In hindsight, this outcome is not that surprising. This is Mark Gronowski's sixth year as a starting college QB.

[SeaBee_Gopher]

If intelligent posts are something that you actively seek out from this place, I’ll save you some time and recommend that you just place me on ignore now.

Haha! If you put up with my posts, I'll put up with yours.

 

[TwistingMyMelon]

This year:
Gophers not good at stopping the run. Iowa is run heavy. Favors Iowa.
Gophers not good at running. Iowa is good against the pass. Favors Iowa.

Actually, by a key measure - yards per carry, this is the best rushing defense of Fleck's tenure here. The Gophers are giving up only 3.3 yards per carry this season. Iowa's rushing game didn't really kill us; they had 133 rushing yards and averaged 3.7 yards per carry. Their season average is 4.8 yards per carry. Purdue was the team that really gashed us on the ground - 253 yards and 6.3 yards per carry.

Unfortunately, the second statement is correct. This is the worst Gopher rushing team of Fleck's tenure - 3.6 yards per carry for the season. Three opponents this season (Rutgers, Purdue, and Iowa) held them to under two yards per carry. Last year's team was almost as bad - 3.7 yards per carry average for the season.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

I truly believe its the Assistant Pool of $$$ holding us back and getting guys to stay and wanting to stay here as Assistants.

It certainly wouldn't hurt for Peej to redo his contract for a mil less per season so we'd have more money for OC and DC.

I still think his schtick limits the amount of talent we can bring in though. No way in heck would I ever play for a "rah rah" coach with all the crap you have to do outside of practice. Just gimme and X's and O's coach who doesn't care what I do outside of football.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

Iowa's rushing game didn't really kill us; they had 133 rushing yards and averaged 3.7 yards per carry.

Two things:

1) Could they have killed us if needed? Like, if the game was closer and we just had a big momentum score, could Iowa have just marched down the field and scored on us rushing the ball?

2) Kinda tied in with #1, but can we stop the run when needed? If not, I don't really care if we held them to under their season average.

 

[TwistingMyMelon]

Two things:

1) Could they have killed us if needed? Like, if the game was closer and we just had a big momentum score, could Iowa have just marched down the field and scored on us rushing the ball?

2) Kinda tied in with #1, but can we stop the run when needed? If not, I don't really care if we held them to under their season average.

Two things:

1) I don't know. I don't concern myself with "what ifs."

2) Data isn't available for "did we do _____ when needed?" I don't evaluate a team based on particular incidents during a season.

 

[swede2]

Ferentz is in year 27 and has two 8-0 marks and one 7-1 mark. No season ended in less than 2 losses. I'd take that over the next 18 years of Fleck.

One thing I took away from Saturday and traditionally at Iowa. They have a system and they recruit to the system. Every position group looks the same. They have the same build and skills. They might be one of the best at doing this. They now seem to have a vision for QB as well.

Ferentz has 6 seasons of 3 or fewer losses in 25 season excluding COVID
Fleck has 1 in 7 seasons excluding COVID.

I truly believe its the Assistant Pool of $$$ holding us back and getting guys to stay and wanting to stay here as Assistants.

It certainly wouldn't hurt for Peej to redo his contract for a mil less per season so we'd have more money for OC and DC.

I still think his schtick limits the amount of talent we can bring in though. No way in heck would I ever play for a "rah rah" coach with all the crap you have to do outside of practice. Just gimme and X's and O's coach who doesn't care what I do outside of football.

I've said before that while Fleck's schtick drives me nuts, I'm all for it if the players buy in to it, and it seems that at the very least, his players do buy in. But while Fleck has put a few more guys in the NFL and is recruiting Minnesota better, I haven't seen a marked improvement in overall recruiting and the on field results have plateaued.

I think where the Fleck schtick might be more problematic is with the assistant coaches. I have a hard time believing that most football coach types buy into the oily sloganeering and everything else. What's more, if memory serves me correctly, Fleck himself has never been a coordinator. Has he ever called plays on either side of the ball? Does he give his coordinators autonomy? Or does he hobble them with his playing not to lose mentality or does he let the coordinators take long chances when long chances are called for? If I'm a coordinator, I think I'd find Fleck's on-field coaching style stifling and if I have any kind of success here, I'm leaving for a lateral job, even if it is Rutgers. Money talks and might help attract and retain decent assistants but ultimately, the assistants need to be given the ability to do the job their boss never held.

 

[Xerxes_]

It all starts in the trenches. Iowa owns us on both sides. No excuse for yesterday's performance.

And Iowa's best guy on the OL missed most of the game.

 

[SeaBee_Gopher]

You say we will be better next year.

Please explain this.

1) We have a relatively young team especially when you look at our best players. None are really good enough to be a threat to go pro early though so should be back. They should be improved since they are only 20-year olds. The only threat to leave early is Anthony Smith and even he has been up-and-down. He could opt to come back, get another paycheck, and improve his draft stock. Darius Taylor is no threat to leave early anymore and even A.J. Turner will be back from injury to add RB depth.

2) The portal also doesn't seem like that much of a threat. Our best players are good, but not all world. Even Drake Lindsey has fallen back to earth. I wonder what Drake would look like in his sixth year as a starter? Anyway, I think it's unlikely we get outbid for them. Of course, we could still have an Ohio State or Oregon sneak in and steal a guy, but it seems unlikely.

3) Hopefully, PJ and the coaching improves. PJ is still relatively young so can and should get better and so are his assistants. I'm 52 and still getting better at what I do. PJ should be learning something every time Iowa kicks our a%$! They should also be motivated. With all the money now in the B1G, a coach does not have a long leash. If he goes on a prolonged losing streak, there are a line of up-and-comers ready to take his place. Plus, I don't think we need to worry anymore about someone "stealing" PJ or our other coaches this off season. We haven't played well enough anywhere to warrant that. We should have improved continuity. We've had a lot of turnover on our staff vs. a team like Iowa for example.

4) The above three are likely, this one less so. Let's hope we have a better year in the portal and with new recruits filling some holes. We did this better in 2024 than 2025. I'm assuming 2025 was just a poor year for this and 2026 is better. I'd love us to flip Pierce Petersohn from Penn State now that they are going through turmoil. That means we'd sweep all four 4-stars from Minnesota in 2026. He's 6' 5" and an excellent all around athlete. We can use more of those!

Overall, I think it's likely our depth of talent is better next year and we improve with increased continuity. If not, PJ's job will be at risk.

Also, keep in mind, we can still close out this year with three more wins - Michigan St, Northwestern and Wisconsin. None are gimmies, but none should look like Iowa either. An 8-4 year will help dull the pain of the Iowa loss. And maybe Iowa losses three out of their next four and we prove to be Iowa's version of our Nebraska game this year, their apex before the fall!

 

[Gophergrandpa]

Getting beaten handily by Iowa wouldn't be surprising. Getting blown out 41-3 like we're playing an Ohio State team stacked with top end talent though? We should expect better than that at this point in Fleck's tenure.

I expected to lose in a close or at least contested game, Gronowski probably being the difference. But Gronowski didn't make three interceptions of Drake, one a 1st Q back-breaking pick six; Gronowski didn't waltz in literally untouched for a punt return TD, ending the game right there, crushing the Gophers' spirit with 3/4 of the game still on the clock; Gronowski didn't hold the Gophers to 24 yards rushing (most of them in garbage time); Gronowski didn't sack Drake 4 times and pressure him all night. The Gophers 3rd string QB would easily have won this game for Iowa, because we were beaten so soundly in all phases, including most importantly COACHING. IMHO, Iowa beat us much worse than Ohio State did, when you look at how thoroughly Iowa dominated us in all phases for all 60 minutes.

Iowa plays all three phases of the game aggressively and relentlessly. PJ it appears doesn't think that you can use STs for offensive advantage, so he kind of soft pedals it. But, if you soft pedal the offensive side of STs, his do you practice for defending against a group of high-speed ST commandos like Iowa has? Iowa also finds punters who can flip the filed with distance, something PJ truly seems not to value.

On defense, Iowa prepares to mercilessly attack your bread and butter plays and your obvious tendencies. So, our offensive plan is to go with our bread and butter plays and obvious tendencies, rather than game plan something (counters, fakes, etc.) that would perhaps expose Iowa for overcommitting to the "obvious" call. Conversely, the Gophers on defense over-commit to fakes, for instance allowing Gronowski--who should have been spied--to virtually walk in for a TD after a fake hand-off.

The Gophers absolutely have the talent to play heads up with Iowa. But, frankly, Iowa coaches do a much better job of coaching up all three legs of the stool, especially special teams, and do a better job of tailoring their defense to hammer and exploit non-creative, unimaginative offensive play calling. And to top it off, Kirk appears to have a hex on PJ that PJ can't seem to shake; a hex that, IMHO, trickles down to adversely affect the teams' mindset and confidence. As the PJ hex worsens, recent Iowa games seem to start with Iowa taking the field looking and feeling like confident bully boys, and the Gophs looking (and perhaps feeling) like those expecting to be successfully bullied.

This loss is on the Gophers team, of course--Iowa is a better team. But the humiliating fashion of this extraordinary and virtually uncontested loss is, I feel, squarely on the coaches. Improved Iowa game prep isn't about more rah-rah and encouragement and "firing up" by the coaches; it is about better and more imaginative game planning (Iowa does have weaknesses) and a better approach to all three phases of the game. This is what gives the players confidence and strength as the game battle progresses. We need Coordinators that are playing chess, not checkers. And, so long as PJ treats special teams as a bothersome afterthought--making our preparation to defend STs suspect, as well--Iowa will enter every game with the Gophers holding an automatic1/3 advantage.

Beat MSU, of course, and we're back on track! Go Gophers.

 

[SeaBee_Gopher]

Two things:

1) I don't know. I don't concern myself with "what ifs."

2) Data isn't available for "did we do _____ when needed?" I don't evaluate a team based on particular incidents during a season.

Actually, by a key measure - yards per carry, this is the best rushing defense of Fleck's tenure here. The Gophers are giving up only 3.3 yards per carry this season. Iowa's rushing game didn't really kill us; they had 133 rushing yards and averaged 3.7 yards per carry. Their season average is 4.8 yards per carry. Purdue was the team that really gashed us on the ground - 253 yards and 6.3 yards per carry.

Unfortunately, the second statement is correct. This is the worst Gopher rushing team of Fleck's tenure - 3.6 yards per carry for the season. Three opponents this season (Rutgers, Purdue, and Iowa) held them to under two yards per carry. Last year's team was almost as bad - 3.7 yards per carry average for the season.

I'm not so sure that 3.7 yards is legit. Iowa was basically trying to run out the clock the whole second half and ran a very vanilla offense vs. the first half. They did what PJ does with a 10 point lead, but they had a 30 point lead. They wanted to run the ball, we knew they wanted to run the ball, and they ran the ball anyway because they had such a large lead. At least we could stop the run when they were only playing at 80% capacity, but that's only a minor consolation.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

Two things:

1) I don't know. I don't concern myself with "what ifs."

2) Data isn't available for "did we do _____ when needed?" I don't evaluate a team based on particular incidents during a season.

Apparently I offended you.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

I've said before that while Fleck's schtick drives me nuts, I'm all for it if the players buy in to it, and it seems that at the very least, his players do buy in.

True, but what about the ones that we miss on because they don't buy in? For example, before Drake Lindsey was committed, didn't we have a QB from Georgia as our commit? And didn't he decommit pretty quickly? Probably didn't wanna adhere to PJ's stupid rules.

But while Fleck has put a few more guys in the NFL and is recruiting Minnesota better, I haven't seen a marked improvement in overall recruiting and the on field results have plateaued.

Yeah, I think being a new entry into a power conference 9 years ago brought excitement and hope, and that's probably how we got Big Dan and Bateman, etc. Now that has all worn off and people know the ceiling again.

I think where the Fleck schtick might be more problematic is with the assistant coaches. I have a hard time believing that most football coach types buy into the oily sloganeering and everything else. What's more, if memory serves me correctly, Fleck himself has never been a coordinator. Has he ever called plays on either side of the ball? Does he give his coordinators autonomy? Or does he hobble them with his playing not to lose mentality or does he let the coordinators take long chances when long chances are called for? If I'm a coordinator, I think I'd find Fleck's on-field coaching style stifling and if I have any kind of success here, I'm leaving for a lateral job, even if it is Rutgers. Money talks and might help attract and retain decent assistants but ultimately, the assistants need to be given the ability to do the job their boss never held.

This is a great analysis. I don't think he was a coordinator. And you're probably right that most other candidates for OC and DC aren't gonna be interested in sloganeering. You mentioned one going to Rutgers, but Heatherman to Miami is even worse, considering how lost we are on D this year.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

1) We have a relatively young team especially when you look at our best players. None are really good enough to be a threat to go pro early though so should be back. They should be improved since they are only 20-year olds. The only threat to leave early is Anthony Smith and even he has been up-and-down. He could opt to come back, get another paycheck, and improve his draft stock. Darius Taylor is no threat to leave early anymore and even A.J. Turner will be back from injury to add RB depth.

Aren't other teams' players going to improve too? And Anthony Smith could opt to get another paycheck somewhere else. D. Taylor is relatively worthless in terms of helping us be better - you just can't rely on him.

2) The portal also doesn't seem like that much of a threat. Our best players are good, but not all world. Even Drake Lindsey has fallen back to earth. I wonder what Drake would look like in his sixth year as a starter? Anyway, I think it's unlikely we get outbid for them. Of course, we could still have an Ohio State or Oregon sneak in and steal a guy, but it seems unlikely.

I don't think it's unlikely at all the someone comes after Drake and Koi. I could even see K. Brown, if people look at the tape from last season when we had a better coordinator and Dline. Karmo could be poached off potential alone. But even losing just our 2 safeties would be a nightmare, and it could happen.

3) Hopefully, PJ and the coaching improves.

If you have to use the word "hopefully" when trying to explain why we'll be better, then you're just grasping now.

4) The above three are likely, this one less so. Let's hope we have a better year in the portal and with new recruits filling some holes. We did this better in 2024 than 2025. I'm assuming 2025 was just a poor year for this and 2026 is better. I'd love us to flip Pierce Petersohn from Penn State now that they are going through turmoil. That means we'd sweep all four 4-stars from Minnesota in 2026. He's 6' 5" and an excellent all around athlete. We can use more of those!

Again, and I'm not trying to trash you, but "hope" and "assuming" aren't good reasons to think we'll be better next year.

We had a good team last year, lost players to the NFL, and we did poorly in the portal. Now we have a crap team and so why would we get better portal players? Now the players on defense will know that if they come to MN their coordinator will stink, last year they didn't know. Net negative.

I think we'll be worse next year and look like WI this year.

 

[SeaBee_Gopher]

Aren't other teams' players going to improve too? And Anthony Smith could opt to get another paycheck somewhere else. D. Taylor is relatively worthless in terms of helping us be better - you just can't rely on him.



I don't think it's unlikely at all the someone comes after Drake and Koi. I could even see K. Brown, if people look at the tape from last season when we had a better coordinator and Dline. Karmo could be poached off potential alone. But even losing just our 2 safeties would be a nightmare, and it could happen.



If you have to use the word "hopefully" when trying to explain why we'll be better, then you're just grasping now.



Again, and I'm not trying to trash you, but "hope" and "assuming" aren't good reasons to think we'll be better next year.

We had a good team last year, lost players to the NFL, and we did poorly in the portal. Now we have a crap team and so why would we get better portal players? Now the players on defense will know that if they come to MN their coordinator will stink, last year they didn't know. Net negative.

I think we'll be worse next year and look like WI this year.

I think our team is younger than most with our best players, but I'll admit I'm too lazy to research it. Part of my point is that we aren't that good so less players will be poached to go up a level (pro or better teams) and so they'll stay here and improve. We can only wait and see. I also thought we could be better this year than last if our QB worked out and was wrong.

You could be right. I just think your take is glass 1/2 empty and mine is 1/2 full.