As someone who went to the game tonight....

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Dradke13

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First off, I love roadtrips and I won't stop supporting the Gophers Athletic department. It was overall a great experience and an amazing atmosphere and that alone is why my group went. A win would have been the cherry on top. HOWEVER....

I am at my lowest point with PJ. Tonight was just another misstep in this season and hopefully in the RTB culture but man it has been embarrassing the last 3 games. Yes, the gophers have injuries, yes they have played 3 very good teams in a row. But holy cow do we look unprepared, scared to play, and just overall out muscled and out coached in every phase of the game.

Just curious on everyone else's thoughts about tonight and the last few.
 


Sorry for having to put up with the loss that otherwise spoiled what sounds like a good trip.

The Billds will be in Lincoln in two weeks and hope to keep the streak alive. The Huskers though no doubt will smell blood in the water no matter who starts at QB.

As for this game it was no better on TV than what you witnessed in person. That offered, relish the atmosphere because it is special and worth remembering, even if PSU.
 

PJ's "it's all on me" shield has cracked. He's not the sole issue anymore. There were egregious gaffes in the defensive secondary for the third straight game. The boat isn't being rowed anymore.
 

I’ve got Nebraska tickets in the visitor section I’m willing to sell for dirt cheap.
 



Dradke13 said:
First off, I love roadtrips and I won't stop supporting the Gophers Athletic department. It was overall a great experience and an amazing atmosphere and that alone is why my group went. A win would have been the cherry on top. HOWEVER....

I am at my lowest point with PJ. Tonight was just another misstep in this season and hopefully in the RTB culture but man it has been embarrassing the last 3 games. Yes, the gophers have injuries, yes they have played 3 very good teams in a row. But holy cow do we look unprepared, scared to play, and just overall out muscled and out coached in every phase of the game.

Just curious on everyone else's thoughts about tonight and the last few.
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There were moments that I felt at home watching, when a scoring chance or a third down stop was there for the taking. Must have been frustrating to watch in person.
To me the defense came out very strong but how long can you keep a team with that much talent down if the offense is not doing anything with their possessions.
 

We might have a burgeoning body of evidence that tells when PJ’s schtick gets old and falls on deaf ears. I don’t see a very good or inspired team out there. Remind me how many players we lost to the portal? Who is going to play RB, WR and OL next year that we should think will be an upgrade. I think we are in trouble.
 

Gopherchase said:
We might have a burgeoning body of evidence that tells when PJ’s schtick gets old and falls on deaf ears. I don’t see a very good or inspired team out there. Remind me how many players we lost to the portal? Who is going to play RB, WR and OL next year that we should think will be an upgrade. I think we are in trouble.
Click to expand...

You forgot linebacker.

Yes, we've lost a lot of players to the portal but only Bucky Irving was a big loss.

On the whole, the portal has helped us. We'll have to see who Fleck picks up in the portal this season. I still have faith in Fleck's ability to get us some help from there.
 



Dradke13 said:
First off, I love roadtrips and I won't stop supporting the Gophers Athletic department. It was overall a great experience and an amazing atmosphere and that alone is why my group went. A win would have been the cherry on top. HOWEVER....

I am at my lowest point with PJ. Tonight was just another misstep in this season and hopefully in the RTB culture but man it has been embarrassing the last 3 games. Yes, the gophers have injuries, yes they have played 3 very good teams in a row. But holy cow do we look unprepared, scared to play, and just overall out muscled and out coached in every phase of the game.

Just curious on everyone else's thoughts about tonight and the last few.
Click to expand...
No additional thoughts, you nailed it.

One note: If PJ doesn't have has main guys, he participates in the white out with his white flag. Mails it in from the moment they leave the locker room.
 

Dradke13 said:
First off, I love roadtrips and I won't stop supporting the Gophers Athletic department. It was overall a great experience and an amazing atmosphere and that alone is why my group went. A win would have been the cherry on top. HOWEVER....

I am at my lowest point with PJ. Tonight was just another misstep in this season and hopefully in the RTB culture but man it has been embarrassing the last 3 games. Yes, the gophers have injuries, yes they have played 3 very good teams in a row. But holy cow do we look unprepared, scared to play, and just overall out muscled and out coached in every phase of the game.

Just curious on everyone else's thoughts about tonight and the last few.
Click to expand...
Almost word for word my thoughts after Bowling Green last year.
 

Dradke13 said:
First off, I love roadtrips and I won't stop supporting the Gophers Athletic department. It was overall a great experience and an amazing atmosphere and that alone is why my group went. A win would have been the cherry on top. HOWEVER....

I am at my lowest point with PJ. Tonight was just another misstep in this season and hopefully in the RTB culture but man it has been embarrassing the last 3 games. Yes, the gophers have injuries, yes they have played 3 very good teams in a row. But holy cow do we look unprepared, scared to play, and just overall out muscled and out coached in every phase of the game.

Just curious on everyone else's thoughts about tonight and the last few.
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It is obvious we cannot scheme on defense and cannot adjust. We have plenty if speed and talent but no ability to use it. Love the guy but its time for a new era with AK.
 

gopherjay said:
It is obvious we cannot scheme on defense and cannot adjust. We have plenty if speed and talent but no ability to use it. Love the guy but its time for a new era with AK.
Click to expand...

We have Indiana, NW, Purdue, Illini type talent. No better no worse
Recruiting has not been all that impressive. It is difficult to recruit to Minneapolis
 




Keeping AK under a cloak at first was dumb - reminds of that Wisconsin game when we had a reserve QB who wasn't allowed to pass much. Didn't we lose in the final minutes? AK should have come out slinging as he did on the 90-yard drive just before the half. This coaching staff is frequently outcoached, then can't adjust - Bowling Green and the last two Illinois games being good examples. They were paralyzed in the second half of each game.
 


This reminds me a bit of 2018.
During 2018 we had some rough defensive stretches and we wondered if we had a massive lack of talent.

We didn't. We just had people making mistakes.
We might be lighter on talent, or maybe it's the youth of our defensive line talent shining through right now, but I'm not going to take three losses in a row and project that this is a bad or wasted season. We still have some games to play and maybe we see some new players step up to provide optimism for 2023.

I find it a bit odd that a loss vs PSU is now everyone's jumping off point.
Yes, we lost badly, but it's still one loss. It's not two losses. Losing to Illinois and Purdue both stink, but we're still at three losses right now and favored to win next week.

We don't need to bend over backwards trying to project how bad this is for the program long term when we haven't advanced one week beyond this loss yet.
 

As always, there is a middle ground between "all is well" and "we're doomed."

The Gophers are not terrible. They're just not as good as the better teams in the conference.

Gophers' record vs teams with losing records = 4-0
Gophers' record vs teams with winning records = 0-3.

that speaks for itself.

how to change? get better players or better coaches. either option costs money. and a willingness to spend money and make that type of commitment.

If Rich Uncle Pennybags walked up to Fleck and handed him $10-million, the Gophers could bring in better talent. I'm just not going to hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
 

So glad that I didn’t end up taking my family to the game. Saved $ thousands by not going. Be deflated and disappointed at the comfort of my own home with a better view for the game.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
how to change? get better players or better coaches. either option costs money. and a willingness to spend money and make that type of commitment.

If Rich Uncle Pennybags walked up to Fleck and handed him $10-million, the Gophers could bring in better talent. I'm just not going to hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
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With the NIL “game” in today’s NCAA recruits, outside of having $1M sign in bonuses from a wealthy alum or a Lamborghini dealership backed deals, we’re NEVER going to land any 5-Star recruits.

Since we don’t have those big time NIL donors, we only have these smaller deals and/or crowd funding type organizations (i.e. Dinkytown Athletes and Twin Cities NIL) hope to gain momentum in the NIL “game”. Unfortunately these crowd funding platforms don’t work when your team is losing. Win = money coming in. Lose = no one will crowd fund.

Money talks in today’s 5-star recruits. Minnesota will never see a 5-star recruit for football.
 

Yah-E said:
With the NIL “game” in today’s NCAA recruits, outside of having $1M sign in bonuses from a wealthy alum or a Lamborghini dealership backed deals, we’re NEVER going to land any 5-Star recruits.

Since we don’t have those big time NIL donors, we only have these smaller deals and/or crowd funding type organizations (i.e. Dinkytown Athletes and Twin Cities NIL) hope to gain momentum in the NIL “game”. Unfortunately these crowd funding platforms don’t work when your team is losing. Win = money coming in. Lose = no one will crowd fund.

Money talks in today’s 5-star recruits. Minnesota will never see a 5-star recruit for football.
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Below is the current commits for 2023. You will notice how little 5 star recruits there actually are.

Alabama, Georgia, and Clemson have no 5 stars.

It's the 4 stars that are next and generally damn good.

Alabama has 21 of them, for example. Ohio State has no 5 stars, but 17, 4 stars. Hell, flipping Notre Dame has 21, 4 stars.

We don't have any 4 stars. It's sort of depressing. And yes, some will hit and miss and someone is going to talk about players who should have been 4 stars. It is what it is.

n.rivals.com

2023 all-teams football recruiting team rankings

2023 all-teams football recruiting team rankings by Rivals.com
n.rivals.com n.rivals.com
 

kg21 said:
Below is the current commits for 2023. You will notice how little 5 star recruits there actually are.

Alabama, Georgia, and Clemson have no 5 stars.

It's the 4 stars that are next and generally damn good.

Alabama has 21 of them, for example. Ohio State has no 5 stars, but 17, 4 stars. Hell, flipping Notre Dame has 21, 4 stars.

We don't have any 4 stars. It's sort of depressing. And yes, some will hit and miss and someone is going to talk about players who should have been 4 stars. It is what it is.

n.rivals.com

2023 all-teams football recruiting team rankings

2023 all-teams football recruiting team rankings by Rivals.com
n.rivals.com n.rivals.com
Click to expand...
I know there are very few 5-stars (around 10 every year) and a class with most 4-stars would be just as great. Either or, all comes down to big NIL deals.

Texas A&M - Lambo NIL and every member of the team gets $25K

Minnesota - a free #2 at McDs, not even Chic-Fil-A

We can’t compete in recruiting!
 

It was a tough loss and a real bummer if you made the trip.
Still wins on the schedule. Hope the team resets expectations and play their tail off the rest of the year and the coaches bring some creativity.
I agree that the big plays against the gopher defense yesterday were mostly missed assignments (Mariano with 3) vs getting over powered. The young defensive line is bigger and stronger than the pre Fleck years. They will be alright.
 


Gopherchase said:
We might have a burgeoning body of evidence that tells when PJ’s schtick gets old and falls on deaf ears. I don’t see a very good or inspired team out there. Remind me how many players we lost to the portal? Who is going to play RB, WR and OL next year that we should think will be an upgrade. I think we are in trouble.
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Watching Bucky play for Oregon made me sick. Man, could we use hin this year. Much better replacement for Mo than what we are currently using.
 

Face The Facts said:
This reminds me a bit of 2018.
During 2018 we had some rough defensive stretches and we wondered if we had a massive lack of talent.

We didn't. We just had people making mistakes.
We might be lighter on talent, or maybe it's the youth of our defensive line talent shining through right now, but I'm not going to take three losses in a row and project that this is a bad or wasted season. We still have some games to play and maybe we see some new players step up to provide optimism for 2023.

I find it a bit odd that a loss vs PSU is now everyone's jumping off point.
Yes, we lost badly, but it's still one loss. It's not two losses. Losing to Illinois and Purdue both stink, but we're still at three losses right now and favored to win next week.

We don't need to bend over backwards trying to project how bad this is for the program long term when we haven't advanced one week beyond this loss yet.
Click to expand...
It's three losses in a row. Does that meet your expectations?
 

Dradke13 said:
First off, I love roadtrips and I won't stop supporting the Gophers Athletic department. It was overall a great experience and an amazing atmosphere and that alone is why my group went. A win would have been the cherry on top. HOWEVER....

I am at my lowest point with PJ. Tonight was just another misstep in this season and hopefully in the RTB culture but man it has been embarrassing the last 3 games. Yes, the gophers have injuries, yes they have played 3 very good teams in a row. But holy cow do we look unprepared, scared to play, and just overall out muscled and out coached in every phase of the game.

Just curious on everyone else's thoughts about tonight and the last few.
Click to expand...
I was there too. This board, man. How quick we forget. I said this last week and I think it bears repeating. This is the best and most relevant Gopher football has been in the lifetime of my fandom (2002 grad). The best moments for this program in decades have come under Fleck. Biggest bowl win, most wins in a season, hosting College Game Day x2, and establishing the program on a national level. Getting to play in the White Out game wasn't by accident.
(You think ABC just gives out the night game slot to anyone?...Yes in coordination with Fox, but this was set months ago. They know MN is a good TV game. That only happens if we are relevant and Fleck has done that)

I travel to lots of away games (and travel a lot for work in general). Minnesota football is more recognized than ever before.

I strongly encourage those that are questioning the program to be a part of the solution. Here are some good ways to help.
1. Contribute to NIL funds. Max them out!
2. Become a member of the Elite Fund. GIVE!
3. Go to the games. And don't wear white to the PSU White Out game. Good grief. I saw dozens of Gopher fans in white with the smallest of M logos on their shirt. Someone will need to explain that thought process to me! :)
4. Recognize where the program is and where it's come from. Fleck has us in a way better place than anyone I can remember. We aren't Ohio St, but we've beat WI two of the last four...after losing 14 straight.

I get that folks want more, and I do too. But I am also 100% confident in where the team has come from and where we are now. We have a lot of season left and I'm keeping my oar in the water, because this the best boat I've ever been in. (too many boat analogies? :))
Ski-U-Mah
 

schw0509 said:
I was there too. This board, man. How quick we forget. I said this last week and I think it bears repeating. This is the best and most relevant Gopher football has been in the lifetime of my fandom (2002 grad). The best moments for this program in decades have come under Fleck. Biggest bowl win, most wins in a season, hosting College Game Day x2, and establishing the program on a national level. Getting to play in the White Out game wasn't by accident.
(You think ABC just gives out the night game slot to anyone?...Yes in coordination with Fox, but this was set months ago. They know MN is a good TV game. That only happens if we are relevant and Fleck has done that)

I travel to lots of away games (and travel a lot for work in general). Minnesota football is more recognized than ever before.

I strongly encourage those that are questioning the program to be a part of the solution. Here are some good ways to help.
1. Contribute to NIL funds. Max them out!
2. Become a member of the Elite Fund. GIVE!
3. Go to the games. And don't wear white to the PSU White Out game. Good grief. I saw dozens of Gopher fans in white with the smallest of M logos on their shirt. Someone will need to explain that thought process to me! :)
4. Recognize where the program is and where it's come from. Fleck has us in a way better place than anyone I can remember. We aren't Ohio St, but we've beat WI two of the last four...after losing 14 straight.

I get that folks want more, and I do too. But I am also 100% confident in where the team has come from and where we are now. We have a lot of season left and I'm keeping my oar in the water, because this the best boat I've ever been in. (too many boat analogies? :))
Ski-U-Mah
Click to expand...
We had an amazing time! That said, ready to be home after like 40 hours in a car over the last 4 days 😂😂
 

schw0509 said:
I strongly encourage those that are questioning the program to be a part of the solution. Here are some good ways to help.
1. Contribute to NIL funds. Max them out!
2. Become a member of the Elite Fund. GIVE!
3. Go to the games. And don't wear white to the PSU White Out game. Good grief. I saw dozens of Gopher fans in white with the smallest of M logos on their shirt. Someone will need to explain that thought process to me!
Click to expand...
1. I’m the opposite, win, you’ll get my money, lose, I cut my fundings

2. I am and refer to 1 above

3. I saw this couple on Twitter today at that game wearing WHITE Gopher gears! I bet that’s who you’re talking about. I was like WTF are these two fools doing? It’s like they’re closet Gopher fans!
 

Regarding being glad you went to the game or not:

If you were going and needing it to be a win in order for you to go, then it's definitely good you didn't go. (especially with the QB change).

I went and it was definitely the best sporting experience I've probably been to in my 40+ years of watching sports. I knew what we were facing going in. I was optimistic for a win, but for the 48 hours I spent Friday to early Sunday morning, was an incredible experience.

I might be more sentimental about this than the average fan however.
 

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