Reusse: After endless bravado, Fleck is like the rest of 'em, lowering expectations

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Pompous Elitist said:
How many times does it need to be said that the starter depends on the scheme and the coach? Claeys let Rhoda go, Fleck reeled Rhoda in and he may be a starter. Claeys was going to start Green this year, under Fleck he's third string at best. Claeys curiously took unimpressive JUCO QB instead of a much more productive player in Jordan Ta'amu (presumedly based on size /athleticism).

Claeys was great at defense, but they had a peculiar ideal for their QB position IMO, right or wrong. A new coach brings a different philosophy.
Click to expand...

I'm still thinking PJ went after Rhoda largely because at that moment we had almost no QBs..... Not sure anything I've seen from Rhoda makes me think in a new system a whole lot changes with him.

This discussion is getting pretty close to indicating that every croot is the same and you just need to find a coach / system to turn anyone into Johnny Football Jr....
 

El Amin Fan said:
Or what? Are we going to tar and feather him? Pitchforks outside Bierman?
Click to expand...

The GopherHolers who are demanding an 8 or 9 win season are pretty much the same Kaler and Coyle haters we have been hearing from since Claeys was fired. Like Reusse they want the Gophers to have a sh*tty season so they can continue their vendetta against them. They will never be happy with Gopher football again until Kaler and Coyle are gone. Since they are going to have a long wait that means they will be shoveling their bullcrap in GopherHole for many years to come. The Gophers schedule this year is going to be significantly more difficult with Michigan on the schedule and with most of the teams the Gophers beat last year having better and more experienced players.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I'm still thinking PJ went after Rhoda largely because at that moment we had almost no QBs..... Not sure anything I've seen from Rhoda makes me think in a new system a whole lot changes with him.

This discussion is getting pretty close to indicating that every croot is the same and you just need to find a coach / system to turn anyone into Johnny Football Jr....
Click to expand...

PJ wants more of a pure passer rather than brute strength. Look at the QBs he's recruiting and compare to Leidner, Green, McLaurin, Poljan. It's not difficult to see the philosophical sea change. The read option will not likely be a major part of the offense.
 

Cruze said:
The Gophers schedule this year is going to be significantly more difficult with Michigan on the schedule and with most of the teams the Gophers beat last year having better and more experienced players.
Click to expand...

Well, PSU finished ahead of MI last year.
The rest of your paragraph is just dumb.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 




Cruze said:
The GopherHolers who are demanding an 8 or 9 win season are pretty much the same Kaler and Coyle haters we have been hearing from since Claeys was fired. Like Reusse they want the Gophers to have a sh*tty season so they can continue their vendetta against them...
Click to expand...

So you think that people who think they can win 8 games are "haters", but those that think they can win only 4 or 5 are big supporters of the program?

Mrs.Coyle; Even though you're just trolling you should at least get the math right...:rolleyes:
 

Iceland12 said:
So you think that people who think they can win 8 games are "haters", but those that think they can win only 4 or 5 are big supporters of the program?

Mrs.Coyle; Even though you're just trolling you should at least get the math right...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...


Not many first year coaches in the NCAA win 8 games.
4 or 5 is far more reasonable and in line with historical performance.

We all hope PJ is a once-in-a-lifetime hire for the U, but to expect that to show in year one is simply asking to much for "expectations".
 

Pompous Elitist said:
PJ wants more of a pure passer rather than brute strength. Look at the QBs he's recruiting and compare to Leidner, Green, McLaurin, Poljan. It's not difficult to see the philosophical sea change. The read option will not likely be a major part of the offense.
Click to expand...

Burns said Claeys wanted Green to start this year and have McLaurin ad his backup...
 



Face The Facts said:
Not many first year coaches in the NCAA win 8 games.
Click to expand...

Control this stat for teams who had 9+ wins the previous season and then let us know how often it happens.

Face The Facts said:
4 or 5 is far more reasonable and in line with historical performance.
Click to expand...

Four or five wins is not at all reasonable with this roster and schedule, and you know it. Historical performance means absolutely nothing when predicting the outcome of this season.

Face The Facts said:
We all hope PJ is a once-in-a-lifetime hire for the U, but to expect that to show in year one is simply asking to much for "expectations".
Click to expand...

Getting paid (by far) the most of any Gopher athletics coach in history and taking a 9-win team to a bowl game is not asking "to [sic] much."
 

jonnyganas said:
MN was up at the half in 3 of the 4 losses. Leidner INTs cost them in the game against PSU and WI. If MN won either of those games, the outcome of that season looks a whole lot different.

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Click to expand...

Plus the crutial INT during a potential game winning drive late in Lincoln.
 

Cruze said:
The GopherHolers who are demanding an 8 or 9 win season are pretty much the same Kaler and Coyle haters we have been hearing from since Claeys was fired. Like Reusse they want the Gophers to have a sh*tty season so they can continue their vendetta against them. They will never be happy with Gopher football again until Kaler and Coyle are gone. Since they are going to have a long wait that means they will be shoveling their bullcrap in GopherHole for many years to come. The Gophers schedule this year is going to be significantly more difficult with Michigan on the schedule and with most of the teams the Gophers beat last year having better and more experienced players.
Click to expand...

Demanding 8 or 9 wins is a whole lot better than saying 4 or 5 wins is all this team can muster this year. Unless of course you want to settle for mediocrity.
 

EG#9 said:
I want to see this program do well, but I haven't seen anything that leads me to believe it is/was close to breaking through and there's a reason for higher expectations.
Click to expand...

Going to overtime against top 10 team, East Division champ Penn State in Happy Valley gave me reason to believe the team was close to breaking through.

Tied with top ten team, West Division Champ Wisconsin in Camp Randall with under 7 minutes to go gave me reason to believe the team was close to breaking through.

Taking top 30 Nebraska down to the wire in Lincoln left me feeling we were close to breaking through.

Playing top 30 Iowa basically straight up left me feeling we were close.

Beating Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2014 and having them beat in 2015 at TCF gave me reason to believe we are close to breaking through.

Absolutely embarrassing Mike Leach's top ranked passing game playing a lot of back-ups gives me reason to believe we are close to breaking through.

Hiring the best offensive line coach in college football, giving him four returning starters and 7 of top 10 from the oline two deep and adding two very good redshirt frosh and a juco and three great frosh recruits gives me reason to feel we are close to breaking through.

Hiring Fleck and Simon, proven great WR coaches who have put lowly ranked WRs in NFL from WMU, and hearing them talk glowingly about Still and Tyler and seeing Holland nektoning and seeing all the the great WR redshirts, walk-ons and recruits gives me reason to have expectations.

Hiring Ciarrocca, a proven QB coach who has put multiple guys in NFL and who runs an offense that actually embraces the passing game gives me reason to have expectations. Watching Croft in Spring ball show a better arm and better legs than Leidner leads me to believe we are close. Knowing they got their hand[picked recruit in early enroll last January helps. Convincing guy who who took all the number two snaps and a bunch of the number ones to stay was great move. Having a four star QB recruit taking off his redshirt is nice.

Returning every single one of a great stable of tight ends gives me expectations. Hiring Callahan, offensive line coach of the year in 2016, gives me expectations. Hearing Lingen looks great gives me expectations. Hearing Beebe is healthy, Hearing Paulson looks great gives me expectations.

Hearing Fleck say in Spring that the new rb coach already was improving the returning RBs games gives me expectations.

Knowing the S and C guy was offered by Notre Dame and seeing double digit % strength and agility and speed improvements across the board reported gives me expectations. New S and C guy has program that will reduce injuries so that is a reason for expectations.

That no media member in town can come up with 15 let alone 22 actual names of guys who missed Spring ball makes me think PJ is overplaying injury issues.

Returning pre-season All Big Ten DT Steve Richardson to anchor the defense up front along with big and experienced seniors Stelter and Merrick and fourth year guy Moore (nice weight room performances recently highlighted) and bringing in a juco All American in Silver gives me expectations and reason to believe we are close.

Watching the athleticism and physicality of Poock, Celestin, Cashman, Martin, Barber, Coughlin, Devers, DeLattiboudere, Waters, Huff gives me expectations. Love we were beating Power 5 schools for dline recruits.

Seeing that Paup was sending lowly ranked talent from Northern Iowa into NFL gives me expectations.

Knowing that Sawvel recruited lowly ranked db talent that ended up to be NFL talent gives me expectations for Winfield, Shenault, Durr, Kiondre, Craighton. Knowing we hired a db coach away from the SEC and that he landed 3-4 DBs with Power 5 offers gives me expectations. Hearing Fleck wish he had a team of Jacob Huff's and knowing that McGhee and Kunle bring lot of experience to back end gives me expectations.

Seeing how good the buy-in has been (improving an already good GPA/APR, working asses off for new S and C guy, great team bonding reported, no apparent character/legal issues, great community service reported) gives me expectations.

Knowing the new def coord had top ten defenses at three different stops and had All NFL and All Americans at multiple stops gives me expectations.

Knowing Fleck is an elite motivator and sideline coach makes me think he could help us break through and turn close losses into wins.

Returning a very solid kicker and punter (plus long snapper and depth at P and K) and hiring a dedicated special teams coach gives me expectations.

Getting WI and NE at home and seeing how much talent they lost gives me expectations.
Seeing NE just lose best db to injury and three of their star recruits non-qualify and one of their coaches die and another get arrested and Riley pinning his hopes on a guy who didn't impress at Tulane gives me expectations.
Seeing MSU go 3-9 and imploding in off season gives me expectations.
Seeing Michigan lose 18 NFL talent level guys gives me expectations.
Watching how we manhandled Northwestern in 2016 and seeing what they lost to NFL gives me expectations.
Seeing Lovie implode gives me expectations.
Seeing Buffalo ranked as one of worst teams in NCAA gives me expectations.
Seeing Beavers as Vegas's second least likely Pac Champ makes me think we are close.
All new staff and terrible Purdue team gives me expectations.
Watching us dominate Maryland in 2016 with Rhoda at helm gives me expectations.
Seeing how MTSU was ranked defensively and specifically against the run excites me.
Knowing Iowa may have no returning WR catches and has no defined QB and lost best db to injury in Spring ball gives me reason to think we are close.

Great expectations Knowing that Fleck:
will embrace students better
has much of the media on his side
is planning a great game day experience
has five Big Ten games at home
already has some great start times lined up and is a proven appealing GameDay guy
has a soft schedule to break in with
has an AD and president who fully have his back and will give him all he needs to succeed
has multi-year contract in place so no distractions on that front
already has a ton of recruits committed so has more time to focus on coaching
young healthy guy so likely won't have issues giving full energy for full season
has a state of the art facility ready to go probably for Big Ten Championship practice
has a new character building program that will prevent a repeat of last year's debacle of missing seven guys some weeks
has a new discipline culture that will prevent the dumb late hits and unforced penalties
may get sideline bench situation improved
is designing less stressfull practices
is practicing at a more productive time
has a wife and kids that will make for a great addition to culture
has great record with ball control/turnovers
already has got fans enthused about row the boat and is hanging up paddles at TCF
has benefit of the slugs in Ath Dept exposed and appearently weeded out
new Regents are more football friendly
fans got relief from planned ticket price donation hike
Pitino had good year; enthusiasm spills over especially in student ticket buying due to linked packages
U has money to spend with new TV money and can support gameday operations better with that and very nice soccer revenue coming in after very nice Vikings revenue bump
lot of great new investment in Stadium Village area especially around TCF will enhance gameday experience

8 regular schedule wins three of last four in regular season
5 big ten wins two of last three seasons
beat Purdue four in a row
beat Illini 5 of 6
beat Fitz 3 of 4
beat NE 2 of 4
beat Iowa 3 of 6
record vs non-con opponents is 16-2 since 2012...only non-con losses to 12-1 TCU and 11-2 TCU (the 2015 loss by 6 points gave me expectations we could compete with anybody; well played games, but losses, on road to 12-0 Iowa and top 5 Ohio State in 2015 affirmed that expectation)
two straight bowl wins

This team is so close to breaking through. Coyle expects they can break through. Why he spent big money on buyout and new staff. Fleck knows team is in good situation and has great expectations. Why he turned down other great Power 5 offers and more money from WMU to come here.
 



I wouldn't read anything into the garbage that Reusse pens. The Gophers could win a national title & he'd still be outside The Bank on Saturdays, tackling people & telling them to spend money on Vikings tickets instead. He's a shameless, no integrity, shill. We all know that.

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dpodoll68 said:
Control this stat for teams who had 9+ wins the previous season and then let us know how often it happens.



Four or five wins is not at all reasonable with this roster and schedule, and you know it. Historical performance means absolutely nothing when predicting the outcome of this season.



Getting paid (by far) the most of any Gopher athletics coach in history and taking a 9-win team to a bowl game is not asking "to [sic] much."
Click to expand...

Well said, thanks.
 

Winner, winner, chicken dinner to swingman's post #43! Spot on.
 

swingman said:
Going to overtime against top 10 team, East Division champ Penn State in Happy Valley gave me reason to believe the team was close to breaking through.

Tied with top ten team, West Division Champ Wisconsin in Camp Randall with under 7 minutes to go gave me reason to believe the team was close to breaking through.

Taking top 30 Nebraska down to the wire in Lincoln left me feeling we were close to breaking through.

Playing top 30 Iowa basically straight up left me feeling we were close.

Beating Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2014 and having them beat in 2015 at TCF gave me reason to believe we are close to breaking through.

Absolutely embarrassing Mike Leach's top ranked passing game playing a lot of back-ups gives me reason to believe we are close to breaking through.

Hiring the best offensive line coach in college football, giving him four returning starters and 7 of top 10 from the oline two deep and adding two very good redshirt frosh and a juco and three great frosh recruits gives me reason to feel we are close to breaking through.

Hiring Fleck and Simon, proven great WR coaches who have put lowly ranked WRs in NFL from WMU, and hearing them talk glowingly about Still and Tyler and seeing Holland nektoning and seeing all the the great WR redshirts, walk-ons and recruits gives me reason to have expectations.

Hiring Ciarrocca, a proven QB coach who has put multiple guys in NFL and who runs an offense that actually embraces the passing game gives me reason to have expectations. Watching Croft in Spring ball show a better arm and better legs than Leidner leads me to believe we are close. Knowing they got their hand[picked recruit in early enroll last January helps. Convincing guy who who took all the number two snaps and a bunch of the number ones to stay was great move. Having a four star QB recruit taking off his redshirt is nice.

Returning every single one of a great stable of tight ends gives me expectations. Hiring Callahan, offensive line coach of the year in 2016, gives me expectations. Hearing Lingen looks great gives me expectations. Hearing Beebe is healthy, Hearing Paulson looks great gives me expectations.

Hearing Fleck say in Spring that the new rb coach already was improving the returning RBs games gives me expectations.

Knowing the S and C guy was offered by Notre Dame and seeing double digit % strength and agility and speed improvements across the board reported gives me expectations. New S and C guy has program that will reduce injuries so that is a reason for expectations.

That no media member in town can come up with 15 let alone 22 actual names of guys who missed Spring ball makes me think PJ is overplaying injury issues.

Returning pre-season All Big Ten DT Steve Richardson to anchor the defense up front along with big and experienced seniors Stelter and Merrick and fourth year guy Moore (nice weight room performances recently highlighted) and bringing in a juco All American in Silver gives me expectations and reason to believe we are close.

Watching the athleticism and physicality of Poock, Celestin, Cashman, Martin, Barber, Coughlin, Devers, DeLattiboudere, Waters, Huff gives me expectations. Love we were beating Power 5 schools for dline recruits.

Seeing that Paup was sending lowly ranked talent from Northern Iowa into NFL gives me expectations.

Knowing that Sawvel recruited lowly ranked db talent that ended up to be NFL talent gives me expectations for Winfield, Shenault, Durr, Kiondre, Craighton. Knowing we hired a db coach away from the SEC and that he landed 3-4 DBs with Power 5 offers gives me expectations. Hearing Fleck wish he had a team of Jacob Huff's and knowing that McGhee and Kunle bring lot of experience to back end gives me expectations.

Seeing how good the buy-in has been (improving an already good GPA/APR, working asses off for new S and C guy, great team bonding reported, no apparent character/legal issues, great community service reported) gives me expectations.

Knowing the new def coord had top ten defenses at three different stops and had All NFL and All Americans at multiple stops gives me expectations.

Knowing Fleck is an elite motivator and sideline coach makes me think he could help us break through and turn close losses into wins.

Returning a very solid kicker and punter (plus long snapper and depth at P and K) and hiring a dedicated special teams coach gives me expectations.

Getting WI and NE at home and seeing how much talent they lost gives me expectations.
Seeing NE just lose best db to injury and three of their star recruits non-qualify and one of their coaches die and another get arrested and Riley pinning his hopes on a guy who didn't impress at Tulane gives me expectations.
Seeing MSU go 3-9 and imploding in off season gives me expectations.
Seeing Michigan lose 18 NFL talent level guys gives me expectations.
Watching how we manhandled Northwestern in 2016 and seeing what they lost to NFL gives me expectations.
Seeing Lovie implode gives me expectations.
Seeing Buffalo ranked as one of worst teams in NCAA gives me expectations.
Seeing Beavers as Vegas's second least likely Pac Champ makes me think we are close.
All new staff and terrible Purdue team gives me expectations.
Watching us dominate Maryland in 2016 with Rhoda at helm gives me expectations.
Seeing how MTSU was ranked defensively and specifically against the run excites me.
Knowing Iowa may have no returning WR catches and has no defined QB and lost best db to injury in Spring ball gives me reason to think we are close.

Great expectations Knowing that Fleck:
will embrace students better
has much of the media on his side
is planning a great game day experience
has five Big Ten games at home
already has some great start times lined up and is a proven appealing GameDay guy
has a soft schedule to break in with
has an AD and president who fully have his back and will give him all he needs to succeed
has a state of the art facility ready to go prbobably for Big Ten Championship practice
has a new character building program that will prevent a repeat of last year's debacle of missing seven guys some weeks
has a new discipline culture that will prevent the dumb late hits and unforced penalties
may get sideline bench situation improved
is designing less stressfull practices
is practicing at a more productive time
has a wife and kids that will make for a great addition to culture
has great record with ball control/turnovers
already has got fans enthused about row the boat and is hanging up paddles at TCF
has benefit of the slugs in Ath Dept exposed and appearently weeded out
Click to expand...

Love this!! Go Gophers!!!
 

Face The Facts said:
Not many first year coaches in the NCAA win 8 games.
4 or 5 is far more reasonable and in line with historical performance.

We all hope PJ is a once-in-a-lifetime hire for the U, but to expect that to show in year one is simply asking to much for "expectations".
Click to expand...

In 2016, there were 28 new head coaches in FBS, of those 7 of them had 8 or more wins: Candel(Toledo), Claeys(The U), Fuente(Va Tech), Helton(USC), Novell(Memphis), Richt(Miami, FL), and Satake(BYU).
In 2015, there were 15 new head coaches in FBS, of those 5 had 8 or more wins: McElwain(Florida), Herman(Houston), Harbaugh(ScUM), Narduzzi(Pitt), Chryst(Wisc)
So in the last two years, 1/3 and 1/4 of the new coaches got to 8 wins. I believe that is a little more than not many.
This season there are 21 new head coaches, no reason not to think that PJF and the U of M can't be a team that wins 8 games this year.
 

swingman said:
Going to overtime against top 10 team, East Division champ Penn State in Happy Valley gave me reason to believe the team was close to breaking through.

Tied with top ten team, West Division Champ Wisconsin in Camp Randall with under 7 minutes to go gave me reason to believe the team was close to breaking through.

Taking top 30 Nebraska down to the wire in Lincoln left me feeling we were close to breaking through.

Playing top 30 Iowa basically straight up left me feeling we were close.

Beating Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2014 and having them beat in 2015 at TCF gave me reason to believe we are close to breaking through.

Absolutely embarrassing Mike Leach's top ranked passing game playing a lot of back-ups gives me reason to believe we are close to breaking through.

Hiring the best offensive line coach in college football, giving him four returning starters and 7 of top 10 from the oline two deep and adding two very good redshirt frosh and a juco and three great frosh recruits gives me reason to feel we are close to breaking through.

Hiring Fleck and Simon, proven great WR coaches who have put lowly ranked WRs in NFL from WMU, and hearing them talk glowingly about Still and Tyler and seeing Holland nektoning and seeing all the the great WR redshirts, walk-ons and recruits gives me reason to have expectations.

Hiring Ciarrocca, a proven QB coach who has put multiple guys in NFL and who runs an offense that actually embraces the passing game gives me reason to have expectations. Watching Croft in Spring ball show a better arm and better legs than Leidner leads me to believe we are close. Knowing they got their hand[picked recruit in early enroll last January helps. Convincing guy who who took all the number two snaps and a bunch of the number ones to stay was great move. Having a four star QB recruit taking off his redshirt is nice.

Returning every single one of a great stable of tight ends gives me expectations. Hiring Callahan, offensive line coach of the year in 2016, gives me expectations. Hearing Lingen looks great gives me expectations. Hearing Beebe is healthy, Hearing Paulson looks great gives me expectations....
Click to expand...

Very well researched and very well stated.

:drink:
 

I'm not embarrassed to admit that Swingman's post got me aroused.
 

Looks to me like Swingman wants us to fail.


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jonnyganas said:
MN was up at the half in 3 of the 4 losses. Leidner INTs cost them in the game against PSU and WI. If MN won either of those games, the outcome of that season looks a whole lot different.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

And if we miss an end of game FG we lose to Rutgers. And if...
 


swingman said:
Going to overtime against top 10 team, East Division champ Penn State in Happy Valley gave me reason to believe the team was close to breaking through.

Tied with top ten team, West Division Champ Wisconsin in Camp Randall with under 7 minutes to go gave me reason to believe the team was close to breaking through.

Taking top 30 Nebraska down to the wire in Lincoln left me feeling we were close to breaking through.

Playing top 30 Iowa basically straight up left me feeling we were close.

Beating Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2014 and having them beat in 2015 at TCF gave me reason to believe we are close to breaking through.

Absolutely embarrassing Mike Leach's top ranked passing game playing a lot of back-ups gives me reason to believe we are close to breaking through.

Hiring the best offensive line coach in college football, giving him four returning starters and 7 of top 10 from the oline two deep and adding two very good redshirt frosh and a juco and three great frosh recruits gives me reason to feel we are close to breaking through.

Hiring Fleck and Simon, proven great WR coaches who have put lowly ranked WRs in NFL from WMU, and hearing them talk glowingly about Still and Tyler and seeing Holland nektoning and seeing all the the great WR redshirts, walk-ons and recruits gives me reason to have expectations.

Hiring Ciarrocca, a proven QB coach who has put multiple guys in NFL and who runs an offense that actually embraces the passing game gives me reason to have expectations. Watching Croft in Spring ball show a better arm and better legs than Leidner leads me to believe we are close. Knowing they got their hand[picked recruit in early enroll last January helps. Convincing guy who who took all the number two snaps and a bunch of the number ones to stay was great move. Having a four star QB recruit taking off his redshirt is nice.

Returning every single one of a great stable of tight ends gives me expectations. Hiring Callahan, offensive line coach of the year in 2016, gives me expectations. Hearing Lingen looks great gives me expectations. Hearing Beebe is healthy, Hearing Paulson looks great gives me expectations.

Hearing Fleck say in Spring that the new rb coach already was improving the returning RBs games gives me expectations.

Knowing the S and C guy was offered by Notre Dame and seeing double digit % strength and agility and speed improvements across the board reported gives me expectations. New S and C guy has program that will reduce injuries so that is a reason for expectations.

That no media member in town can come up with 15 let alone 22 actual names of guys who missed Spring ball makes me think PJ is overplaying injury issues.

Returning pre-season All Big Ten DT Steve Richardson to anchor the defense up front along with big and experienced seniors Stelter and Merrick and fourth year guy Moore (nice weight room performances recently highlighted) and bringing in a juco All American in Silver gives me expectations and reason to believe we are close.

Watching the athleticism and physicality of Poock, Celestin, Cashman, Martin, Barber, Coughlin, Devers, DeLattiboudere, Waters, Huff gives me expectations. Love we were beating Power 5 schools for dline recruits.

Seeing that Paup was sending lowly ranked talent from Northern Iowa into NFL gives me expectations.

Knowing that Sawvel recruited lowly ranked db talent that ended up to be NFL talent gives me expectations for Winfield, Shenault, Durr, Kiondre, Craighton. Knowing we hired a db coach away from the SEC and that he landed 3-4 DBs with Power 5 offers gives me expectations. Hearing Fleck wish he had a team of Jacob Huff's and knowing that McGhee and Kunle bring lot of experience to back end gives me expectations.

Seeing how good the buy-in has been (improving an already good GPA/APR, working asses off for new S and C guy, great team bonding reported, no apparent character/legal issues, great community service reported) gives me expectations.

Knowing the new def coord had top ten defenses at three different stops and had All NFL and All Americans at multiple stops gives me expectations.

Knowing Fleck is an elite motivator and sideline coach makes me think he could help us break through and turn close losses into wins.

Returning a very solid kicker and punter (plus long snapper and depth at P and K) and hiring a dedicated special teams coach gives me expectations.

Getting WI and NE at home and seeing how much talent they lost gives me expectations.
Seeing NE just lose best db to injury and three of their star recruits non-qualify and one of their coaches die and another get arrested and Riley pinning his hopes on a guy who didn't impress at Tulane gives me expectations.
Seeing MSU go 3-9 and imploding in off season gives me expectations.
Seeing Michigan lose 18 NFL talent level guys gives me expectations.
Watching how we manhandled Northwestern in 2016 and seeing what they lost to NFL gives me expectations.
Seeing Lovie implode gives me expectations.
Seeing Buffalo ranked as one of worst teams in NCAA gives me expectations.
Seeing Beavers as Vegas's second least likely Pac Champ makes me think we are close.
All new staff and terrible Purdue team gives me expectations.
Watching us dominate Maryland in 2016 with Rhoda at helm gives me expectations.
Seeing how MTSU was ranked defensively and specifically against the run excites me.
Knowing Iowa may have no returning WR catches and has no defined QB and lost best db to injury in Spring ball gives me reason to think we are close.

Great expectations Knowing that Fleck:
will embrace students better
has much of the media on his side
is planning a great game day experience
has five Big Ten games at home
already has some great start times lined up and is a proven appealing GameDay guy
has a soft schedule to break in with
has an AD and president who fully have his back and will give him all he needs to succeed
has a state of the art facility ready to go prbobably for Big Ten Championship practice
has a new character building program that will prevent a repeat of last year's debacle of missing seven guys some weeks
has a new discipline culture that will prevent the dumb late hits and unforced penalties
may get sideline bench situation improved
is designing less stressfull practices
is practicing at a more productive time
has a wife and kids that will make for a great addition to culture
has great record with ball control/turnovers
already has got fans enthused about row the boat and is hanging up paddles at TCF
has benefit of the slugs in Ath Dept exposed and appearently weeded out
new Regents are more football friendly
fans got relief from planned ticket price donation hike
Pitino had good year; enthusiasm spills over especially in student ticket buying due to linked packages
U has money to spend with new TV money and can support gameday operations better with that and very nice soccer revenue coming in after very nice Vikings revenue bump
lot of great new investment in Stadium Village area especially around TCF will enhance gameday experience

8 regular schedule wins three of last four in regular season
5 big ten wins two of last three seasons
beat Purdue four in a row
beat Illini 5 of 6
beat Fitz 3 of 4
beat NE 2 of 4
beat Iowa 3 of 6
record vs non-con opponents is 16-2 since 2012...only non-con losses to 12-1 TCU and 11-2 TCU (the 2015 loss by 6 points gave me expectations we could compete with anybody; well played games, but losses, on road to 12-0 Iowa and top 5 Ohio State in 2015 affirmed that expectation)
two straight bowl wins

This team is so close to breaking through. Coyle expects they can break through. Why he spent big money on buyout and new staff. Fleck knows team is in good situation and has great expectations. Why he turned down other great Power 5 offers and more money from WMU to come here.
Click to expand...
Elite stuff!

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A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I doubt many Wisc fans would take someone who said that seriously...
Click to expand...

That would be funny if it were not true Slab.
Still shaking my head and remembering how bad I was yelling at the TV to not have happen what happened!

I don't know how they lost that game after how well they were playing up until that point. Maybe this year and maybe PJF can start his own epic run over Wisky for the next 5000 days!
 

Spoofin said:
Easy answer. If you give them too much (any) credit last year, and/or expect too much (anything) this year - the only rational conclusion is that you want them to fail.


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You obviously have a point in your sarcasm. I will not say that everyone who celebrates 2016 and/or anticipates similar success in 2017 wants the team to fail. But, if you do - that is the gameplan. Reusse/other Gopher haters do it all the time to fuel their snark/columns. An example would be - let's say wisconsin suffers a TON of injuries to important players, it's pretty much guaranteed that Reusse will print an article on game week that has the thesis of "The Gophers should win because this isn't a good wisconsin team" undercutting any joy we may feel. If Fleck wins 6 games this year, all the Gopher-haters will come out and point to the fact that we lost more than we did last year and make fun of Fleck without acknowledging that maybe we would have won 4-5 games with Claeys in 2017. It's impossible to compare what Fleck does in 2017 to what CLaeys WOULD have done, but it's equally erroneous to compare what the TEAM does in 2017 to what the team did in 2016. It's a different team playing against different teams.

In the end, if an amalgam of QBs that couldn't beat out Leidner in the old system can lead us to a similar season in 2017 that we experienced in 2016 it will be a huge indictment of our previous coaching staff.
 

swingman said:
Going to overtime against top 10 team, East Division champ Penn State in Happy Valley gave me reason to believe the team was close to breaking through.

Tied with top ten team, West Division Champ Wisconsin in Camp Randall with under 7 minutes to go gave me reason to believe the team was close to breaking through.

Taking top 30 Nebraska down to the wire in Lincoln left me feeling we were close to breaking through.

Playing top 30 Iowa basically straight up left me feeling we were close.

Beating Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2014 and having them beat in 2015 at TCF gave me reason to believe we are close to breaking through.

Absolutely embarrassing Mike Leach's top ranked passing game playing a lot of back-ups gives me reason to believe we are close to breaking through.

Hiring the best offensive line coach in college football, giving him four returning starters and 7 of top 10 from the oline two deep and adding two very good redshirt frosh and a juco and three great frosh recruits gives me reason to feel we are close to breaking through.

Hiring Fleck and Simon, proven great WR coaches who have put lowly ranked WRs in NFL from WMU, and hearing them talk glowingly about Still and Tyler and seeing Holland nektoning and seeing all the the great WR redshirts, walk-ons and recruits gives me reason to have expectations.

Hiring Ciarrocca, a proven QB coach who has put multiple guys in NFL and who runs an offense that actually embraces the passing game gives me reason to have expectations. Watching Croft in Spring ball show a better arm and better legs than Leidner leads me to believe we are close. Knowing they got their hand[picked recruit in early enroll last January helps. Convincing guy who who took all the number two snaps and a bunch of the number ones to stay was great move. Having a four star QB recruit taking off his redshirt is nice.

Returning every single one of a great stable of tight ends gives me expectations. Hiring Callahan, offensive line coach of the year in 2016, gives me expectations. Hearing Lingen looks great gives me expectations. Hearing Beebe is healthy, Hearing Paulson looks great gives me expectations.

Hearing Fleck say in Spring that the new rb coach already was improving the returning RBs games gives me expectations.

Knowing the S and C guy was offered by Notre Dame and seeing double digit % strength and agility and speed improvements across the board reported gives me expectations. New S and C guy has program that will reduce injuries so that is a reason for expectations.

That no media member in town can come up with 15 let alone 22 actual names of guys who missed Spring ball makes me think PJ is overplaying injury issues.

Returning pre-season All Big Ten DT Steve Richardson to anchor the defense up front along with big and experienced seniors Stelter and Merrick and fourth year guy Moore (nice weight room performances recently highlighted) and bringing in a juco All American in Silver gives me expectations and reason to believe we are close.

Watching the athleticism and physicality of Poock, Celestin, Cashman, Martin, Barber, Coughlin, Devers, DeLattiboudere, Waters, Huff gives me expectations. Love we were beating Power 5 schools for dline recruits.

Seeing that Paup was sending lowly ranked talent from Northern Iowa into NFL gives me expectations.

Knowing that Sawvel recruited lowly ranked db talent that ended up to be NFL talent gives me expectations for Winfield, Shenault, Durr, Kiondre, Craighton. Knowing we hired a db coach away from the SEC and that he landed 3-4 DBs with Power 5 offers gives me expectations. Hearing Fleck wish he had a team of Jacob Huff's and knowing that McGhee and Kunle bring lot of experience to back end gives me expectations.

Seeing how good the buy-in has been (improving an already good GPA/APR, working asses off for new S and C guy, great team bonding reported, no apparent character/legal issues, great community service reported) gives me expectations.

Knowing the new def coord had top ten defenses at three different stops and had All NFL and All Americans at multiple stops gives me expectations.

Knowing Fleck is an elite motivator and sideline coach makes me think he could help us break through and turn close losses into wins.

Returning a very solid kicker and punter (plus long snapper and depth at P and K) and hiring a dedicated special teams coach gives me expectations.

Getting WI and NE at home and seeing how much talent they lost gives me expectations.
Seeing NE just lose best db to injury and three of their star recruits non-qualify and one of their coaches die and another get arrested and Riley pinning his hopes on a guy who didn't impress at Tulane gives me expectations.
Seeing MSU go 3-9 and imploding in off season gives me expectations.
Seeing Michigan lose 18 NFL talent level guys gives me expectations.
Watching how we manhandled Northwestern in 2016 and seeing what they lost to NFL gives me expectations.
Seeing Lovie implode gives me expectations.
Seeing Buffalo ranked as one of worst teams in NCAA gives me expectations.
Seeing Beavers as Vegas's second least likely Pac Champ makes me think we are close.
All new staff and terrible Purdue team gives me expectations.
Watching us dominate Maryland in 2016 with Rhoda at helm gives me expectations.
Seeing how MTSU was ranked defensively and specifically against the run excites me.
Knowing Iowa may have no returning WR catches and has no defined QB and lost best db to injury in Spring ball gives me reason to think we are close.

Great expectations Knowing that Fleck:
will embrace students better
has much of the media on his side
is planning a great game day experience
has five Big Ten games at home
already has some great start times lined up and is a proven appealing GameDay guy
has a soft schedule to break in with
has an AD and president who fully have his back and will give him all he needs to succeed
has multi-year contract in place so no distractions on that front
already has a ton of recruits committed so has more time to focus on coaching
young healthy guy so likely won't have issues giving full energy for full season
has a state of the art facility ready to go probably for Big Ten Championship practice
has a new character building program that will prevent a repeat of last year's debacle of missing seven guys some weeks
has a new discipline culture that will prevent the dumb late hits and unforced penalties
may get sideline bench situation improved
is designing less stressfull practices
is practicing at a more productive time
has a wife and kids that will make for a great addition to culture
has great record with ball control/turnovers
already has got fans enthused about row the boat and is hanging up paddles at TCF
has benefit of the slugs in Ath Dept exposed and appearently weeded out
new Regents are more football friendly
fans got relief from planned ticket price donation hike
Pitino had good year; enthusiasm spills over especially in student ticket buying due to linked packages
U has money to spend with new TV money and can support gameday operations better with that and very nice soccer revenue coming in after very nice Vikings revenue bump
lot of great new investment in Stadium Village area especially around TCF will enhance gameday experience

8 regular schedule wins three of last four in regular season
5 big ten wins two of last three seasons
beat Purdue four in a row
beat Illini 5 of 6
beat Fitz 3 of 4
beat NE 2 of 4
beat Iowa 3 of 6
record vs non-con opponents is 16-2 since 2012...only non-con losses to 12-1 TCU and 11-2 TCU (the 2015 loss by 6 points gave me expectations we could compete with anybody; well played games, but losses, on road to 12-0 Iowa and top 5 Ohio State in 2015 affirmed that expectation)
two straight bowl wins

This team is so close to breaking through. Coyle expects they can break through. Why he spent big money on buyout and new staff. Fleck knows team is in good situation and has great expectations. Why he turned down other great Power 5 offers and more money from WMU to come here.
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Rutgers must be SUPER pumped after almost beating this powerhouse you speak of.
 

GopherHomer said:
You obviously have a point in your sarcasm. I will not say that everyone who celebrates 2016 and/or anticipates similar success in 2017 wants the team to fail. But, if you do - that is the gameplan. Reusse/other Gopher haters do it all the time to fuel their snark/columns. An example would be - let's say wisconsin suffers a TON of injuries to important players, it's pretty much guaranteed that Reusse will print an article on game week that has the thesis of "The Gophers should win because this isn't a good wisconsin team" undercutting any joy we may feel. If Fleck wins 6 games this year, all the Gopher-haters will come out and point to the fact that we lost more than we did last year and make fun of Fleck without acknowledging that maybe we would have won 4-5 games with Claeys in 2017. It's impossible to compare what Fleck does in 2017 to what CLaeys WOULD have done, but it's equally erroneous to compare what the TEAM does in 2017 to what the team did in 2016. It's a different team playing against different teams.

In the end, if an amalgam of QBs that couldn't beat out Leidner in the old system can lead us to a similar season in 2017 that we experienced in 2016 it will be a huge indictment of our previous coaching staff.
Click to expand...

To paraphrase you...fans should have zero expectations year over year (comparisons) or for this or any given year, but QB is a huge concern this year even though it's a different team, different QB, playing against different teams?

Not sure what to make of your last sentence...
 


Fleck has repeatedly talked about the Rose Bowl as a goal. And being a top team in the country. When did Jerry or Tracy ever set expectations that high? They never muttered the word Rose Bowl in 6 years...

Maybe, just maybe, it's possible that 6-8 wins is realistic in year 1 given the decimation at CB, thin OL, largely unproven and untested DE's, new starting QB, and the loss of our top WR by a landslide....
 

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