Double OT against Fresno and 3rd and 30 against GA Southern....

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And now we dominate in the Big Ten?

Only thing I can think of is coaching and dedication of the players to continue to work on their craft. Both go back to the head coach. Quite okay giving the man another raise
 

How frustrating would it be if we were 8-1 right now having dropped one of those games?
 

And now we dominate in the Big Ten?


Only thing I can think of is coaching and dedication of the players to continue to work on their craft. Both go back to the head coach. Quite okay giving the man another raise


Well, we should beat Iowa in Iowa and our #1 rival at home and then there is a very good OSU team we'd also have to beat, before we can start claiming to dominate the B1G, don't you think? lol
A theory I hope is true, is that Fleck was holding back. I mean, what REALLY matters, going into the season? Going undefeated in the ooc or winning the B1G West? So hold back some of your playbook in the ooc, hoping you win anyway as we did, then you have something to surprise B1G opponents with when it's needed. Just an idea, no evidence that it's a reality.

Another theory, but I have to admit to not watching every game as my job has me working weekends, but it seemed to me that Morgan telegraphed his passes in the ooc games I saw. If Fleck noticed this and got him to work on not doing that anymore, that would be the kind of thing to totally transform his passing game. And the OL seems to be playing better every week.
 

How frustrating would it be if we were 8-1 right now having dropped one of those games?

It would be frustrating, lots of fans would be doing the whole "what if" and "if only" stuff, but we'd still be 2 games in front of the B1G West race with just 3 games to go. Which would have most of us very happy, still. Frustrated some, but for the most part very happy. Right now it's almost like it's TOO much happiness for most Gopher fans, lol. Like we just don't know what to do or think?
 

The thing about those games ... we made plays .... and that's what has gotten us our other wins.

Previous teams rarely strung enough plays together to do those things.
 


How frustrating would it be if we were 8-1 right now having dropped one of those games?

Very. The Ga Southern one was a fluke in their favor. Fresno is better than many think. Both had moments where we were 10-20% to win at best.
 

I’m trying to figure out how bad our pass protection was against the non-con and how great it looked yesterday. The Gophers have improved across the board but the OL has been what brought us from average to very good.
 


It's about positive motivation and coaching. The rest the players did themselves. It is quite a remarkable transformation from the SDSU game to yesterday.
 



How frustrating would it be if we were 8-1 right now having dropped one of those games?

I remember the year Northwestern went to the Rose Bowl, their only loss was ooc against Miami(OH). The Miami coach was Randy Walker, who would takeover for Gary Barnett. This was obviously prior to conference championship games and the playoff system. Talk about a what if, they would have been in the BCS talks.

I’m sure PJ held back the playbook as much as he could in those 3 games. Now it’s looking like these players are used to close game situations and have confidence in what they are doing. Any game can be tough and I wouldn’t look past Northwestern prior to Wisconsin, they will be hungry. The target is squarely on the Gophers back and each of the remaining three teams they play want to be the spoiler. Love the approach of each game being a season.


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And now we dominate in the Big Ten?

Only thing I can think of is coaching and dedication of the players to continue to work on their craft. Both go back to the head coach. Quite okay giving the man another raise

Many people have bashed the Gophers for playing such a "soft" non-conference schedule but in retrospect it was the perfect schedule for this season.
All 3 games challenged the team and forced us to pull out all the stops to win. They weren't easy games - we really had to fight just to win them. And most importantly, we DID win. We weren't ready to schedule Alabama, Clemson and Oklahoma for our 3 non-conference games just yet - we were very fortunate to win all 3.

I think ideally you want those 3 non conference games to test you and get you ready to play the Big Ten teams and also you want to have a chance to win if you really work at it. So while some have complained about it, I think it was actually not bad at all.
 

Many people have bashed the Gophers for playing such a "soft" non-conference schedule but in retrospect it was the perfect schedule for this season.
All 3 games challenged the team and forced us to pull out all the stops to win. They weren't easy games - we really had to fight just to win them. And most importantly, we DID win. We weren't ready to schedule Alabama, Clemson and Oklahoma for our 3 non-conference games just yet - we were very fortunate to win all 3.

I think ideally you want those 3 non conference games to test you and get you ready to play the Big Ten teams and also you want to have a chance to win if you really work at it. So while some have complained about it, I think it was actually not bad at all.

I agree with you. But also, who is criticizing our schedule? Look at the schedules of Oregon, Bama, Utah, Auburn, Baylor, Oklahoma, Clemson and maybe Florida, too, they all are weaker than the Gopher's, and if not weaker, the tough games they lost.
 

Gotta learn to walk before you run. We learned alot those first few games that is helping us now.


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A lot of people point to those close losses as a sign of weakness. I think those close wins help shape a team and equips them to better handle those same situations down the road.
 

A lot of people point to those close losses as a sign of weakness. I think those close wins help shape a team and equips them to better handle those same situations down the road.

I agree. The Gophers were confident yesterday and it was Penn State that seemed a tad desperate. Close games will do that.
 

The SDS Jackrabbits are now 8-2 after a tough loss to Illinois State Saturday. That close Gophers win was less puzzling than the narrow win vs. Georgia Southern. And Fresno State? Tough opponent on the road.
 

The SDS Jackrabbits are now 8-2 after a tough loss to Illinois State Saturday. That close Gophers win was less puzzling than the narrow win vs. Georgia Southern. And Fresno State? Tough opponent on the road.

Well, 7-3 actually, with losses to us, #1 ranked NDSU, both close losses and very forgivable, but then Illinois St now. The ISU loss basically turned them into an opponent without a pulse, unfortunately. So good thing we are still undefeated.
 

And now we dominate in the Big Ten?

Only thing I can think of is coaching and dedication of the players to continue to work on their craft. Both go back to the head coach. Quite okay giving the man another raise

How many games had Faalele played in his life at the start of this season? Was his one season at IMG his first season ever playing football. Getting some game experience, when you haven't played many games, is a big deal in getting better.
 

It sounded like BS at the time (like sour grapes from a team trying to convince people they were good). But we were about 5 plays away from both of those games being comfortable victories.
 

The OL. They were, um, not good in the non-con. Something like 12 sacks given up in those games, not to mention countless QB pressures. Combine that with the fact they couldn't move anybody in the run game and the coaches basically ran only inside zone the whole time...and the fact that all of Smith, Ibrahim, and Brooks were either dinged up or coming off surgeries...yeah, the O was simply adequate in those games compared to where it is now.
 

It sounded like BS at the time (like sour grapes from a team trying to convince people they were good). But we were about 5 plays away from both of those games being comfortable victories.

That’s exactly right. We could have lost both. But we were clearly the better team in both and some flukey and out of character things happened to make the games tight. Should have won both going away. But fans who watched both games knew we were good.

And those stories are what make for a magical season. Look at Tyus Edny in ‘95 for UCLA. They were that close to being a tremendous disappointment. They went on to win it all and his drive and shot in round 2 against Missouri will be remembered forever.


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When Maestro having two 90%+ completion games we know the 3rd and 30 and bomb to Autman-bell were not flukes.

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I was at all three of those games and we just were not very good. Martin missed two, the guys were making mistakes, Tyler was doing that drop a pass every game thing, Shannon wasn't playing. The O line was all over the place and Tanner just was not as good as he has been over the past five weeks or so. We just were not a very good team playing some not horrible teams. Too young and too ugly.
 

If PJ was really holding back like some of you suggest, I hope he learned his lesson to not pull that crap anymore.

I personally don’t think that’s case. I think the team is just much improved.
 




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