Souhan: A bad Gophers' loss to Northwestern, yes, but don't jump to conclusions

BleedGopher

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per Souhan:

There are two takeaways from this abomination against football, and they tell slightly different stories.

The first is that never in the history of this rivalry had Northwestern won by 39 points, until Saturday. Fleck accomplished what Tim Brewster’s couldn’t.

The second is that with a regular-season finale against unbeaten Wisconsin scheduled for Saturday, the Gophers are all but guaranteed to finish with two Big Ten victories for the fifth time in eight seasons. Gophers football mediocrity is as predictable as bad November weather in Chicago.

Every Gophers coach since Lou Holtz has had a season in which he has won two or fewer games in the Big Ten. Unless he beats Wisconsin, Fleck will be joining good, bad, and mediocre company.

A lousy Gophers season is nothing new, and there is danger in drawing conclusions from any one game. If you thought Minnesota had turned a corner by scoring 54 points against Nebraska, you were wrong. If you think Fleck has no chance to win because of one bad game in Evanston, you’re jumping to conclusions.

Even if you don’t want to write off Fleck as nothing more than Smarter Brewster, you may feel free to conclude that his team performed on Saturday the way a badly coached team would perform.

“I’ll take the blame,” Fleck said.

His team wore white and anthracite on Saturday. The assumption was that the uniforms were meant to attract recruits, but maybe Fleck suspected his players might require disguises on one of the worst days in recent Gophers football history.

http://m.startribune.com/a-bad-goph...conclusions/458523133/?section=sports/gophers

Go Gophers!!
 



For most Flecksters, appearance is very important.

Surprised there weren't any comments in the In Game thread about how PJ looked on sideline compared to Claeys last year and even compared to Pat who was all bundled up.
 

Even though I agree with that dickhead I wish I never would see his name here.
 


the Gophers are all but guaranteed to finish with two Big Ten victories for the fifth time in eight seasons.

This stat was a cold slap in the face. Uff da. PJF better have this figured out.
 



Surprised there weren't any comments in the In Game thread about how PJ looked on sideline compared to Claeys last year and even compared to Pat who was all bundled up.

Not sure where to post this, but wtf was BTN's obsession with the jNU coach on the sidelines making an arse of himself? Were we supposed to be impressed by that idiot?


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Not sure where to post this, but wtf was BTN's obsession with the jNU coach on the sidelines making an arse of himself? Were we supposed to be impressed by that idiot?


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That guy reminded me of someone.....
 

Not sure where to post this, but wtf was BTN's obsession with the jNU coach on the sidelines making an arse of himself? Were we supposed to be impressed by that idiot?


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That guy was the NW strength coach. Actually, I thought he had an appropriate personality for a strength coach. He probably really gets the guys pumped up and loose.
 

That guy was the NW strength coach. Actually, I thought he had an appropriate personality for a strength coach. He probably really gets the guys pumped up and loose.

Yeah, assistant coaches trying their hardest to draw attention to themselves does not impress me.


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That works too - but I was trying to keep the conversation on this buffoon so the thread doesn't totally trainwreck.


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Yes, Minnesota has won two Big Ten games in 5 of the past 8 seasons. Souhan's point is that we've been mediocre, and I'll give that to him. But we have not been as bad as he makes it out to be. He's saying Gopher fans shouldn't be disappointed with this season because, essentially, two wins is about what we should expect. I would disagree:

First, you can't (or shouldn't) use this season as one of your pieces of evidence to prove that history shows this season is normal. We've won two or fewer Big Ten games in only one of the past four seasons before this one. Small sample size, I know, but the trend had been upward.

Second, we've won two or fewer Big Ten games in only six seasons going back to 2000 (17 seasons; doesn't count this season). Much larger sample size; double Souhan's sample size and only one more two-win season.

Two two-win seasons came in the Brewster years and two came in Kill's first seasons as he climbed out of Brewster's slide. That's what makes this season so disappointing for me. Kill lifted us out of that abyss. I didn't think we needed a total rebuild (much like when Mason was fired). I hoped Fleck could build on what was built. Oh well, he didn't, and he may still take us to new heights. But I'm going to go ahead be disappointed with this season.
 

Let's just go out and beat Wisconsin.
 


Yes, Minnesota has won two Big Ten games in 5 of the past 8 seasons. Souhan's point is that we've been mediocre, and I'll give that to him. But we have not been as bad as he makes it out to be. He's saying Gopher fans shouldn't be disappointed with this season because, essentially, two wins is about what we should expect. I would disagree:

First, you can't (or shouldn't) use this season as one of your pieces of evidence to prove that history shows this season is normal. We've won two or fewer Big Ten games in only one of the past four seasons before this one. Small sample size, I know, but the trend had been upward.

Second, we've won two or fewer Big Ten games in only six seasons going back to 2000 (17 seasons; doesn't count this season). Much larger sample size; double Souhan's sample size and only one more two-win season.

Two two-win seasons came in the Brewster years and two came in Kill's first seasons as he climbed out of Brewster's slide. That's what makes this season so disappointing for me. Kill lifted us out of that abyss. I didn't think we needed a total rebuild (much like when Mason was fired). I hoped Fleck could build on what was built. Oh well, he didn't, and he may still take us to new heights. But I'm going to go ahead be disappointed with this season.

That's not a bad take. I thought the same thing earlier in the year. I do think that there have been a lot of variables with injury, QB play, but perhaps the biggest is the system change. Players do not all seem to fit. I can see a lot of transfers for that reason. Still have optimism PJF can do his thing but have concerns that he can recruit well enough to run what he wants to run. Time will tell and I will watch every single game as I have for decades.
 

Souhan had a roundabout way of saying:

We're not as good as 54-21 over Nebraska, and

We're not as bad as 0-39 to Northwestern.
 

Not sure where to post this, but wtf was BTN's obsession with the jNU coach on the sidelines making an arse of himself? Were we supposed to be impressed by that idiot?
.
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That was Rex, founder of the Rex Kwan Do defense system
 




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