Michigan State football opponents: Minnesota looks to spark offense to match stingy defense

[BleedGopher]

per Matt:

Opponent overview:

Fleck is coming off his third bowl victory in five seasons at Minnesota and despite the 9-4 record, said he “failed” as a coach last year. That assessment was based mostly on an inconsistent offense and he hopes a change in coordinator pays off this fall.

There are also significant defensive adjustments to make for a group that was one of the stingiest in the nation last season. Minnesota lost starting ends Boye Mafe and Esezi Otomewo, who combined for 10 sacks last season, to the NFL draft, and linebacker and leading tackler Jack Gibbens is also gone. Additionally, Fleck lost a pair of defensive assistants as Joe Harasymiak (safeties) is now the defensive coordinator at Rutgers and Chad Wilt (defensive line) is the defensive coordinator at Indiana.

Starting linebacker Mariano Sori-Marin returns after posting 85 tackles, an interception and two forced fumbles last season. Safety Tyler Nubin is back after leading the team with three interceptions. Cornerbacks coach Paul Haynes, who was an assistant at Michigan State from 2018-19, had co-defensive coordinator added to his title in the offseason. Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Joe Rossi received a contract extension and raise in December to keep him with the team through 2023.

Minnesota’s first trip to Spartan Stadium in nine years will also be its first road game of the season. The Golden Gophers begin with nonconference home games against New Mexico State, Western Illinois and Colorado before the Big Ten opener against Michigan State, which will be coming off a road trip to Washington the previous week.

Michigan State football opponents: Minnesota looks to spark offense to match stingy defense

Coach P.J. Fleck had a top-10 defense last season but the passing attack struggled, leading to a change at offensive coordinator.

www.mlive.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[short ornery norwegian]

First trip to MSU in 9 years. I hope the bus driver has GPS. Won't be anyone on the staff that remembers how to get there.

 

[bamor5229]

First trip to MSU in 9 years. I hope the bus driver has GPS. Won't be anyone on the staff that remembers how to get there.

With all the NIL money floating around, I don't think the team wants to be driving to MSU. Time to up our game.

 

[Some guy]

Michigan state is an interesting team to me. They were 10-2 last year


Best win was a great win against Michigan.
Second best win was against a QB-less Pitt team.
Third best win was 7-5 penn state?
Got beat by 49 by Ohio state.
Lost to Purdue.
Avoided top 3 teams in the west.

The data makes me think they were a flash in the pan and they’re more of a 7-5 type team than a 10-2 type team this year.

Especially when I consider Mel Tucker’s record before last year was 7-12. Not consistent enough for me to bet on yet.
I see them going 7-5 or 6-6 against a tougher schedule next year. Maryland was their 5th toughest game last year. @Maryland is going to be their 7th or 8th toughest game this year in my estimation.


Transfers aren’t bad. But hard to have the right chemistry every year with so many transfers.