Gophers simulate Michigan State's noise to prepare for Saturday's showdown

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per Randy:

The Gophers will play their first road game of the season Saturday at Michigan State, and coach P.J. Fleck wants to make sure his players' eyes and ears are prepared for it.

"If you would have come to practice today, you'd be sitting here exhausted, ready to drink a few beers, just to settle down,'' Fleck joked on his KFXN-FM radio show. "It was one of the most chaotic practices — organized chaos. The sights, the sounds, everything was going on to create distractions. [It was] loud as can be. They've got to perform under that type of pressure.''

The Gophers already have high-tempo practices with music blaring throughout. This week, Fleck has turned the volume dial to 11 with some Spartans-specific noise.

"We've got a lot of respect for Michigan State, their tradition, their fans and the environment they create,'' Fleck added. "We do everything we can to simulate the sights and sounds they'll hear — whether it's Michigan State's fight song, whether it's boos, whether it's … different Spartan-type clips from the movie '300' that are coming over the speaker.''

Quarterback Tanner Morgan, who'll be barking out the signals for the Gophers amid the din of 75,000 at Spartan Stadium, believes the simulation helps his team.

"It definitely gets you prepared. It is very loud,'' he said. "And you have to be super locked into the details of what period it is, what's going on. You have to over-communicate like crazy.''

Fleck knows his players will hear what's said and yelled from the Spartans fans, but he doesn't want them to listen to it.

www.startribune.com

Gophers simulate Michigan State's noise to prepare for Saturday's showdown

Coach P.J. Fleck is taking the football team on its first road trip of the season, heading to an extremely loud venue at Spartan Stadium.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
 

Do MSU fans have a "reputation"?
 

Whatever Fleck has been doing to get the team ready for road games has been working. We have been a very very good road team under Fleck. Great thing about having lots of experienced guys on offense is that they are unlikely to get rattled easily as they have played in tough road environments before.
 

Gophers go in there and play the way we’re playing, we win double digits and MS isn’t even in conversation. I feel confident we lead from start to finish.
 



MNVCGUY said:
Whatever Fleck has been doing to get the team ready for road games has been working. We have been a very very good road team under Fleck. Great thing about having lots of experienced guys on offense is that they are unlikely to get rattled easily as they have played in tough road environments before.
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I’m not sure I completely agree with this. I’m not saying they aren’t good on the road, but I just don’t think we have the evidence out there that says they are “very very good”. Sure, no road game in the B1G is a gimme, but I don’t think Fleck has really been tested on the road very much.

I can only really think of one road game with a “big game” atmosphere under Fleck, and that’s the loss in Iowa in 2019. He’s only played in Wisconsin with fans once (and did win) but that Wisconsin team was pretty mediocre and Camp Randall was nowhere near its peak atmosphere. Went to Nebraska in 2018 and gave them their first win of the season. Lost at Ohio State (understandable of course).

This season will really indicate how good Fleck’s team can be on the road. This weekend will be a big atmosphere, the whiteout will be huge, and the Axe game could be a West decider.
 

fair said:
I’m not sure I completely agree with this. I’m not saying they aren’t good on the road, but I just don’t think we have the evidence out there that says they are “very very good”. Sure, no road game in the B1G is a gimme, but I don’t think Fleck has really been tested on the road very much.

I can only really think of one road game with a “big game” atmosphere under Fleck, and that’s the loss in Iowa in 2019. He’s only played in Wisconsin with fans once (and did win) but that Wisconsin team was pretty mediocre and Camp Randall was nowhere near its peak atmosphere. Went to Nebraska in 2018 and gave them their first win of the season. Lost at Ohio State (understandable of course).

This season will really indicate how good Fleck’s team can be on the road. This weekend will be a big atmosphere, the whiteout will be huge, and the Axe game could be a West decider.
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Since 2019 the Gophers are 10-3 on the road. If you include 2017 and 2018 they are 12-12 (that was a quick check by me on the internet so hopefully I didn't miss something).
 





Word said:
Since 2019 the Gophers are 10-3 on the road. If you include 2017 and 2018 they are 12-12 (that was a quick check by me on the internet so hopefully I didn't miss something).
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No doubt they’ve done well with the schedule they’ve had since 2019. (I’m also not really counting 2020). Just don’t think any of those road games have been tough enough to say they’re a “very good” road team yet.
 

fair said:
No doubt they’ve done well with the schedule they’ve had since 2019. (I’m also not really counting 2020). Just don’t think any of those road games have been tough enough to say they’re a “very good” road team yet.
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agree to disagree. When you go 8-2 on the road (both loses at Iowa by a combined total of 9 points) in the last 2 full seasons with fans in the stands (2019, 2021) you are a very good road team. If you want to put a lot of qualifiers on it feel free but I don't think the MSU environment is going to throw anything at our players they haven't seen before.
 

@MSU, Nebraska, Penn State, wisconsin - it's shaping up to be a loud away season for the Gophers. Other than @ iowa 2021 the Gophers haven't been in a "hostile" environment since 2019. There will be more of these the better the team does.

Good to practice these situations now.
 

MNVCGUY said:
agree to disagree. When you go 8-2 on the road (both loses at Iowa by a combined total of 9 points) in the last 2 full seasons with fans in the stands (2019, 2021) you are a very good road team. If you want to put a lot of qualifiers on it feel free but I don't think the MSU environment is going to throw anything at our players they haven't seen before.
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I think the thing that is holding me back is that those two losses were arguably the “biggest” road games of that stretch. Then again, that might be more of an Iowa thing than a road thing. Nonetheless, I have no reason not to be optimistic about this week and the other road games this season :)
 




Word said:
Since 2019 the Gophers are 10-3 on the road. If you include 2017 and 2018 they are 12-12 (that was a quick check by me on the internet so hopefully I didn't miss something).
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And have lost those by a combined 12 points if my math is right.
 

Be up 14-0 after 1 and the team won't have to deal with much noise.
 





btn.com

Spartan Stadium Scoreboards do not disappoint - Big Ten Network

There's been a lot of talk about the new scoreboards at Spartan Stadium. The BTN team got a first-hand look at the new additions Wednesday as our annual summer football tour hit East Lansing, and the massive displays did not disappoint. Let's just say Michigan State fans won't have any trouble...
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New video and audio this year...should be near 75,000 capacity...2:30 start
 



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