Gophers coach P.J. Fleck works to refocus his dejected team for the Wisconsin game

[BleedGopher]

per Randy:

With his football team's hopes of finally beating a bitter rival first gaining hope and then disappearing like a cloud of breath on a frigid fall night, P.J. Fleck acknowledged that the Gophers' 13-10 loss to Iowa on Saturday took a heavy emotional toll on his team.

"There wasn't a dry eye in that locker room,'' the coach said.

So, Fleck's task Sunday was to get his players to quickly bury the disappointment. That couldn't have been easy after the Gophers had two promising fourth-quarter possessions end with a lost fumble inside the Iowa 10-yard line and an interception at the Hawkeyes 25 that led to the visitors' winning field goal in the final minute.

"You move on as fast as you can, and that's what we did yesterday,'' Fleck said Monday. "We brought them in, spent five minutes in a team meeting [on Iowa] and moved right on to Wisconsin. That's what we needed to do as fast as possible.''

Gophers coach P.J. Fleck works to refocus his dejected team for the Wisconsin game

Fleck said, "There wasn't a dry eye in that locker room," following Saturday's 13-10 loss to Iowa, which knocked Minnesota from the Big Ten West race.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[1983]

Dejection should turn to focus and some anger. This is a game that we could embarrass the Badgers ....if we get angry. Not a great matchup for them.

 

[Grant]

It will be an impressive coaching feat if PJ has the boys ready on Saturday. Wisconsin is certainly beatable. But brutal game for us to bounce back from.

 

[Gold Rush]

Dejection should turn to focus and some anger. This is a game that we could embarrass the Badgers ....if we get angry. Not a great matchup for them.

you have got to put a game like that out of your system as fast as possible or Iowa beats you AGAIN the next week, too. Wisconsin is a team we should beat and hopefully the Gophers come out with guns a blazing and not still dejected and down from the last game.

 

[MNVCGUY]

It will be an impressive coaching feat if PJ has the boys ready on Saturday. Wisconsin is certainly beatable. But brutal game for us to bounce back from.

I actually think it helps to have a different big rivalry game to focus on. If we were playing a team like Northwestern I could see the Iowa loss lingering but it won't be hard to get their attention for the Wisconsin game. Especially since we have the Axe and nobody associated with our program wants to watch those aholes run over and take it back.

 

[Go Gophs]

Must win game IMO. Not for anything else other than Mo deserves it. He deserved that Iowa game also.
Jam a ball into tight coverage on the only pass play we ever run - dumb. Leave the middle of the field wide open for the tight end when he was the only threat they've had all game - dumb. I feel so bad for Mo. Just a bruiser all heart carries the team every game.

 

[BilldGopher]

I guess we dejected fans are on our own...

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

I guess we dejected fans are on our own...

View attachment 22012

Would you want to comfort some of the folks in here?

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

I heard a lot of pundits say that Dallas being embarrassed by Green Bay contributed to them firing on all cylinders and blowing out the Vikings (I think the Vikings wetting the bed had something to do with it too). Hopefully we rebound like Dallas did.

 

[GopherTakes]

Dejection should turn to focus and some anger. This is a game that we could embarrass the Badgers ....if we get angry. Not a great matchup for them.

I would love nothing more, as an angry fan right now, than to watch our team play angry and destroy the Badgers. Would help repair part of the season...

 

[Gophergrandpa]

you have got to put a game like that out of your system as fast as possible or Iowa beats you AGAIN the next week, too. Wisconsin is a team we should beat and hopefully the Gophers come out with guns a blazing and not still dejected and down from the last game.

We typically let Iowa score first. No exception last Saturday. Iowa, the visiting team, up 10-0 after the first two series. Iowa didn't score again until 40 seconds left in the game. Between those two bookends, we boxed Iowa's ears offensive and defensively, but Iowa brutally won the game of field position, which was huge, and with the burden on us to score, we yielded key turnovers. If we open the Wisconsin down 10-0, I suspect we will lose. Our defense often has trouble early, until we adjust to what the opponent is attacking. Solution to not falling behind early? Have our offense score early as well, keeping up with the opponent. Maybe don't start off doing exactly what the Badgers will expect? Iowa is masterful at grabbing a quick lead in road games (against us, anyway). Might be worth copying.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Dejected?

If I was the coach, and my team was dejected after a game like that, I would be upset.

I don't want them dejected, I want them p*ssed off. I want them boiling mad.

and then, I (as the coach) would do my best to channel that anger, and get the team laser-focused on beating Wisconsin.

I don't want guys going "woe is me."

I want guys going "I'm gonna rip Bucky's f-ing throat out and stomp on his corpse!"

I want them going after Wisconsin the way the Punisher goes after a mob boss. with lethal intent.

arrrgh.

 

[60's Guy]

Dejected?

If I was the coach, and my team was dejected after a game like that, I would be upset.

I don't want them dejected, I want them p*ssed off. I want them boiling mad.

and then, I (as the coach) would do my best to channel that anger, and get the team laser-focused on beating Wisconsin.

I don't want guys going "woe is me."

I want guys going "I'm gonna rip Bucky's f-ing throat out and stomp on his corpse!"

I want them going after Wisconsin the way the Punisher goes after a mob boss. with lethal intent.

arrrgh.

Disagree…it has to be important to you to cry and be devastated by a loss.
Anger is not productive. Resolve, determination, working even harder so you never feel like this again is productive. Reaching inside through the pain asking yourself “What can I do better? How can I better prepare for Wisconsin? I gotta make sure Mo, AK8, the guy who dropped the INT etc all know I love them and I promise we’ll beat Wisconsin if we all start right now in our focus on changing our best.

What you don’t want is to come into a locker room after a loss like that and the music is blaring and guys are laughing because they already have moved on.

We’ll play well at Wisconsin.