Why are we surprised?

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GlobalGopher11

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We've seen the same song and dance since the 2019 season, which was a soft schedule. Every preseason PJ claims this is his most dialed in team, yet the same result. Same conservative game plan and no creativity when you're up in the first half. We all knew how this game would end and so did Vegas with the point spread changing right before kick off. So why do we continue to give this clown a pass? This is what $6 Mill a year gets you? Poor recruiting, but he thinks he looks good doing it. If the U is no longer vested in major athletics, just publicly state it and put the money towards the medical school. Don't let this grifter continue to run this program, this story has gotten so stale over all these years.
 



Not surprised but definitely dejected.

Will be interesting to see how the university handles being able to cut checks to players directly. Will we spend to the cap? If yes, I'll continue to buy in. If no, my interest will wane.
 

Can't speak for anyone else but only me. Regarding being surprised; Thinking the 19 season is possible again. Last year(all year) waiting for this all world QB to find his rhythm. Never happened. Now I'm getting prepared to see the exact same scenario play out this year. Something will hold the team back all year long. Coaching, players missing kicks or dropping passes or penalties, or injuries to Taylor or anything imaginable.
I'm a Minnesota sports fan. Gopher football 5 years ago was the only thing I thought could break through.

Surprised? Not so much anymore. Just another one in the barrel of shit.
 


Not surprised. I saw 5-7 from Mandel and said I concur. Not talented enough to win just on skill, not coached well enough to beat more talented teams.
And I only got to 5 wins because UCLA has bottomed out. Chip would have eaten PJ's avocado toast.
 

GlobalGopher11 said:
We've seen the same song and dance since the 2019 season, which was a soft schedule. Every preseason PJ claims this is his most dialed in team, yet the same result. Same conservative game plan and no creativity when you're up in the first half. We all knew how this game would end and so did Vegas with the point spread changing right before kick off. So why do we continue to give this clown a pass? This is what $6 Mill a year gets you? Poor recruiting, but he thinks he looks good doing it. If the U is no longer vested in major athletics, just publicly state it and put the money towards the medical school. Don't let this grifter continue to run this program, this story has gotten so stale over all these years.
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6 million a year in the big10 basically just gets you a coach, it’s pretty much the going rate, not sure why people think we should be getting amazing results based on his salary.
 


I would strongly disagree that 2019 was a soft schedule. In the final AP rankings, Penn State was #9, we were #10, Wisconsin #11, Auburn #14, and Iowa #15. Alabama who Auburn beat in the Iron Bowl was #8. That was a strong schedule and a very good Gopher football team.

That said, my nightmare after the Penn State game was that we'd find a way to lose to both Iowa and Wisconsin for "Minnesota" reasons. That happened. We left a lot of meat on the bone that season and should have been in Indy and possibly played in the Rose Bowl. It absolutely sucks what has happened since 2019 and a major change was needed (in philosophy) while we still had the luxury of playing in the B1G West. I really liked PJ, but his response to any type of adversity and/or close game is to get even more conservative with his decision making. This has made much of the time since 2019 not only disappointing from a record standpoint (the most important thing by far) but also very boring to watch play out.
 



Well $6 Mill might be considered peanuts now with the media rights, but this guy has shown he shouldn't be running a program in that stratosphere. I was looking at his recruits earlier today and way too many projects or 3 star recruits. This guy will not improve as a coach, we've seen his ceiling. I said this last yearr on this board and was called over dramatic by a few others. PJ has memorized "The Music Man" script and continues the same game-plan post game remarks after every game. Buy hey, he likes living here...
 

btowngopher said:
6 million a year in the big10 basically just gets you a coach, it’s pretty much the going rate, not sure why people think we should be getting amazing results based on his salary.
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Not true. A sought after coach is worth that. Most of the recent hires have sought after higher profile. PJ is garbage.
 


When Ruhle became available I thought, "There's our guy...he can coach D1 level football."

Before UNC, I really thought 8-4..."this year is going to be different...all the pieces are in place."

I sure hope 6-6 is doable and a Bowl game for the players' sake.
 



EG#9 said:
I would strongly disagree that 2019 was a soft schedule. In the final AP rankings, Penn State was #9, we were #10, Wisconsin #11, Auburn #14, and Iowa #15. Alabama who Auburn beat in the Iron Bowl was #8. That was a strong schedule and a very good Gopher football team.

That said, my nightmare after the Penn State game was that we'd find a way to lose to both Iowa and Wisconsin for "Minnesota" reasons. That happened. We left a lot of meat on the bone that season and should have been in Indy and possibly played in the Rose Bowl. It absolutely sucks what has happened since 2019 and a major change was needed (in philosophy) while we still had the luxury of playing in the B1G West. I really liked PJ, but his response to any type of adversity and/or close game is to get even more conservative with his decision making. This has made much of the time since 2019 not only disappointing from a record standpoint (the most important thing by far) but also very boring to watch play out.
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100%

The Big Ten West is gone. Things are going to be more difficult from here on out. Fleckball may have at least kept us competitive in the past.....but that won't be the case moving forward. He's going to expose his conservative mentality if he cannot or will not change things. The Gophers were the better team and found a way to lose. Something that we continue to see year after year. Play to keep the game close....and they're going to fall the wrong way sometimes.
 

GlobalGopher11 said:
Well $6 Mill might be considered peanuts now with the media rights, but this guy has shown he shouldn't be running a program in that stratosphere. I was looking at his recruits earlier today and way too many projects or 3 star recruits. This guy will not improve as a coach, we've seen his ceiling. I said this last yearr on this board and was called over dramatic by a few others. PJ has memorized "The Music Man" script and continues the same game-plan post game remarks after every game. Buy hey, he likes living here...
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I can tell you are great at hammershlagen. I kept thinking during the entire game that this is just a rerun or replay. I did not buy into an advertised savant at QB, given the starting role because of great performances in a poor CAA conference. P.J. Fleck cannot recruit or develop and is doing a poor job of covering that up more and more. The notion a better coach and recruiter cannot be had for 6 million is fantasy. Their are guys like Kyle Wittingham out there. The U has zero idea how to find them.
 

I am not surprised. Just like when you're handicapping the horses, you look for a trend. PJ's trend is to not get this team ready to play the first game of the season.
 


Not surprised, just frustrated by the undisciplined errors that cost us the game. Seemed like a perfect storm of things going wrong, which if you had asked me before the game I would have said would lead to a blowout loss. I think we can still turn it around, it’s a long season and we were without our best playmaker.
 

We change out OC's and QB's, but none of it seems to make a bit of difference. This co-offensive coordinator thing has not and does not work. The two skill positions that continue to underperform on gamedays are the wide receivers and quarterbacks, the two position groups the co-OC's lead. Coincidence? Maybe. But something does not appear to be adding up.

At the end of the day, PJ leads a department and the buck stops with him. He is the common denominator. I have been a PJ supporter, but my boat is taking on water and the bilge pump is having trouble keeping up. The product is uninspiring and boring to watch.

These kids are getting paid now. They are about to learn the flip side of monetization - people expect results. Go out there and shank two kicks, expect to get skewered. But we shouldn't even have been in that spot in the first place.

The clenched butthole approach on offense is getting really, really old. It is not like Brosmer suddenly forgot how to throw a football. Why have multiple QB's all looked like deer in the headlights out on the field?

1st and 10 at the opponents 32 yard line with just over a minute to play. We end up trying a 47 yard FG attempt to win the game. That means we managed 2 whole yards in 50'ish seconds, aided by an inexplicable holding penalty committed by a veteran on the opposite side of the point of attack. We were carving them up on out routes, with either completions or PI's. We've seen this before with PJ, and it bites him in the a$$ repeatedly.
 

One of PJ’s mentors Mack Brown ran a terrible play as well before their FG… shaky QB keeps it doesn’t move then tried to run left and lost yardage.. odd.
 

stocker08 said:
100%

The Big Ten West is gone. Things are going to be more difficult from here on out. Fleckball may have at least kept us competitive in the past.....but that won't be the case moving forward. He's going to expose his conservative mentality if he cannot or will not change things. The Gophers were the better team and found a way to lose. Something that we continue to see year after year. Play to keep the game close....and they're going to fall the wrong way sometimes.
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Finding ways to lose is not a year after year thing - it’s decade after decade. This is a poverty program of the highest order.

Those thinking some of the in-game bounces were 50-50 we just didn’t get don’t understand Gopher FB math. Those bounces are always 95-5 against helping us.

It’s crazy how pathetic this program has been for decades. And also just boring. Pure buffoonery again on a national stage with another loss to a bad team.
 

GlobalGopher11 said:
If the U is no longer vested in major athletics, just publicly state it and put the money towards the medical school.
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If you're completely giving up on athletics, there won't be any money to give the medical school. The athletic department is self funding.
 

Shame on me for being surprised PJ played for a field goal in the first quarter of the first game of the year.

I was lukewarm on re-upping my tickets this year, but I did so. I really can't imagine doing so again next year, at least not without a reason to believe things can improve. There have been so few FUN moments the last three seasons. Even in beating Iowa, it felt like a fluke win.

Not saying PJ is cooked quite yet, but his juices are close to running clear and the fork is about ready to be stuck in it.

Heck of a downer way to start the season.
 


DarthGopher said:
We change out OC's and QB's, but none of it seems to make a bit of difference. This co-offensive coordinator thing has not and does not work. The two skill positions that continue to underperform on gamedays are the wide receivers and quarterbacks, the two position groups the co-OC's lead. Coincidence? Maybe. But something does not appear to be adding up.

At the end of the day, PJ leads a department and the buck stops with him. He is the common denominator. I have been a PJ supporter, but my boat is taking on water and the bilge pump is having trouble keeping up. The product is uninspiring and boring to watch.

These kids are getting paid now. They are about to learn the flip side of monetization - people expect results. Go out there and shank two kicks, expect to get skewered. But we shouldn't even have been in that spot in the first place.

The clenched butthole approach on offense is getting really, really old. It is not like Brosmer suddenly forgot how to throw a football. Why have multiple QB's all looked like deer in the headlights out on the field?

1st and 10 at the opponents 32 yard line with just over a minute to play. We end up trying a 47 yard FG attempt to win the game. That means we managed 2 whole yards in 50'ish seconds, aided by an inexplicable holding penalty committed by a veteran on the opposite side of the point of attack. We were carving them up on out routes, with either completions or PI's. We've seen this before with PJ, and it bites him in the a$$ repeatedly.
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The tail end of your post, to me, was the most egregious part of last night. College kickers are about 50/50 from 47 and 75% plus from 37 and closer. You risk fumbling on less than 1% of plays and throwing a pick maybe on 2% of plays. There was massive additional win points to be obtained just by running plays. The coaches job is to put guys in good situations and pj failed to do that numerous times last night
 

EG#9 said:
I would strongly disagree that 2019 was a soft schedule. In the final AP rankings, Penn State was #9, we were #10, Wisconsin #11, Auburn #14, and Iowa #15.
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Yes, but that group represented only 4 of our 13 opponents and we went 2-2 against that group. Our schedule this season certainly appears much stronger than that one.
 

upnorthkid said:
The tail end of your post, to me, was the most egregious part of last night. College kickers are about 50/50 from 47 and 75% plus from 37 and closer. You risk fumbling on less than 1% of plays and throwing a pick maybe on 2% of plays. There was massive additional win points to be obtained just by running plays. The coaches job is to put guys in good situations and pj failed to do that numerous times last night
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This.
 


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