Post Game Thread: Gophers Get Crushed by Michigan

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Great Plains Gopher said:
Get used to it. With four powerhouse teams coming in to our "conference" from the Pac-12, the Gophers, like most B10 teams are going to have tough sledding.
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100% correct. I am fearful that not only is any dream of winning a division gone - will the Gophers ever crack the Top 25 again? With the added talented team, I don't see us pulling a string of victories long enough even to accomplish that during the season. It is a sad state of affairs and I have has enough of Fleck at this point.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
Get used to it. With four powerhouse teams coming in to our "conference" from the Pac-12, the Gophers, like most B10 teams are going to have tough sledding. With NIL and the transfer lunacy, the elite will dominate and PJ, over 7 years, hasn't recruited at the level that would make the Gophers competitive even in the disappearing West division.
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Yup, was saying this exact point when we lost to NW and when we barely win against a high school team Louisiana Lafayette.

Goofers will be on a downward spiral for the next decade. Ain’t no one will donate millions to this program with PJ at the helm.

This entire RTB culture / mantra is just corny.

MN will be at the bottom of B1G
 

Mrs. Billd is not excited about our new PAC breathren. We have our hands full with the Michigans, Iowa, and even Wisconsins to be now facing these teams.

No data yet so I'll hold off judgment till 5 years from now when we've had a home-away with all of them.
 

csom_1991 said:
We should have lost to Nebraska and we probably would if we played them again now. Our more accurate record is 2-4. This team is not a 'rebuilding year' - it is an utter disaster with literally nothing on the horizon to give me confidence in the next 2-3 years. We will be lucky to pull out 2 more wins this year if this is the effort by the coaches and players.
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You sound like some fans from the Covid year.
 

btowngopher said:
You sound like some fans from the Covid year.
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You sound like a guy that just awoke from a coma that started after the Auburn win. It is who and where we are now. Chance are, no bowl game and I don't see what would get us excited about next year. What changes next year whereby we should have a better team?
 


Future of gopher football looks bleak no matter who coaches because of the new BIG and the system overall (what a depressing thought that is). But this year should make it clear to Fleck that if he is going to survive, he needs to adapt on offense. Our passing game is and has been atrocious for several years. He’s recruited poorly at WR, he’s hired the wrong OCs on multiple occasions, and he’s put all his chips in the AK8 basket, which is proving to be a mistake. Fleck was able to avoid facing that music because of AA RBs (who he runs into the ground), but his future job security depends on doing whatever necessary to make our passing game at least average.

Rossi has plenty of problems himself this year, but I need to believe he can right the ship. Too much negativity already to add the D into this tonight.
 


I knew we weren't going to win this one, but i thought we'd be a bit more competitive. If we don't have the horses, you'd better have a great game plan, the lack of preparation is alarming. What's even more troubling is that PJ is a former WR, our WRs cannot gain separation and when they do, there is never any YAC, our guys just fall down. With the offense, we might as well go to the Wing-T and 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Recruiting is abysmal, we have no team speed and the business community refuses to contribute to NIL. I guess that sorry team in the other "bank" stadium is more important. With the B1G expanding, sadly there are going to be more games like this. PJ does great things in the community and gives back, but everything is going to fallback to wins and losses.
 

Michigan is going to win the national championship this year, they’re that good. But we still didn’t compete and the talent differential is startling. I knew we weren’t going to beat them, but I hoped we would give them a game.
 



DelawareGopher said:
Can we just fast forward to the super conference of the elite and be done with it? Programs like Minnesota, Mizzou, Arizona, West Virgina, Purdue, etc., are just never going to field a competitive team the way the game is heading.

I didn’t tune in tonight not because I was afraid of losing, but because I knew it’d be boring. Things are just going to get worse with the new additions. Good luck to any coach trying to recruit talent against Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, USC, and Oregon in the same conference.

We may as well welcome our status as win-padders so the above teams can make the playoffs year in and out.
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This is the truest post of the night.
 

csom_1991 said:
You sound like a guy that just awoke from a coma that started after the Auburn win. It is who and where we are now. Chance are, no bowl game and I don't see what would get us excited about next year. What changes next year whereby we should have a better team?
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Bowl game is still very much in play this year. As far as what changes next year? Who knows? Players change, coaches change, players improve.
 

Michigan is really really good. The only shot we had to compete in this game was to play a perfect game in all 3 phases and starting the game with a pick 6 two plays in was about the worst thing that could have happened.

Bye week comes at a perfect time, regroup, recover, evaluate and figure out how to attack the second half of the schedule. 5 of the remaining 6 games on the schedule are very winnable....if we play well.

Still possible to have a solid season but it has to start with Iowa in 2 weeks.
 

btowngopher said:
Bowl game is still very much in play this year. As far as what changes next year? Who knows? Players change, coaches change, players improve.
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Yeah, 6-6 is still a realistic possibility. I think winning the Iowa game is quite possible with their current QB. I’m a Fleck supporter, but I’m wondering if his Row the Boat mantra is still working with the players. If Coyle doesn’t have a feel for all this, he needs to.

If AK doesn’t really progress the rest of the year, should we declare an open competition for next year and give Drew Viotto a chance to win the job?
 




Rebuilding year. This team isn’t good right now, borderline bad outside of some individual bright spots.

Michigan is really good. Their defense in particular. That said, 169 yards of offense was the lowest allowed by Michigan all season. Our offense sucked. The second half was absolutely abysmal. The fourth quarter was aggravating AF. Give the backup some reps for cripes sake. Work on your team.

I’m still not ready to write off AK as his problems seem mostly between the ears and all the janky mechanics and bad decisions stem from that. Melting down versus a great defense isn’t unheard of. Maybe more games will help and he’ll get the rest of the season to show improvement. If there aren’t significant signs of lightbulbs going off soon going to have to move on though. As a CEO coach PJ seems like more of a relationships guy rather than a results guy so I don’t know if he has the heart or makeup to fire AK unless his hand is forced.

The defense had some moments but the tackling at times was weirdly bad. Bouncing off McCarthy, so on.

The officials should be fired. All of them. You suck. You are not good at your jobs. Do something else?

Kesich is money. An absolute joy to watch.

As a MN fan we need to temper expectations a little bit. Appreciate the small victories. Finish the season strong and this is all forgotten. Defeat Kirk. PJ has earned the spot and down years happen. If, for example, the team quits on him this year or next then a reassessment should happen.
 

DelawareGopher said:
Can we just fast forward to the super conference of the elite and be done with it? Programs like Minnesota, Mizzou, Arizona, West Virgina, Purdue, etc., are just never going to field a competitive team the way the game is heading.

I didn’t tune in tonight not because I was afraid of losing, but because I knew it’d be boring. Things are just going to get worse with the new additions. Good luck to any coach trying to recruit talent against Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, USC, and Oregon in the same conference.

We may as well welcome our status as win-padders so the above teams can make the playoffs year in and out.
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I didn't watch a second of it, either...recorded it in case a horrible case of diarrhea wiped out their starters and 2nd teamers.

For those fans that justified paying college athletes...when free tuition, room and board, meal plans, books and many other amenities not afforded to our paying students wasn't enough, you reap what you sow. Enjoy.

Outside of MLB, every professional league recognizes the absolute necessity to maintain financial equality and parity to keep the league solvent and fans engaged. Our "higher learning" system as a whole? Not so much.

Cash our B10 TV checks and funnel every penny of NIL money we have to our men's and women's hockey programs and focus on something we're good at. Nobody in MN is going to be watching our football and hoops teams in five (5) years anyways.
 

I knew we were going to lose by several touchdowns. I didn’t think it would be this bad. This leaves a sour taste in my mouth. This feels like a preview of the future big 18. We are adding 4 really strong programs and losing our geographic safety net with the other middling programs. Hard to get excited knowing this is our future. Develop players, lose them to the big boys and then gets our rear ends beat by these guys. I’d rather go to the lower fbs conference and have a chance to compete for something
 

DelawareGopher said:
Can we just fast forward to the super conference of the elite and be done with it? Programs like Minnesota, Mizzou, Arizona, West Virgina, Purdue, etc., are just never going to field a competitive team the way the game is heading.

I didn’t tune in tonight not because I was afraid of losing, but because I knew it’d be boring. Things are just going to get worse with the new additions. Good luck to any coach trying to recruit talent against Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, USC, and Oregon in the same conference.

We may as well welcome our status as win-padders so the above teams can make the playoffs year in and out.
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Relegation will solve this issue - we will be in BIG(b) and play the (b) teams of the other super conferences - beats the alternative
 
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Donovan said:
If AK doesn’t really progress the rest of the year, should we declare an open competition for next year and give Drew Viotto a chance to win the job?
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If AK8 doesn’t look noticeably better the rest of the year, they’re likely be transfer QB shopping in the offseason. He has been BAD and PJ is hopefully not stupid enough to risk his job by rolling him out there again next year (unless there is marked improvement).
 

Tough game. I believe after the 2019 Wisconsin loss, Fleck said the program was never going back (to mediocrity or worse). It doesn't feel that way this season.
 

DelawareGopher said:
Can we just fast forward to the super conference of the elite and be done with it? Programs like Minnesota, Mizzou, Arizona, West Virgina, Purdue, etc., are just never going to field a competitive team the way the game is heading.

I didn’t tune in tonight not because I was afraid of losing, but because I knew it’d be boring. Things are just going to get worse with the new additions. Good luck to any coach trying to recruit talent against Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, USC, and Oregon in the same conference.

We may as well welcome our status as win-padders so the above teams can make the playoffs year in and out.
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I think you are spot on. 16 team conferences are a really bad idea.
 

PJ was attempting to not lose badly, not necessarily trying to win. The uncreative, ultra-conservative offenses are really getting old.

That end of the first half was so epically stupid I don’t know what to say. The Gophers managed to back into a fantastic result, but not because of great coaching acumen.

I think this summed up the evening well: after the Gophers were down by a fair margin, they flipped the kick returners so Redding was the “up” man and Tyler was the deep returner. However, they kept on fair catching all the kickoffs. I don’t really have a problem with fair catches on KO’s, but why flip the returners, putting your more dynamic returner back there only to have him keep fair catching it?

Running game continues to be a bright spot. Passing game is laughably bad.
 

Just finished watching USC defeat Arizona in triple overtime. Just had a thought on the Arizona QB (Fifita), in that in his 2nd career start he threw 5 TDs against USC in a big game. Such a big difference when you see another QB with confidence in himself to make any throw. Before I hear that USC Def is nothing compared to Mich, that is true. However, right now do you think Athan could throw 5 TDs against anyone short of Div 2 team.
 

RoseGoldy said:
I knew we were going to lose by several touchdowns. I didn’t think it would be this bad. This leaves a sour taste in my mouth. This feels like a preview of the future big 18. We are adding 4 really strong programs and losing our geographic safety net with the other middling programs. Hard to get excited knowing this is our future. Develop players, lose them to the big boys and then gets our rear ends beat by these guys. I’d rather go to the lower fbs conference and have a chance to compete for something
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Pray tell what players has Minnesota lost to the bigs after developing them at Minnesota?
 

Laker said:
Pray tell what players has Minnesota lost to the bigs after developing them at Minnesota?
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Well, as a true freshman at Minnesota in 2021, Bucky Irving rushed 133 times for 699 yards and four touchdowns. Oregon saw his talent, so off to Oregon he went. They're not one of the elite, but much better than MN at this point, Kansas got transfer Austin Booker who has 4 sacks through 6 games with the Jayhawks.
 

99Gopher said:
Well, as a true freshman at Minnesota in 2021, Bucky Irving rushed 133 times for 699 yards and four touchdowns. Oregon saw his talent, so off to Oregon he went. They're not one of the elite, but much better than MN at this point, Kansas got transfer Austin Booker who has 4 sacks through 6 games with the Jayhawks.
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I certainly could be wrong, but I can’t imagine Kansas paid Booker a bunch of NIL to come there? I would guess he was unwilling to sit behind players. He knew he was better than I watch the kid play at three times this year and he’s really good.
 

Well, the sun came up this morning. And no.. things are not any better.
 

99Gopher said:
Just finished watching USC defeat Arizona in triple overtime. Just had a thought on the Arizona QB (Fifita), in that in his 2nd career start he threw 5 TDs against USC in a big game. Such a big difference when you see another QB with confidence in himself to make any throw. Before I hear that USC Def is nothing compared to Mich, that is true. However, right now do you think Athan could throw 5 TDs against anyone short of Div 2 team.
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Yeah but that’s the thing - the game we saw yesterday is baked into the marrow of this program. We have never had a replacement QB come in and look like a stud straight away. We can’t even get first-stringers that look like top-end B1G QBs. This is true for most other positions as well.

Duds like all the past disastrous losses, comebacks allowed, random dudes having career-games against us and then immediately returning to obscurity, upsets by opponents from lower-tiers with fewer resources, and just outright poundings are the core components of this programs identity.
 


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