Gopher Nation

[Big Dave2]

3 hours ago, chaffmj said:

Ok, so now go away. 

 

No sense being a sore loser, you should be used to it by now.......

[Getanet]

The rowboat is about to be harnessed with two 250 Horse outboards. We're going to be flying across the college football landscape with Gopher fans holding on for dear life as we wave to the pretty girls in the stands and make 'Bama, OSU, Clemson and all the rest choke on our wake. Ya better book your hotel for next year's Championship game before it's too late!

[rundrave]

It will be interesting to see how relevant the Gophers are next year. A couple interesting games happening up that way next year have me very intrigued.

 

The first being NDSU vs Butler at Target field and I am curious to see if the attendance for an FCS game on a neutral location will outdraw what the Gophers measly average somewhere around 20k? Bison fans travel very well.

 

The 2nd game being SDSU vs the Gophers. Of course this is one of those nothing to win/lose games for SDSU but no power5 big10 school should ever lose to an FCS team right?  SDSU will be losing a senior QB but I hope they can still make a game out of it. 

[JBMasterAngler]

Quick lane bowl selection was pretty underwhelming. I was hoping for the pinstripes bowl. At least it’s against a power 5 team, and not the MAC.

[smurfy]

Gophers win 34-10. 

 

 move over Bama!

[JBMasterAngler]

I was very pleased with the gophers performance. Especially when you consider our 2 best defensive players decided to skip the game to prepare for the draft. That’s a massively growing trend that I do not like! Fleck encouraged it in his post game comments, but I’m sure that was to score some points with potential recruits. Anyway, great way to end the season. I feel really good about next years team. Perhaps John Legend will be singing the National anthem at home games?

[Rick]

Fleck is moving this team in the right direction.

 

If Fleck stays I will not be surprised to see the Gophers moving into API top 25 rankings in the next couple years and top 10 rankings in the next 5 years.

[Big Dave2]

4 hours ago, Rick said:

Fleck is moving this team in the right direction.

 

Considering Jerry Kill took them to the Citrus Bowl and Tracy Claeys won 2 consecutive low tier bowl games, including the exact same bowl game Fleck won, I would say the team is going in the exact same direction it was 3 or 4 years ago.

 

Quote

 

If Fleck stays I will not be surprised to see the Gophers moving into API top 25 rankings in the next couple years and top 10 rankings in the next 5 years.

 

Top 10 in the Big 10 maybe.......

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by Big Dave2

[Rick]

17 hours ago, Big Dave2 said:

 

Considering Jerry Kill took them to the Citrus Bowl and Tracy Claeys won 2 consecutive low tier bowl games, including the exact same bowl game Fleck won, I would say the team is going in the exact same direction it was 3 or 4 years ago.

 

 

Top 10 in the Big 10 maybe.......

 

 

 

LOL, you know I'm going to make you eat those words.

 

Kill was great but Claeys was a disaster waiting to happen. I'm surprised you brag about him Dave.

 

Now Fleck, he is Elite ... row the boat baby!

[Big Dave2]

10 minutes ago, Rick said:

LOL, you know I'm going to make you eat those words.

 

Kill was great but Claeys was a disaster waiting to happen. I'm surprised you brag about him Dave.

 

Now Fleck, he is Elite ... row the boat baby!

 

Who's bragging about Claeys? The Gophers haven't had a decent coach since Glen Mason and they fired him.

 

What's so elite about Fleck? He took a team that Claeys (the disaster waiting to happen) coached to a 9 win season the year before and turned it into a 6 win season. BTW, that 9 win season was better than Kill ever did. 

 

An elite coach would be Nick Saban who took over a struggling Mike Shula team and won a national championship 2 years later.

[Big Dave2]

BTW, you can watch Tacy Claeys tonight as his 12th rated Washington State team plays in the Alamo Bowl. 

[Rick]

3 hours ago, Big Dave2 said:

 

Who's bragging about Claeys? The Gophers haven't had a decent coach since Glen Mason and they fired him.

 

What's so elite about Fleck? He took a team that Claeys (the disaster waiting to happen) coached to a 9 win season the year before and turned it into a 6 win season. BTW, that 9 win season was better than Kill ever did. 

 

An elite coach would be Nick Saban who took over a struggling Mike Shula team and won a national championship 2 years later.

 

3 hours ago, Big Dave2 said:

BTW, you can watch Tacy Claeys tonight as his 12th rated Washington State team plays in the Alamo Bowl. 

Let's see...you insinuate Claeys is the coach and he's only a defensive coordinator. Saban has his pick of NFL ready high schoolers. I'd say that just makes him better than Shula as a football coach.

 

So I have to say... in amazement...

 

WOW DAVE, YOU REALLY DO LIKE the dumpster fire Claeys.... I'd explain why that 9 win season was crap, but with your Claeys and Saban love affair, I'm afraid I'd only be wasting my time   

[Big Dave2]

5 minutes ago, Rick said:

 

Let's see...you insinuate Claeys is the coach and he's only a defensive coordinator.

 

I assumed you already knew that....

 

5 minutes ago, Rick said:

Saban has his pick of NFL ready high schoolers.

 

Think about it for a minute and tell me, why do you think that is?

 

5 minutes ago, Rick said:

I'd say that just makes him better than Shula as a football coach.

 

Duh.

 

5 minutes ago, Rick said:

So I have to say... in amazement...

WOW DAVE, YOU REALLY DO LIKE the dumpster fire Claeys....

 

After he gave you your best season since Glen Mason, I would think you guys would at least give him a chance. The question is, if you are a gopher fan, why don't YOU like him?

 

5 minutes ago, Rick said:

 

I'd explain why that 9 win season was dump, but with your Claeys and Saban love affair, I'm afraid I'd only be wasting my time  

 

Maybe, but I'd like to hear why the best season in more than a decade and the second best season since the 1960's was dump. Especially since 2 of the 4 losses were to ranked teams. To me that season looked like the Gophers were going in the right direction but maybe you can explain it to me......

[JBMasterAngler]

I liked Claeys. He was a horrible clock manager! I was upset when he was fired, but very pleased that Fleck was his replacement. Fleck is already proving that he is an excellent recruiter. He’s getting some pretty good talent from down south, and will only be a matter of time when he’s able to out recruit the likes of Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, etc. We’ll have a pretty good team next year.

 

What are your guys’ definition of an elite coach? To me, there’s only 3 or 4 elite coaches out there. Saban, Dabo Sweeney, Urban Meyer (who is retiring after Rose Bowl). That’s about it. There’s maybe a few other guys that miss the cut.

[Rick]

27 minutes ago, Big Dave2 said:

Maybe, but I'd like to hear why the best season in more than a decade and the second best season since the 1960's was dump. Especially since 2 of the 4 losses were to ranked teams. To me that season looked like the Gophers were going in the right direction but maybe you can explain it to me......

Very simple,

1. Claeys inherited Kill's work.

2. The schedule was the easiest schedule I've ever seen the Gophers play. They should have been 11-2.

3. What was left on the roster after that season was Claeys dumpster fire. He wasn't going to recruit anywhere near as well as Fleck has so far and he isn't even close to being an elite head coach.

 

I'm very happy Claeys was dumped and Fleck was hired. It's the scenario I was hoping for well before Claeys was even fired.

 

As for Saban's ability to recruit to Alabama anyone could do it. Even Schula did it. Thank God Saban didn't inherit Claeys dumpster fire or he would have been out on his ear a long time ago. 

 

Row the Boat" baby...

ROW the BOAT  

[Big Dave2]

23 minutes ago, Rick said:

Very simple,

1. Claeys inherited Kill's work.

 

So did Fleck, remember last season?

 

23 minutes ago, Rick said:

2. The schedule was the easiest schedule I've ever seen the Gophers play. They should have been 11-2.

 

Yep, it was an easy schedule. Sometimes you get them and you have to take advantage. No one else has been able to. Are you telling me the Gophers haven't had an easy schedule in 50 years?

 

If that season had been coached by Fleck or Kill, you would be telling me about his genius 9 win season in 2016.

 

23 minutes ago, Rick said:

3. What was left on the roster after that season was Claeys dumpster fire. He wasn't going to recruit anywhere near as well as Fleck has so far and he isn't even close to being an elite head coach.

 

I guess we'll never know but as a defensive coordinator his team is 12th in the Nation.

 

23 minutes ago, Rick said:

 

I'm very happy Claeys was dumped and Fleck was hired. It's the scenario I was hoping for well before Claeys was even fired.

 

Of course you are. 

 

23 minutes ago, Rick said:

 

As for Saban's ability to recruit to Alabama anyone could do it. Even Schula did it. Thank God Saban didn't inherit Claeys dumpster fire or he would have been out on his ear a long time ago. 

 

Under Shula, the Tide was pretty much exactly where the Gophers are now and have been for almost a decade. They were in the Independence bowl if they even qualified for several seasons. Saban inherited that team and in his first year they went to the Sugar bowl and the next year they won a national Championship.

 

 

[Rick]

11 minutes ago, Big Dave2 said:

Under Shula, the Tide was pretty much exactly where the Gophers are now and have been for almost a decade. They were in the Independence bowl if they even qualified for several seasons. Saban inherited that team and in his first year they went to the Sugar bowl and the next year they won a national Championship.

 

 

 

I'm glad you said that. Finally, you admit the Gophers now, under Fleck, are where Alabama was when Saban started.

 

I suspect though that you are wrong and that Alabama was in a lot better shape than the Gophers were.

[Big Dave2]

49 minutes ago, JBMasterAngler said:

I liked Claeys. He was a horrible clock manager! I was upset when he was fired, but very pleased that Fleck was his replacement. Fleck is already proving that he is an excellent recruiter. He’s getting some pretty good talent from down south, and will only be a matter of time when he’s able to out recruit the likes of Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, etc. We’ll have a pretty good team next year.

 

Hopefully that works out but it always seems that Gopher teams and coaches have a ceiling.

 

49 minutes ago, JBMasterAngler said:

 

What are your guys’ definition of an elite coach? To me, there’s only 3 or 4 elite coaches out there. Saban, Dabo Sweeney, Urban Meyer (who is retiring after Rose Bowl). That’s about it. There’s maybe a few other guys that miss the cut.

 

About the only other name you could even consider adding to that list is maybe Jimbo Fisher but that may be a stretch.

[Big Dave2]

9 minutes ago, Rick said:

 

I'm glad you said that. Finally, you admit the Gophers now, under Fleck, are where Alabama was when Saban started.

 

 

I never said they weren't. But I am saying that Saban took them from that to National Champions in 2 years, Fleck better get going if you want to give him that "elite" title.

 

Quote

I suspect though that you are wrong and that Alabama was in a lot better shape than the Gophers were.

 

It's not like the Gophers were depleted before Fleck took over. After all, Kill was your guy, right?

 

Alabama was in such bad shape........the Gopher beat them in a bowl game..

Edited December 29, 2018 by Big Dave2

[Rick]

22 minutes ago, Big Dave2 said:

After all, Kill was your guy, right?

 

Alabama was in such bad shape........the Gopher beat them in a bowl game..

 

Not really. Kill was a good Coach. He had a ceiling, kinda like your guy, Glen Mason, whose 2004 Gophers beat Shula's Crimson Tide in that bowl game.

 

Fleck is heading towards elite where Kill would never have been able to go.

[chaffmj]

God I really hope Alabama loses! 

[Big Dave2]

20 minutes ago, chaffmj said:

God I really hope Alabama loses! 

 

 

Edited December 29, 2018 by Big Dave2

[Big Dave2]

1 hour ago, Rick said:

Fleck is heading towards elite where Kill would never have been able to go.

 

What makes you think that?

[Rick]

7 hours ago, Big Dave2 said:

An elite coach would be Nick Saban who took over a struggling Mike Shula team and won a national championship 2 years later.

Saban took over, in 2007, a struggling Mike Shula team that ended the 2005 season ranked 4th in the nation. 

 

Now this is really funny....I like your notion of Alabama's struggling at 10-2 and ranked 4th in the nation in 2005 and comparing the Gophers before Fleck took over as being the same as Alabama's Saban in 2007.

[Rick]

17 minutes ago, Big Dave2 said:

 

What makes you think that?

 

A very young team that played brilliant, well over their heads in a number of games.

 

And as a young team will do, played very inconsistently and poorly.

 

I do really like what I saw when Fleck fired his D coord. 

 

Those freshmen played very very good ball under Fleck to end the season.