Pressure is building on Minnesota's offense under Greg Harbaugh Jr.

Pressure is building on Minnesota's offense under Greg Harbaugh Jr.

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Pressure is building on Minnesota's offense under Greg Harbaugh Jr.

The Gophers’ 38-13 loss to Mississippi State in Week 2 was eye-opening for many different reasons. The biggest might be an increasing lack of big plays on both sides of the ball. Popular social media account Sickos Committee pointed out that Minnesota and Mississippi State became the first matchup to feature both the longest scoring drive and the longest non-scoring drive, since they’ve begun tracking games.

The Gophers’ second drive of the game lasted 16 plays, 58 yards and 10 minutes and 11 seconds. It resulted in a 44-yard field goal from Luke Drzewiecki to make the score 7-3. Long offensive drives are a good strategy when you’re playing teams like Iowa and Wisconsin, but Mississippi State’s high-powered offense responded with three straight touchdown drives to make the score 28-3.

Mississippi State put together a nearly perfect example of four-minute offense to milk the clock in the fourth quarter. A 16-play, 74-yard drive lasted 10 minutes and 27 seconds, but Minnesota blocked their 20-yard field goal attempt to make it the longest non-scoring drive of the week in FBS college football.

What does this tell us? It’s probably just a quirky stat, but it also shows that Minnesota’s lack of explosive plays is catching up with them. A Gophers fan on X, @GopherInsight, pointed out that Minnesota is tied for the second-fewest scrimmage plays of 30+ yards since 2021.

The Gophers are far and away the most successful team on the list. Ball State, Akron and UMass have been three of the worst teams in FBS, while Stanford, Rutgers and Purdue have become bottom feeders in their power conference leagues. P.J. Fleck and his coaching staff have been playing with razor-thin margins, and it caught up to them on Saturday afternoon.

Dec 26, 2025; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr. against the New Mexico Lobos during the Rate Bowl at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Sure, Drake Lindsey connected on four passing plays of more than 15 yards, but he had just one of 30+ yards. Mississippi State had six runs of 10 or more yards, and six pass plays of 15 or more yards. The Gophers’ once-dominant rushing attack ran for just 13 yards as a team.

Sure, Minnesota’s top running back, Darius Taylor, was limited to just 14 snaps, but this isn’t a one-game sample size. The Gophers’ offense hasn’t been particularly good under fourth-year offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr. at all.

The Gophers’ offense averaged 20.9 points per game in Harbaugh’s first season calling plays in 2023, which ranked 110th-best in college football. That improved to 26.2 in 2024, which ranked 80th, but it dropped back down to 23.0 last season, which ranked 102nd.

For naysayers who say, ‘It’s Minnesota. What would you expect?’ The Gophers averaged 28.2 points per game in 2022, which ranked 66th-best in the country. They averaged 25.5 in 2021, which ranked 83rd, and their 2019 offense ranked 22nd with 34.1 points per game. A lot of Harbaugh’s numbers feature blowout wins over FCS opponents, which Minnesota didn’t have from 2017 to 2021.

In Fleck’s nine full seasons as head coach of the Gophers, Harbaugh has led the worst offense in 2023, the third-worst offense in 2025, and his “breakout” year in 2024 was just the fourth-best during Fleck’s tenure. Saturday was Minnesota’s third time it failed to score an offensive touchdown in the last 15 games.

Mike Sanford Jr. was fired as the Gophers’ offensive coordinator after the 2021 season, which was just his second season calling plays. His units ranked 71st and 83rd in points per game. Those would be good seasons for Harbaugh.

What’s keeping Fleck from making a change at play-caller? Is it Harbaugh’s relationship with Lindsey? Maybe, but if things don’t change quickly, Minnesota could fail to capitalize on its best talent at quarterback in decades.

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This story was originally published by Bring Me The Sports on Sep 15, 2026, where it first appeared in the MN Gophers section. Add Bring Me The Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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