The 2021-2022 Gophers feel to me a lot like the 1956-1957 editions. Yes, I am THAT old. Warmath's 1956 squad went 6-1-2 and blew a Rose Bowl bid by losing to Iowa in a game Minnesota dominated statistically. The 1957 team returned lots of talent and it raced off to a 3-0 start and a #4 national ranking. The quarterback, Bobby Cox, even graced the cover of "Sports Illustrated"! But a debacle at Illinois burst the Gopher bubble and a tailspin began. Minnesota rebounded briefly with a 34-0 pasting of a bad Indiana team but then lost their last 3 to finish at 4-5. Are you with me so far?
We are all wondering how the 2022 season will end and a 1957 repeat is a distinct possibility. Fleck will have to do some serious work to rebuild for 2023. Warmath was faced with the same task, but with no portal, and things did not go well. The 1958 team went 1-8 and the 1959 outfit finished at 2-7. That team lost 5 games by 8 points or less but that "improvement" was lost on most. Warmath was hanged in effigy and his home pelted with garbage. But Murray was putting together something special (2 Rose Bowl appearances and a cumulative 22-6-1 record over 1960-1962).
How will Fleck fare in his rebuilding project? If things go as badly as they did for Warmath, what kind of vitriol would he face? Would he be given same chance for redemption that Murray was afforded? If so, could he revive his career similarly? Different eras, different circumstances, of course, but intriguing to me nonetheless.
We are all wondering how the 2022 season will end and a 1957 repeat is a distinct possibility. Fleck will have to do some serious work to rebuild for 2023. Warmath was faced with the same task, but with no portal, and things did not go well. The 1958 team went 1-8 and the 1959 outfit finished at 2-7. That team lost 5 games by 8 points or less but that "improvement" was lost on most. Warmath was hanged in effigy and his home pelted with garbage. But Murray was putting together something special (2 Rose Bowl appearances and a cumulative 22-6-1 record over 1960-1962).
How will Fleck fare in his rebuilding project? If things go as badly as they did for Warmath, what kind of vitriol would he face? Would he be given same chance for redemption that Murray was afforded? If so, could he revive his career similarly? Different eras, different circumstances, of course, but intriguing to me nonetheless.