The stupidity of some on here is laughable

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Gopher football is in really good shape in spite of the loss. Need to get the running game fixed against good teams for next year. That was the team’s fatal flaw.
 

MGGopher said:
Everybody is entitled to their opinion, but I wholeheartedly disagree with this. The joy of the PSU win, hosting Gameday, watching the CFP rankings and being in the top 10, reading tons of national press, going to a Jan 1 bowl against a big name SEC team...Those things don't come with 2-10. Of course I want to beat Iowa and Wisconsin, but not at the expense of all the other memories.
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I totally respect your opinion, and don't want to rain on anyone's parade. The PSU win and Gameday were a blast, and I loved it. But I'm gonna remember losing to Iowa and being humiliated by Wisconsin more than anything. I hope for a good bowl draw and a fun opponent, but ultimately the games that matter most to me are Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan.
 

We went 2-2 in November - lost to both Iowa and Wisconsin - bitter pill and no meaningful progress can be made until we can handle these teams in BIG West - waiting for my season tix package to arrive next August- a bit sad to pull those last tix out this morning and toss the empty book in the trash
 


NEVER goes all the way back to Glen Mason.

7 Big Ten wins is great! Totally agree.

However, until fairly recently we only played 7 Big Ten games each season. So maybe it was harder to win them all than it is to go 7 and 2
without playing Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State? Maybe? Again 7 Big Ten wins is awesome, just not the goal.
 


Face The Facts said:
So the Badgers weren't confident when they stopped our two run plays leading up to the 4th and 2?
Also, if we were confident prior to the 4th and 2, why did we not confidently convert in three downs?
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Exactly. If we don't get a 1st down, then punting was the better choice. What alternate reality were some people seeing that made them think going for it was the obvious choice? For that matter, what did they see over the rest of the game that makes them still think the probability of a 1st down made going for it with a lead the right choice.
 

Bring back the Axe said:
I would've rather gone 2-10 and spanked Iowa and Wisconsin. If they're being honest, many others on here would as well. Rose Bowls and such are few and far between, but college football is ultimately about beating your biggest rivals.

We're on the right track, and I really like PJ, but the success of this season now feels very hollow.
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This is one of the most idiotic posts I've ever read on GH, clearly written by some noob fan to the party. Anybody who remembers when we were horrible and beat Iowa with Marqueis would never trade the ride this year for that. Wow. Go ahead and fall squarely off the bandwagon there, guy
 


The reference to 7-2 in the conference is spot-on. Remember when almost no coach could win a simple majority of B10 games? Claeys did it in 2016, Kill in 2014, Mason did it only twice in 10 years, and these were all 5 wins. 7-2 in the conference is great, even if the losses were to our biggest rivals. Things are looking up, despite today.
 



holereader said:
We went 2-2 in November - lost to both Iowa and Wisconsin - bitter pill and no meaningful progress can be made until we can handle these teams in BIG West - waiting for my season tix package to arrive next August- a bit sad to pull those last tix out this morning and toss the empty book in the trash
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You do realize, right, that heading into that 4-game gauntlet of a stretch most of us would have been pretty happy with a split, right?
 

Replacement Gopher said:
Yup, and the game immediately changed when we started going into a shell. No earthly reason to punt for the WI 35 in the biggest game of the past 60 years. We showed fear, and both teams picked up on it. WI went for it on fourth twice later in that same half. Whose players do you think were playing with confidence?
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Wisconsin gambled with confidence on those fourth downs, and with the kickoff reverse, and with many other plays. As I said, Warmath punted from the Purdue 28 on fourth down when we had been outplayed the entire first half in 1960, and it went into the end zone. I never forgot that play and never thought I'd see Fleck do almost the same thing in a game this big. Fourth and two, go for it! In neither case should a punt even have been contemplated.
 


Replacement Gopher said:
Yup, and the game immediately changed when we started going into a shell. No earthly reason to punt for the WI 35 in the biggest game of the past 60 years. We showed fear, and both teams picked up on it. WI went for it on fourth twice later in that same half. Whose players do you think were playing with confidence?
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I think it was really really dumb to punt.
I also think people are making way too much out about its impact on the game. We got crushed. This is on it - but there is a long list of why we got beat.
 



It's 100% fair for fans to re-adjust expectations mid-season.

To act like fans are contractually obligated to be happy with anything barely above pre-season predictions is just plain silly.

Typical "awww shucks" little engine that could mentality that punts from the other team's 35 yard line and sinks Minnesota sports.
 

Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
If Faalele plays the whole game, we get more of a run game going and control the clock better. His injury killed any chance of hanging with the skunks.
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Same thing in the Iowa game, Dunlap was out, and for some reason that didnt allow us run an extra OL in to the game.

Dont know why they couldnt have used the backup Juco guy in that spot (extra lineman set, not at RG.)

Faalele's injury shuffled 3 spots on the line, Andres to RT, center to rg, Schmitz in at Center,
 

bfast said:
It's 100% fair for fans to re-adjust expectations mid-season.

To act like fans are contractually obligated to be happy with anything barely above pre-season predictions is just plain silly.

Typical "awww shucks" little engine that could mentality that punts from the other team's 35 yard line and sinks Minnesota sports.
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We hadn't given up a first down all game when we punted. And they had just stuffed us on a running play. I wouldn't have had a problem with either call, but can understand why they punted.
If we went for it and failed, you'd probably be on here bemoaning the fact that it changed momentum and we should have punted.
 

Spoofin said:
I think it was really really dumb to punt.
I also think people are making way too much out about its impact on the game. We got crushed. This is on it - but there is a long list of why we got beat.
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the punt is indicative of a mindset.
The biggest game of our lifetimes and we can’t figure out how to get two yards so we punt from the 35?

It was 2nd and two and we had nothing...

One team called the game like it was the last game of the regular season and they had to win it, the other team didn’t.
 

Replacement Gopher said:
the punt is indicative of a mindset.
The biggest game of our lifetimes and we can’t figure out how to get two yards so we punt from the 35?

It was 2nd and two and we had nothing...

One team called the game like it was the last game of the regular season and they had to win it, the other team didn’t.
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It’s not like we went super conservative on offense. So not sure what this means really.
 

Just posting this as side commentary.

Interesting to see how various Gopher fans take the loss. At least one called it a humiliating loss.

That's self-reflection of your own impression of the game. Wisconsin won the game and they played better. But if you feel humiliated, that's your feelings of being humiliated. Gophers don't control how you feel.

Some might be angry about the 4th and 2 call. Feel free to be angry about that, but is 4th and 2 really all you are angry about? What else is going on in your life where that's bothering you that much.

Some think WI dominated. Some may think we were in it until we didn't convert on 4th and goal. Regardless, the self-reflecting and painting things to be worse or better than they were is your own reaction to it. How each of the players, recruits, or coaches respond is independent of each other.

I was really bummed out about the loss yesterday, but in the game thread, I tried to not fall into the traditional "We're going to blow it" thought process. And yes, we still lost, but there was something nice about trying to "keep rowing" despite being down vs the traditional piling on of negative thinking.

We're Minnesotans.
We've seen failure enough.

But your own negative reaction to an event becomes your own self-fulfilling prophecy of how you will remember it.
 

Veritas said:
You are making the mistake of believing all the hype that the so called "experts" spew in their so called "ratings". Experience has taught me that maybe our Gophers were overated when we won games and teams like Iowa and Wisconsin were underated when they lost games. Certainly, IMHO, the better team won today in the trenches. We lost two of the three big games we played. Not quite ready for the highest level, yet. Go Gophers!!!
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Gophers weren’t really overrated.
Never were rated above 8.
Lost to two teams in the top 20.
Beat a team in the top 10.

their ranking is and should be between about 8-17
 

Face The Facts said:
Some might be angry about the 4th and 2 call. Feel free to be angry about that, but is 4th and 2 really all you are angry about? What else is going on in your life where that's bothering you that much.
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People can rightfully be angry about the idiotic 4th and 2 call without anything else going on in their life, Freud.
 

dpodoll68 said:
People can rightfully be angry about the idiotic 4th and 2 call without anything else going on in their life, Freud.
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Sure.

But does being angry about it make them any more correct?
 


60's Guy said:
NEVER goes all the way back to Glen Mason.

7 Big Ten wins is great! Totally agree.

However, until fairly recently we only played 7 Big Ten games each season. So maybe it was harder to win them all than it is to go 7 and 2
without playing Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State? Maybe? Again 7 Big Ten wins is awesome, just not the goal.
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I looked back 30 years, the 1989 season, and they were playing 8 conf games back then. So it has been quite a while since they've only played 7 conf games in a season.

en.wikipedia.org

1989 NCAA Division I-A football season - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

But yes, obviously it was much more difficult to go 7-1 in the conference when you had to play most of the teams.
 
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cncmin said:
You do realize, right, that heading into that 4-game gauntlet of a stretch most of us would have been pretty happy with a split, right?
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Before the season started, I was thinking we'd go 6-2 in the first eight games and then 1-3 in the really difficult last four. We ended up going 8-0 and NW ended up being a dud this season (their team, not our game against them). Beating Penn St at home was an awesome win. Just a bummer about Iowa and Wisc.
 

Replacement Gopher said:
Yup, and the game immediately changed when we started going into a shell. No earthly reason to punt for the WI 35 in the biggest game of the past 60 years. We showed fear, and both teams picked up on it. WI went for it on fourth twice later in that same half. Whose players do you think were playing with confidence?
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After we punted we called passes on 10 of the following 15 plays.

Can you define "Not going into a shell" for future reference.
 


MZBKA1 said:
Of course not. But many fans apparently do.
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I don't think that not being very angry means you think it was a moral victory.

Not seeing where anyone is saying that about this game. Rather, some are pointing out some very positive aspects of this season.
 

If Faalele plays the whole game, we get more of a run game going and control the clock better. His injury killed any chance of hanging with the skunks
 

It's doesn't have to be black and white. I think most fans are intelligent enough to form their own opinions - and it doesn't have to be 100% one way or the other.

It was a very good season. But the Gophers lost to IA and WI. In my opinion - which you do not have to agree with - that takes some of the luster off the season. It makes it an A- season instead of an A.

You can like the direction of the program and still question some of the coaching decisions that were made. if you question the punt on 4th and 2, you are not saying that Fleck is a bad Coach. You are saying he's a good coach, but you don't like that decision. There is room for nuance.

Bottom line - whether it's fair or not, the last game played always assumes more importance. Right now, the WI game is the last game played. If that had been the final game of the season, people would be going into the off-season on a sour note. But, the Gophers will play a bowl game in a month. if they win that game, it sends people into the off-season on a much more positive note.
 

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