Sid Hartman: "Fleck is accomplishing what he said he would here."

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per Sid:

Gophers off to historic start

The Gophers are 5-0 after their 40-17 home victory over Illinois on Saturday. That improbable start shows that coach P.J. Fleck is accomplishing what he said he would here.

This team needed some luck and big plays to escape nonconference play 3-0, but the past two weeks Gophers have taken care of business in the Big Ten.

Tanner Morgan overcame a slow start Saturday to throw three touchdown passes, two in the second half.

And Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks all of a sudden look like the dynamic duo they were before injuries forced both to the sidelines last year. Smith gained 211 yards on 24 carries and Brooks had 111 yards on 16 carries.

The simple fact is that since Murray Warmath’s club won the national championship in 1960, only three Gophers teams have started the season 5-0. Glen Mason’s clubs did it in back-to-back seasons in 2003 and 2004.

The 2003 team might have been the Gophers’ best in the past four decades. It started 6-0, finished 10-3 and beat Oregon 31-30 in the Sun Bowl. The 2004 club didn’t finish strong, going 1-5 to end the regular season before topping Alabama 20-16 in the Music City Bowl.

John Gutekunst started 5-0 in 1987, but the Gophers went 1-5 down the stretch and didn’t get to play in a bowl.

So Fleck and this young Gophers squad are in rare territory. If they can find a way to top Nebraska next Saturday, a prime-time matchup at home, they will be bowl-eligible before taking a loss.

http://www.startribune.com/young-twins-stars-emerged-to-put-together-a-historic-season/562300822/

Go Gophers!!
 

per Sid:

Gophers off to historic start

The Gophers are 5-0 after their 40-17 home victory over Illinois on Saturday. That improbable start shows that coach P.J. Fleck is accomplishing what he said he would here.

This team needed some luck and big plays to escape nonconference play 3-0, but the past two weeks Gophers have taken care of business in the Big Ten.

Tanner Morgan overcame a slow start Saturday to throw three touchdown passes, two in the second half.

And Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks all of a sudden look like the dynamic duo they were before injuries forced both to the sidelines last year. Smith gained 211 yards on 24 carries and Brooks had 111 yards on 16 carries.

The simple fact is that since Murray Warmath’s club won the national championship in 1960, only three Gophers teams have started the season 5-0. Glen Mason’s clubs did it in back-to-back seasons in 2003 and 2004.

The 2003 team might have been the Gophers’ best in the past four decades. It started 6-0, finished 10-3 and beat Oregon 31-30 in the Sun Bowl. The 2004 club didn’t finish strong, going 1-5 to end the regular season before topping Alabama 20-16 in the Music City Bowl.

John Gutekunst started 5-0 in 1987, but the Gophers went 1-5 down the stretch and didn’t get to play in a bowl.

So Fleck and this young Gophers squad are in rare territory. If they can find a way to top Nebraska next Saturday, a prime-time matchup at home, they will be bowl-eligible before taking a loss.

http://www.startribune.com/young-twins-stars-emerged-to-put-together-a-historic-season/562300822/

Go Gophers!!

It’s incredible to say we’re 5-0. I don’t know what the rest of the season holds for us, it’s going to be very tough starting with Penn State. But I believe we can go a minimum of 9-3. I think we’re most likely going to lose to Penn State, Iowa and Wisconsin I always believe are potential upsets for us because they’re rivalry games. I think it’s to our advantage we play Penn State and Wisconsin at home this year instead of having to play at their difficult stadiums. I think Maryland might pose a threat to us, not sure yet. I don’t see why we’d lose to Nebraska this year, they haven’t impressed me. we always seem to struggle with Northwestern, but I don’t see why we can’t beat them. I think this squad has the potential to go down as one of the best Minnesota has had, if not this season, then in the next 2.


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It’s incredible to say we’re 5-0. I don’t know what the rest of the season holds for us, it’s going to be very tough starting with Penn State. But I believe we can go a minimum of 9-3. I think we’re most likely going to lose to Penn State, Iowa and Wisconsin I always believe are potential upsets for us because they’re rivalry games. I think it’s to our advantage we play Penn State and Wisconsin at home this year instead of having to play at their difficult stadiums. I think Maryland might pose a threat to us, not sure yet. I don’t see why we’d lose to Nebraska this year, they haven’t impressed me. we always seem to struggle with Northwestern, but I don’t see why we can’t beat them. I think this squad has the potential to go down as one of the best Minnesota has had, if not this season, then in the next 2.


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Before we start breaking out the champagne let’s remember who we beat to get to 5-0. It’s not like we beat Iowa, Michigan and some mediocre P5 non-conference teams. I’m not taking anything away from what the team has accomplished because they have beat their scheduled competition. I’m just saying I wouldn’t put it in the “incredible” category just yet. We’ve been able to take out some FBS schools and 3 others with backup QB’s at the helm for a vast majority of the game.

Let’s wait to see how we fare vs. the top teams in the B1G West. If we go 1-1 vs. Wisconsin and Iowa, I for one will be extremely impressed. I don’t think we’re there yet but there’s a lot of season ahead. However, I f we lose to the likes of Maryland, Nebraska and/or Northwestern (the middle) then how excited will you be with the 5-0 start? We’ve got some good matchups ahead that will be solid barometers of how good of a team this can really be.
 

Seriously, most of us thought we would be 5-0 at this point with our preseason predictions. I don't think any of us thought this is the path we would have taken to get to this point, but the season is unfolding as we all hoped. Enjoy 5-0 of rt. week and lets reconvene next week and talk about 6-0.
 

Before we start breaking out the champagne let’s remember who we beat to get to 5-0. It’s not like we beat Iowa, Michigan and some mediocre P5 non-conference teams. I’m not taking anything away from what the team has accomplished because they have beat their scheduled competition. I’m just saying I wouldn’t put it in the “incredible” category just yet. We’ve been able to take out some FBS schools and 3 others with backup QB’s at the helm for a vast majority of the game.

Let’s wait to see how we fare vs. the top teams in the B1G West. If we go 1-1 vs. Wisconsin and Iowa, I for one will be extremely impressed. I don’t think we’re there yet but there’s a lot of season ahead. However, I f we lose to the likes of Maryland, Nebraska and/or Northwestern (the middle) then how excited will you be with the 5-0 start? We’ve got some good matchups ahead that will be solid barometers of how good of a team this can really be.

We had a favorable schedule and we've actually been taking advantage of it. Even though we've tried...the team managed to avoid a damaging loss. It's fun to be one of a handful of undefeated teams remaining in the FBS. It's nice that because of that...our games actually get recapped and the team is talked about. And with Nebraska, Rutgers, and Maryland as our next three games....we've got a solid shot to be 8-0 heading into November and a matchup with Penn State....which will have a decent shot to be in consideration for gameday if we take care of business and Penn State keeps playing like they have been.

And I'd say that the way that the Gophers played today and last Saturday (end score doesn't reflect actual performance) should be considered. The Gophers moved the ball at will against Purdue. They were basically helpless. After a slow start, Illinois was outclassed in basically every aspect of the game today. Those two defensive gift touchdowns were the only things that kept the score from being an embarrassment. Both of those games should be positive signs. The Gophers are firmly handling the bottom teams in the conference.
 


I don't think Sid is right in saying it was 'improbable' to be 5-0 this season, but he isn't wrong in pointing out that it is a good accomplishment.
 

There’s still not much respect for the team out there, because of who they’ve played, and probably a lot of pre-existing bias. The perfect example of this is multiple tweets stating, “worst undefeated team in the country,” including one individual with a Vikings avatar, of all things. Some people just get a lot of enjoyment from mocking Gopher football.


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There’s still not much respect for the team out there, because of who they’ve played, and probably a lot of pre-existing bias. <b>The perfect example of this is multiple tweets stating, “worst undefeated team in the country,” including one individual with a Vikings avatar, of all things.</b> Some people just get a lot of enjoyment from mocking Gopher football.


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Are you monitoring random twitter posts to see how the Gophers are being mentioned?


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Before we start breaking out the champagne let’s remember who we beat to get to 5-0. It’s not like we beat Iowa, Michigan and some mediocre P5 non-conference teams. I’m not taking anything away from what the team has accomplished because they have beat their scheduled competition. I’m just saying I wouldn’t put it in the “incredible” category just yet. We’ve been able to take out some FBS schools and 3 others with backup QB’s at the helm for a vast majority of the game.

Let’s wait to see how we fare vs. the top teams in the B1G West. If we go 1-1 vs. Wisconsin and Iowa, I for one will be extremely impressed. I don’t think we’re there yet but there’s a lot of season ahead. However, I f we lose to the likes of Maryland, Nebraska and/or Northwestern (the middle) then how excited will you be with the 5-0 start? We’ve got some good matchups ahead that will be solid barometers of how good of a team this can really be.

The better you get, the higher percentage of teams start to appear to be weak and middling because you're moving up the rankings.
About a year ago Purdue and Fresno weren't weak teams.
Now that we beat both twice, suddenly they seem unimpressive because we've improved since then, and they've gotten worse.
It's what is supposed to happen.

Alabama looks at their schedule every year and maybe finds 2-3 games with worthy opponents. They don't criticize their own schedule.
 

Are you monitoring random twitter posts to see how the Gophers are being mentioned?


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I do this at least 7 hours a day.
 
Last edited:

Are you monitoring random twitter posts to see how the Gophers are being mentioned?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don’t “monitor” to see how they’re mentioned, but I read stuff about the team on Twitter and notice things. Kinda like Gopherhole, but different.


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Before we start breaking out the champagne let’s remember who we beat to get to 5-0. It’s not like we beat Iowa, Michigan and some mediocre P5 non-conference teams. I’m not taking anything away from what the team has accomplished because they have beat their scheduled competition. I’m just saying I wouldn’t put it in the “incredible” category just yet. We’ve been able to take out some FBS schools and 3 others with backup QB’s at the helm for a vast majority of the game.

Let’s wait to see how we fare vs. the top teams in the B1G West. If we go 1-1 vs. Wisconsin and Iowa, I for one will be extremely impressed. I don’t think we’re there yet but there’s a lot of season ahead. However, I f we lose to the likes of Maryland, Nebraska and/or Northwestern (the middle) then how excited will you be with the 5-0 start? We’ve got some good matchups ahead that will be solid barometers of how good of a team this can really be.

Yeah, you kind of are
 



Are you monitoring random twitter posts to see how the Gophers are being mentioned?


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You don't really have to look hard to find those kinds of posts. You don't necessarily have to be searching for them to find them.
 

In Big Ten play: win the games that you should win...win some more that you should have a shot at and pull an upset win once in a while. All teams lose some they could have or "...should have won..." That is human. But, now, once again: I think the GOPHER will show up for games the GOPHER should show up for in Big Ten play. That helps make life very good for this old Gopher Fan.
 




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