The Minnesota Gophers suffered a rough loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday but the biggest disappointment may have been the performance of quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis.
Kaliakmanis struggled against the Tar Heels completing just 11-of-29 passes for 133 yards and an interception. After the game, the redshirt sophomore lamented his performance and went as far as calling it the worst game he’s ever played.
“Most of those missed opportunities were my fault,” Kaliakmanis said via FOX 9’s Jeff Wald. “Just not executing, most of the things that were called were all there. I failed to execute, that’s on me. That was probably the worst game I’ve ever played. I let my teammates down.”
Kaliakmanis’s first season as a starter for the Gophers hasn’t gone as planned, throwing for 446 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions while completing just 51.1 percent of his passes through three games this season.
While the departure of offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca for Penn State and a complete overhaul of the receiver room may be an issue, Kaliakmanis doesn’t look like the quarterback who threw for 319 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Wisconsin last November, and completed 7-of-9 passes before leaving with an injury in a Pinstripe Bowl victory over Syracuse.
Those struggles continued on Saturday afternoon, with Kaliakmanis throwing an interception as the Gophers were driving into North Carolina territory in the first quarter and missed several more throws later in the game.
“He’s still learning how to be an elite quarterback,” P.J. Fleck said of Kaliakmanis’s performance. “That’s part of it. However many games he has played, this hostile environment and [against] a really good opponent, a lot was going to be put on his shoulders because it had to be. This team is a top 20 team and I thought there were times he handled it really well and times he didn’t handle it well.”
Fleck also lamented the Gophers’ performance as a team, which left several opportunities on the field.
“I did not feel like we played our best football,” Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck said after the game. “We had plenty of opportunities. I think everybody saw that. There’s people open all over downfield and we had dropped balls, tipped balls, balls that were inaccurate, balls that missed explosive plays and we were still in the game.”
To Minnesota’s credit, the Gopher defense stepped up against top draft prospect Drake Maye with two interceptions, but also gave up 414 yards and two touchdowns through the air. Darius Taylor was also a bright spot running for 138 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries, but the Gophers will need to have better play from the quarterback position moving forward.
“It’s about [Kaliakmanis] maturing and growing as a leader,” Fleck said. “There’s going to be some highs in his career and lows in his career and I know that he’s a competitor [and] he’s a leader. He knows he didn’t play particularly well and I don’t think he’ll tell you any different but that’s part of being a leader. …I know that he will respond and get better than this because he can play better than he showed tonight. That’s for sure.”
