry in his debut against Nebraska. Taylor's 193 rushing yards against the Eagles matched what the Cornhuskers put up as a team in Week 1. His most impressive trait was his toughness, running through arm tackles and keeping his balance to gain extra yards.

Taylor didn't show off the explosiveness he had as a high schooler, but on a few occasions, he was one ankle tackle (or, in one moment, a stumble) away from breaking off a huge run. He had plenty of holes to run though, but it takes patience and skill to exploit them.

The Gophers' 54 percent success rate on the ground, more than double what they registered against Nebraska, serves as reason for encouragement. Especially in light of how the Huskers' front did against Colorado this week (4.9 yards per non-sack carry allowed, plus eight sacks) suggests Minnesota's line might be better than its first outing suggested. At the very least, we know they are still capable of bullying weaker competition.

The one potential negative with Sean Tyler, at least for one night became an actuality. For all his productivity at Western Michigan, Tyler's last season in Kalamazoo was marred by a career-high five fumbles. As I wrote in my running back preview, that was worth at least a little concern:

Among tailbacks with 100 or more carries last season, Tyler had the fifth-highest fumble rate (2.4 percent, again via PFF). His career mark was much lower going into last season (0.7 percent, which is better than average), but the five fumbles he had in 2022 made a big difference. That is something to consider heading into the season. Of the many Fleckisms, "the ball is the program" is one of the more concrete and important ones.

Officially, Tyler only fumbled twice on Saturday, knocking the first out of bounds and losing the second to the Eagles. But Tyler also had a fumble that didn't count, as he was already out of bounds when the ball came free. The lost fumble ended up Tyler's last carry for the night — not that there were too many left to give, of course. Considering how important ball security is to the Gophers' approach, Tyler might have already lost some early cachet with his new team. If this isn't a blip, and the fumbles continue, Tyler's place as the No. 1 tailback might be at risk.

Minnesota needs to improve in short-yardage situations. Either the Gophers rep bootleg and naked concepts in practice until they get it right, or they throw them out entirely. They went to them a few times on Saturday, and EMU just didn't bite hard enough.

Maybe the above 4th-and-1 play could've been run to the field side, so that Athan Kaliakmanis might have had a better chance of winning a race to the corner, but it still would've been tough when the Eagles' defensive backs stayed disciplined to cover the back side. Kaliakmanis arguably could've done better as well — leaning into the fake harder or longer — but regardless, it didn't work. The Gophers had gotten to this spot on the field by leaning on their tailbacks. It's fair to wonder if playcaller Greg Harbaugh really needed to switch it up at this moment.

As great as the Gophers' run game was overall, it bears noting that the Eagles stopped 11 of their 55 runs at or behind the line of scrimmage. (Nebraska had one stuff on 22 carries.) The only opposing defenses to post a stuff rate of 20 percent of better against Minnesota last season were Penn State, Wisconsin, and Syracuse. EMU is not quite of the same caliber.

Yet here, the right side of Minnesota's line, most noticeably Martes Lewis, couldn't force their assignments off the ball and get Taylor into the end zone:

It seems like an overreaction to say that Minnesota could've used a couple all-conference linemen and Mohamed Ibrahim in this game, considering how thorough the offense was... but a few moments did make it look that way. We can only know for sure after a few weeks.

Also the subject of goal-line struggles, by the way: Max-protect fades are still in the playbook.

It's already a bad call, giving your quarterback just two options and requiring him to nail a low-percentage throw. When the other team drops seven into coverage, it's just about impossible for it to work.

Field goals are failures. Minnesota's head coach hasn't caught on, despite all his times being taught this lesson. If the offense doesn't show more bite near the end zone, he'll be even less inclined to trust them on 4th down, and there will be a lot more failures.

After showing first-half cracks but holding their ground, the Gophers' defense dominated in the second. EMU gained 5 yards after halftime. For comparison, their offense suffered 25 yards of penalties during that stretch.

Trailing a team that likes to chew clock, the Eagles had to pass. Eleven of their 14 second-half plays were dropbacks for quarterback Austin Smith. Smith managed less than nothing — when taking into account sacks, he netted -2 yards.

Rather than bringing the heat, defensive coordinator Joe Rossi had his defense sit back. The Gophers never rushed more than four in the second half, even when Tre'Von Jones got a sack on a cornerback blitz. When Smith looked downfield, he saw nothing available.

That's when one of three things happened: Smith checked down, and a Gopher made an easy tackle; he stood too long in the pocket and got clobbered; or he forced a ball somewhere he shouldn't have.

The Gophers could've done better against the EMU run game, which averaged 5.7 yards per carry. But by sticking to their simple, borderline passive zone defense, they entirely stifled Smith and the passing attack and shut down all comeback hopes.

Minnesota's blocked punt was a long time coming. Not that you weren't allowed to be surprised.

All game, when the Eagles punted, the Gophers got close to Mitchell Tomasek. Linebackers Joey Gerlach and Eli Mau and receiver Le'Meke Brockington were not far away from getting a block.

Then, in the fourth quarter, the three of them got through again. Mau got his hand on the ball, but Gerlach and Brockington were both close as well.

Unfortunately, the Rule of Cool did not uphold Gerlach's touchdown, as he recovered the ball with his foot on the end line. A safety was decent consolation, though, and was a far more enjoyable moment for Gerlach than his (dubious) roughing the kicker foul from the Nebraska game.

Through two games, Minnesota seems to be getting a strong rush from their punt block unit. Maybe that statement is biased by the block, which an exceedingly rare event. But even that perception could be beneficial: If future opponents see the Gophers as the kind of team who can get a hand on a punt, they might devote more time to practicing punt protection than to skills that are more likely to impact the game. Or they might use a formation with an extra protector or two, buying just a little more space and time for the Gophers' returner. This is obviously a bit speculative, but it's not hard to see future benefits from this play — even if it's not the most repeatable.