Heck of a final 4 games of season with 3 dominating wins!

BleedGopher

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Go Gophers!!
 

This has been as impressive a 4 game stretch as I can remember. I am sure I could find others by looking back but off the top of my head it would be tough to top.

41-10 win over Purdue
14-24 loss to Northwestern
37-15 win over Wisconsin
34-10 win over Georgia Tech

Outscored 4 power 5 teams by a margin of 126 - 59 (+67). And it is not like we were beating up on bad teams, none of them were great teams but all of them were solid teams that we need to be on an equal or better level than in order to contend for the West title on a yearly basis.

We may not have turned the corner to bigger and better things just yet but you would have to be pretty pessimistic not to be happy with the way the team has played down the stretch.
 


Really well stated Bleed. I am sure there was a time in the early 2000's where I was more excited about Gopher football going in to the offseason than I am right now, but it's certainly been a long time. I am really impressed by where this program is at just the end of year 2 under Coach Fleck.
 

Changing the DC sure seems to be the ticket. In my wildest dreams didn't think it would have made this much of a difference.
 


Exciting times indeed! What are all the Fleck-haters up to tonight? It must have pained them to see such success. I for one love P. J.’s positive messages and hope he is here for a long time.


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Held GT and Purdue to their lowest offensive totals of the season.

Held WI to 15 points which was their 3rd lowest of season. (At Mich they scored 13 and At PSU they scored 10)
 

Exciting times indeed! What are all the Fleck-haters up to tonight? It must have pained them to see such success. I for one love P. J.’s positive messages and hope he is here for a long time.


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One is on twitter stating that our recruiting classes aren't good compared to Wisconsin and Nebraska.
 

Started 8 Freshmen on Offense at bowl game....serious upside in the next couple years!
 



So nice to have the Gophers playing their best football late in the season. So many promising seasons in the past have been blighted by November meltdowns, usually because injuries overwhelmed Minnesota's shallow pool of quality reserves. These are Gophers of a different stripe.
 

Really well stated Bleed. I am sure there was a time in the early 2000's where I was more excited about Gopher football going in to the offseason than I am right now, but it's certainly been a long time. I am really impressed by where this program is at just the end of year 2 under Coach Fleck.

I can't wait for next year. In the recent past when we beat a good team it was always a nail biter. We have dominated some solid outfits in these last few weeks, I'm stoked for 2019. Go Gophers!
 

In 2 years as head coach, Fleck has 8 wins (5 this season) by more than 3 scores (22 point wins or more).
Five of those eight total were against Power 5 teams.

The previous 5 wins over power 5 teams by at least that margin:

2005 Michigan State 41-18
2006 Indiana 63-26
2014 Iowa 51-14
2015 Purdue 41-13
2016 Illinois 40-17



For the 2018 Gophers:
In games won, the average margin of victory was 21 points.
In games lost, the average margin of loss was 20 points.

The last season that both the average margin for victories and losses was over 20 points was 2002.
 

One is on twitter stating that our recruiting classes aren't good compared to Wisconsin and Nebraska.

Don't know who the antiPJ folks are that you refer to but our class certainly isn't as good on paper as Nebraska- but it is pretty close to Sconnie.


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Don't know who the antiPJ folks are that you refer to but our class certainly isn't as good on paper as Nebraska- but it is pretty close to Sconnie.


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All this needs to be put into perspective. The fact is, and there is no doubt or anyway to spin it otherwise, the Gophers are narrowing the talent gap between us and both Nebraska and Wisconsin. According to 247sports website the 2018 team composite talent rankings were as follows:

Nebraska ranked 26 with average player ranking of 86.28
Wisconsin ranked 34 with average player ranking of 85.34
Minnesota ranked 48 with average player ranking of 83.56
Purdue ranked 71 with average player ranking of 82.01

The 2019 recruiting class rankings areas follows:
Nebraska ranked 24 with average player ranking of 88.01
Wisconsin ranked 27 with average player ranking of 87.01
Minnesota ranked 37 with average player ranking of 85.78
Purdue ranked 25 with average player ranking of 86.31

You can see all schools have elevated their rankings in terms of class and per player averages. The most significant increase is Purdue. While Minnesota has fallen to 4th in the rankings for the 2019, Minnesota has narrowed the gap between themselves and both Wisconsin and Nebraska. Lastly the margins of separation (2.23 or less) are so small that other variables become more important, like talent evaluation and development, coaching systems, and game day preparation.

All this said, I expect to see a bounce in the 2020 recruiting class from the strong finish this year, but at the very least, we are recruiting well enough to be in the B1G West title hunt for the foreseeable future.
 

Yep, very strong ending gives a final grade of B+ on this season.

Not bad for Year 01.
 

It was a great finish. Nothing but excitement for next year at this point. That was earned.

I’m not gonna get wrapped up in being ranked 37th vs 25th or what team A’s talent ranking is compared to us. That just doesn’t matter, IMO. What does is that I was at the WI game and watched every snap of the GT game — It is obvious that we are not only bringing in great players, but players that fit needs, style, and compliment each other. That is way more important than any ranking.

The future sure seems bright today. August is a long ways away.


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So nice to have the Gophers playing their best football late in the season. So many promising seasons in the past have been blighted by November meltdowns, usually because injuries overwhelmed Minnesota's shallow pool of quality reserves. These are Gophers of a different stripe.

Fleck has done an amazing job of improving the depth and talent level in a short period of time.
 

Fleck has done an amazing job of improving the depth and talent level in a short period of time.

I agree, but I don't think we even have to say Fleck's name anymore. It's becoming self-evident that he's recruiting well. Recruiting players who fit. He's got coaches who are developing players and now teaching good schemes.
From 4-5 games ago when things were getting hot on Fleck, he held firm and turned things around 180 degrees and did so about as quickly and soundly as he could with the schedule he was given.
The only thing the team didn't do was beat Northwestern.

There is hope from recent performance, from improved recruiting rankings, from recruiting players who fit, and from being youthful. If you want to be optimistic, I don't know what other areas you can look to.

At this point I don't think Fleck needs to be defended our touted much. Results of what we've been patiently waiting for are starting to show for themselves.
 


Yep, very strong ending gives a final grade of B+ on this season.

Not bad for Year 01.

Dude, give the year 01 crap a rest. Yes we all know Fleck made the year 0 comment last year but unless I totally missed it I don't believe he has ever referred to this as year one. Everytime I have heard him mention a year it has been year 2.
 




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