The Gophers football team opens its season Thursday night, which inspires what now has become an annual plea to coach P.J. Fleck.
Let ‘er rip. Unleash the passing game. Modernize the offense.
Only three teams in major college football attempted fewer passes than the Gophers in the previous three seasons combined. Those were the three service academies (Army, Navy, Air Force) who don’t pretend to have much interest in the passing game.
The Gophers have not averaged 200 yards passing in a season since 2019, giving them one of the least productive passing attacks in the nation.
That must change. Fleck knows it. Everyone inside the program knows it. Now, it’s about showing it.
It remains perplexing that a coach so forward-thinking in every other facet as a program CEO also can be so old-fashioned when it comes to offense. Fleck at least sounds intent on being more balanced on offense.
The overreliance on the running game was good enough for the Gophers to remain yearly contenders in the plodding Big Ten West. But the conference is deeper and more challenging now, meaning more will be required from the scheme, play-calling and personnel.
This is not a clarion call for anything resembling the Air Raid. Just put more Air into the equation.