Minnesota football: P.J. Fleck's evolving algorithm the difference against Wisconsin
Kicker Matthew Trickett pretended to Row the Boat with some fans who’d rushed the field. Offensive tackle Daniel Faalele, who’s approximately the same height and weight as Paul Bunyan, posed for social media pictures with the Axe that’s back in Minnesota for the 2nd time in 3 years. Even the Huntington Bank Stadium game operations squad got into it, trolling hated Wisconsin with House of Pain’s Jump Around as the thousands of fans on the turf bounced up and down.
Afterward, Trickett sat next to fellow transfer Jack Gibbens and senior Tanner Morgan. Instant impact — 13 of 20 field goals, 33 of 35 extra points and a team-high 76 tackles for the season — next to a steady, unflappable veteran presence.
“I’d do it again,” Trickett deadpanned when asked about his 1st experience of winning the battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe.
It was won in a good old-fashioned bout of Big Boy Big Ten football that few thought Minnesota had a chance to win. The next step for this program is now officially competing for division championships; that opportunity was officially lost Friday when Iowa beat Nebraska.
The Hawkeyes outlasted Minnesota in a similar game earlier this month and will play Michigan in this weekend’s B1G Championship Game.
“We had a chance to go control our own destiny a few weeks ago and weren’t able to do that,” coach P.J. Fleck said. “We’ll learn from that, grow and build on that in the future as we keep going.”
But the present moment, the coach said, “is a really special” one.
It’s the kind they can dream of getting used to around here. Minnesota beat Wisconsin at home for the 1st time since 2003. The Gophers also clinched their 2nd 8-win season in 3 years, interrupted only by a pandemic-altered 2020.
Morgan had a vintage Tanner Morgan game — remarkably efficient with at least 1 costly mistake. Wisconsin’s pick-6 in the 2nd quarter threatened to derail things relatively early.
But this is Morgan, who has endured all kinds of criticism and the death of his father to hang tough and win more games than any quarterback in program history.
“It’s a special feeling,” Morgan said of the win. “It makes me think of when we won in it 2018, how much that meant to the program and to the state. But to do it here in front of our fans means a lot.”
And we now interrupt this program to comment on the remarkable work done by defensive coordinator Joe Rossi Jr. and the rest of Minnesota’s defensive staff. One of the worst B1G defenses a year ago held Wisconsin out of the end zone and held freshman phenom Braelon Allen to 47 yards rushing.
“Playing in games like [this] is the reason I wanted to come here,” Gibbens said. “It’s what you dream of doing when you’re a little kid.”
When Fleck arrived, the formula was to build a unique culture and create a niche in a league where Minnesota had become an also-ran. The algorithm may now have to include transfer-portal success.
Gibbens. Trickett. Defensive tackle Nyles Pinckney. Receiver Dylan Wright.
“It’s not about just recruiting,” Fleck said. “It’s about relationships and finding the right fit. Recruiting is one thing, that’s going on the road, that’s flying in an airplane, that’s visiting a school. Everybody recruits. But how do you find the right fit and the relationship that fit us? Not just the conference, not just the colors, not just the logo, not just the area, but the fit.
“And you look at the guys who came in, the transfers. … This is why the portal is really good. If you can find the right fit, and every single one of those guys entered the portal, in my opinion, for the right reasons. To come find a great place that they can fit and play and join a culture that’s right for them.”
The game has changed. The Gophers changed with it, bringing in a handful of difference-makers via the portal and getting amazing contributions from freshmen like Justin Walley — who had a game-changing interception of his own Saturday — and running backs Ky Thomas and Mar’Keise Irving.
Those last 2 emerged in the wake of injuries to top running backs Mohamed Ibrahim and Treyson Potts. Both will be back next year, along with a host of talent from a team that should be in line for a good bowl trip to cap another successful season.
Minnesota’s identity has been established. And Fleck highlighted it when he read the children’s book Be You to his team Friday night in what has become a weekly tradition.
“The way I think about it is be exactly who God created you to be,” Morgan said. “I’m very honored and blessed to be in this position that I’m in, so to hold anything back is pointless.”
The Gophers certainly didn’t Saturday.