Fleck Postgame: “Everything that possibly could go wrong, went wrong. That falls on the head football coach”

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Roland Brooks
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Monday at 12:05 PM
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#45
I smell a “ This One Is On Me” quote coming…

24-20 Cal….

Pisses me off to be correct… 3rd and 7 handoff sums it up..
 

When Fleck says “it falls on me” it really does feel empty doesn’t it? I think a lot of us like the direction the program is heading from a development and overall talent standpoint but games like last night are the type where you wonder whether Fleck can really graduate from being a 7-8 win ceiling coach. Which hey, we would have taken years ago but that’s not what he was hired to be.

In these 50-50 games, you feel like the staff is waiting for the other team to throw the first punch. A lot of people will focus on the 3rd and 7 but when you have the superior talent which I believe the Gophers do over Cal, you have to send a message early to their team and their fans. Cal came out aggressive from the start and it set a tone for the game, Gophers never matched that energy and they have another year where they drop one they shouldn’t.

I’m at a point where I’m feeling anything beyond 7 wins is a great season under PJ. This is who he is so expectations should reflect that.
 




proudgopher said:
I'd afraid we're just not as good as many of thought we were.
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Most prognosticators predict this team for 6-7 wins

I personally thought the floor was 6 and the ceiling was 10
I now think the floor is 6 and the ceiling is 9

We are exactly as good as people thought we were.
We are going to play close games against teams and if we win them it could be a great season. If we don’t it will be a frustrating season.
Not much separates 6 from 16 in the big ten.
 

proudgopher said:
I'd afraid we're just not as good as many of thought we were.
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I think we are good and a lot of this is on the coaches.

Also Cal has a f stud at QB. Barring injury that kid is a long time NFL starter, bank it.
 
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Ultra conservative to begin the year ends up causing losses....or much tighter games against decent but less talented teams. It's not a feature. It's a reoccurring bug with the Fleck tenure. The team will improve as the year goes on.....we'll win enough games to make a ho-hum bowl game against a mediocre team.....we'll extend the bowl winning streak and have some confidence rolling into next year.

In 2026.....rinse and repeat. Just skating by, doing the minimum necessary to stay in middle.
 



Roland Brooks said:
Roland Brooks
Well-known member
Monday at 12:05 PM
Add bookmark
#45
I smell a “ This One Is On Me” quote coming…

24-20 Cal….

Pisses me off to be correct… 3rd and 7 handoff sums it up..
Click to expand...
And nothing could have made you happier.

Your shoulder doing ok after all that patting yourself on the back?
 


This one felt like the road game loss to N. Carolina. Missed field goal and mistakes let a nice winnable game slip away. Cal’s QB is a good player, but this seems like poor prep, slow to adjust, mistakes and turnovers that couldn’t be overcome.
 

goldenboy said:
This one felt like the road game loss to N. Carolina. Missed field goal and mistakes let a nice winnable game slip away. Cal’s QB is a good player, but this seems like poor prep, slow to adjust, mistakes and turnovers that couldn’t be overcome.
Click to expand...

You mean the UNC loss this past year? A couple years back, UNC was probably the better team, at least at that point in the year. But the home game against them last year was more coaching malpractice. I'm not sure it has anything to do with "prep" perse. It's chickenshit coaching philosophy.

Once again....we have a weapon at quarterback....and instead of slinging the ball and trying to pick up big chunks of yardage (like winning teams do)....Fleck and company insist on grinding out four yards per carry. You can't score on a consistent basis (against decent teams) if you need three plays to move the sticks, all the way down the field. One blown up play can completely destroy a drive. It leaves no room for error.

Playing it safe. Hovering in mediocrity. Participation trophy bowl game. It's better than being in the basement.....but it's sad that Fleck has erected a ceiling for this program because it helps keep himself dry.
 


Let's face it, Fleck is a good recruiter and motivator, but not good at X's and O's and adjustments, decision making. As someone said on here, and as I've said before, he needs to rely on good coordinators. He doesn't have a "killer" instinct, and is too stubborn to change his way of thinking. I was excited after the Kill era, because if there was one thing I didn't like about Jerry Kill's coaching was that he was too conservative. Well, Fleck is exactly the same. The best coaches are not the ones that play for a tie. It's the ones that aren't afraid to take chance and go for the win, or the throat when winning.

Last night, while we were behind by 3 and just got within field goal distance, I knew Fleck was just going be conservative and play for the field goal. I wrote in the game thread that knowing Fleck, he was gonna just play it safe and just go for the field goal. Of course the other coaching staff can read him like a book too, so they stacked the box all night on first and second, and of course Fleck runs right into them. 4 yard loss.... 50+ field goal miss.

Yes, the program is in a better spot. Yes, I do like how Fleck has carries this program. But we have to come to the realization that this is as good as we'll ever be. 9 wins and a bowl game is our ceiling. Lindsey is great, and will play in the NFL and be a high pick... but even if we had Cal's QB, our outcome would still be the same... We'd lose, because of Fleck's conservative nature to an opponent that has similar talent and good coaching.

People seem to think that football is just based off of players executing or not. It's so much more than that. There is a real chess game between the coaching staffs. I don't know the stats, but I feel like Lindsey had to carry the coaching staff out of 3rd and long holes almost 10+ times. How good are the player's chances of "executing" if they're running against stacked boxes and we run right into them? Even the INT, yes it was a bad throw, not sure if it was a miscommunication or not, but even that was on 3rd and long. If it's 3rd and long, if I'm the defender, i'm waiting to break on one every single time! Especially with a redshirt freshman. So it almost felt like Fleck and his coaching staff don't even trust Lindsey, so they keep forcing the run against 8 or 9 in the box on first and second down. But time and time again Lindsey, although only in his 3rd college start ever, kept making perfect throws to dig us out.

TLDR:

Fleck is a coward, needs good coordinators, this is our ceiling (unless he changes, but I doubt it), it's not about executing, and Lindsey is good, real good.
 

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