Gopher football

Well 28 – 10. Gophers at halftime.

They sure look good today. As Andy said…this is why they play the games.

Also watching North Carolina give Clemson everything they can handle. College football is the absolute best.

Matt Moen wrote:

They sure look good today

And now they let Purdue back into it. Only a 7 point lead with 4 to go.

38-31 Gophers. Final.

That was very bad tackling.
The defense will need to tighten it up if they plan on any bowl games.

Dutchboy wrote:

38-31 Gophers. Final.

Yea, funny how the ball bounces sometimes. Gophers were comfortable until that onside kick…couldn’t have bounced more favorably for Purdue. They were competing, good for them. Indiana took MSU down to the wire also. College FB…fun to watch.

fishingstar wrote:

That was very bad tackling.
The defense will need to tighten it up if they plan on any bowl games.

Yes…I’ll wager they (the Gophers) will be making that a point of emphasis during this coming weeks practice sessions.

Where’s all the guys bashing PJ Fleck?? Sure seems like they are going in the right direction to me

lindyrig79 wrote:

Where’s all the guys bashing PJ Fleck?? Sure seems like they are going in the right direction to me

Really?
If beating cupcakes while giving up 30+ points a game is the right direction I guess you are right.

I’m out you can lead the charge with your pom poms.

Ok I’m sorry Grouse, but cmon. Really? Flecks first recruiting class was the highest ranked for the Gophers.. ever. 24 of the 25 recruits he pulled ranked higher than their average recruit ranking the previous 5 years before him. Dunlap was already committed to his hometown Florida Gators when Fleck flipped him. Programs stopped contacting Bateman because they thought he was going to stay in Georgia to play for the Kirby, until Fleck flipped him too. Faalele had offers from Bama, Auburn, UGA, FSU, LSU, and Michigan when he chose Minnesota. His first recruiting class are now sophomores/redshirt freshman. Dont look now but hes got a top 30 class coming in next year and a top 10 class, so far, in 2021 (including a big time QB recruit).

Bouncing from coach to coach, recruiter to recruiter, like the Gophers did for a few years there will kill any program. Then add on all of the sexual assault allegations? I’m not for all the rah-rah Fleck has to offer, but you cannot question his recruiting. Cant build a football program overnight. Patience my friend.
[/quote]

Finally, an intelligent comment brought to this discussion!!

Dutchboy wrote:

Really?
If beating cupcakes while giving up 30+ points a game is the right direction I guess you are right.

I’m out you can lead the charge with your pom poms.

Cupcakes? 3 of the teams they played thus far won at least 10 games last year. Fresno has lost 4 games in the last 2 years and 2 have been against MN.

Yeah but the 4-0 is full of “rah rah” wins

So many people, for whatever reason, absolutely hate Fleck. My guess is that it’s because he is and does things a little differently, which puts his haters on par with early-elementary kids.

And since they hate him they’ll always b*tch and complain about the Gophers, at least while he’s here. Plenty of them show up on these Gopher football threads every year. I have no idea why they still watch when they hate the team.

I’m not saying Fleck is the second coming of anything. I watch the Gophers because I love college football and want to see what happens on the field. Unlike some of these others I’m not extremely caught up in the guy on the sidelines.

Clearly some of these people want this team to lose at all cost just to have something else to b!tch about.

biggill wrote:

Clearly some of these people want this team to lose at all cost just to have something else to b!tch about.

Obviously! I mean, how may people did you see calling out Fleck when the players all had “Minnesota” on the back of the jerseys instead of their names? Anyone care to comment what was on the back of the Purdue uniforms Saturday? Not a peep. Besides, the whole “Minnesota” thing was done long before Fleck even got here. Kill if not sooner did it, I think even Mason did.

This thread highlights everything that’s wrong with sports. How dare they put a product out there that doesn’t win championships and expect people to buy tickets. I deserve more.

Wow, IDO is almost as good as GopherHole…

Gopher football has been a joke my entire lifetime. Not that I’ve followed very close, but compared to Wisconsin, Ohio State, Nebraska, Iowa, etc, etc they are never even close.

How that we have a coach who seems to care about the kids and is good at recruiting we might actually have a chance to compete. It will take time, to build the culture, and entice good players to come to a team with a chance at winning. Who cares how he does it?!

I don’t understand what there is to complain about??

Go gophers!!! 4-0 great start to me.

It’s unbelievable that people expect championship results without being listed in the top 25 on a regular basis.

Baby steps, now we are winning (who cares by what margin) and people begin to downplay the progress. Saying things like well we ought to have beat them by a wider margin, or the coach is full of BS.

So then what? Fire him? Find a new coach? Look how that’s worked out for the gophers for I dunno, the last fifty years? How’s it’s working out for Nebraska and Purdue right now?

So PJ’s approach is different than your keyboard warrior style, so what?!? Quit watching. Maybe he can recruit, motivate the KIDS, and coach?!?

The gophers need to get into the mix and start winning games, build a reputation, and get into the top 25 consistently before we EVER should be critiquing them for not blowing out big 10, or really any competition for that matter.

Dan wrote:

I watch the Gophers because I love college football and want to see what happens on the field. Unlike some of these others I’m not extremely caught up in the guy on the sidelines.

My exact sentiments. And did I mention there’s a reason they play the games?

Relax a little and allow yourself to be entertained.

Oh, BTW, Badger fan here… You ARE 4 of 6 games to an eligible bowl game!!! Same here, everyone wants Chryst crucified for only beating NW by 9 instead of the 24.5 spread… Oh BTW that other team wants to win too and may just be bringing something to the table during that particular game that makes what the home team does ineffective… I played TE, couldn’t block a guy and suggested to the coach we run a cross block with our tackle kicking him out, but that wasn’t what we were going to do… so we lost 19-14… It happens and my coach is in the Hall of Fame and my team finished 7-2 and were one of his worst teams in his career…

Each week is a chance to get better, the opposition brings something to the table that you hope you are prepared for and you play!!! After that you try to adjust and bring home the W. It makes for great theater!!! I also will submit that you will be in a bowl game!!!

Row the Boat!!!

Mark

I’m not a huge college football fan so I have no idea the ins and outs of recruiting and building a program.

But man, I have to imagine it’s tough to convince a high school football star from down south to move up to MN and play half their games at TCF Tundra stadium.

“Sure, you have a good offer from LSU/Bama/Georgia/wherever, but you’ll get a lot of playing time at this program who hasn’t done anything significant since the 60s. OH! And the average game time temp will be in the 40s for most of your games. Ready to sign that letter of intent?”

Like, is that ever something a team like the Gophers can overcome? I suppose Michigan/Ohio State/Michigan State get some pretty good recruits, so maybe? But they’ve been much more relevant programs in the last 20 years.

Life isn’t fair, but there isn’t a whole lot of parity in Div I football, and I don’t know if there ever will be.

philtickelson wrote:

I’m not a huge college football fan so I have no idea the ins and outs of recruiting and building a program.

But man, I have to imagine it’s tough to convince a high school football star from down south to move up to MN and play half their games at TCF Tundra stadium.

Valid point, but if they ever think they are going to play at the next level, which very few will, they better get used to playing in the Cold at some point because the NFL is much later season and colder.
I think all of the new facilities that the U0fM has now will really start to help. That has held them back quite a bit because they were SO behind everyone else.
What will convince more high-end recruits to come is success. They are still a very young team but they do have some highly rated kids here and more coming. It could be a meteoric rise in talent in just a few years and with these very young kids getting playing time early that will only help provided they stay 3 or 4 years.
I really dont see Bateman staying 4 years unless he gets injured. They have a ton of offensive weapons far more than in the last 10 years. The D has taken a step back this year I think with Cashman going to NFL. He is a big hole.

mbenson wrote:

You ARE 4 of 6 games to an eligible bowl game!!!

Meineke Car Care Bowl perhaps. Most bowl games are pure junk and are only played as a money/marketing grab. Making a no name bowl as a 6-6 team is not really anything to be proud of. There should really only be a total of about 10 bowl games, not 40, but I digress.

MN should hop on board the California bill to allow players to receive compensation based on their ‘likeness’ or whatever that says.

DIFFERENTIATION!!!

Sure, Alabama has a great program, success, better players, more national recognition, easier classes, etc. etc.

But we’ll give you $$$. I’ve literally seen DOZENS of people wearing Gophers jerseys in the last decade, come play for us and watch those dollars rooollll in.

Yet another disappointing win. This team is going nowhere.

biggill wrote:

Yet another disappointing win. This team is going nowhere.

All that rah rah rah Fleck guy has done is win this year. What a fool

Big red coming to town next week. We’ll see which team plays to their potential.

Iowa lost, northwestern, Purdue and Illinois are done in the west. Division will be determined by head to heads with Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska. Should be pretty fun.

Should be a close one next weekend. I’ll be at the game and looking forward to it.

Prior to todays games Nebraska was listed a slight 2.5 pt favorite over the Gophs next Saturday. Saw Martinez limped off the field vs NW today. Early release says its not too serious, but still don’t know what that means for his status next week. Will be a good one!

Get the Pom Poms out

biggill wrote:

Yet another disappointing win. This team is going nowhere.

Couldn’t have said it better myself

tbro16 wrote:

biggill wrote:
Yet another disappointing win. This team is going nowhere.

All that rah rah rah Fleck guy has done is win this year. What a fool

Yeah but if the ball bounces differently a few times this team is easily 0-9. I don’t care if the math doesn’t add up, this team is coached by a guy that runs up and down the sidelines, wears a tie, and publicly admits that he has a wife. Total tool.