Most disappointing season in my time being a fan

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I think what MRJ is getting at is this:

If you're winning, the slogans are acceptable. But, if you're losing and you keep throwing out the slogans, it just sounds dumb. You can talk if you win - but when you lose, tone down the rhetoric.

Now to be clear - I am talking about public statements. what Fleck says in the locker room or on a recruiting visit, that's his business. but the public statements are out in the public for everyone to hear.

It suggests - to me - a lack of self-awareness.
 

I think what MRJ is getting at is this:

If you're winning, the slogans are acceptable. But, if you're losing and you keep throwing out the slogans, it just sounds dumb. You can talk if you win - but when you lose, tone down the rhetoric.

Now to be clear - I am talking about public statements. what Fleck says in the locker room or on a recruiting visit, that's his business. but the public statements are out in the public for everyone to hear.

It suggests - to me - a lack of self-awareness.
Your opinion seems to be shared by many Minnesotans, so it's not unreasonable at all. Still, to me it doesn't suggest a lack of self-awareness, but rather a commitment to a philosophy of leadership and team-building that includes not only the team and coaches, but the fans as well. I've been to multiple away games at which a "ROW" chant broke out. Even more importantly, "Row the boat", "keep your oar in the water," "FAMILY," etc aren't "slogans" to Fleck -- they're philosophies of life. You don't just scrap your life philosophy when things get tough...you actually focus on them even more.
 

Jesus, you’re still going to be upset by a coach using a slogan.
Sigh


I honestly feel bad for those who actively get upset by the coach saying things like “change your best”

It has no impact on me. I do find the sadness of some other a little comedic though
I'm not. I pointed out a fact and opinion you actually agreed with and are now apparently having a hissy fit over it. At this point, you're providing me with plenty of comic relief with your whining about an agreed upon point of view. But you do you.
 

I think what MRJ is getting at is this:

If you're winning, the slogans are acceptable. But, if you're losing and you keep throwing out the slogans, it just sounds dumb. You can talk if you win - but when you lose, tone down the rhetoric.

Now to be clear - I am talking about public statements. what Fleck says in the locker room or on a recruiting visit, that's his business. but the public statements are out in the public for everyone to hear.

It suggests - to me - a lack of self-awareness.
Exactly. Thank you. Apparently, it's just too much for some to grasp (or accept).
 

I can't believe nobody commented on the fact that the OP has a wife and girlfriends (plural) 😲and still has time to watch the gophs lol.

BTW, I can't disagree with the OP.
Well he's got those 3 extra hours to fill on Sunday by not watching the Vikings
 


I have been a Gopher fan since 1991, as you can probably guess. I have seen a lot of horrible teams, heartbreaking comebacks by our opponents, and roadblocks every time we seem to take a step forward. When I became a Gopher fan, I never dreamed we would have the facilities we have now - imagine Mason being able to show off the facilities without having to compete with the monster truck show? And that is what makes it kinda heartbreaking for me - I have seen 1 year wonders after 1 year wonders hit highs all around the country - look at Iowa State for instance.

I always keep praying for that one breakthrough year and we kinda had that in 2019 despite dropping games to our rivals. In that season, all the stars aligned as far as schedule and talent were concerned. I just don't see that happening again in my lifetime. I feel like some of the old timers when I first started posting her complaining about not having a Rose Bowl in 40 years...I know feel confident that I will not see a Rose Bowl in my first 40 years either - if ever. And that, my friends, is a sad realization. I mean - we can't get up to the level of a Northwestern or Illinois or Purdue and get at least 1 Rose Bowl in the last 30 years?
 

Well he's got those 3 extra hours to fill on Sunday by not watching the Vikings
When I was younger working in a restaurant, I once saw a guy show up the same day with two different dates. This would be an efficient way to spend those three hours on Sunday, just stay at the same table and have the babes come in at staggered times.
 

Exactly. Win and folks will come. Bottom line. But slogans won't sell the public without wins to back it up.
All the momentum and excitement in the pre season died after the BG game.

Then we had the turd vs Illinois at home.
Then giving away the Iowa game.

Fan and student interest for next year will be a tough sell for Coyle/Fleck, imo.

The U will revert back to ridiculous promotions to get people to go to games next season.

The excitement and good will from 2019 has been choked away in less than 2 years.
 

I’ll wait to listen to what Ben Leber on Kfan has to say when he is on 3 of the 4 shows that Kfan runs from 5 A.M til 6 P.M.
 



A veteran QB two years removed from one of, if not the best, season a Gopher QB has had in the last 50 years. The most experienced O-line we will likely ever have. A veteran D-Line going 8 deep. Talented transfers at WR and LB positions and what looks to be a future game-changer at CB. One of the best RBs we’ve had, with a ton of depth behind him where we can send in highly recruited players when he goes down.



Additionally, we dodge Michigan, PSU, MSU and play OSU the best time to play them – first game of the year and the first start for their QB. Also down years for our biggest rivals – we play Iowa while they have a QB making his first start ever, Wisky is experiencing in-season transfers and some QB issues, and Nebraska is a hot mess. NW is one of their down swings. Everything is set up for us to win the West.



We also have a coach who I believe wants to be here. He cares about the school, community, and our traditions. This isn’t Mason, who never really wanted to be here, and it showed when it came to his recruiting, his indifference towards the “trinket” games (his words, not mine), or the other teams fans tearing down our goalposts. To his credit, our coach has raised expectations and allowed us to get our hopes up about the Gophers in ways many of us haven’t done before.



Then we lose at home to 31 and 14.5 underdogs. We also refuse to win a game Iowa begs us to take.

Why? Not because we aren’t talented. Not because we are playing in an off-campus stadium devoid of any excitement. Rather our coach is maddeningly conservative and simply refuses to learn from previous gaffes.



The biggest game in his coaching career, with a chance to make a statement against WI, and he chooses to punt on 4th and 2 from the WI 37. He watches WI convert multiple 4th downs and go on to win the game. Did he learn from that? We have not had a lead against Iowa for 250+ consecutive minutes. We have a chance to break that streak early in the game on a 4th and goal from the 2. We elect to kick a FG to tie the game 3-3. Later, Iowa goes for it on 4-1 in their territory to extend a drive and kill more clock.



In a game against Maryland this year, we refuse to try to score a TD before the half and our coach admits to playing for a FG. He uses the same strategy against Iowa and those four points change the game. He admits in his post-game presser he was afraid of taking a sack and making it a longer FG attempt. Mind you, we were at the IA 15. A sack still leaves us well within FG range. The 32-yard drive took over 4 minutes before the half expired.



Against Bowling Green our best WR goes out of the game early, and our coach decides to “really simplify the game plan , really quick”, as if the difference in talent between the worst team in the MAC and the Gophers comes down to that one player.



While losing in the fourth quarter, we continue to bleed the clock to the point where we get a delay of game penalty. On 3rd and 2. On a must-have two-point conversion, we call a pass to a receiver short of the end-zone, giving us three trips into the red zone and a two-point attempt where we fail to even try to throw into the end zone. We consistently refuse to catch or field punts or return kickoffs, again fitting into an overall conservative mindset that permeates everything we do.



Even more maddening is this isn’t who our coach appears to be outside of gameday. He is energetic, creative, and isn’t afraid to put himself out there. Coming up with Row the Boat opens himself up to all kinds of criticism and pot-shots, but he isn’t afraid and steers into it.



Everything is there, with the exception of the easiest thing to have: the most basic in-game decision making. Problem is, it doesn’t appear as though it is ever going to change. PJ talks about his ACT score of 18, and how, while one of his players is going to be an actuary, he doesn’t know what an actuary is, or how another is planning to specialize in a specific branch of medicine, and he has no idea what it is and barely got by biology. I believe him. I have watched him refuse to learn lessons over and over and over again.



My wife, friends, girlfriends, regulars at the bar, etc. don’t want to hear me talk about this irrelevant team anymore. That leaves me with this message board and the fact I feel compelled to type this has me thinking I need to divest my investment in Gopher football. I did the same with the Vikings after 2009 and I am a free man at 4:00 EST today. I have already cancelled the family trip to Bloomington next week and am no longer holding off on travel plans to see where the team might be playing a bowl game. I am afraid we may have reached our ceiling with PJ. Bielema or Ferentz would have won these past two games with either team. It doesn’t appear having more talent and catching some luck (we caught some of that yesterday) is enough to overcome the decisions and mindset and nothing is going to change our coach’s ways. I have tickets for the WI game. Give me more proof you have taken us as far as you are capable of and I’ll have to find an EPL team to go in on. Soccer looks fun – well at least watching the game at the bar on Saturday morning looks fun.
WHEW -- I can not disagree with ANY of your points - your frustrations echo mine. This season could still be salvaged though and if they were to win out and finish 9-4, I would still call that a fairly successful year. I think you and others are losing confidence in Fleck and his staff and I get that. I really wish they hadn't signed him to the extension right before the 2 losses - that was poor timing.

MY most disappointing Gopher year was 1982. I was a freshman and had season tickets. Ray Christensen said before the season "My prediction is 8-3 with Ho hen see." Gophers were led by a very promising QB Mike Hohensee and had a great RB named Tony Hunter who could fly. They won their first 3 games beating Ohio U 57-3, beat Purdue 36-10, then drilled Washington St. 41-11. This got them a #19 rating. We were really looking good!! But then unfortunately in the next game a harmless little swing pass against Illinois turned into about an 80 yard TD pass and then the wheels fell off the cart. I have never seen so many injuries to one team - ever. And as they added up, so did the losses. Each week gave new hope to winning -- but they would lose their last 8 and end up 3-8.

I did not get seasons tickets the next year -- the debacle of 1983 -- because I knew what was coming. But 1982 really was a tough one to take. Mike Hohensee is still one of my all time favorite Gopher QB's though!
 






If you look at where our defense is it might be that far off.
I think what you're trying to say is because the defense is better than expected its not far off from the most disappointing season ever. Ok, I agree the defense has been way better than I or many thought.

So, I'll rephrase. The season as a whole is not the most disappointing I can remember but it certainly is one of the more disappointing offensive seasons considering who we were bringing back at the start of the year.
 

I think what you're trying to say is because the defense is better than expected its not far off from the most disappointing season ever. Ok, I agree the defense has been way better than I or many thought.

So, I'll rephrase. The season as a whole is not the most disappointing I can remember but it certainly is one of the more disappointing offensive seasons considering who we were bringing back at the start of the year.
In context, since the Ohio State game, we haven't played a potent offense. Maryland had just lost their two best receivers when we played them and Nebraska has a very erratic QB. Purdue game might have been a challenge if not for the crappy weather.

The defense has improved from the start of the season as guys get more snaps, tho.

When you look at the four key elements of a team, Coaching/Offense/ST/Defense, defense is definitely the bright spot in an otherwise dismal season.
 

I'm confused by your statement.

What I am saying is if you knew the defense would be as good as it is before the season this may actually be one of the more disappointing seasons. This offense has been very disappointing overall.
 

What I am saying is if you knew the defense would be as good as it is before the season this may actually be one of the more disappointing seasons. This offense has been very disappointing overall.
Gotcha.

Offense looked good vs OSU, and got scaled down to conservative style real fast.
 


Some of you haven't been fans very long if this is the most disappointing season of gopher football you can remember.
Disappointment is a function of expectation.

I didn’t have a ton of expectations while we were playing in the dome - none of those teams were picked to do much and our coach didn’t want to be here. Brewster quickly tempered my expectations. I saw Kill as nothing more than the Mason years. Things looked different this year.

Expectations vs. results this year are the widest gap in my time being a fan.

Making things worse, it is not like our performance is due to things outside of our control. With the exception of Mo and Trey we’ve been relatively healthy. We are not scheduled against stacked juggernauts. We haven’t been hosed be the refs.

We have simply played for field goals or simplified the game plan against teams like Bowling Green. Our coach has literally admitted to those things.
 

Gotcha.

Offense looked good vs OSU, and got scaled down to conservative style real fast.
We played tOSU at the opportune time with them breaking in all the true freshmen/RS freshmen. It was the perfect scenario for an upset by the Gophs.

We have a pretty good idea what would happen if we played them today.

This season can still be salvaged if they win the next two games. Stranger things have happened.
 

We played tOSU at the opportune time with them breaking in all the true freshmen/RS freshmen. It was the perfect scenario for an upset by the Gophs.

We have a pretty good idea what would happen if we played them today.

This season can still be salvaged if they win the next two games. Stranger things have happened.
I can’t consider this season salvageable. Take out the losses to 31 and 14.5 point underdogs and play to win against Iowa and we have one loss right now, looking to smoke IU, and looking at another Game Day game as our top 6? Gophers play Wisky.

That is what could have been. We are talented and have the support and caught enough brakes for that.

In fact, I’ll note we were beating OSU in the third and then they started picking on our third string safety with Howden and Dixon hurt.
 

In context, since the Ohio State game, we haven't played a potent offense. Maryland had just lost their two best receivers when we played them and Nebraska has a very erratic QB. Purdue game might have been a challenge if not for the crappy weather.
I hear this a lot about the Gophers, from Minnesotans and other teams' fans. "Minnesota won because they other team had guys out or a bad QB." Nobody has ever cared when the Gophers have key players injured. Ever. We don't get an asterisk next to our record for losing because we were missing guys, so why do we need one when we win? Plus, I seem to recall us losing this Mohamed guy in the first game. That's part of the game.

Maybe the other team has an inferior QB, or their OL "isn't as good as usual" or "this is a down year for them." Okay, aren't those reasons we're better than them? Can we still count those wins?

This was a disappointing season, but this isn't Jim Wacker's Gophers out there. In Minnesota, we don't make excuses for losing, we offer excuses for winning.
 

Disappointment is a function of expectation.

I didn’t have a ton of expectations while we were playing in the dome - none of those teams were picked to do much and our coach didn’t want to be here. Brewster quickly tempered my expectations. I saw Kill as nothing more than the Mason years. Things looked different this year.

Expectations vs. results this year are the widest gap in my time being a fan.

Making things worse, it is not like our performance is due to things outside of our control. With the exception of Mo and Trey we’ve been relatively healthy. We are not scheduled against stacked juggernauts. We haven’t been hosed be the refs.

We have simply played for field goals or simplified the game plan against teams like Bowling Green. Our coach has literally admitted to those things.
I don't know I guess maybe my expectations just weren't as high then. I saw a team last year that wasn't very good and we had Ohio St on the schedule. I was hoping we could maybe win the west like I do most years and am certainly disappointed if they don't, but I didn't think we'd be 11-1 or 10-2 heading into a bowl game.

I'm not being an apologist...this season has been subpar for sure. My point is just that I've definitely felt worse than this after 10 games.
 

So, my perspective is a little different. I didn't get really into sports and become a full time fan until about 2007-2008.

With that in mind, the seasons that are disappointments to me are 2010 and 2015.

The 2010 campaign was a coach in his fourth year, with his recruits in place, and a veteran quarterback. There was a feeling it should have been somewhat of a breakthrough, put up or shut up season. Ended up being the latter.

The 2015 season, meanwhile, had so much momentum going into it, even with the Citrus Bowl loss. Having Calhoun, Murray and Campbell on that defense plus an experienced offensive line, it was set up for a really great season. Then it kind of went off the rails.

Both of those seasons were frustrating and probably the most disappointing, but the way this season is going, it could challenge for the top spot.

I can't call it the most disappointing, yet, though, since there's still a chance the Gophers win out, finish 9-4 and go into the offseason with the Axe. That would make losses to Bowling Green and Illinois easier to swallow.

If the team falls apart in these last weeks, though, those two games are going to be highlighted a lot more and the whole season will feel like a major missed opportunity. Some leniency can be given for losing Mo and Trey, but even with that, there were winnable games this year that the Gophers haven't capitalized on them.
 

I don't know I guess maybe my expectations just weren't as high then. I saw a team last year that wasn't very good and we had Ohio St on the schedule. I was hoping we could maybe win the west like I do most years and am certainly disappointed if they don't, but I didn't think we'd be 11-1 or 10-2 heading into a bowl game.

I'm not being an apologist...this season has been subpar for sure. My point is just that I've definitely felt worse than this after 10 games.
We should have one loss this year up to now. And that one loss was to OSU. We were leading in the third quarter until injuries in our defensive backfield had us playing people who I do not think have played since.

But you are right, we didn’t prove to be very good last year. I likely wrote it off to quickly/easily due to Covid. Wish I didn’t.
 
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Gopher fans can look at this from another angle... In five years, four if you bought the Year Zero crap, PJF has one signature win in his time as head football coach at Minnesota.

Fans thought/hoped 2019 was the beginning of relevance. Instead, it turned out to be another kick in the nuts as our hopes were raised only to be lowered again.

BTW: Trophy case still looks empty.
 

Gopher fans can look at this from another angle... In five years, four if you bought the Year Zero crap, PJF has one signature win in his time as head football coach at Minnesota.

Fans thought/hoped 2019 was the beginning of relevance. Instead, it turned out to be another kick in the nuts as our hopes were raised only to be lowered again.

BTW: Trophy case still looks empty.
Well, not entirely
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I have been a Gopher fan since 1991, as you can probably guess. I have seen a lot of horrible teams, heartbreaking comebacks by our opponents, and roadblocks every time we seem to take a step forward. When I became a Gopher fan, I never dreamed we would have the facilities we have now - imagine Mason being able to show off the facilities without having to compete with the monster truck show? And that is what makes it kinda heartbreaking for me - I have seen 1 year wonders after 1 year wonders hit highs all around the country - look at Iowa State for instance.

I always keep praying for that one breakthrough year and we kinda had that in 2019 despite dropping games to our rivals. In that season, all the stars aligned as far as schedule and talent were concerned. I just don't see that happening again in my lifetime. I feel like some of the old timers when I first started posting her complaining about not having a Rose Bowl in 40 years...I know feel confident that I will not see a Rose Bowl in my first 40 years either - if ever. And that, my friends, is a sad realization. I mean - we can't get up to the level of a Northwestern or Illinois or Purdue and get at least 1 Rose Bowl in the last 30 years?
This. I have shelves of Gopher gear and not one bleeping FB conference/division champion tshirt in the pile because they never win the frickin’ conference. Year 31 of regular season tickets on top of years of student season tickets (they didn’t call us super seniors back then). Pretty sure I’m done banging my head on the wall. This was a winnable year. On paper - looked more winnable than next year. Where’s the Tylenol.
 

I get it but much of the frustration is allowing comparison of rival schools success. Sit back and enjoy MN football - there were lifelong cub who never saw the mtn top and those fans died at age 90.
 


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