A culmination of poor play, execution, discipline, etc would most definitely point to overlooking an opponent, yes. Lack of focus for the team as a whole.
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UpAndUnder43
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Ahh yes. The team party at the hotel Friday night got out of hand. The “partied too hard” and “hungover” takes are hilarious because people think the players are just hanging out at home on Friday nights.
NoelarBear
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Two of my six questions to the Illinois reporter was about injuries. Hopeing he will give us some clarity when he responds.
MNVCGUY
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You are so hung up on this idea of them overlooking Purdue. So in your mind what happened in the week leading up to the Purdue game? Were meetings cancelled in order to give the guys more time to read press clippings about themselves? Were film sessions skipped, since you know, why bother it is just a Big Ten team we are playing? Maybe the coaches decided not to spend hours breaking down the film since we had it in the bag. Probably played dodge ball instead of practicing because again....we can overlook a team like Purdue. I mean with that bye week coming up you know the players were looking ahead to the next weekend, planning their parties and figuring out what they were going to do with whatever free time they were given.
You can play poorly without overlooking an opponent....this really shouldn't be that hard of a concept. Purdue played well, we didn't and we lost.
My guess. The boys had some beers, chased women around, stayed up late some, etc. Press was all over pumping them up. Have you been to a campus on homecoming week ever? Hey, I could be wrong for sure. They could have just played bad because... whatever the reason.
I told you it doesn't really matter. Re-focus this week and beat Illinois. I'm sure the coaching staff beat it into their heads this week along with plenty of conditioning.
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mnsportsgeek
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I don’t think that it has to be that blatant. It can be as benign as a handful of people on the team thinking that since they blasted MSU that Purdue is going to be no problem. It doesn’t have to impact the physical preparation, but it can have a negative psychological impact.
You’re right that a team can absolutely play poorly without overlooking an opponent. You also can and blame it on playing poorly. At the end of the day nobody is going to know.
The argument is fruitless, but I think the concern can be warranted given what we all witnessed. To simply dismiss it as a bad day at the office is something I hope the coaching staff didn’t do.
Governor Sibley
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So is DeVito playing or not
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Is it your contention they didn't do any of that before Michigan State or any other game?
Is it possible that Purdue is just better than we all thought?
Bob_Loblaw
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You do have a knack for stating your opinion like it's fact.
Really good teams (with amazing coaches) look past opponents. Nick Saban (pretty decent coach) is always EXTREMELY concerned about this. Why would he? He's a great coach and his program is great.
It's almost like he realizes that his team is full of 18-22 year old humans who occasionally make human mistakes.
Bob_Loblaw
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Nope. Mistakes were also made in execution. Maybe it was a lack of focus, maybe it just a mistake.
However, I think Purdue taking the opening kickoff and running the ball down our throats with a mediocre true FR RB and a former walk on was because we came out extremely flat. They absolutely bullied us on their opening drive.
Bob_Loblaw
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Not to answer for him but the press clippings were very different after the Michigan State game.
GoldenUMNGopher
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Lol, are you new to message boards? Pretty much anyone on here
Saying they didn’t take us serious is about the biggest insult you can give someone
Bob_Loblaw
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Of course you just ignore my entire argument and argue with a point I never made (oddly enough you're arguing with the OPPOSITE of a point I never made).
I didn't say they didn't take us seriously. That's the opposite of the argument you are trying to pretend I'm making. Of course they took us seriously, the came out fired up and ran the ball down our throats. They took us seriously.
I'm not even saying we didn't take them seriously. I'm saying we came out flat and it wouldn't be shocking if that had something to do with all of the praise we had received that week because it's human nature. It's human nature to think you're better than you are when things are going well. Nick Saban fights against it constantly, yet it deeply insults you to think it might happen to other teams. It happens to every team.
Then why are you so offended by me saying that would be a major insult to the team?
GophersInIowa
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They stay at a hotel the night before, even when it's a home game.
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Why did they come out flat? The team knew that Ibrahim wasn't gonna play. If Fleck was being literal, they didn't decide to bench him until right before the game.
The team, if not the general public, knew the drop-off from Ibrahim to Potts and Williams.
That seems far more reasonable than the team was focused on Rose Bowl or playoffs or that they got full of beer and chased around.
The team, if not the general public, knew the drop-off from Ibrahim to Potts and Williams.
That seems far more reasonable than the team was focused on Rose Bowl or playoffs or that they got full of beer and chased around.
Gophergrandpa
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We have to be mentally and game-plan prepared to play Illinois with DeVito, Williams and Chase Brown all on the field in Illinois' opening drive. I think we will. Can't let Illinois get up early.
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I think one thing getting a little twisted is just how good DeVito is. He is significantly better than Sitkowski but the Illinois passing game isn't exactly lighting things up even with him back there.
This will be an interesting game because our teams are carbon copies of each other in a lot of ways on offense and defense. A hard fought, close, low scoring game would not surprise me one bit....which probably means it will be a shootout.
I dont disagree but I also dont buy that the only time they went out and partied was after MSU. That is just convenient BS fans use to try and find logic and patterns where they don't exist.
To me that tells me more about the fan. They underestimated Purdue so when the Gophers lost the only possible explanation is "The Gophers read their press clippings" or "took Purdue lightly". It never enters the conversation that maybe Purdue was better than their record or just matched up better with us than normal. So what if they barely lost to Penn State earlier this year we obviously should have throttled them because...reasons.
We will never know, but I highly doubt the team lost because they got too big for their britches. A lot of the team was around in 2019 the last time we were on the national radar it isn't like they are Illinois who hasn't been ranked in over a decade.
They should be insulted. BIG TIME. And I'm sure that Fleck and the rest let them know that.
Losing to that Purdue team at home simply because you aren't ready to play is a big kick in the head to a team that was looking like a real contender for a Rose Bowl of CFP spot. It was embarrassing and should be as a team.
Purdue isn't Ohio State bud. They just aren't. In fact, they could barely move the ball against us all game, yet our offense could do zero.
Got it. So you don’t think the team prepared correctly and gave appropriate effort this week due to thinking Purdue would roll over
That’s fine that you think that
You are right on the money here. Losing to a team less talented than you at almost every position at home on your homecoming. Call it looking past, call it hungover, call it not executing, call it whatever you want.
You want to be a BIG TIME program, you flat out don't lose that game or play the way you did.
I'll let everyone say Purdue is this juggernaut but we all know they are very average just like Wisconsin and Iowa are this year as well.
Who disagrees with any of what you said here?
Yes, I do think that.
Had they came out and executed, they win that game by 3 scores. That wasn't Ohio State we were playing. They are the same 7-5, 8-4 type team that half of the teams in our division this year are.
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Someone please define what "overlooking an opponent" is.
This whole concept at it's basic level is almost preposterous.
The idea PJ would allow it to happen if this was in some way measurable, is even more ridiculous.
Newsflash for some of you might be that the other team is also trying to win and stop you from winning.
This whole concept at it's basic level is almost preposterous.
The idea PJ would allow it to happen if this was in some way measurable, is even more ridiculous.
Newsflash for some of you might be that the other team is also trying to win and stop you from winning.