Pioneer Press: Gophers coach P.J. Fleck: Fresno State is like “a Big Ten opponent”

[BleedGopher]

per Greder:

The Gophers have two more nonconference games before Big Ten play officially begins at the end of September.

But Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said Saturday night’s game against Fresno State at TCF Bank Stadium will feel like a 10th league game.

The Gophers were slim two-point favorite over the Bulldogs on Monday.

“I think it’s a Big Ten opponent,” Fleck said Monday. “Absolutely, which is a compliment to them. They remind me of when we were in the last few years at Western Michigan. We felt like we were that caliber. You can see it all over the field for them. They play with an extreme confidence.”

https://www.twincities.com/2018/09/...leck-fresno-state-is-like-a-big-ten-opponent/

Go Gophers!!

 

[Gophers_4life]

Gonna be a tough game. Hope it's a fun game! I'll take a close game, regardless of the outcome. Would show that the Gophers are focused, and mature in preparation for a tough opponent. Hope home field advantage is good for at least one lucky bounce.

With the way Fresno and Maryland looked in week 1, those two games over the next 3 weekends, could possibly determine if the Gophers go bowling this year.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Oh man some folks are going to be upset about this but I don't think he is far off as far as an early season challenge goes. Most "rank everyone" polls had Fresno ahead of us, for good reason.

 

[PMWinSTP]

Gonna be a tough game. Hope it's a fun game! I'll take a close game, regardless of the outcome. Would show that the Gophers are focused, and mature in preparation for a tough opponent. Hope home field advantage is good for at least one lucky bounce.

With the way Fresno and Maryland looked in week 1, those two games over the next 3 weekends, could possibly determine if the Gophers go bowling this year.

As others have posted, it's hard to draw anything concrete from Fresno's win against an very bad FCS opponent. IMO, Maryland did not look much different than last year, same for TX..miffed as to why they were even ranked preseason.

 

[Iceland12]

per Greder:

The Gophers have two more nonconference games before Big Ten play officially begins at the end of September.

But Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said Saturday night’s game against Fresno State at TCF Bank Stadium will feel like a 10th league game.

The Gophers were slim two-point favorite over the Bulldogs on Monday.

“I think it’s a Big Ten opponent,” Fleck said Monday. “Absolutely, which is a compliment to them. They remind me of when we were in the last few years at Western Michigan. We felt like we were that caliber. You can see it all over the field for them. They play with an extreme confidence.”

https://www.twincities.com/2018/09/...leck-fresno-state-is-like-a-big-ten-opponent/

Go Gophers!!

Shouldn't be anything controversial there. Fresno State finished 2017 at 10-4 and last week they hammered a badly over-matched Idaho team. The Gophers last Thursday hammered an over-matched NMSU team. The Gophers are a Big Ten team. One that went 2-7 in Conference last season. One of 4 teams that won 2 games or less in Conference play.

The Sportsbooks, where people study and make their living on such things, are saying there is about a 2 to 2 and a half point difference between the teams.

So yeah, playing Fresno State will be a lot more like playing Indiana, Illinois or Rutgers than playing NMSU or Idaho.

Again, that shouldn't be very controversial.