We've stagnated. Tough conversation below

[MNVCGUY]

I don’t believe bowl games are as important as regular season games and have been pretty vocal about that.

8-4 regular season with a bowl win is a lot worse season than 9-3 with a bowl loss.
11-1 with a bowl loss is a lot better than 10-2 with a bowl win
Etc

But that’s not to say bowl games aren’t important. Just not as important as regular season games.

I agree with that sentiment. Outside of the CFP games, bowl games are a reward and don't hold the same value as your regular season games do.

But Schmo's take that a lot of people think they don't count is just odd. Then again, considering the source I guess it is pretty much on brand.

 

[Gophergrandpa]

I'd be surprised if brown is back next year.

Bert also struck gold with devito.

This year for BB is like 2019 for PJ. Almost everything is going right; the breaks are falling BB’s way.

 

[PMWinSTP]

Clemson won a national title in the 80s

Don’t think it’s comparable.
Clemson revival should be Nebraska’s hope


Va tech and Kansas state might be good models for us.
Find a hall of fame coach that sticks around

Agreed. Just because he is having a good year and we all know the west is wayyyyyyyyy down these beavis’s want to compare flecks whole tenure to 6 games by fat belima. So ridiculous

Good grief. If the West is down, why hasn't Fleck taken advantage of that like Bert has? I really dislike Bert, but so far he's shutting up a lot of people.

 

[Some guy]

Good grief. If the West is down, why hasn't Fleck taken advantage of that like Bert has? I really dislike Bert, but so far he's shutting up a lot of people.

Bert has won the west?

You’re correct fleck hasn’t won the west. That’s disappointing.
Not sure what any of this has to do with the post of mine you quoted? Might’ve been a misquote?

 

[Dakota2]

Yep that’s true but my post started saying that just because Bert has done decent doesn’t mean that pj hasn’t. And being competitive and turning a program around are 2 different things. They are better but we will see. They will probably win the west but as we have seen it’s basically as bad as it’s ever been. If they are competitive against Michigan then maybe I’ll be a believer. If I’m a betting man they get blown out by Michigan, win the west and get blown out again. They will be 0-3 against ranked teams by year end.

Nothing Bert is doing has anything to do with PJ other than the two games we've play since he took over at Illinois.

 

[csom_1991]

I am definitely not a big Fleck fan. For me, I don't get the rah-rah boat garbage and people promising to win based on recruiting. That said, Fleck has turned in good performance vs. our recent historical standards so something is working. I would prefer we develop an identity like we had under Mason - basically running back U - with a scheme that could run on anyone and focused on O-Line development. For me, this aids in recruiting vs. just rah-rah talk. As it stands now, Fleck has more advantages than any of his preceding coaches as well - new stadium, vastly improved athletic facilities, a supportive administration, weak teams being added to the Big 10, and recent success to use as a basis for recruiting vs. what Mason had to deal with coming into the program.

To be honest, I expected Fleck to be Brewster 2.0 and he has proven to be much more than that. It still remains to be seen how much more and I have a really bad feeling about next year. Where Fleck disappoints me is in player development. Our team should not go into a shell with an injury to Mo or CrAB. There should not be that much of a drop off if our recruiting truly is improved or if we are doing anything on the player development front. So, I think Fleck needs to get serious with the coaching staff on long term player development and knowing when to cut bait when a player reaches their full potential and that is still not good enough to retaining a starting job.

 

[PMWinSTP]

Bert has won the west?

You’re correct fleck hasn’t won the west. That’s disappointing.
Not sure what any of this has to do with the post of mine you quoted? Might’ve been a misquote?

Was responding to the other post, yours got included in error. Never said he won the West, where'd that come from?

 

[swingman]

Nothing Bert is doing has anything to do with PJ other than the two games we've play since he took over at Illinois.

Unfortunately, Illinois is a key recruiting ground for PJ....success for the Illini and Bert has a lot to do with PJ.

 

[Some guy]

Was responding to the other post, yours got included in error. Never said he won the West, where'd that come from?

You said he took advantage of the weak west
Season is only half over

 

[PMWinSTP]

You said he took advantage of the weak west
Season is only half over

Actually, I said if the West is down, and so far Bert is shutting up a lot of people.

 

[Some guy]

Good grief. If the West is down, why hasn't Fleck taken advantage of that like Bert has? I really dislike Bert, but so far he's shutting up a lot of people.

Actually, I said if the West is down, and so far Bert is shutting up a lot of people.

And you also said why hasn’t fleck taken advantage like Bert has

Fleck has had good season. In fact he has tied for a division title. So the only thing that Bert (at Illinois) has done that fleck hasn’t I’d go to a big ten title game….and he hasn’t actually done that yet. I assumed that’s what you were talking about.
I don’t understand why you deny what you said?

 

[short ornery norwegian]

on bowl games - I think bowl games have a different feeling because they are the last game of the season, and the last time we see the team play for 8 months.

a win in a bowl game sends you into the off-season with a better feeling.

a loss in a bowl game sends you into the off-season on a sour note.

Hey, bowl games may not be "important" - outside of Playoff games and the New Year's 6 -
but they do have a symbolic importance.

It's better to go to a bowl game than to not go to a bowl game.
and once you're there, it's better to win a bowl game than to lose a bowl game.

 

[FredCoxRocks]

Fleck has been able to bring better talent through the door but the vast majority have transferred. Kill kept his guys home and developed them. His 2016 class was the backbone of our 2019 team.

We'll never know how many could or would have left had the portal and free transfer rule existed. Not a fair assessment.

 

[Some guy]

on bowl games - I think bowl games have a different feeling because they are the last game of the season, and the last time we see the team play for 8 months.

a win in a bowl game sends you into the off-season with a better feeling.

a loss in a bowl game sends you into the off-season on a sour note.

Hey, bowl games may not be "important" - outside of Playoff games and the New Year's 6 -
but they do have a symbolic importance.

It's better to go to a bowl game than to not go to a bowl game.
and once you're there, it's better to win a bowl game than to lose a bowl game.

All true.
Is it better to lose a 2nd tier bowl game (New Years day bowl etc) or win a 3-4th tier bowl game all else being equal

 

[GophersInIowa]

I think we should fire Fleck and hire Tony Dungy.

 

[mngolf]

I think we should fire Fleck and hire Tony Dungy.

Not Marc Trestman?

 

[GophersInIowa]

Not Marc Trestman?

He can be offensive coordinator.

 

[salzie]

Actually, I said if the West is down, and so far Bert is shutting up a lot of people.

I think most of us were hoping to Arkansas Bert that flopped, not wisconsin Bert

I'm surprised how fast it's turned around

But we talk recruits, and Illinois has been behind us the past 2 years, which is meaningless as Nebraska is ahead of all of us, but I'll need to see Bert doing it more than one season at Illinois

WIth that said, Illinois is having season and doing it the way I thought MN would do it

Good defense, good run game, complimented by veteran QB. Illinois isnt' dripping with play makers, they have Brown and Williams....Illinois would be in trouble if Devito, Brown, or Williams got hurt

MN couldn't over come losing Crab/Mo vs Purdue, loss of Crab has killed our passing game

Now, it is fair to say in year 6, one WR injury shouldn't derail our passing game, but here we are

 

[mkAz]

Minnesota could probably get Nick Saban.

 

[MGGopher]

Good lord we need a win on Saturday to tone down some of the BS that is running rampant on this forum lately.

Man, truer words have never been spoken. 33-10 win and this place will be tolerable for a few days. Close win or God forbid a loss...stay far away.

 

[Seany]

BB is definitely going to face a lot of headwinds starting next year. He is losing a lot of talent he had nothing to do with recruiting, and will probably loose his DC. I think this is their year.

According to Tom Shatel, BB is supposedly one of the names on the short list so far as potentially becoming the next head coach at Nebraska, should they decide to move on from Mickey Joseph.

 

[RememberMurray]

According to Tom Shatel, BB is supposedly one of the names on the short list so far as potentially becoming the next head coach at Nebraska, should they decide to move on from Mickey Joseph.

If that's true, it poses an interesting question: if you were Bielema, and the Nebraska job was offered to you, would you take it, or would you wait for Kirk to retire and then grab the job at Iowa?

 

[MNVCGUY]

If that's true, it poses an interesting question: if you were Bielema, and the Nebraska job was offered to you, would you take it, or would you wait for Kirk to retire and then grab the job at Iowa?

That is an interesting question. The dude has a massive Hawkeye tattoo on his leg. If he thinks Ferentz is on his way out the door in the near future I could see him sticking around at Illinois and then going hard after the Iowa job when it becomes available.

 

[diefirma]

Minnesota could probably get Nick Saban.

Don't forget about Urban Mayer

 

[Some Day...Maybe]

I like coach Fleck. He’s just the wrong guy for the job. The sooner he takes another job or gets fired the quicker we can get the right coach for the job and move forward.
I wish him well in all his future endeavors!

Exactly! Maybe we can get Tim Brewster, Joe Salem or John Gutekunst back!

 

[Some Day...Maybe]

No. What Kill did was to bring a better understanding of a program foundation to the Regents and administration. He does get some credit for that but there is enough time passed now that the talk can be shelved. Fleck proved it is possible to energize a fan base and bring in cash. One of weak links we have had for a long time is the AD. I do not believe Coyle and Fleck can bring us a dynasty or long run of success with a couple BIG west titles.

I’ve got some news for you, a little reality check. No one is going to bring Minnesota football a dynasty, no one.

 

[Dano564]

There's always gonna be another mountain. We're always gonna wanna make it move

Always gonna be an uphill battle

Sometimes we're gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there or about what's waiting on the other side

It's the climb

 

[Gophers_4life]

Clemson won a national title in the 80s

Don’t think it’s comparable.
Clemson revival should be Nebraska’s hope


Va tech and Kansas state might be good models for us.
Find a hall of fame coach that sticks around

You're definitely right about Clemson. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Clemson_Tigers_football_seasons

Had a really nice run under Danny Ford. Never heard of him.

I was thinking of them more under the "Tommy's". Then Dabo comes in, quickly upgrades them from single-digit wins per year to double-digits, then upgrades again so that 2015-2019 is 14,14,12,15,14 wins. Incredible


So I guess if you're being more strict about only allowed to compare to programs that haven't won a natty since the 60's or have never won it.

 

[Gophers_4life]

Unless you are Blaize, Conner, Dunlap, Big Dan, Rush, or Earsery.

We'll see Dunlap today!

(Unless he's hurt or off the team? No idea)

 

[RememberMurray]

Well, 31-0 over Rutgers. Gophers 21 first downs to 7 for the Knights. Extremely efficient 12 of 18 on third down. 5.8 yards per play against a defense that is pretty highly rated. 41:02 time of possession for Minnesota.

Gee... are we still "stagnated"?