Why the Gophers blowing shot to win Big Ten West is extra painful
It was a jubilant atmosphere at Camp Randall on Saturday but it had nothing to do with the Wisconsin Badgers. The Minnesota Golden Gophers had just defended Paul Bunyan's Axe with a 23-16 victory over and were pretending to chop down the goal posts.
They strutted into the visitors' locker room and proudly lit their victory cigars. P.J. Fleck went to the podium and did his own victory lap for becoming the first Gophers coach to earn back-to-back victories over Wisconsin since Jim Wacker in 1993-94.
"I still remember people, Heather and I, every time they’d see us [saying] just beat Wisconsin and you can stay forever," Fleck said. "Well we’ve beaten Wisconsin twice and you all wanted me fired last week. That’s how that goes."
His comment would be understandable if the Gophers had captured their first Big Ten West division title in school history but Fleck uttered those words after the Gophers improved to 8-4 and are likely heading to a meaningless bowl game.
This is the dilemma Gopher fans are dealing with after the victory over the Badgers. Before Fleck arrived in 2017, the Badgers were in the middle of a 14-game winning streak over Minnesota. Fleck has gone 3-3 against Wisconsin but he also has failed to take the Gophers to a higher level.
Sure, there was the 11-win season in 2019 that was expected to be a springboard for Gopher football, but it wound up being a plateau – especially considering the opportunity the Gophers had this season.
Minnesota started 4-0 by thoroughly dominating New Mexico State, Western Illinois, Colorado and Michigan State by a combined score of 183-24. National analysts hopped on the bandwagon including FOX Sports' Joel Klatt, who dubbed the Gophers a candidate for the College Football Playoff.
Minnesota. Bank it. That’s your favorite in the Big Ten West. They housed Michigan State. Their schedule was not good moving up to this point. I get that. So, everyone was like inflated numbers, inflated numbers. But they housed Michigan State. Just beat ‘em up. There’s only been two teams since Mel Tucker took over at Michigan State that have gained 200 yards rushing and passing in a game. Ohio State, doesn’t surprise anybody, and now Minnesota. And they did it at Michigan State. That wasn’t particularly close, at all.
Enhancing the Gophers' chances was a weak division. giving Minnesota a wide-open path to Indianapolis. But that's where the Gophers got in their own way.
Mohamed Ibrahim was held out of the Purdue game with an ankle injury – a 20-10 loss to the Boilermakers. Tanner Morgan looked lost the moment Chris Autman-Bell suffered a torn ACL and was then later concussed in a loss at Illinois.
Athan Kaliakmanis performed admirably in spot duty but the Gophers trotted Morgan back on the field for a win over Rutgers before he struggled in the first half against Nebraska. It took a second injury to give Kaliakmanis the job full-time and even though he showed promise, the Gophers were still reluctant to turn him loose. giving Ibrahim the ball a whopping 39 times in a 13-10 loss to Iowa.
We haven't even touched on Fleck's clock management and other in-game decisions, which seemed to put the Gophers behind right from the opening kickoff.
Kaliakmanis showed what he could do by throwing for 319 yards and two touchdowns in the win over the Badgers, but in true Fleckian fashion, time had already run out on the Gophers' title hopes.
The optimist will point at a recruiting class that at one point ranked in the top 10 nationally, but that group has since fallen to 45th and ninth in the Big Ten. With Ibrahim and NFL center prospect John Michael Schmitz departing, the Gophers' hopes for improvement look bleak – especially with Ohio State and Michigan on next year's schedule.
Other developments around the Big Ten will make the Gophers' path to a conference championship even harder. Wisconsin and Nebraska both made coaching upgrades last weekend with Luke Fickell and Matt Rhule while three-time Big Ten champion Brett Bielema isn't likely to let Illinois fade away.
This isn't just limited to 2023 as USC and UCLA will soon join the Big Ten. Lincoln Riley cracked the transfer portal wide open this past offseason, luring Heisman Trophy frontrunner Caleb Williams to play for the Trojans and handing top receiver prospect Jordan Addison a $1.4 million NIL deal with American Airlines to come to Los Angeles.
UCLA likely has the same means to pull off similar deals to load up for their transition to the Big Ten and unless the Gophers can find more recruits with a passion for Gushers, it could be hard for them to keep up.
There's more...
The landscape of college football will change dramatically with the shift to a 12-team playoff format and it could alter the way the Big Ten is set up.
The Big 12 did away with divisions when it reinstated its conference championship game in 2017 and had the two teams with the best record play for the title. The PAC-12 is in its first year of this format and the SEC recently announced it will scrap divisions with Oklahoma and Texas arriving in 2025.
With an automatic playoff berth given to the conference champions, the Big Ten could look at itself and decide it wouldn't want an eight-win Boilermaker team sneaking its way into the 12-team field. They could also benefit from the insane amount of cash that would roll in for a Michigan-Ohio State rematch as opposed to Saturday's Michigan-Purdue matchup where the Wolverines are favored by 16.5 points.
This creates a scenario where the Gophers would have to jump USC, UCLA, Michigan, Ohio State, or some other Big Ten power just to have a chance to play for a conference title – making this past season their best chance to win for the foreseeable future.
An 8-4 record isn't a bad season, but in a year where the Big Ten was down, they absolutely should have been competing for their first conference title since 1960. Instead – if SI.com's bowl projections are correct – the Gophers could be competing for a chance to slather Fleck in mayonnaise at the Duke's Mayo Bowl.
Related: Wisconsin WR transfer Markus Allen commits to Gophers
Related: Was Mo Ibrahim snubbed in race for Doak Walker Award?
