Happy Five, Upset Five Fanbases: Week 1 (Upset: Minnesota; "This game showed us zero imagination and risk from the Gophers")

[Gophergrandpa]

Iowa wins with even worse offense. And you nailed it with the special teams as a reason. Yes they have a better defense, but we’ve had mostly good defense over the last few years too. They seem to make way more plays on special teams than we do.

Football is a three-legged stool. PJ's play-it-safe strategy essentially saws off the special team leg and saws the offensive leg in half. For some reason, he lets the defensive leg play fully, creatively and disruptively.

 

[caliGopher]

in another reality, I'd like to see the Gophers use the next two games as glorified practices. just go out there and work on stuff. throw the ball 35+ times a game. try different formations, different routes. use every healthy player on the team and give them snaps to evaluate how they perform in game conditions. mix it up. put stuff on tape that Iowa has to prepare for.

in the reality we exist in, Fleck will go out there and do the absolute minimum needed to win the game with the least risk possible. and then declare that the team made great strides forward.

et sic ad infinitum

That is expecting a lot. I'm hoping on 3rd and 7 from the 10, we leave Jackson n the game so the other team might hazard a guess we'd maybe throw the ball.

baby steps.