It is easy to call Minnesota's 41-13 loss at Purdue a classic case of falling victim to a "trap game." I do not generally entertain armchair psychology, but even granting the premise, I still disagree: Even after two successive emotional wins over big-name (and, at the time, dubiously ranked) teams, Minnesota had a bye immediately after their trip to West Lafayette. How could the Gophers look past a team when there was no bigger test on the other side? Would Purdue's win over Illinois not have kept them on their toes?
The problem was not that the program does "a good job at handling adversity and not as well as handling success" — it is that these Gophers are rather middling.
Entering the game, Bill Connelly's SP+ had Minnesota (53rd) ranked 28 spots ahead of Purdue (81st), with a 66-percent chance to win. While the Gophers were deserving favorites, they remained a flawed team whose schedule to date looked worse with each week. Teams like that are fully capable of dropping a game to opponents with even bigger flaws.
I will not pretend, however, that I was not surprised by the magnitude of the defeat. In the Big Ten, only Rutgers has a worse defense than Purdue. One could foresee the Boilermakers having a shot in a shootout, but for the Gophers to score just 13 points rather than keeping pace underscores just how low the floor is on this offense.
Their most consistent problem is the offensive line. There were already questions about this group before losing the starting center, Ashton Beers, three games into the season. Without preferred backup Brett Carroll, who suffered an injury in the preseason, Greg Johnson has stepped back into the middle and been as superb a blocker as he was at guard. Beers' absence has still had severe knock-on effects.
Take offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr.'s attempts to introduce more gap scheme. It was easy to imagine how this might open up the rushing attack.
With Johnson at guard, Minnesota could pull their most athletic lineman into open space on counter to the right. The slower Tony Nelson and the young D.J. Shipp, the playside guard and tackle, would have down blocks, which are easier than trying to reach across a defender's face on outside zone. Even if running counter the other way would be tougher, having one run play that gets Darius Taylor and T.J. Thomas into space on the edge would be an improvement.
Harbaugh has also shown how pullers can complement the passing attack. Watch how these Michigan linebackers hesitated instead of darting towards this bubble screen because Nelson's movement told them something was happening on the back side of the play:
But to actually run counter, you need the right personnel. With Johnson at center, the slower Jaden Ball took over at left guard. The Gophers ran counter right seven times at Washington and gained 11 yards. Ball just was not equipped for the job.
