BleedGopher
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per Sid:
Gophers build off positives
Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck was not happy with the results of the final two games last season, when the team lost by a combined score of 70-0 to Northwestern and Wisconsin.
But there were some positives in Fleck’s first year. The Gophers lost four games in the final minutes — 31-24 to Maryland, 31-17 to Purdue, 30-27 to Michigan State and 17-10 to Iowa — which is maybe expected of a young team with a new coach. The Gophers defense ranked 30th in the nation overall and 11th against the pass.
Fleck said that turning close losses into close wins is all about maturity.
“Those four games, we showed our players that [film], and there’s a big difference between wanting to win those games, and we didn’t, and then refusing to lose those games,” Fleck said. “But we’re going to learn from our past, not sulk in our past. We’re going to take the knowledge, take the data and learn from it and create some kind of learning experience as we go forward.”
When asked about having such a solid defense and having players such as linebacker Blake Cashman and defensive back Antoine Winfield Jr. return to health, Fleck said the team’s new goal is stopping the run. The Gophers ranked 73rd in the country last year.
“A lot of teams in our league run the ball, and maybe that’s why some of those statistics are skewed a little bit,” Fleck said.
Gophers fans can look to Fleck’s second season at Western Michigan as a guidepost for this team. The Broncos went from 1-11 in their first year under Fleck to 8-5 and in a bowl game.
“Western Michigan at Year 2, we were very, very young, we played a lot of freshmen,” Fleck recalled. “We were 2-3 to start the year, we were down [31-14] at halftime against Ball State, we were getting ready to go 2-4 and who knows, but our team came back. There was an ‘aha’ moment, a ‘wow’ moment, that they finally grew up.
“We won six straight after that, and the rest is history and that program was on its way to accomplishing what it accomplished. But this team, I have always said failing is growth, and we failed enough to become successful. We just have to be able to limit the amount of times that our older guys fail and really embrace how many times our young people are failing, because they’re going to fail the most.”
http://www.startribune.com/twins-owner-jim-pohlad-on-board-with-team-s-decisionmaking/490073611/
Go Gophers!!
Gophers build off positives
Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck was not happy with the results of the final two games last season, when the team lost by a combined score of 70-0 to Northwestern and Wisconsin.
But there were some positives in Fleck’s first year. The Gophers lost four games in the final minutes — 31-24 to Maryland, 31-17 to Purdue, 30-27 to Michigan State and 17-10 to Iowa — which is maybe expected of a young team with a new coach. The Gophers defense ranked 30th in the nation overall and 11th against the pass.
Fleck said that turning close losses into close wins is all about maturity.
“Those four games, we showed our players that [film], and there’s a big difference between wanting to win those games, and we didn’t, and then refusing to lose those games,” Fleck said. “But we’re going to learn from our past, not sulk in our past. We’re going to take the knowledge, take the data and learn from it and create some kind of learning experience as we go forward.”
When asked about having such a solid defense and having players such as linebacker Blake Cashman and defensive back Antoine Winfield Jr. return to health, Fleck said the team’s new goal is stopping the run. The Gophers ranked 73rd in the country last year.
“A lot of teams in our league run the ball, and maybe that’s why some of those statistics are skewed a little bit,” Fleck said.
Gophers fans can look to Fleck’s second season at Western Michigan as a guidepost for this team. The Broncos went from 1-11 in their first year under Fleck to 8-5 and in a bowl game.
“Western Michigan at Year 2, we were very, very young, we played a lot of freshmen,” Fleck recalled. “We were 2-3 to start the year, we were down [31-14] at halftime against Ball State, we were getting ready to go 2-4 and who knows, but our team came back. There was an ‘aha’ moment, a ‘wow’ moment, that they finally grew up.
“We won six straight after that, and the rest is history and that program was on its way to accomplishing what it accomplished. But this team, I have always said failing is growth, and we failed enough to become successful. We just have to be able to limit the amount of times that our older guys fail and really embrace how many times our young people are failing, because they’re going to fail the most.”
http://www.startribune.com/twins-owner-jim-pohlad-on-board-with-team-s-decisionmaking/490073611/
Go Gophers!!