It is times like Saturday that I hate being that "Gopher guy" within all my circles of friends. Work Friends, neighborhood friends, lifelong friends, etc. etc. I was getting texts from pretty much everyone I know on Saturday during the game and nearly all of them were asking things like "what is wrong with the Gophers today?" or "Have the Gophers ever been beaten this badly" - as if I have some sort of sway over the University of Minnesota football program. I guess the good news is a lot of Minnesotans like to rip on the gophers but a lot of Minnesotans do pay attention and watch them despite a 60+ year drought in national championships.
For me, I started the year out hopeful but the loss to Cal and the tight wins at home over Rutgers and Purdon't left me with the opinion that this was the worst Gopher football team since 2017. But then the glorious throttling of 5-1 Nebraska took place and I immediately shifted gears to "this is looking like a lot of Fleck teams that stumble around to start the season but then find their rhythm and look like a different team in the second half of the season."
I spent one week soaking up all the whiny Nebraska podcasts and on line posts, as well as the national media asking "did you see what Minnesota did to Nebraska?" Nearly the same spread for the game at Iowa and I was ready for the same result.
But here we are, now looking at (likely at best) a 7-5 season from a squad that Fleck has said is the most connected team he has had, could be in the playoff, and that he LOVES to coach. There are no guarantees of 7-5. That is just what will happen if teams like Michigan State and Northwestern cooperate. They might not. They are both better than Purdue and that was a come from behind slog at home.
There was a time when 7-5 was okay. But given Fleck's extended time at MN and the fact teams like Indiana, Illinois, etc. have lapped the Gophers, I am back to thinking this is Fleck's worst MN product since he got here and that isn't good when Indiana is planning for championships.
