I see some Dabo Swinney in PJ Fleck

Some Day...Maybe

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I know Fleck brings Dabo and Clemson up from time to time, and I can see why. I see some similarities. I don’t know if it’ll be here, but I see Fleck in the CFP someday. Maybe even in the Natty. We’ll see.


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I know Fleck brings Dabo and Clemson up from time to time, and I can see why. I see some similarities. I don’t know if it’ll be here, but I see Fleck in the CFP someday. Maybe even in the Natty. We’ll see.


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I agree.
 


I know Fleck brings Dabo and Clemson up from time to time, and I can see why. I see some similarities. I don’t know if it’ll be here, but I see Fleck in the CFP someday. Maybe even in the Natty. We’ll see.

If PJ ever lands a QB like Lawrence it’s probably more realatic than we think. That kid is incredible.
 

I know Fleck brings Dabo and Clemson up from time to time, and I can see why. I see some similarities. I don’t know if it’ll be here, but I see Fleck in the CFP someday. Maybe even in the Natty. We’ll see.


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I would love to see it happen in Minnesota.....but there is a huge gap between Minnesota and Clemson. Their recruiting classes lowest ranked players are like our highest ranked players. I love Minnesota and the Twin Cities, but I think it's going to be difficult to get those recruits to the U any time soon. I love PJ Fleck and want him to stay here for a long time....hopefully building something as big as you are envisioning.
 



Dabo told the Gophers or any other college team it too, can be national champions if they are willing to believe and put the work in.
 

Clemson is in a perfect geographical locale at the crossroads of SEC/Big Ten/ACC recruiting country. It is in a beautiful campus with enrollment around 19K-20K and a small/mid-size city charm.

The Big Ten West is no SEC country. Twenty to thirty years from now, there is no telling how demographics will change and how that will impact recruiting trends.

If the Gophers can be lucky and find a QB and a Big Ten upper tier caliber O-Line, there's no telling how far they can go. The same goes for restocking and improving building their Defense.

That can be said of any team. It starts with building with talent on both sides of the ball. We saw glimpses of what the Gophers can be capable of in the win against Wisconsin, Purdue, and Georgia Tech.

The truth is, the Big Ten West has become more competitive at least in the mid-tier of college football. What is it - in the last two years the Big Ten West went 8-1 in bowl games and the Big Ten East 4-4.

I don't know how the Gophers Offense will do with a new OC and other assistant coaches leaving and others coming in. If PJ Fleck can continue to improve recruiting year to year, and if he himself does not decide to leave the Gophers will have a pretty decent future.

Lotsa lefsa. Bottom line - the key is recruiting talent to Minnesota which was/is still a challenging task. PJ Fleck is still fighting for one or two 4-Star talent that may help win one or two more games.
 
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Truth is, from anything I've seen so far with the CFP, you need to be a top 10 (or top 5) recruiting school to win it.
There has been no outlier yet of a team outside of the top 10 winning the CFP.

It could happen of course, but hasn't happened yet.

The last team to come close was probably Michigan State who got to the CFP and lost 38-0 to Bama with a team that wasn't ranking annually in the top 20 recruiting classes.


If I were to expect a team to win the CFP without top ranking classes, I would expect the two ways it can happen would be by having a QB so good he can carry a team that has less talent.

or

A Wisconsin style, big lineman, ball control, solid defense team where lower ranked recruits are formed into NFL caliber lineman who can out muscle quicker, talented, defensive recruits.
 



Truth is, from anything I've seen so far with the CFP, you need to be a top 10 (or top 5) recruiting school to win it.
There has been no outlier yet of a team outside of the top 10 winning the CFP.

It could happen of course, but hasn't happened yet.

The last team to come close was probably Michigan State who got to the CFP and lost 38-0 to Bama with a team that wasn't ranking annually in the top 20 recruiting classes.


If I were to expect a team to win the CFP without top ranking classes, I would expect the two ways it can happen would be by having a QB so good he can carry a team that has less talent.

or

A Wisconsin style, big lineman, ball control, solid defense team where lower ranked recruits are formed into NFL caliber lineman who can out muscle quicker, talented, defensive recruits.

Agree. Any Big Ten West team will have to crack the top ten in recruiting in three/four consecutive years to arrive at the national CFP table. Even then nothing is guaranteed without good coaching. That doesn't mean a team can be lucky once in a while with under recruited talent however dismal. You have to have the thoroughbred horses in the stable and lots of them. We saw what talent level Clemson has that blew out Alabama. That is in another level of football universe.

It can become boring to the rest of Division 1 College Football if every year you pencil in Alabama or Clemson or another SEC/ACC team. How is this going to impact fan interest in college football in the long run?
 
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PJ Fleck can build something amazing here. Clemson was a trash program prior to Dabo. It took the right coach to flip that program. Look at Clemson’s prior season ending record through their history and you will see a lot of barely .500 team to under .500 with splashes of greatness. Maybe and I mean just maybe P.J. Fleck can awaken a sleeping giant.
 

PJ Fleck can build something amazing here. Clemson was a trash program prior to Dabo. It took the right coach to flip that program. Look at Clemson’s prior season ending record through their history and you will see a lot of barely .500 team to under .500 with splashes of greatness. Maybe and I mean just maybe P.J. Fleck can awaken a sleeping giant.

If you think Clemson was trash before Dabo, then I don't even know what the gophers would be described as.
 





PJ Fleck can build something amazing here. Clemson was a trash program prior to Dabo. It took the right coach to flip that program. Look at Clemson’s prior season ending record through their history and you will see a lot of barely .500 team to under .500 with splashes of greatness. Maybe and I mean just maybe P.J. Fleck can awaken a sleeping giant.

From 1977 to 2008 they had 3 teams that were under .500, went to 24 bowls games in that stretch. You sure you have the right Clemson?
 

Dabo told the Gophers or any other college team it too, can be national champions if they are willing to believe and put the work in.

No question they got better results immediately with his arrival. It also certainly helps that Clemson has been a frequent top 25 ranked program and had something like four losing seasons in the last 40 years.
 

From 1977 to 2008 they had 3 teams that were under .500, went to 24 bowls games in that stretch. You sure you have the right Clemson?

I see a lot of seasons hover around .500 for Clemson. Those teams compared to Clemson now are considered trash to the fan base now. 7-6, 8-5, 9-4 type seasons are nothing to hype on unless your gopher fan cause that’s all we have had. If Goohers start having 14-1, 13-1 type seasons I’d say every our teams today were trash compared to what’s going on at time.

Gophers haven’t been relevant is so long it’s sad. I really hope P.J. Fleck turns this around to where we look at 9-4 type seasons as down years.

Point I was trying to make is Clemson hasn’t always been like they are now, in their history they’ve only have had a flash here or there with these tyoe seasons. Clemson hit home run with right coach, hopefully Minnesota did that with Fleck.
 

Glad someone brought this topic up. I see people calling PJ a used car salesman and people think he is all about himself. I even saw a friend post on facebook wondering what PJ would have sounded like after the game last night. He admitted he is not a fan of PJ and his "me first" approach. I really don't get it.

Just because Dabo uses words like "God" and "Our Savior" doesn't mean he is unlike most other coaches. Listen to the majority of coaches when they talk. Most say the say the same things. "Athletically, Spiritually, Socially, Academically, Religiously, Become Men, Leave here a better person, connecting, communicating etc. etc. The new K-State coach used most of these words in his introduction to his team just weeks ago.

The one difference is the Row the Boat marketing tool. With success I think that tool will die and no longer be needed. Look at all the young coaches being hired in the pros, this is nothing new. Young coaches have been hired for eternity. It's cyclical and trendy right now. They all used these terms and phrases.
 

Glad someone brought this topic up. I see people calling PJ a used car salesman and people think he is all about himself. I even saw a friend post on facebook wondering what PJ would have sounded like after the game last night. He admitted he is not a fan of PJ and his "me first" approach. I really don't get it.

Just because Dabo uses words like "God" and "Our Savior" doesn't mean he is unlike most other coaches. Listen to the majority of coaches when they talk. Most say the say the same things. "Athletically, Spiritually, Socially, Academically, Religiously, Become Men, Leave here a better person, connecting, communicating etc. etc. The new K-State coach used most of these words in his introduction to his team just weeks ago.

The one difference is the Row the Boat marketing tool. With success I think that tool will die and no longer be needed. Look at all the young coaches being hired in the pros, this is nothing new. Young coaches have been hired for eternity. It's cyclical and trendy right now. They all used these terms and phrases.

Row the Boat will go away as soon as PJ's relationship to his deceased son ends.
If you believe Row the Boat is (only) a marketing tool, you're missing the origin and purpose behind it.
 

Glad someone brought this topic up. I see people calling PJ a used car salesman and people think he is all about himself. I even saw a friend post on facebook wondering what PJ would have sounded like after the game last night. He admitted he is not a fan of PJ and his "me first" approach. I really don't get it.

Just because Dabo uses words like "God" and "Our Savior" doesn't mean he is unlike most other coaches. Listen to the majority of coaches when they talk. Most say the say the same things. "Athletically, Spiritually, Socially, Academically, Religiously, Become Men, Leave here a better person, connecting, communicating etc. etc. The new K-State coach used most of these words in his introduction to his team just weeks ago.

The one difference is the Row the Boat marketing tool. With success I think that tool will die and no longer be needed. Look at all the young coaches being hired in the pros, this is nothing new. Young coaches have been hired for eternity. It's cyclical and trendy right now. They all used these terms and phrases.

I'm not getting into any sort of comparison with PJ.

But the way Dabo handled the Kelly Bryant situation showed me that he likely is a guy who practices what he preaches. It would have been incredibly easy for him to play Bryant quarter before handing the reigns over to Lawrence this year. In fact, Clemson could EASILY have needed Bryant.

Clemson already had two QBs transfer out. Hunter Johnson transferred to NW. Another guy transferred to a Sun Belt school. Without Bryant, Lawrence's backup QB was essentially going to be a 4th stringer, at best.

Dabo was upfront with Bryant and did the right thing despite it jeopardizing his legitimate chance at another national championship. It worked out for Clemson, but it easily could have been a disaster.
 




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