What grade do you give PJ Fleck for coaching in the Iowa game?

[NotAFanOfBecky]

Went with a D, although I still contend it's tough to grade a head coach from the outside. I consider my grade more of a team performance evaluation.

It was a fairly entertaining game. I didn't go into it expecting to win, but wanted to see a better effort than the Maryland game. For the most part, we got that. Run defense was fairly stout. Pass protection left much to be desired. I can only assume that our QBs are being told it's OK to toss long passes that are completely up for grabs, because we keep doing it. Iowa had two interceptions today that just as easily could have been long completions if our WRs had come down with the ball. The coaching staff must have a lot of faith in our WRs.

The fake punt turned out badly, and it hurt us. I wouldn't have made that call from that point on the field. It didn't work, so PJ gets the demerit. If it had worked, he'd be considered a genius. This one play was enough to drop my grade from a C to a D. Unfair, I know, but that's the way it goes.

All in all, I consider it a small step in the right direction. Let's get through the OSU game without any more injuries, then the following five games will show us where this team is really at.

JTG

Great post I agree with everything you said. I would add failing to kick the field goal, and allowing all the jump ball long throws to the list. A good coaching move imo was switching tackles. Iowa had lots of injuries too to key defensive players so not sure we can say game would have been different with Rodney and Antoine. It was an entertaining game.

 

[jamiche]

Sorry, coaching was most of it. Talent was there to win this game, without question.

Not along the lines and our offensive backfield.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Pompous Elitist]

He finally pulled the plug on Schleuter.
They took some shots that didn’t work this time. When you’re overmatched that’s what you have to do.
They attacked downfield which was the right thing to do IMO. Unfortunately it wasn’t effective enough tonight.
Loved the wildcat, but the deep ball didn’t work out this time. It almost looked like they were giving Seth Green a tryout at QB for a bit.

OTOH, the defensive scheme seems to be lacking. We have some guys playing out of position but we gave up way too many easy conversions. PJ may need to examine this later this season if you know what I mean. I won’t hold my breath.

I gave him a C. Sometimes the balls don’t bounce right and sometimes personnel don’t perform. The team seemed 100% more up for this game and the run D was pretty good. We just aren’t as good as Iowa right now.

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

I would go with a C.

Let’s see, we hung 31 points on an Iowa defense that was ranked 5th in the nation giving up 13 points per game, with a true FR QB, and Fleck coached a terrible game?

The weakness off the Iowa defense today, because of being short handed in the secondary, was their secondary and the Gophers attacked the Iowa secondary by throwing the all downfield with a true FR QB. When was the last time you could say that for a Gophers coaching staff?

Kudos for what was largely a pretty damn good game plan. Who was the last Gopher coach who would go away from their “strength” (usually the run game is the Gophers’ strength) and roll the dice and throw the ball down the field?

Biggest reason to me for the loss was 3rd down defense. Holy crap. Just couldn’t get off the field when they needed to. That was a killer

 

[60's Guy]

Sorry, coaching was most of it. Talent was there to win this game, without question.

Too many decisions to list I absolutely did not agree with but the idea we played to win doesn't fly for me. Nobody should be rewarded for being stupid.
How is it playing to win when you fair catch the kickoff at the 6 yard line at least twice, so they can place it at the 25 yard line? Iowa returned theirs...to me that is mindset. Like so many things, it tells a story.
Defense was rallying late imo...kick the dang field goal and we would have been behind 7 late. March down, score, go for two as time expires and win the game. That's more my idea of playing to win.
The fake field goal as executed should never have been attempted.
The onside kick was ridiculous. Hey, hey there is 5 minutes to go and we don't want to cheat or deceive you, so hold on a minute, we just want to be sure you know we are going to onside kick in a minute or so here. Aw gee, that didn't work either. Lousy execution from any aspect you analyze all the way to the decision. Show some trust in your defense to get the ball back. Put the pressure on Iowa.
Million decisions I didn't like. We have talent to compete against Iowa.

 

[rockford]

Let’s see, we hung 31 points on an Iowa defense that was ranked 5th in the nation giving up 13 points per game, with a true FR QB, and Fleck coached a terrible game?

The weakness off the Iowa defense today, because of being short handed in the secondary, was their secondary and the Gophers attacked the Iowa secondary by throwing the all downfield with a true FR QB. When was the last time you could say that for a Gophers coaching staff?

Those are two excellent points. The first one gave me my first post-game smile.

The point about attacking their secondary, yeah, I was alluding to that earlier with my comment about the coaching staff's confidence in the WRs, what with all the "jump balls." Today, Iowa's freshman corners came away with interceptions when our guys had fairly decent opportunities to make the catch. Their young guys beat our young guys. That's just the way it goes sometimes. But if those plays (or even one of them) went our way, it could have significantly altered the outcome. And, as you said, at least we attacked their weakness.

JTG

 

[bfast]

40 yard bombs with the punter!?!? Why the hell not????

 

[Word]

Before y'all tear into PJ I'd like to point out that he is fairly hands-off on defense, which was the main issue tonight.

I know, I know... "but he hired Robb Smith and he is the head coach". Obviously if the defense plays like this moving forward the team will go 4-8 or 5-7, and thus PJ will have a bad year as head coach. But for just one game I don't think PJ should shoulder much of the blame for how the defense played today.

For purposes of these polls I give PJ either all of the credit or all of the blame. I gave him an A in the first 3 games and and F in the last 2. Some very very poor coaching decisions yesterday and the team was clearly outcoached.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

On second viewing I’m not a fan of fair catching the kickoffs. You’re trading a possible big play, nice field position for the possibility of losing a few yards/starting at the 20 something instead of the 25 (and small injury risk of course which may play into PJs decision). It’s not a good trade IMO. Play to win.

Twice the return man caught it close to the 10 and waved. Not good.

My grade may be adjusted downward.

 

[MGGopher]

I would go with a C.

Let’s see, we hung 31 points on an Iowa defense that was ranked 5th in the nation giving up 13 points per game, with a true FR QB, and Fleck coached a terrible game?

The weakness off the Iowa defense today, because of being short handed in the secondary, was their secondary and the Gophers attacked the Iowa secondary by throwing the all downfield with a true FR QB. When was the last time you could say that for a Gophers coaching staff?

Kudos for what was largely a pretty damn good game plan. Who was the last Gopher coach who would go away from their “strength” (usually the run game is the Gophers’ strength) and roll the dice and throw the ball down the field?

Biggest reason to me for the loss was 3rd down defense. Holy crap. Just couldn’t get off the field when they needed to. That was a killer

This is a really good post. The offense finished last season playing against two very good B1G defenses...and we know how that turned out. There was a point in the Kill era where our O was putting up 13 points like every B1G game. The improvement on that side of the ball is clear -- and that's without your unquestioned best player in Smith AND with a true Frosh, walk-on QB. Gotta think the future is VERY bright on O, both schematically and in terms of talent. On D, I'm still pretty unclear...

The biggest problem with this team right now is clearly the line play on both sides. If Zack has 1.5 more seconds to throw on average, I bet he'd be a 60% passer easily...as it stands, he gets crushed on every dropback. On defense, there's zero pass rush again yesterday as has been the case all season. This team wasn't getting much pressure on NMSU or Miami OH for gosh sakes...and many of us were posting at that time saying the coaches would have to blitz or get extremely creative to create any pressure in the B1G schedule -- and that's obviously been the case. Look, I loved Kill and Claeys, but they left the cupboard VERY empty on both OL and DL...and those are the positions it takes the longest to build up since kids need 2 or 3 years on your program to be ready to compete physically (except for a beast like Faalele -- holy cow).

I'm still bullish on the program's future, but I'm disappointed as a fan right now since I love the team so much and want to see them win! I hope the coaches can make adjustments and gameplan their way to 3 more wins this year. Please!

 

[PMWinSTP]

40 yard bombs with the punter!?!? Why the hell not????

Right? You drag a TE and get the first down on a fake if you going to try it. Kid does have an arm though, decent throw for a misguided play call.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Serious question - when was the last time the Gophers successfully executed an onside kick? I don't know, but I suspect Murray Warmath was coaching.........

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Serious question - when was the last time the Gophers successfully executed an onside kick? I don't know, but I suspect Murray Warmath was coaching.........

Vs Iowa funny enough. 2011 I believe. Ferentz cried about the blocking after the game and a rule was adjusted that nobody can block until the ball travels 10 yards.

 

[#2Gopher]

A 56.33%
BadgerSteve72, Former Goofer, GopherVotary, LesBolstad, scfan
B 22.53%
Cobra, eker0016
C 2531.65%
bacon_and_kegs, betterdeadthanred, Cruze, DoubleB, Face The Facts, gopheraddict, Great Plains Gopher, harrys ghost, Hollinsanity, Jeshurun, Johnny Olson, Markous15, Mick Turition, patrick08, Pompous Elitist, short ornery norwegian, stevedave23, tikited, upnorthkid, vagopher, vames, Vandy, Waffle, West Fargo Gopher Fan, Winasota Gopher
D 2329.11%
BarnBurner, BleedGopher, bleedsmaroonandgold, Bnk, Bring back the Axe, cjbfbp, DarrenTheGreek, dlw4gophers, EaganGopher, Flash30, Gopher028, Gopherwatcher, GopherWeatherGuy, HoustonTXGopher, Iceland12, mkAz, NotAFanOfBecky, PMWinSTP, rockford, salzie, Ski U Master, Tlsbhansen, Txsan
F 2025.32%
1967 2.0, amk8930, beavergopher, bfast, CurveballJesus, EG#9, GophersInIowa, howeda7, IceBoxGopher, los venerables, magpie, NewBerlinBucky, OddStack, RolGnav, Sparlimb, Stuff, Troy McClure, Unregistered User, Word, young935
Prefer not to respond 45.06%
#2Gopher, Buck_Buchanan, Herd, OPGD#71

 

[Iceland12]

Vs Iowa funny enough. 2011 I believe. Ferentz cried about the blocking after the game and a rule was adjusted that nobody can block until the ball travels 10 yards.

Won the game for the Gophers. Victory came a year after the Gophers beat #24 Iowa too.

 

[Iceland12]

Not all the trolls on the board but a chunk of them.

A 56.33%
BadgerSteve72, Former Goofer, GopherVotary, LesBolstad, scfan

 

[GoGophersUMN]

I went with D. Too many coaching mistakes to give anything higher and I don't think F is fair because Fleck should get credit for finally changing the right tackle and getting more aggressive with the offensive playcalling.

 

[Vandy]

Not all the trolls on the board but a chunk of them.

A 56.33%
BadgerSteve72, Former Goofer, GopherVotary, LesBolstad, scfan

There are a couple of 'em in the F bracket as well. Gophers could win 55-0 and they'd be there voting F. But hell, it's their hobby.

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

On second viewing I’m not a fan of fair catching the kickoffs. You’re trading a possible big play, nice field position for the possibility of losing a few yards/starting at the 20 something instead of the 25 (and small injury risk of course which may play into PJs decision). It’s not a good trade IMO. Play to win.

Twice the return man caught it close to the 10 and waved. Not good.

My grade may be adjusted downward.

I disagree. Depending on the hang time, I would fair catch a very high percentage of the time. Two other negatives that could happen on a return that you didn’t mention; an injury and a fumble/turnover.

A low line drive kickoff, sure, bring that thing out. But a high, long hang-time kickoff, particularly one that gets caught outside the numbers? Fair catch, be happy to start at the 25 without getting anyone injured or fumbling the ball and giving up almost certain points in transition.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Not all the trolls on the board but a chunk of them.

A 56.33%
BadgerSteve72, Former Goofer, GopherVotary, LesBolstad, scfan

Are the trolls the ones that expect wins or losses? I’m still really confused on that one. It’s nice we have Badger fans voting.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

I disagree. Depending on the hang time, I would fair catch a very high percentage of the time. Two other negatives that could happen on a return that you didn’t mention; an injury and a fumble/turnover.

A low line drive kickoff, sure, bring that thing out. But a high, long hang-time kickoff, particularly one that gets caught outside the numbers? Fair catch, be happy to start at the 25 without getting anyone injured or fumbling the ball and giving up almost certain points in transition.

On at least one I’m thinking of there was plenty of room to run. It will be interesting to see the stats at seasons end but of the other teams I’ve watched most teams aren’t fair catching (beyond the typical EZ catch).

 

[GopherHusky]

D

 

[Iceland12]

Are the trolls the ones that expect wins or losses? I’m still really confused on that one. It’s nice we have Badger fans voting.

Shouldn't be confusing at all. If you consistently give Fleck and "A" when the Gophers lose and an "F" when they win....

Oh and if you've read more than a few of F.G., G.V. AND L.B.'S posts on here or the Off Topic boards you should have known it anyway.

 

[PMWinSTP]

Shouldn't be confusing at all. If you consistently give Fleck and "A" when the Gophers lose and an "F" when they win....

Oh and if you've read more than a few of F.G., G.V. AND L.B.'S posts on here or the Off Topic boards you should have known it anyway.

Sarcasm detector needs some tuning...

 

[PMWinSTP]

Are the trolls the ones that expect wins or losses? I’m still really confused on that one. It’s nice we have Badger fans voting.

If you expect wins you are a Fleck hater and really want him to fail or leave for a better job if he does win...

 

[Iceland12]

Sarcasm detector needs some tuning...

Better yet try one of these next time:

 

[Dano564]

Are the trolls the ones that expect wins or losses? I’m still really confused on that one. It’s nice we have Badger fans voting.

A few approaches to trolling.

Short game: Regardless of game or option, always vote F. Say everything is bad and always look for things that went wrong and blow them out of proportion. Likely comments: "This team is historically bad." "We suck", etc.

Long game trolling: First build the narrative of the team should be very successful and that you are optimistic because other teams are really bad, and our talent is good, knowing in the end the team will place well below your own "expectations" that you said were more than reasonable. Ignore injuries and other factors and put it all on coaching. Likely comments: "Looking at our schedule, anything less than 8-4 would be a disappointment with our easy schedule".

Let the world burn trolling: When anything sensible is said, combat it with something not sensicle. Similar to short game trolling, but when actually confronted for an actual opinion to be held to, either don't respond, or respond with the most absurd answer possible. (Voting A for coaching performance after a bad loss). A short game troller on a poll would answer with an F. A let the World Burn Troller would respond with an A after every loss and an F after every win.
Likely comments, "We need a new boat! The boat is sinking, etc"

The positive troller Gets his thrills out of being the guy with rose colored glasses knowing what he's saying is unlikely, but hopes to troll others into believing what he is saying is true. This type of poster will post any bad news about opposing teams, and post overly positive articles about the home team. This poster will then put an extra positive spin on things by assuming we'll blow out a team now because they were picked to win by 2, but now that a 4th string WR is healthy, the offense will not be unstoppable and we'll win by 28 easy. His motive is to set the fellow true fans up for optimism, knowing the end result has a 95% chance of being less than what he has stated. Similar to long game trolling, but more motivated by trying to raise false hopes versus setting up the narrative that the team massively underperformed expectations in the end. "Nebraska has 17 transfers. Wisconsin's starting X, Y or Z is out for the year. Northwestern is in shambles"

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

I actually we were in that game a lot longer than I expected...

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Hmm. At times we’ve had delusional Wisconsin and Iowa fans on here that thought they were CFP material. At other times G5 fans that thought they would defeat us by 4-5 touchdowns. Are they trolls? Or just delusional homers? I think it’s a fine line. Maybe we need a body of evidence, data points if you will, to determine if someone is just high on life or purposely agitating the more grounded, perhaps “negative” fans. What if someone is negative on PJs staff coaching (at times), personality, or statements. Is that auto-trolling or perhaps a thoughtful opinion?

 

[Dano564]

Hmm. At times we’ve had delusional Wisconsin and Iowa fans on here that thought they were CFP material. At other times G5 fans that thought they would defeat us by 4-5 touchdowns. Are they trolls? Or just delusional homers? I think it’s a fine line. Maybe we need a body of evidence, data points if you will, to determine if someone is just high on life or purposely agitating the more grounded, perhaps “negative” fans. What if someone is negative on PJs staff coaching (at times), personality, or statements. Is that auto-trolling or perhaps a thoughtful opinion?

Opposing fans coming to a forum would generally just fall into the "high on life" side of things. Not many other fans would come to a forum expecting to be ridicules as they lose.
Whether they are trolls or not depends on if they are actually cordial or not, or if they are just spamming a board.