Feeling Minnesota: Pat Forde


That's a great article in a week full of them.
 

We haven't had this kind of media since the run-up to the Final Four.
 


The No. 8-ranked Gophers are now 9-0 for the first time since 1904, own their highest ranking in 57 years and are very much in the hunt for divisional, conference and national championships. And Fleck? He’s now the only coach this century not named Urban Meyer to take two different FBS programs to 9-0 records (and counting) within a four-year span.

Meyer did it at a pair of powerhouse programs, Florida in 2009 and Ohio State in ’12. He was 45 years old when he did it in Gainesville and 48 in Columbus. Fleck, all of 38, has done it at Western Michigan and Minnesota.

These herculean football feats go beyond the relentless sloganeering that defines Fleck’s coaching style. The man of a million mantras has enough substance underneath the schtick to make things happen nobody else thought possible.

Go Gophers!!
 



F--k yeah! Great, great stuff. Lets keep it going!
 


Once you buy a prize, it's yours to keep. Regardless of how the rest of this campaign goes, this accomplishment stands on its own.
 

Great read....well worth the click. Found this one nugget especially interesting.

"One of the reasons a job on the margins of the Big Ten power structure appealed to Fleck was the chance to own an entire state, putting his bedrock philosophy to work from border to border. The University of Minnesota is the only FBS football program in the state. Only seven other programs (Nebraska, Wisconsin, Rutgers, Missouri, Connecticut, Boise State, Hawaii) enjoy that advantage."

Fleck has talked about the list of schools he would have left WMU for and the speculation has been that list was around 8 schools long and we were on it. Interesting that there are 7 other teams listed above....Not saying that was his list but it would make some sense given how Fleck is wired. I honestly don't know that he is as caught up as most coaches are in the idea of the helmet schools with their insane expectations.

If that is in fact his list then Gopher fans should be able to rest easy for a while because I can't see him leaving the U for any of those locations outside of maybe a Nebraska but that one shouldn't be open for a while.

Regardless though, great read and fun to see all this National press we are getting. Win tomorrow and we will take the college football world by storm because there are still a lot of people expecting us to fail. Follow up the big win against Penn State with a road win against a good Iowa team and all of the sudden.....man that would be exciting.....Let's Go!
 






Great read....well worth the click. Found this one nugget especially interesting.

"One of the reasons a job on the margins of the Big Ten power structure appealed to Fleck was the chance to own an entire state, putting his bedrock philosophy to work from border to border. The University of Minnesota is the only FBS football program in the state. Only seven other programs (Nebraska, Wisconsin, Rutgers, Missouri, Connecticut, Boise State, Hawaii) enjoy that advantage."

Fleck has talked about the list of schools he would have left WMU for and the speculation has been that list was around 8 schools long and we were on it. Interesting that there are 7 other teams listed above....Not saying that was his list but it would make some sense given how Fleck is wired. I honestly don't know that he is as caught up as most coaches are in the idea of the helmet schools with their insane expectations.

If that is in fact his list then Gopher fans should be able to rest easy for a while because I can't see him leaving the U for any of those locations outside of maybe a Nebraska but that one shouldn't be open for a while.

Regardless though, great read and fun to see all this National press we are getting. Win tomorrow and we will take the college football world by storm because there are still a lot of people expecting us to fail. Follow up the big win against Penn State with a road win against a good Iowa team and all of the sudden.....man that would be exciting.....Let's Go!

My Wyoming Cowboys are always left out.
 






Love this quote from the article:

“People kept saying, ‘Who have you beaten?’ “ said one staffer. “Well, the same teams that used to beat us every f------ year.”
 

This is the best excerpt I have read all week in a week full of wonderful national Gopher articles:

“Transformational,” was athletic director Mark Coyle’s description. “Nobody sat down. Literally everyone stood up the entire game. Then it exploded like a champagne bottle.”

It was the kind of euphoric sports scene that plays out annually somewhere—but never here. Not in the Land of 10,000 Heartaches.

Excluding recent expansion imports Maryland and Rutgers, every school in the Big Ten has made an appearance in the Rose Bowl and/or the Big Ten championship game since the last time the Gophers did, most recently playing in Pasadena on Jan. 1, 1962. Everyone else has hit a high point or two. Minnesota has routinely, sadly failed at constructing a special season.
 




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