8 October 2023
Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck first shared his “line of success” concept during a rough first season at the U in 2017. The idea is the line trends upward overall, but with downturns along the way.
The Gophers passing game has taken a more turbulent path.
Under Fleck, Minnesota started at the bottom of college football in passing yards per game in his first season, steadily climbing over three years to mive into the top 50 in the nation in 2019. Since then, it has been trending downward — so low now, they can see the basement floor.
Minnesota currently ranks 130th in the nation with 133 passing yards per game after a 52-10 loss to No. 2 Michigan on Saturday. Only the lampooned offense of the Iowa Hawkeyes and two service academies who so often pass on the idea of on passing — Navy and Air Force — are worse.
This year was supposed to be a tilting of the scales away from the power-running diet of Mo Ibrahim to a better run-pass balance with strong-armed quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis and a better and deeper stable of pass-catchers.
But at the halfway point of the season, the Gophers are passing for 50 yards fewer per game than they did a year ago. Kaliakmanis has been errant in the team’s two biggest games — against top 15-ranked teams in North Carolina and Michigan.
Fleck will point to two better passing games in between, against Northwestern and Louisiana, where Kaliakmanis completed at least 74 percent of his passes (26 of 32) and totaled four touchdowns with one interception.
Fleck will say that two-game stretch is also proof of his line of success, but Fleck, play-caller and QB coach Greg Harbaugh and Kaliakmanis will need to prove it isn’t a blip against less-than-stellar competition.
Michigan might have the best defense in the nation this season, and the Wolverines challenged the redshirt sophomore QB with their pass rush and coverage schemes. But Minnesota’s complete inability to compete in the passing game is unacceptable.
Kaliakmanis’ two interceptions Saturday were both returned for Michigan touchdowns. His one highlight was a 36-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Jackson at the end of the first half. Outside of that one completion against the Wolverines, Kaliakmanis threw for 17 total yards on 14 other passing attempts.
Jackson and slot receiver Corey Crooms have had quality moments of reliability and big-play ability this season, but the passing game hasn’t had the versatile array of targets it appeared to have in preseason camp.
Third option Le’Meke Brockington was lost for the season with a leg injury in the Louisiana win, while Elijah Spencer has three receptions for 27 yards on the year.
Tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford has 13 receptions for 66 yards and no touchdowns this year. He had a good game against Nebraska in the season opener but little production since then. Meanwhile, Chris Autman-Bell has zero grabs and missed his third game of the year on Saturday.
With the Gophers (3-3, 1-2 Big Ten) going into their bye week at the exact middle point of the season, Fleck told his players they are drawing a line in the proverbial sand.
“I said that is the first half of the season,” Fleck told reporters postgame. “I said that’s over. We have seen everything. We got blown out (Michigan). We’ve been in overtime (Northwestern). We had a game-winning field goal (Nebraska). We won by what we are supposed to win by (Eastern Michigan). We had a lead and lost it in the fourth quarter (Northwestern). We had to come back being down and beat a really good team (Louisiana).”
“… Now we have to learn from those six games, draw a line in the sand and play way better in the second half,” Fleck said.
Defensive end Jalen Logan-Redding said there is no hiding from the U’s .500 start to the season.
“We have to be able to say, ‘Hey this is where it is,’ ” he said. “We got to respond to the facts. Obviously (Michigan is) a good team and obviously we didn’t execute. But when it comes to drawing a line in the sand, everybody has to make a decision that, hey, this is not going to happen again. … We are always living in the now, but always be optimistic about the future.”
The “line of success” concept was repeated by center Nathan Boe and Kaliakmanis postgame. Fleck will take it and carry it over to post-football situations for his players.
“This is life. This really is life,” Kaliakmanis said. “I think we have to play better as a unit on offense, defense, too. Everybody. We all know we can be better.”
Line of success?
Gophers passing yards per game under P.J. Fleck::
Year — rank (yards)
2023 — 130 (132)
2022 — 116 (182)
2021 — 118 (162)
2020 — 92 (199)
2019 — 47 (253)
2018 — 90 (209)
2017 — 122 (126)
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