Smoke & Mirrors 2022 edition

PJ’s last chance to win anything. USC & UCLA enter the Big Money next year. A good Motor City Bowl or Meineke Muffler Bowl should get him another raise & extension for fear of losing him to Northern Idaho State.

kind of thinking i might watch a gopher game this year for the first time since that Michigan game when they blew that 5 touchdown lead in the 4th quarter? they gonna be any good this year?

eyeguy507 wrote:

kind of thinking i might watch a gopher game this year for the first time since that Michigan game when they blew that 5 touchdown lead in the 4th quarter? they gonna be any good this year?

hope you aren’t asking me.

eyeguy507 wrote:

kind of thinking i might watch a gopher game this year for the first time since that Michigan game when they blew that 5 touchdown lead in the 4th quarter? they gonna be any good this year?

I’d rather go to the State fair than watch a gopher game. I can not stand PJ.

Interesting dynamic in game 1 too against Jerry Kills squad from New Mexico State. Apparently there is a rift between Kill and Fleck.

Is Tanner Morgan still around? He’s gotta be like 30+ years old by now.

He is…

buckybadger wrote:

Is Tanner Morgan still around?

He is and im guessing hes working out with Eric Currey they both must be in about their 8th year it seems.

Dutchboy you must have missed the Gophers taking down the Badgers in the last game of the season. 9-4 last year is nothing to write home about, but far from an embarrassment too. Not sure why PJ gets all the hate, he seems to run a really clean program and has won a bunch of games along the way.

Looking forward to the season, Go Gophers, SKI-U-MAH!!

mnfisherman18 wrote:

Dutchboy you must have missed the Gophers taking down the Badgers in the last game of the season. 9-4 last year is nothing to write home about, but far from an embarrassment too. Not sure why PJ gets all the hate, he seems to run a really clean program and has won a bunch of games along the way.

Ya, but they also lost to Bowling Green at home. And had they won that game, they would have made the Big 10 Championship.

I do think that this program has gradually improved since Fleck arrived. It used to be a laughing stock. I wish they would schedule better non-conference games though. The three opponents they play in non-conference every season is kind of a joke.

mnfisherman18 wrote:

Not sure why PJ gets all the hate, he seems to run a really clean program and has won a bunch of games along the way.

Looking forward to the season, Go Gophers, SKI-U-MAH!!

Its because the majority of those that despise him are crusty old farts and not teenage boys that have aspirations to play at a high level and get a great education.
PJ has done a great job. The kids have stayed on the right path and have been all academic teams each year and improve the team GPA each year too. That means more than what happens on the field in the end, but the results there too have been good. Yeah, the BG game was a major gaffe. Should never happen especially at home. We need to beat Iowa that is the one team he hasnt been able to get past.
At his first press conference this year I was WTF happened to him he looked nothing like he did last year. Apparently he had a bought with a bungy cord and had to have plastic surgery.

gimruis wrote:

Ya, but they also lost to Bowling Green at home. And had they won that game, they would have made the Big 10 Championship.

I do think that this program has gradually improved since Fleck arrived. It used to be a laughing stock. I wish they would schedule better non-conference games though. The three opponents they play in non-conference every season is kind of a joke.

They lost to Illinois that kept them out of the Big10 Championship game, non-conference games don’t impact the conference championship. And non-conference games are pretty standard for every team (including Alabama/Clemson etc.) you schedule 2 patsies and one big conference team that could give you a game. They have Colorado this year, North Carolina the next 2, BYU in 2025 and Cal in 2026/2027.

I don’t understand the hate at this point for Fleck. Sure I was skeptical too when he came in sounding like Brewster x10, but the record doesn’t lie. He had the best season for the Gophers since 1961, that’s 58 years ago, so you would have to be in your 70’s to even remember it ever being this good. His program graduates players, you never hear about them getting arrested or in trouble, one of the highest GPA’s in the country, tons of community involvement and volunteering, routinely recruiting classes near the top of the country, they have players going in draft for the NFL yearly, and he’s gone to and WON a bowl every year he’s been here. But he uses slogans and markets himself differently than some blue hairs like. Ridiculous.

I personally don’t think they are to the Iowa or Wisconsin level yet. They are their two biggest rivals. Sure, they finally beat Bucky at home for the first time in many years last season, and that’s great, but if you look at how its gone against those two teams the past 10-15 years, its awful. They haven’t beat Iowa in 5 seasons now. Even their best season in 75 years when they went 11-2 in 2019, their lone two losses were to…yep.

BigWerm wrote:

They lost to Illinois that kept them out of the Big10 Championship game, non-conference games don’t impact the conference championship.

My mistake. That’s correct, the loss to BG had no impact on the Big 10 standings.

Who hates IOWA!? We need to beat them this year. Ferentz is a trash dude after hearing everything that has come out the last couple years. Im surprised he still has a job, but its Iowa so they just look past what he has done and is accused of.

BigWerm wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gimruis wrote:</div>
Ya, but they also lost to Bowling Green at home. And had they won that game, they would have made the Big 10 Championship.

I do think that this program has gradually improved since Fleck arrived. It used to be a laughing stock. I wish they would schedule better non-conference games though. The three opponents they play in non-conference every season is kind of a joke.

They lost to Illinois that kept them out of the Big10 Championship game, non-conference games don’t impact the conference championship. And non-conference games are pretty standard for every team (including Alabama/Clemson etc.) you schedule 2 patsies and one big conference team that could give you a game. They have Colorado this year, North Carolina the next 2, BYU in 2025 and Cal in 2026/2027.

I don’t understand the hate at this point for Fleck. Sure I was skeptical too when he came in sounding like Brewster x10, but the record doesn’t lie. He had the best season for the Gophers since 1961, that’s 58 years ago, so you would have to be in your 70’s to even remember it ever being this good. His program graduates players, you never hear about them getting arrested or in trouble, one of the highest GPA’s in the country, tons of community involvement and volunteering, routinely recruiting classes near the top of the country, they have players going in draft for the NFL yearly, and he’s gone to and WON a bowl every year he’s been here. But he uses slogans and markets himself differently than some blue hairs like. Ridiculous.

Completely agree Werm, I think he has made major improvements and the academic portion has been very impressive. He can be a bit to much at times but if he has those boys following him then so be it.

PJ has done a good job at MN. His rah-rah stuff is a bit corny but I think he does that bring attention/media on himself and deflect it off the players.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Who hates IOWA!? We need to beat them this year. Ferentz is a trash dude after hearing everything that has come out the last couple years. Im surprised he still has a job, but its Iowa so they just look past what he has done and is accused of.

I agree. Iowa has had a lot of issues with football and men’s basketball over the years and no harsh consequences of any kind.

Ahhhh here we go again with all the back and forth on PJ. I’ve never really heard a decent argument as to why he’s NOT a good coach. Smoke and mirrors row on!

gimruis wrote:

I personally don’t think they are to the Iowa or Wisconsin level yet. They are their two biggest rivals. Sure, they finally beat Bucky at home for the first time in many years last season, and that’s great, but if you look at how its gone against those two teams the past 10-15 years, its awful. They haven’t beat Iowa in 5 seasons now. Even their best season in 75 years when they went 11-2 in 2019, their lone two losses were to…yep.

What does there record against them the last 10-15 years have to do with PJ. He has been there for five.

I agree Werm he is doing just fine. Has moved the program further than any coach since Mason.

Guessing the folks that hate PJ are the same that loved Jerry Burns.

Ripjiggen wrote:

What does there record against them the last 10-15 years have to with PJ. He has been there for five.

Was thinking the same thing

Ripjiggen wrote:

What does there record against them the last 10-15 years have to do with PJ. He has been there for five.

I agree Werm he is doing just fine. Has moved the program further than any coach since Mason.

Guessing the folks that hate PJ are the same that loved Jerry Burns.

I’m not a PJ hater. I actually think he has done a decent job. His cheerleading skills are a little corny but his team runs a clean slate off the field and academically, so that can’t be argued.

In terms of only being there for 5 years, he is currently 0-5 against Iowa, correct? That’s what I was getting at. This pattern of losing more to their biggest rivals rather than winning is an indication that there is obvious room for improvement.

One has to wonder why they don’t just schedule a team like NDSU in non conference play every season. The Bison would bring half of Fargo with them when they played here.

gimruis wrote:

One has to wonder why they don’t just schedule a team like NDSU in non conference play every season. The Bison would bring half of Fargo with them when they played here.

Here’s your answer:
9/24/2011
Minneapolis, Minn.
NDSU 37 – 24

10/20/2007
Minneapolis, Minn.
NDSU 27 – 21

slough wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gimruis wrote:</div>
One has to wonder why they don’t just schedule a team like NDSU in non conference play every season. The Bison would bring half of Fargo with them when they played here.

Here’s your answer:
9/24/2011
Minneapolis, Minn.
NDSU 37 – 24

10/20/2007
Minneapolis, Minn.
NDSU 27 – 21

That and the 7 billion tv contract should tell you why they would not play NDSU every year.

Was gonna quote Cpt. Musky about PJ, then Werm, then Mr. Rasmussen, then I realized a lot of reasonable people aren’t focussing on soundbites, or the language he uses with teenagers to motivate them.

Hard to argue that he’s an least improved things somewhat while here. Besides on field record, he’s attracted some good recruits and transfers (one of our defensive backs was rated #1 overall high school football player in the entire state of Mississippi and he had SEC offers) and also put some quality players in the NFL.

It comes down to people don’t like PJ Fleck the person and it bothers them enough they like to complain about it.

Thought they did decent last year. Especially with the start running back going down in the first game. Did seem dumb from a coaching standpoint to have one guy run the ball than much and not assume he’s get injured.

gimruis wrote:

One has to wonder why they don’t just schedule a team like NDSU in non conference play every season. The Bison would bring half of Fargo with them when they played here.

No offense to NDSU, but the Gophers playing them would only hurt the GOphers. If they win, well they should have, if they lose its really bad. It wouldnt help the Gophers chances at bowls or rankings so it wont happen.

The other thing to consider is the UofM has some of the more stringent entry criteria for academics too. I believe Northwestern is the only BigTen school that is possibly higher. That means a lot. Many of the best athletes are terrible students and yet PJ has upped the Team GPA every year he’s been here. It will be interesting to see the on field interaction between PJ and Kill after the game next week. Couldnt be two more polar opposites in terms of personality. I liked Kill, but he sure burned the building down on the way out with his comments. I dont think he will get a real warm welcome.

CaptainMusky wrote:

It will be interesting to see the on field interaction between PJ and Kill after the game next week. Couldnt be two more polar opposites in terms of personality. I liked Kill, but he sure burned the building down on the way out with his comments. I dont think he will get a real warm welcome.

x2 and I actually respect PJ a lot for how he’s handled it, always took the high road when Kill was taking unnecessary and unwarranted jabs. I think the Gophers run it up big time to send a message on the field, but also maybe not since it’s game 1 and they get no bonus points toward season goals against that opponent.

I just saw it reported that Kill said he will likely not shake hands with PJ after the game and said when asked if he thought PJ cared for the players he replied “No”. What a DB and I dont mean Defensive Back!

He said that recently? What an obnoxious grudge. I would think even after the previous stuff he’d still get shown respect coming back here if he just took the high road from here on out.

Admittedly my only knowledge of Fleck comes from sports coverage from local media but from what I’ve seen he cares an awful lot.