BleedGopher
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per Greder:
P.J. Fleck saw cracks developing in his first Gophers football team during close losses in Big Ten Conference games to Maryland, Purdue, Iowa and Michigan State last season.
“I thought our team last year wanted to win, but we didn’t refuse to lose,” Minnesota’s head coach said Monday at Big Ten media days at the Chicago Marriott Downtown. “… There’s a major difference between those two things.”
Those four losses were by an average of 7.7 points, a number inflated by losing a 17-16 lead in the final two minutes of a 31-17 defeat to Purdue and were a bit misleading after falling behind 23-6 to then-No. 21 Michigan State in the third quarter before staking a late comeback in a 30-27 loss to the Spartans.
But by the end of Fleck’s first season, those fissures split open during two glaring defeats by a combined 70-0 to Northwestern and Wisconsin. The team finished 5-7 overall, 2-7 in the Big Ten.
“We had enough (players) that said, ‘OK, well, maybe I’ve had three coaches in five years and it’s been a long road and it’s getting really hard and, man, maybe I got something down the road,’ ” Fleck said. “There wasn’t just this … connectivity of this team that you could never pull apart.”
https://www.twincities.com/2018/07/...-football-seeks-new-refuse-to-lose-mentality/
Go Gophers!!
P.J. Fleck saw cracks developing in his first Gophers football team during close losses in Big Ten Conference games to Maryland, Purdue, Iowa and Michigan State last season.
“I thought our team last year wanted to win, but we didn’t refuse to lose,” Minnesota’s head coach said Monday at Big Ten media days at the Chicago Marriott Downtown. “… There’s a major difference between those two things.”
Those four losses were by an average of 7.7 points, a number inflated by losing a 17-16 lead in the final two minutes of a 31-17 defeat to Purdue and were a bit misleading after falling behind 23-6 to then-No. 21 Michigan State in the third quarter before staking a late comeback in a 30-27 loss to the Spartans.
But by the end of Fleck’s first season, those fissures split open during two glaring defeats by a combined 70-0 to Northwestern and Wisconsin. The team finished 5-7 overall, 2-7 in the Big Ten.
“We had enough (players) that said, ‘OK, well, maybe I’ve had three coaches in five years and it’s been a long road and it’s getting really hard and, man, maybe I got something down the road,’ ” Fleck said. “There wasn’t just this … connectivity of this team that you could never pull apart.”
https://www.twincities.com/2018/07/...-football-seeks-new-refuse-to-lose-mentality/
Go Gophers!!