Fleck now 22-20 vs Power 5 Teams

[Hates Monikers]

Bingo.

Why is it that we always say "good teams dominate the bad teams" as a knock on the Gophers when they play close to a team "beneath" them and then when they do dominate a "bad" team (one people seemed worried about just a couple of days ago) we still discount it because said team was bad. Why do half the fans in this state have to denigrate everything?

And it isn't just the Gophers, they do it with all the teams. If a team stinks for a couple years but is starting to look good then the fans yell "call me when you make the playoffs". Then the team makes the playoffs and the same fans yell "call me when they win a game/series". Then they do and it is "call me when they make the conference championship" and then they do and it is "well we won't win the title so none of it matters anyways". Minnesota fans have zero idea or want to actually enjoy anything they always have to find a way to make it be worse than it actually is.

This is correct. The number of teams that Gopher fans think are "bad" has grown -- because we've gotten better over the years. We now tend to expect wins over Purdue, Nebraska, Illinois and often Northwestern, because those teams are "bad." No, they're not bad, but we have grown and essentially passed them as a program, at least by a little bit. If we lose to teams like that, it's now a disappointment, because we tend to be better than them most years

As a Gopher fan for 50 years, believe me when I say it has not always been like this.

 

[MNVCGUY]

This is correct. The number of teams that Gopher fans think are "bad" has grown -- because we've gotten better over the years. We now tend to expect wins over Purdue, Nebraska, Illinois and often Northwestern, because those teams are "bad." No, they're not bad, but we have grown and essentially passed them as a program, at least by a little bit. If we lose to teams like that, it's now a disappointment, because we tend to be better than them most years

As a Gopher fan for 50 years, believe me when I say it has not always been like this.

Totally agree with your point and I would expand that list to include teams from the East as well. I think at this point most would view us as on equal footing with or better than:

Nebraska
Purdue
Northwestern
Illinois
Maryland
Rutgers
Indiana
Michigan State

As for the rest: Ohio State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Penn State and Michigan - the only team in that group that feels like it is playing on a nearly unobtainable level right now is Ohio State. We have had a lot of competitive games with the likes of Wisconsin, Iowa, Penn State and even Michigan. We are still on the losing side of most of those matchups as far as recent history is concerned but the talent gap feels a lot smaller than it used to be.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Fleck now 19-20 in conference play heading into the Illinois game.

Crazy stat that some may not realize is that Fleck is 23-9 (.719) since firing Robb Smith. Take out last year and he's 20-5 (.800) since that coaching change.

 

[Dano564]

Fleck now 19-20 in conference play heading into the Illinois game.

Crazy stat that some may not realize is that Fleck is 23-9 (.719) since firing Robb Smith. Take out last year and he's 20-5 (.800) since that coaching change.

Fleck is 19-9 against Power 5 teams since Robb Smith was fired.

Average score of 31-21.

 

[Dano564]

Since firing Robb Smith, PJ's losses:

2021 Bowling Green
2018 Northwestern (Big Ten West Champs. Ranked #19 End of Season)
2019 Wisconsin (Big Ten Champs 10-4 Ranked 13th End of season)
2019 Iowa (Finished 10-3 and ranked 18th end of season)
2020 Michigan (bad loss)
2020 Maryland (bad loss)
2020 Wisconsin (bad loss)
2020 Iowa (Ranked 16 end of season)
2021 Ohio State (Currently ranked)

From this sample size it looks like the COVID year was a mess and had an impact on how well the team played in games.

 

[Ope3]

To me the more impressive accomplishment than the beatdowns is that Fleck is racking up wins on the road vs P5 Teams. Saturday brings him up to 10.

2017 - Oregon St
2018 - Wisconsin
2019 - Purdue, Rutgers & Northwestern
2020 - Illinois & Nebraska
2021 - Colorado, Purdue & Northwestern

Plus a couple of Bowl wins (Ga Tech & Auburn), so kudos to Fleck and the program for that.