The next great Fleck team

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upnorthkid said:
i mean sure. this is the same thing that could be said for every team. but on paper there's no immediate reason purely from a schedule standpoint, which is really all we know right now
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You think it’ll be a special year based on the schedule?
 

IceBoxGopher said:
That's been the main thing. In each season since 2019 there's been dropped games that were for sure winnable.
  • 2020 - Wisconsin, lost by 3
  • 2021 - Bowling Green, lost by 4
  • 2022 - Purdue, lost by 10
  • 2023 - Northwestern, lost by 3 (OT)
  • 2024 - North Carolina, lost by 2
  • 2025 - California, lost by 13
Win those, the bowls are better, a Big Ten Championship Game is in play, at least in 2022.
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Same for every team out there. Also many game MN won that they easily could have lost.
 


gopherbadgerman said:
You think it’ll be a special year based on the schedule?
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From the schedule side, it’s about as easy a ride as you’re going to get in a big ten year. Team like MN needs some schedule luck to have it work out.

Pieces are there for so many teams but you have to catch some breaks unless you’re OSU, Georgia, etc. which the schedule affords this year.
 


gopherbadgerman said:
Every year there are games MN could have won and games they could have lost. No different than any other team.
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So why are we even here on this forum talking about it? Let's just shut it down. Pointless to even shoot the sh*t about the game we love. Pointless to even speculate. Who cares, right?
 

upnorthkid said:
The schedule is once again, very favorable prognostically coming into the year
Miss OSU and Oregon
Michigan in retool mode. PSU in rebuild mode.
Zero reason this couldn't be one of those years. Nothing on the schedule that is chalked as an absolute, no doubt about it you're losing this game kind of one (like what OSU and Oregon were) which increases your margin.
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I agree in general, but to play Devil's Advocate:
  • First four games, we get an SEC team (albeit Miss State) at home, and a road game at Washington, never an easy place to play. If the team isn't locked in, you risk being 2-2 in your first four.
  • Say we have a clunker in Seattle like we did in Berkeley next year. Yes, Michigan has a new staff, but they are still Michigan. You then risk being 2-3.
  • While Purdue has really struggled, they've added some nice transfer pieces and road games there are always weird. It's always a trap game even on off years.
  • After Purdue we have Iowa and Indiana back to back.
I could keep going, but you see what I'm getting at here. It's the type of schedule to where if we don't lock in, if Danny Collins doesn't show up, if we can't get any push, it could get ugly in those first 6-7 games.

My first reaction to the schedule was "I don't like the flow of it" because of our mix of road games/who we play in that first half.
 


gopherbadgerman said:
And WRs?
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I think Tracy and smith are a decent 1-2
Not sure who 3 is

Running the ball is critical. Because the way the OC seems to want to call it we want to be in 12 personnel and then you’re only playing 2. But if you’re in 12 personnel and can’t run that’s ugly football.

I listed 3 things:
I would’ve put WR as number 4 on the list.
I would put kicker #5
DB depth is number #6



I am usually as optimistic as any
I think there are a lot of reasons to think next years team wins 8 regular season games. They’re going to have to show me they’ve cleaned up some spots (and I am going to have to see Michigan and Penn state are still not top 15 teams) before I can start believing in 10-2 or better.
 



Some guy said:
I think Tracy and smith are a decent 1-2
Not sure who 3 is

Running the ball is critical. Because the way the OC seems to want to call it we want to be in 12 personnel and then you’re only playing 2. But if you’re in 12 personnel and can’t run that’s ugly football.

I listed 3 things:
I would’ve put WR as number 4 on the list.
I would put kicker #5
DB depth is number #6



I am usually as optimistic as any
I think there are a lot of reasons to think next years team wins 8 regular season games. They’re going to have to show me they’ve cleaned up some spots (and I am going to have to see Michigan and Penn state are still not top 15 teams) before I can start believing in 10-2 or better.
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Do you have a sense as to the percentage of times the Gophers lined up in 12 personnel on first down and mixed downs?
 


GophEnEspaña said:
I agree in general, but to play Devil's Advocate:
  • First four games, we get an SEC team (albeit Miss State) at home, and a road game at Washington, never an easy place to play. If the team isn't locked in, you risk being 2-2 in your first four.
  • Say we have a clunker in Seattle like we did in Berkeley next year. Yes, Michigan has a new staff, but they are still Michigan. You then risk being 2-3.
  • While Purdue has really struggled, they've added some nice transfer pieces and road games there are always weird. It's always a trap game even on off years.
  • After Purdue we have Iowa and Indiana back to back.
I could keep going, but you see what I'm getting at here. It's the type of schedule to where if we don't lock in, if Danny Collins doesn't show up, if we can't get any push, it could get ugly in those first 6-7 games.

My first reaction to the schedule was "I don't like the flow of it" because of our mix of road games/who we play in that first half.
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We’re Minnesota so we could go 5-7 with any schedule
 




Some guy said:
I think Tracy and smith are a decent 1-2
Not sure who 3 is

Running the ball is critical. Because the way the OC seems to want to call it we want to be in 12 personnel and then you’re only playing 2. But if you’re in 12 personnel and can’t run that’s ugly football.

I listed 3 things:
I would’ve put WR as number 4 on the list.
I would put kicker #5
DB depth is number #6



I am usually as optimistic as any
I think there are a lot of reasons to think next years team wins 8 regular season games. They’re going to have to show me they’ve cleaned up some spots (and I am going to have to see Michigan and Penn state are still not top 15 teams) before I can start believing in 10-2 or better.
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I would agree that running the ball/OL play is the most important. If they can run the ball I would agree that 8 wins seems like a good number. I do think if they struggle to run it will be a challenging year. I think Jalen Smith is probably their best WR (at least now).
 

It all comes down to the OL IMO (and staying healthy overall I suppose). If the OL can be pretty good, the team can be very good.
 

BilldGopher said:
Have you got Biffs' next edition of Grays Sports Almanac: Complete Sports Statistics 2001-2040 after using your time machine?

Sorry to see that 2026 was a less-than-stellar season. I'm still going to keep my season tix to hope for a better season in 2027.:p
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Some day, a crazy, wild-eyed scientist or a kid may show up asking about that book.

... --- / .. - / --. --- . ...
 

touchdownvikings said:
Do you have a sense as to the percentage of times the Gophers lined up in 12 personnel on first down and mixed downs?
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I haven’t done a breakdown but that’s the way it feels to me since the last OC change

They seem to want to start and finish with that identity
They do many things but that seems to be the go to they’re trying to build around
 

GophersInIowa said:
It all comes down to the OL IMO (and staying healthy overall I suppose). If the OL can be pretty good, the team can be very good.
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If the team is top half in the big ten in rushing, I will feel supremely confident in an 8+ win regular season with a shot at 10+

They were 17 in 25
They were 13 in 24
 

gopherbadgerman said:
I would agree that running the ball/OL play is the most important. If they can run the ball I would agree that 8 wins seems like a good number. I do think if they struggle to run it will be a challenging year. I think Jalen Smith is probably their best WR (at least now).
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Agree on all counts

I think smith is a below average number one but not awful.
I think Tracy is an above average number two
I don’t know who number three is
 

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