Category: P.J. FLECK

Long-suffering Golden Gophers football fans should be dancing in Dinkytown this afternoon while singing the Minnesota Rouser over and over again.

Skeptics of coach P.J. Fleck and the program?

They might consider spending the day shopping for an “oar.”

Minnesota earned an un-Gopher like win at Fresno State early Sunday morning, 38-35 in two overtimes. A program in search of consistency and quality wins for decades can thump its chest after “Rowing the Boat” to an improbable victory against the Bulldogs.

This was the kind of game many past Gopher teams would have found too difficult to put in the win column. Minnesota traumatized itself with fumbles and the most inopportune penalties imaginable. The most knucklehead of egregious errors came late in the second quarter with the Gophers cruising at 14-3. The defense had stopped the Bulldogs on three downs but a personal foul on a Minnesota player far removed from the outcome of the last play gave the football back to Fresno State.

The Bulldogs and the home crowd were resuscitated by the development, and by halftime the Minnesota lead was down to 14-10. The Gophers could have been ahead 21-3 at the half if a first quarter drive near the Fresno red zone hadn’t ended with a Mohamed Ibrahim fumble.

With third quarter momentum, the Bulldogs put up 11 points and Minnesota was down 21-14 entering the final period. The Gophers continued to make mistakes that minimized their likelihood to win in the fourth quarter including with a muffed catch on a punt that led to Bulldog points. The Gophers didn’t even get everything right in overtime, but they found ways to overcome including a last minute fourth quarter touchdown pass from quarterback Tanner Morgan to Chris Autman-Bell. (Both the throw and catch will make the 2019 season highlight film.)

In the second overtime true freshman Michael Lantz kicked a pressure 37-yard field goal to send Minnesota ahead 38-35, but the Bulldogs had one more chance either tie or to win the game. Minnesota safety Antoine Winfield Jr. had other ideas and he wrote his name into program history by making an end zone interception to say goodnight to the Bulldogs. Because he had saved a Gopher win with a last play interception a year ago against Fresno in Minneapolis, the folks in Bulldogs country won’t be forgetting his name either.

Everyone here able to spell déjà vu?

Fresno State was picked this summer by the Mountain West Conference media to win the league’s West Division. The Bulldogs’ record last season was 12-2, including that loss to Minnesota. Fresno had opened this season with a close loss at USC in front of a jacked up, huge crowd in the remodeled Coliseum. Coach Jeff Tedford has quickly revived the Fresno program after having success for years at California, a program filled with heartbreak that Gopher fans know too well.

Gone are the days that any college football observer should dismiss an opponent because they don’t play in the Big Ten or other Power Five Conferences. Yesterday Army took Michigan into overtime before losing in the “Big House.” Kansas coach Les Miles, who some misguided Minnesota fans wanted for the Gopher job before Fleck was hired in 2017, lost to Coastal Carolina.

The Bulldogs are a good team, led by an exceptional coach. Last night they didn’t screw up like Minnesota and could have won the game. But the Gophers (who have been among the least penalized teams nationally dating back to Fleck’s first season, and seldom have fumbling woes) had the resolve and the playmakers to overcome and win for the fifth time in their last six games.

Those victories have not come against chumps. Late last year Minnesota downed Purdue, lost to Big Ten West Division champ Northwestern, defeated Wisconsin on the road, and won a bowl game against Georgia Tech. In the 2019 season opener, the Gophers broke a 21-21 fourth quarter tie to defeat South Dakota State, one of the best FCS teams in the nation.

Two games, two wins this year. Far from the prettiest victories but wins just the same. It’s been a trek in late summer that lesser Gopher teams of the past would have failed at and “drowned.” The 2019 group has so far continued the impressive close to last year.

The “boat” is not sinking.

The sale of “oars” should be rising.

Enjoy a Friday notes column dispatched to readers after last night’s comeback win by the football Golden Gophers against South Dakota State.

Darrell Thompson, the Gophers’ all-time leading rusher, believes this Minnesota team is the deepest he has seen while doing 23 years of color commentary on radio broadcasts. He told Sports Headliners earlier in the week the Gophers will finish 9-3 overall, 6-3 in the Big Ten.

Thompson’s prediction was tested last night against SDSU, a top-five FCS team that was supposed to lose the game by a couple of touchdowns. Instead, the Jackrabbits led 21-20 until the FBS Gophers scored a late touchdown and two-point conversion to win 28-21 in a home season opening game that could have done major damage to prospects for the program’s first nine victory season since 2016.

Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck emphasizes the subject of turnovers when talking about why teams win or lose games. His team had no fumbles and a harmless interception last night but turnovers by SDSU redshirt freshman quarterback J’Bore Gibbs led to 14 of Minnesota’s points including a 43-yard interception third quarter return for a touchdown by Chris Williamson.

In an entertaining back and forth game, the Gophers made enough plays to win but gave their fans plenty to fret about. The offensive and defensive lines were way to inconsistent in their performances. Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan was frequently under pressure trying to throw as the Jackrabbits either caused confusion or used speed to go around Gopher linemen. The defense, including the Minnesota line, was exploited inside and out against the Jackrabbits who had more first downs, rushing yards and passing yards than the Gophers.

The Gophers were twice out of position on SDSU kickoff returns including what should have been a Jackrabbit touchdown late in the second quarter. An illegal block in the back nullified an SDSU kickoff return touchdown and a 14-13 lead at halftime.

Minnesota now is 2-0 this century against South Dakota State, having won two games by a total of 10 points. Nothing to crow about, but better than the alternative of being 1-1 after last night.

Thompson was interviewed recently on “Behind the Game,” the Twin Cities cable TV program co-hosted by Patrick Klinger and Bill Robertson. The show can also be viewed on YouTube.

By late Saturday evening all 14 Big Ten Conference teams will have played a season opening nonconference game. Every coach will welcome a win but three have such poor career records they badly need a ‘W.’ The college coaching records of Rutgers’ Chris Ash, Maryland’s Mike Locksley and Illinois’ Lovie Smith are 7-29, 3-31 and 9-27 respectively.

In Big Ten games only the three coaches are 3-24, 1-5 and 4-23.

Counting conference and nonconference games, every Big Ten team will play at least six teams that participated in a bowl game last season. Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin have eight such matchups, followed by Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern and Rutgers with seven each.

Among the Power Five Conferences, the Big 12 is the only one without its own stand-alone TV network. Those networks are major revenue and exposure generators, and the day might be coming when there is only a Power Four consisting of the Big Ten, ACC, Pac-12 and SEC. If the Big 12 dissolved, would Oklahoma and Texas join the Big Ten’s West Division? If so, Purdue could move to the East Division so the conference can be balanced with two eight-team divisions.

Minnesota’s next game is at Fresno State a week from Saturday evening, and fans without access to the CBS Sports Network won’t be able to watch on TV.

Barbara Butts Williams is being honored by Twin Cities Business Magazine in October for her board service to Allina Health. She was the wife of the late John Williams, the community minded Minneapolis dentist who was a 1967 first team All-Big Ten offensive tackle on the Gophers Big Ten championship team.

Minneapolis native Larry Fitzgerald will soon start his 16th NFL season, all with the Arizona Cardinals. Paul Allen, the Vikings radio voice, ranks Fitzgerald the NFL’s third best all-time blocker among wide receivers. Allen said during the simulcast of the August 24 Minnesota-Arizona preseason game only Hines Ward and Anquan Bolden rank ahead of Fitzgerald.

With nine teams, including Minnesota United, vying for a playoff spot in the MLS Western Conference, club CEO Chris Wright is pleased the Loons have veteran 31-year-old goalie Vito Mannone playing for them. Wright told Sports Headliners Mannone “is not nervous” in big games and has faced a lot of pressure in his career including in the English Premier League. “Big goalkeepers win big games,” Wright said.

Alpine skiing great and Minnesota native Lindsey Vonn, whose foundation works to empower young girls to grow as athletes and individuals, speaks at the State Theatre September 23.

Jeff Passolt, the St. Louis Park native who won Emmys for sports and news TV journalism, speaks to the CORES lunch group Thursday, September 12 at the Bloomington Event Center, 1114 American Blvd. Public reservations are accepted until Monday, September 9 by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.