BleedGopher
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per Rittenberg:
It has been 78 years since Minnesota football last started a season this well.
At 8-0, the 17th-ranked Golden Gophers are off to their best start since that 1941 season, when they won a national title. They're 5-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 1961, and hold a two-game lead in the West Division. If No. 1 LSU vs. No. 2 Alabama weren't also happening this Saturday, Minnesota's game against No. 4 Penn State (noon ET on ABC), would top the Week 11 marquee. It's still Minnesota's most anticipated home contest in decades.
Before the recent surge, Minnesota's national relevance had been limited to P.J. Fleck, its 38-year-old spark plug coach -- and owner of a new seven-year contract -- and the messaging that covers every corner of his program. Most college football fans know Fleck and "Row the Boat," the program's ubiquitous motto. There's probably less knowledge of "The Dig" (experiencing the grind of the first 18-20 months in Fleck's program) or Nekton mentality -- that players should model their way of thinking after those aquatic creatures that move independently of the currents.
Is it necessary? When a program that last won a league title in 1967 finally looks like a contender, should the focus be anywhere else but between the lines? On this point, Fleck and his players are emphatic: The football and the messaging don't diverge, even when there's finally reason to take notice of the former.
"Everything's connected," Fleck recently told ESPN. "How we live our life is going to be how we play. It sounds like a lot of slogans and all this other stuff. It's really not. It's very well connected, it's very organized, it's a very detailed culture, there's a standard, and that standard can't be compromised in any area of your life."
https://www.espn.com/college-footba...-using-batting-doughnuts-dig-nekton-mentality
Go Gophers!!
It has been 78 years since Minnesota football last started a season this well.
At 8-0, the 17th-ranked Golden Gophers are off to their best start since that 1941 season, when they won a national title. They're 5-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 1961, and hold a two-game lead in the West Division. If No. 1 LSU vs. No. 2 Alabama weren't also happening this Saturday, Minnesota's game against No. 4 Penn State (noon ET on ABC), would top the Week 11 marquee. It's still Minnesota's most anticipated home contest in decades.
Before the recent surge, Minnesota's national relevance had been limited to P.J. Fleck, its 38-year-old spark plug coach -- and owner of a new seven-year contract -- and the messaging that covers every corner of his program. Most college football fans know Fleck and "Row the Boat," the program's ubiquitous motto. There's probably less knowledge of "The Dig" (experiencing the grind of the first 18-20 months in Fleck's program) or Nekton mentality -- that players should model their way of thinking after those aquatic creatures that move independently of the currents.
Is it necessary? When a program that last won a league title in 1967 finally looks like a contender, should the focus be anywhere else but between the lines? On this point, Fleck and his players are emphatic: The football and the messaging don't diverge, even when there's finally reason to take notice of the former.
"Everything's connected," Fleck recently told ESPN. "How we live our life is going to be how we play. It sounds like a lot of slogans and all this other stuff. It's really not. It's very well connected, it's very organized, it's a very detailed culture, there's a standard, and that standard can't be compromised in any area of your life."
https://www.espn.com/college-footba...-using-batting-doughnuts-dig-nekton-mentality
Go Gophers!!