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Wrestling: New Pre-Season Interview Out with HC Eggum!!

Gopher Wrestling announced our full 2023-24 schedule today:

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This year's schedule is easier than some years as we have no PSU, OSU or MI duals (good for us!!). We are now 39 days away from our first action on November 11th at the Bison Open!!


Here's the article on the schedule release from Gophersports.com.

Wrestling Unveils Full 2023-24 Schedule


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Gophersports.com
10/2/2023
Wrestling
MINNEAPOLIS
- The University of Minnesota wrestling team announced its full schedule for the 2023-24 season on Monday.

The season officially kicks off Nov. 11 and features seven home duals inside Maturi Pavilion. The full season slate includes a total of 14 dual meets, as well as four tournaments. Start times and TV streaming coverage for the upcoming season will be announced at a later date.

The slate gets underway on November 11 when the Maroon & Gold travels to Fargo, N.D., to compete in the Bison Open, before kicking off the dual season at Bucknell on Nov. 16 in the first ever meeting between the schools.

Two days later, Minnesota will visit George Mason for a triangular with the Patriots and Morgan State. The second tournament of the season, the Daktronics Open, is slated for Nov. 19.

One week later, Minnesota makes its home debut on Nov. 26 when it hosts South Dakota State.

After a trip to the Cougar Clash on Dec. 2 in Edwardsville, Ill., the Golden Gophers return home for another Big 12 matchup, this time with North Dakota State on Dec. 10.

A home matchup with Oklahoma State is planned for mid-to-late December but a specific date is still to be determined. The 2023 calendar year then closes out Dec. 29-30 at the Soldier Salute in Iowa City.

The eight-match Big Ten schedule kicks off with a road contest at Iowa on Jan. 15 before the Big Ten home opener on Jan. 19 versus Nebraska.

A road trip to Rutgers on Jan. 27 wraps up the month before Minnesota returns home for two straight dual meets. First up is a clash with Maryland on Feb. 2 followed by a tilt with Northwestern on Feb. 4.

The two-match homestand is followed up by two consecutive meets away from home beginning with Illinois on Feb. 9 and concluding with Purdue on Feb. 11.

The regular season comes to an end with a Border Battle matchup with Wisconsin in Maturi Pavilion on Feb. 16.

The postseason begins at the Big Ten Championships March 9-10 in College Park, Md., before Minnesota takes its national qualifiers to Kansas City, Mo., to compete at the NCAA Championships, March 21-23.

Fans can guarantee their seats inside Maturi Pavilion by securing 2023-24 season tickets today, or purchase single-match tickets as they become available at a later date.

The full 2023-24 schedule can be found here.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (BIG PICTURE)

First off, glad the pig is home, it's been a while since you can say that. But man, we watch gopher football to be entertained, and that game outside of the end of game controversy was about as much of the entertainment I would get from a middle school choir concert.

The Good:

Gophers Defense and the Kicking Game. The defense, when you get to prepare for a team who does NOT have a mobile QB AT ALL, who is NOT accurate (38%), did anyone expect much different? Stop the run which they did VERY well and the results speak for themselves. An Iowa WR made a great play on the ball early catching a toss up down the sideline, other than that it was playing the odds over the course of 60 minutes. Kesich is our only offensive threat. He also kicks it deep enough to not have our disaster of a special teams have to tackle anyone

The Bad:

Special teams (kicker not included). The special teams literally makes me not want to watch gopher football. It's THAT BAD. It's the SAME MISTAKES every.single.week. Nothing changes including personnel or strategy. I can't stand watching us return/cover kicks and punts. How Fleck can get away from not dealing with these mishaps every week is beyond me. Wenger (spelling?) is just free loading at this point.

The Ugly:

The passing game. It's as gross as it's ever been. I'm sorry but AK ain't it. Zero touch, can't make the easy throws that HS kids who aren't playing college make, doesn't have a calmness to him in the pocket, and is NOT as athletic as advertised in terms of his mobility. Fleck will say he is inexperienced...... BUT last year we had the MOST experience in the Big10 at QB and it was the same stuff. Why do any WR ever come here? Daniel Jackson has carved out a niche because he can create separation and make plays but my goodness, the passing game from dropped balls, to balls throw into the ground or helmets of opponents, way behind the targets, and just throwing away opportunity after opportunity is exhausting. We have zero creativity to go along with a terrible passing game as well. What does Fleck sell these transfers to get them to come here? Did they not watch the tape from last year? If he sold AK, then that was fools gold at it's best

Football ***FLECK PRESSER NOTES: MICHIGAN STATE WEEK***

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- Great win, excited to bring Floyd home
- Huge feat to win at Kinnick, the first since 1999
- Walked by and took a pic of the Axe and Pig together
- First time they've both been in the building in 30 years

- Sends thoughts and prayers to Mo Ibrahim, said he talked to him yesterday and said he's in really good spirits

- Mentions Deven Eastern and Anthony Smith as young players that are growing up both on and off the field
- Both are only scratching the surface of what they can be
- Devon Williams had one of the better linebacker performances since he's been here

- We'll see on Darius Taylor and Zach Evans, hints that they got some "good news" on some guys injury wise
- Says Jordan Nubin will have to be ready to go, Sean Tyler as well
- Next man up

- Have to more consistent in catching the football
- Did everything they could to get Daniel Jackson more involved
- Left 5 or 6 makable plays on the field Saturday
- Gotta play better at those positions and players understand that

- Praises Dragan Kesich and his personality, maturity, and hard work ethic - calls him a football player
- Game-winner was one of the biggest kicks of his career
- Privilege to see him prepare everyday

- Says Greg Harbaugh always has a solution on offense
- Admits they have some issues, but really pleased with where they are and how they are working to fix it
- Patience to call the game is where he thinks Greg has grown a lot as a playcaller
- They didn't have any turnovers and Iowa had three - that was the difference in the game

- Spent bye week working on tackling
- Admitted they tackled very poor against Michigan
- Mentions Devon Williams and Maverick Baranowski as MVP's from the Iowa game

- Says Michigan State's blitz package is very diverse and something they'll have to contend with
- Says anyone that plays Michigan, just throw that out because they are playing well
- Mentions they played Rutgers tough before losing a lead late

On special teams coverage:
- Gap integrity, everyone has their lane or gap, one of the players jumped out of his gap and that's how DeJean went down the sideline
- Have to improve on that area

On return game:
- Have to be able to stay and maintain blocks and break a tackle here and there
- Will take the ball at the 25 at times
- Probably should have moved punt returner up a little more during the game instead of relying on what they felt pregame

On Cooper DeJean punt return/no return:
- Nothing controversial about it
- Invalid fair catch signal is an invalid fair catch signal
- Mentions the newest change to the rule states you can't "poison" or "Peter" a ball and advance it, you can point to a ball and advance it. You can't shoo-away people at all with your hand
- Said they got called for that weeks ago
- Play should have been blown dead when DeJean touched it
- It was a dead ball, so the return doesn't exist
- Next play, our players respond with a sack, then we have an interception

- Realistic that Cody Lindenberg can could back and play in November

- Said Floyd weighs roughly 98-pounds, but S&C coach claims it weighs more

Football BIG Week 8

Week 8​

Oct. 21 (Saturday)​

  • Rutgers at Indiana (HC), Noon ET. TV: Big Ten Network
  • Wisconsin at Illinois (HC), 3:30 p.m. ET. TV: TBD
  • Minnesota at Iowa, 3:30 p.m. ET. TV: TBD
  • Michigan at Michigan State, 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: NBC
  • Northwestern at Nebraska, 3:30 p.m. ET. TV: Big Ten Network
  • Penn State at Ohio State, Noon ET. TV: FOX
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