A 7-5 record is nice, but beating Wisconsin is elite.
This has been a season of missed opportunities for Gopher football. We wrote about it in September, wondering if they were going to open the door to these opportunities or not. North Carolina was a huge miss, a game this team should have won. They had an opportunity with a half-time lead over Iowa at home that was quickly squandered. A 4th quarter lead at Rutgers and even opportunities to upset #4 Penn State.
Friday, Minnesota went to Madison and beat Wisconsin 24-7. It wasn’t just a win, it was a game that the Gophers controlled throughout. The Badgers went three-and-out on 5 of their 6 possessions and their only score was aided by a personal foul penalty. Winning is fun, beating your rival is fun, but owning them for four quarters is better. This win not only secured the Axe, but this win ensured that Wisconsin would finish with a 5-7 record and there are many questions surrounding their program.
There were a couple of things that made Friday’s game a little more sweet.
The first was seeing Badger’s head coach, Luke Fickell with an acronym on the back of his vest. When the camera panned to the Badger sideline and I saw “T.E.A.M.” on the back of Fickell’s vest, I couldn’t help but laugh. Laughing at the irony how Badger fans loved to make fun of Fleck and his annoying sayings and acronyms to help establish his culture. Maybe the funny part is that Fickell is doing the same thing while not being able to establish his culture.
Secondly, when Elijah Hills sacked Max Brosmer on 3rd and 8. Hills jumped up and mockingly started rowing his own boat. Someone should have pointed out to Hills that his team was down 14-0 and had been unable to get into Minnesota territory until midway through the 3rd quarter. I don’t think he has any eligibility left, but maybe he was trying to suggest he wanted to row his boat to Minnesota.
Personally, I love PJ Fleck as a football coach. I appreciate how he manages his program and he has done a number of things that haven’t been done in my lifetime. He isn’t perfect, he isn’t exactly winning conference championships. But building a program to consistently win at a high level is hard, especially when you are starting out a tier or two below many of your peers.
This game was satisfying, as beating the Badgers always is. It is always satisfying to beat your rival and see them frustrated, questioning the direction of their program. PJ Fleck has figured out something that no prior coach could figure out…beating the Badgers. Now if he could just figure out Iowa.