Taking a spin around the B1G fan forums

Schnauzer

Pretty Sure You are Wrong
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The MSU beatdown in the 2:30 time slot registered with a lot of people that post on fan forums around the Big Ten.

Almost every Big Ten West (and a few East) boards have some sort of "Minnesota looks good" or "Fleck" thread and they are driving a lot of posts. Lots of opinions. The amount of attention within the conference directed at the Gophers skyrocketed during/after the MSU game.

In a nutshell, people were impressed by how thoroughly the Gophers were beating MSU, and commonly focused on the O line and what a good job Fleck has done building the team. There is a lot of conversation about "Are the Gophers that good or MSU that bad?" All in all, a fair amount of respect shown by the opposing fan bases.

The strongest themes involve Fleck. A very common viewpoint that he is an azzhole, jerk, etc. but apparently begrudgingly "can coach." It amazes me how thoroughly he drives negative reactions in opposing fans. They absolutely HATE him. I was thinking... other than a veiled shot at Frost "culture over talent", I can't think of many (any?) things he has said that would trigger other fan bases. He is usually very complimentary of Gopher opponents and their coaches. But, the hatred just flows and he really gets under people's skin! Almost every compliment directed at him was carefully balanced with some form of "don't get me wrong, he is still a jerk" comment.
 

The MSU beatdown in the 2:30 time slot registered with a lot of people that post on fan forums around the Big Ten.

Almost every Big Ten West (and a few East) boards have some sort of "Minnesota looks good" or "Fleck" thread and they are driving a lot of posts. Lots of opinions. The amount of attention within the conference directed at the Gophers skyrocketed during/after the MSU game.

In a nutshell, people were impressed by how thoroughly the Gophers were beating MSU, and commonly focused on the O line and what a good job Fleck has done building the team. There is a lot of conversation about "Are the Gophers that good or MSU that bad?" All in all, a fair amount of respect shown by the opposing fan bases.

The strongest themes involve Fleck. A very common viewpoint that he is an azzhole, jerk, etc. but apparently begrudgingly "can coach." It amazes me how thoroughly he drives negative reactions in opposing fans. They absolutely HATE him. I was thinking... other than a veiled shot at Frost "culture over talent", I can't think of many (any?) things he has said that would trigger other fan bases. He is usually very complimentary of Gopher opponents and their coaches. But, the hatred just flows and he really gets under people's skin! Almost every compliment directed at him was carefully balanced with some form of "don't get me wrong, he is still a jerk" comment.

Calling Fleck a 'jerk' without giving any reason is odd. But then, some people are just weird.
 

The MSU beatdown in the 2:30 time slot registered with a lot of people that post on fan forums around the Big Ten.

Almost every Big Ten West (and a few East) boards have some sort of "Minnesota looks good" or "Fleck" thread and they are driving a lot of posts. Lots of opinions. The amount of attention within the conference directed at the Gophers skyrocketed during/after the MSU game.

In a nutshell, people were impressed by how thoroughly the Gophers were beating MSU, and commonly focused on the O line and what a good job Fleck has done building the team. There is a lot of conversation about "Are the Gophers that good or MSU that bad?" All in all, a fair amount of respect shown by the opposing fan bases.

The strongest themes involve Fleck. A very common viewpoint that he is an azzhole, jerk, etc. but apparently begrudgingly "can coach." It amazes me how thoroughly he drives negative reactions in opposing fans. They absolutely HATE him. I was thinking... other than a veiled shot at Frost "culture over talent", I can't think of many (any?) things he has said that would trigger other fan bases. He is usually very complimentary of Gopher opponents and their coaches. But, the hatred just flows and he really gets under people's skin! Almost every compliment directed at him was carefully balanced with some form of "don't get me wrong, he is still a jerk" comment.
People hate him for 2 somewhat related reasons.

1. He is flamboyant. James Franklin gets a lot of similar misguided hate for this IMO.
2. He doesn't fit people's vision of an old time, masculine, tough guy stoic type of football coach. He is small, wears tight pants and flashy jewelry, and runs up and down the sidelines between quarters.

Both stupid, but I don't care if fans of other teams hate our coach. What does bother me is when our local media/fan base gets so caught up in these stupid things that they can't appreciate that we have the best head coach any of us have seen in our lifetimes.
 

The MSU beatdown in the 2:30 time slot registered with a lot of people that post on fan forums around the Big Ten.

Almost every Big Ten West (and a few East) boards have some sort of "Minnesota looks good" or "Fleck" thread and they are driving a lot of posts. Lots of opinions. The amount of attention within the conference directed at the Gophers skyrocketed during/after the MSU game.

In a nutshell, people were impressed by how thoroughly the Gophers were beating MSU, and commonly focused on the O line and what a good job Fleck has done building the team. There is a lot of conversation about "Are the Gophers that good or MSU that bad?" All in all, a fair amount of respect shown by the opposing fan bases.

The strongest themes involve Fleck. A very common viewpoint that he is an azzhole, jerk, etc. but apparently begrudgingly "can coach." It amazes me how thoroughly he drives negative reactions in opposing fans. They absolutely HATE him. I was thinking... other than a veiled shot at Frost "culture over talent", I can't think of many (any?) things he has said that would trigger other fan bases. He is usually very complimentary of Gopher opponents and their coaches. But, the hatred just flows and he really gets under people's skin! Almost every compliment directed at him was carefully balanced with some form of "don't get me wrong, he is still a jerk" comment.
The negative reactions to Fleck are not all that surprising. Look how polarizing it was around here when he was hired. There were those that hated everything about him (much harder to find those people now around here).

MSU game opened a lot of eyes around the country because suddenly our 3 non-conf blowouts had something tangible to back them up.
 

Calling Fleck a 'jerk' without giving any reason is odd. But then, some people are just weird.

There was plenty of that on this board until 2019 wiped most of it away. There's still a few around that feel that way, but they have been silent through the first 4 games, no surprise.
 


People hate him for 2 somewhat related reasons.

1. He is flamboyant. James Franklin gets a lot of similar misguided hate for this IMO.
2. He doesn't fit people's vision of an old time, masculine, tough guy stoic type of football coach. He is small, wears tight pants and flashy jewelry, and runs up and down the sidelines between quarters.

Both stupid, but I don't care if fans of other teams hate our coach. What does bother me is when our local media/fan base gets so caught up in these stupid things that they can't appreciate that we have the best head coach any of us have seen in our ilifetimes.
Bingo. They just don't think he is real. We know different...
 


Opposing fans are also going out of their way to downplay the job PJ has done here. I see a lot of "he inherited a 9 win team" and "he is barely winning more than the guys before him". Which may appear accurate on the surface but anyone with knowledge knows the program was not left in great shape for him - on or off the field.
 

Opposing fans are also going out of their way to downplay the job PJ has done here. I see a lot of "he inherited a 9 win team" and "he is barely winning more than the guys before him". Which may appear accurate on the surface but anyone with knowledge knows the program was not left in great shape for him - on or off the field.

Hey, they can think what they like. The Gophers will play against their teams on the field. Let's see how that turns out.
 




Thanks OP, always interesting to hear what other forums say. I don’t understand the hatred, people can’t get past superficial aspects. I can’t imagine a better fit for our program than Fleck.
 

People hate opposing rivalry coaches that win, especially coaches that are different in some way. Many many people hate Sabin, especially in the SEC. People really hate Dabo Sweeney. People hate Harbaugh. I hate Ferenz and Brohm just cuz. We all really hated Bielema when he was a Fadger and am ready to hate him again. I respect all these guys. It's good for Fleck to be hated by opposing BG10 fans.

I'm starting to like Chryst and really started to like Frost.
 

People hate opposing rivalry coaches that win, especially coaches that are different in some way. Many many people hate Sabin, especially in the SEC. People really hate Dabo Sweeney. People hate Harbaugh. I hate Ferenz and Brohm just cuz. We all really hated Bielema when he was a Fadger and am ready to hate him again. I respect all these guys. It's good for Fleck to be hated by opposing BG10 fans.

I'm starting to like Chryst and really started to like Frost.
Chryst is so nondescript it's just hard to have any sort of strong opinion on him. Seems like a guy that might be retired and working at Home Depot just for fun.
 




People hate opposing rivalry coaches that win, especially coaches that are different in some way. Many many people hate Sabin, especially in the SEC. People really hate Dabo Sweeney. People hate Harbaugh. I hate Ferenz and Brohm just cuz. We all really hated Bielema when he was a Fadger and am ready to hate him again. I respect all these guys. It's good for Fleck to be hated by opposing BG10 fans.

I'm starting to like Chryst and really started to like Frost.
I started to like Frost also but only because of his lack of coaching ability. He's below Bielema as a person!
 

For the first time in a very long time, MN is becoming a trendy pick nationally.
Not really. The Gophers were further along and closer (9-0, top 5) in 2019. Serious football people thought they were being jobbed for being ranked lower than Bama.

I say this to remind folks that the Gophers being good is something almost all of us have seen before, recently, and it shouldn’t be surprising national media that Minnesota is balling out. They just all reset Minnesota to a historic spot every August and “surprise” when it happens again.
 

Not really. The Gophers were further along and closer (9-0, top 5) in 2019. Serious football people thought they were being jobbed for being ranked lower than Bama.

I say this to remind folks that the Gophers being good is something almost all of us have seen before, recently, and it shouldn’t be surprising national media that Minnesota is balling out. They just all reset Minnesota to a historic spot every August and “surprise” when it happens again.
Sure after the PSU win we were darlings, agree. Has not happened this early in a long time.
 


Nationally, we're still in a situation where it's a surprise to many when the Gophers are pretty good. I'm enjoying the season a lot so far, but it doesn't come to a big surprise to me. I expected us to be really good. Many others that don't follow too closely may be surprised because "we're Minnesota and we're not supposed to be very good."

People make up things like "Fleck only cares about himself" or "he's a used car salesman" because he doesn't do things the conventional way. Almost no one that says those things actually pay attention to him or the program.
 

The MSU beatdown in the 2:30 time slot registered with a lot of people that post on fan forums around the Big Ten.

Almost every Big Ten West (and a few East) boards have some sort of "Minnesota looks good" or "Fleck" thread and they are driving a lot of posts. Lots of opinions. The amount of attention within the conference directed at the Gophers skyrocketed during/after the MSU game.

In a nutshell, people were impressed by how thoroughly the Gophers were beating MSU, and commonly focused on the O line and what a good job Fleck has done building the team. There is a lot of conversation about "Are the Gophers that good or MSU that bad?" All in all, a fair amount of respect shown by the opposing fan bases.

The strongest themes involve Fleck. A very common viewpoint that he is an azzhole, jerk, etc. but apparently begrudgingly "can coach." It amazes me how thoroughly he drives negative reactions in opposing fans. They absolutely HATE him. I was thinking... other than a veiled shot at Frost "culture over talent", I can't think of many (any?) things he has said that would trigger other fan bases. He is usually very complimentary of Gopher opponents and their coaches. But, the hatred just flows and he really gets under people's skin! Almost every compliment directed at him was carefully balanced with some form of "don't get me wrong, he is still a jerk" comment.

Never underestimate the power of capri pants - Txs Heather
 

The difference I see between 2019 and 2022 is in the blowout wins, one after the other.

The 2019 team began the season with a long win streak, but they had some really close calls against the likes of Georgia Southern and South Dakota State. There weren't any truly dominating performances until farther along in the B1G portion of the schedule.

This current squad has simply destroyed every opponent they've faced so far. The scores and the stats they've racked up have been astonishing.
 

There's a comment there that peaked my interest. Would we play for the jug if we met Michigan in Indy?
I believe so. I've had other posters say no -- but I've never gotten evidence to that point. We've had the jug on the line in every meeting since -- I see no reason why this would be exceptional
 

I believe so. I've had other posters say no -- but I've never gotten evidence to that point. We've had the jug on the line in every meeting since -- I see no reason why this would be exceptional

I wonder: who would decide that question? The B1G? The two schools?

To me, a Minnesota vs Michigan game is always played for the right to hold The Jug.
 

The difference I see between 2019 and 2022 is in the blowout wins, one after the other.

The 2019 team began the season with a long win streak, but they had some really close calls against the likes of Georgia Southern and South Dakota State. There weren't any truly dominating performances until farther along in the B1G portion of the schedule.

This current squad has simply destroyed every opponent they've faced so far. The scores and the stats they've racked up have been astonishing.
2019 was definitely more of slow burn. There was little coming out of the non-conf season that screamed that an 11 win season was coming.

The domination through 4 games in 2022 has been truly impressive.
 

I noticed the same thing on several Nebraska chat lines - a really surprising dislike of the man and his "culture," but especially the man, yet many hoping he'll be hired at Nebby because "he can win." Both false and real stats being kicked around, to make the argument. Even those who want to hire him think he's eccentric (I don't, by the way). Ironic that Frost dismissed the "culture" at MN and now Trev Alberts is pushing a "needed culture" at Nebraska from the next coach. PJ seems perfectly fine to me - has a culture that goes beyond football a bit to include character, self-sacrificing, work ethic - what's not to like? His 62% winning average is the best at UM since pre-World War II Bierman!
 



I have heard sometime that such a match would not be a Jug game. but that's all I've got.

That offered, it would be great to have it being for two trophies and not just some type of silver or glass monument.
 

I wonder: who would decide that question? The B1G? The two schools?

To me, a Minnesota vs Michigan game is always played for the right to hold The Jug.
I can't imagine the B1G has any standing -- ultimately Michigan would decide because they have the Jug -- just like Wisconsin decided when we were done playing for the slab of bacon
 

I can't imagine the B1G has any standing -- ultimately Michigan would decide because they have the Jug -- just like Wisconsin decided when we were done playing for the slab of bacon

This sounds correct to me, especially the bolded part of your post. Michigan would (probably) have the final say.

I could imagine Michigan taking a lot of abuse from Minnesota fans if the Wolverines said, "Nope; we're not playing for The Jug this time. So there!"

It's a trophy that goes to the winner of the Minnesota-Michigan contest. Why bother to have a trophy if one team or the other can simply choose to hold on to the Jug, win or lose?
 




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