No time for despair

cjbfbp

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In 6 of the most recent 7 seasons the Gophers lost their first conference game. They made a bowl game in 5 of the 6 seasons prior to this one, though.

When we looked at the conference schedule prior to the start of the season, this game looked doubtful and probably wasn't one most felt we had to win. Maryland might have bombed last week but they certainly have Big Ten athletes and team speed.

The magnitude of the loss may be dispiriting but I'd rather have a game like this at the beginning of the conference season than later on.
 

In my mind there are 7 big ten games the gophers have a chance in.
I’d love it if they won all 7.

They are now 0-1
Hopefully they go 6-1


I’d predict between 2-5 and 5-2

I do think this game eliminates the chance of 9 wins.
 

Appreciate you starting this thread. Today was very disheartening for a lot of us. I was extremely frustrated, as I thought MN had a great chance to win this game. Unfortunately, the team played really poorly and had a bunch of its weaknesses exposed (line play on both sides, lack of speed on D, lack of depth, lack of vertical passing game, etc.). They're young and a team full of warts. It was the first road game. Our star RBs are out for the year. Our star defensive player went out on the second series. Our true Frosh, walk-on QB is hobbled. Hopefully they make the most of the bye week, continue improving each week, heal up, and are playing much better by the end of the year. That Fresno win had me thinking they might win 8, but now I'm praying for 6.
 

I got up expecting a win this morning, and until the pick 6 was thrown on the opening drive in the second half, if not for that, I thought it would come.

Driving home after watching the game, I believe it was John Shipley of the PP (who is no great proponent of Gopher football) during the post game wrap up that answered the question, what do you tell Gopher fans who now have one foot off the bandwagon... "This team is young and has good athletes. the playmakers will be here for another 3-4 years. Stick around, it will be worth it."

I'm going the route. Stick with the program.
 

We knew before the season that it was going to be tough this year. Yes we had a tough game in all facets today as I understand it. In addition I knew we were going to have some rough games. I also remember in the past this would happen and the trolls and all the negative people would come out of the woodworks to completely trash the program. Despite losing a conference game early in the past we would bounce back somewhat despite people saying that we wouldn't win another game.

I believe we are in a better situation than in the past. PJ isn't going to burn redshirts even though he is tempted to and would like to. This would be a band aide approach that wouldn't help us in the long run.

I'm still on board with the team. Hoping for the best this year and better results next year. That was always a given.
 
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Appreciate you starting this thread. Today was very disheartening for a lot of us. I was extremely frustrated, as I thought MN had a great chance to win this game. Unfortunately, the team played really poorly and had a bunch of its weaknesses exposed (line play on both sides, lack of speed on D, lack of depth, lack of vertical passing game, etc.). They're young and a team full of warts. It was the first road game. Our star RBs are out for the year. Our star defensive player went out on the second series. Our true Frosh, walk-on QB is hobbled. Hopefully they make the most of the bye week, continue improving each week, heal up, and are playing much better by the end of the year. That Fresno win had me thinking they might win 8, but now I'm praying for 6.

Thanks! From what I understand, Maryland has been one of the better recruiting teams in the conference the last few years. They definitely showed today that they had some high caliber athletes. Maybe they are one of the three or so most athletic teams we will face this year.

With the off week coming up for recuperation and more practice time, I don't feel so bad. Iowa may be out of reach but we still have Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern, and Nebraska on the schedule. I still believe we can win 3 or 4 of those games.
 

Purdue just beat a ranked team. Illinois and Indiana are our only real chances at this point. Nebraska and N’western are similar to Maryland: talented, but getting upset.
 

Purdue just beat a ranked team. Illinois and Indiana are our only real chances at this point. Nebraska and N’western are similar to Maryland: talented, but getting upset.

Who are Nebbie and NW getting upset by?


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Purdue just beat a ranked team. Illinois and Indiana are our only real chances at this point. Nebraska and N’western are similar to Maryland: talented, but getting upset.

Yeah, no chance against a Purdue team that hung tough but lost at home to that traditional power Eastern Michigan.
 



Purdue just beat a ranked team. Illinois and Indiana are our only real chances at this point. Nebraska and N’western are similar to Maryland: talented, but getting upset.

I'd argue MN can win any of these games if they're healthy and play well. Based on what I've seen, I'd actually rank those teams as follows:

1a) NW
1b) Purdue
3) Neb w/ Martinez
4) Indiana
5) Illinois
6) Neb w/o Martinez

If I were to slot MN in there, I'd probably put them even with Indiana. They play 3 of these teams at home as well, don't forget. A lot of things went wrong for MN today. I don't think they're as good as some folks (me included) hoped after the Fresno win, but I don't think they're as bad as some folks are thinking after today. Lots for the coaches to fix. How to pass without pass protection? How to create a pass rush? How to get the ball to playmakers in space? How to stop the run with an FCS DL? If they can decently address 2 of these consistently, 6 wins is still realistic.
 

Yeah, no chance against a Purdue team that hung tough but lost at home to that traditional power Eastern Michigan.

I'm assuming you were also one of the voters who gave Fleck an A today. You continue to be a dirt bag.
 

I'm still confident that the team can bounce back after this one. Fleck is right when talking about learning from failure. The team, especially Annexstad, can learn from this game and grow. This season is just getting started.
 

Purdue just beat a ranked team. Illinois and Indiana are our only real chances at this point. Nebraska and N’western are similar to Maryland: talented, but getting upset.

Northwestern is similar in athletic talent to Maryland? I don't think so. And I don't think a team that is 0-3, lost to Troy at home, and gave up 56 points to Michigan can be considered a "upset" victim. Purdue won't be easy but I think we can beat any one of the teams you mention and will beat at least 3 of them.
 



I mean, the way Fleck handles **** up's is pretty great. ZA makes a bad play, Fleck speaks to him right away. That's the way you learn. Immediate feedback. I'm a little worried that he's overly focused on ZA at the moment, but as long as he has the rest of the coaching staff doing the same thing with their guys, we'll be in good shape.

This last game was a wakeup call, probably one that we needed.
 

Purdue just beat a ranked team. Illinois and Indiana are our only real chances at this point. Nebraska and N’western are similar to Maryland: talented, but getting upset.

TROLL. Nebraska got smoked 56-10 by Michigan. Nice try.
 

Texas good football team, beat TCU and Maryland beat them so the opponent as it turns out was very good to better than decent, just had an off day against Temple. Loss of a teammate off the field effected the team a lot this week, should have figured that. Can see why line was down. They were flat and understandable why and had a right to be so. Bye coming at a really good time for the team, gives team a chance to get away from football and grieve. They will be better from this game. Classy move by Maryland to have that #72 sticker.

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I mean, the way Fleck handles **** up's is pretty great. ZA makes a bad play, Fleck speaks to him right away. That's the way you learn. Immediate feedback. I'm a little worried that he's overly focused on ZA at the moment, but as long as he has the rest of the coaching staff doing the same thing with their guys, we'll be in good shape.

This last game was a wakeup call, probably one that we needed.

I agree. I noticed how he talked with Coughlin after his unsportsmanlike penalty as well.
 

Texas good football team, beat TCU and Maryland beat them so the opponent as it turns out was very good to better than decent, just had an off day against Temple. Loss of a teammate off the field effected the team a lot this week, should have figured that. Can see why line was down. They were flat and understandable why and had a right to be so. Bye coming at a really good time for the team, gives team a chance to get away from football and grieve. They will be better from this game. Classy move by Maryland to have that #72 sticker.

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What the dude says above.
 

Purdue just beat a ranked team. Illinois and Indiana are our only real chances at this point. Nebraska and N’western are similar to Maryland: talented, but getting upset.

What??? You’re full of terrible takes today.
 

I ain't in despair. I had no hope in the first place. [emoji56]
 

I hope that PJ Fleck is focusing on not only ZA, but also the development of both Morgan and Green to put them in the best possible situation to contribute and in case ZA has an injury that requires missing a few games.

But, he is doing a lot of teaching. There is a silver lining in this defeat, and the players as a group will brush it off and study film and move forward.

Talent-wise, Maryland's speed on offense really showed against the Gophers' Defense.

This Maryland game is a critical game. It showed the Gopher's weakness and where they need to focus on improving. As said, better early in the season than later. This also is going to be helpful in the recruiting process. The name of the game is continuous improvement.

As PJ Fleck has mentioned in one of last week's press conference, he is going to out-recruit his players with faster and stronger players. I sure hope that he does his magic and score a few victories like the one he had at IMG last year.

There is no doubt that for the Gophers to be competitive, they need to be landing high 3 Stars and a handful of 4 Star players in the succeeding recruiting cycles.
 

Purdue just beat a ranked team. Illinois and Indiana are our only real chances at this point. Nebraska and N’western are similar to Maryland: talented, but getting upset.

My god you’re clueless
 


I know every year is different, and the circumstances change, but what gives me some confidence are results from past seasons, such as 2012 and 2013. Both of those years, Gophers started undefeated in the noncon and then lost their first Big Ten games. However, they bounced back, especially in 2013, with some good wins.

Rodney Smith went down, we have a young quarterback and Antoine Winfield has something hurt, so it won't be easy, but given Fleck's ability to motivate and his recruits learning and growing in-season, I think there are some opportunities going forward for great moments.
 






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