Minnesota Golden Gophers: What Did We Learn in 2008? (Part 2)

This is the second part of a series where I look back on the 2008 Golden Gophers and try to see what fans can expect in the future. This part will hopefully shed some light on an offense that seemed to define erratic play.

Let's start with the good news.

Throughout the first eight games of the season, the Gophers seemed to get any yardage they needed, when they needed it.

Fourth-and-goal in the closing moments of the Northern Illinois game? Check. A 28-point second half against a feisty Bowling Green team? Check. Game-clinching drives against Indiana, Illinois, and Purdue? Check, check. check.

Looking back on the Gophers' seven wins, it seems like someone stepped up every night. Against Northern Illinois, it was Duane Bennett. For Bowling Green, it was Adam Weber and Eric Decker. Come to think about it, it was usually Weber and Decker that stepped up huge.

Seriously though, there were moments where the Gophers offense looked like a unit that was ready to become elite.

Then reality set in.

17, 6, 32, 0.

Those are the scoring totals for the Gophers over the last four games, all losses. Granted, two of those games were basically played without All-Big Ten wide receiver Eric Decker, but there were more troubling trends that developed.

False Starts

First-and-10, second-and-1, third-and-35, it didn't matter. It seemed like over those last four games, the Gopher offensive linemen would take any excuse to jerk a shoulder, lift a head, anything.

It grew to the point in the Wisconsin game that the TV announcers were left feeling bad for the guy (names will not be named, even I feel bad for the guy) who kept jumping up.

Erratic Weber

In those last four games, Adam Weber seemed to go through periods of overthrows, underthrows, or just plain bad throws.

I don't want to point a finger at the quarterback (after all, he was still second-team All-Big Ten), but there seemed to be times when he would press a bit. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of the Adam Weber we saw last year. Of course, that may have something to do with...

Being Dominated on the Line of Scrimmage

Against the superior competition the Gophers faced in the last four games, this clearly became their biggest problem. Against Northwestern, they gained 68 yards rushing. Against Michigan, 83. For Wisconsin, 99, and in a big game against Iowa, a grand total of 7.

The lack of a run option allowed teams to drop back in coverage. The fact that the Gophers knew they couldn't run forced Weber to throw more. Naturally, this led to...

Turnovers!

During the 7-1 start, the offense did not turn the ball over. Well, they did, but it never seemed to be at a big time, and it never caused them to lose.

Once they got sloppy in the last four games, the turnover numbers went to 2 (including the game-losing pick-6), 1, 3 (in a three-point game), and 3.

As the Golden Gophers showed in 2007, you just can't win when you turn over the ball that often.

In the words of Martin Luther, what does this mean?

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