well we know this much so far

Top 2 seed.

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Your Axe is officially home!

What a great game, just want to thank everyone that made it out to Madison and supported us, everyone here who supported us, our band.

Real quick, I want to give a few thanks. First and foremost, a lot of thanks to this one individual who had the vision. Two years ago, we talked and he said "I know this, you got to beat one game. (The fans) want you to beat Wisconsin." I want to thank all of our players. These guys have been through so much. This is what row the boat is all about. At the beginning of they year, they went through some highs and lows. You're looking at the youngest team in America that not only was the youngest team in America but lost six of their best players after the first two games. As you continue to look around, it was freshman and inexperience after inexperience after inexperience. This team just kept their oar in the water and continued to row. We also lost a teammate, Nick Connelly. To be able to have this team to have the resiliency to keep their oar in the water. To be 4-5, beat Purdue, get the Axe back says a lot about where this program is headed and where this team has been. Who would have thought that we beat Wisconsin, the four touchdowns on offense today were all freshman. A freshman would return a punt for a touchdown today.

Blake Cashman was the second-leading tackler left the game but Juju Huff coming in and having a huge interception. Chris Williamson with the huge play, that's why we brought him here. Coney Durr with the huge interception. Thomas Barber, what the Barbers do well! Recovered a fumble, a huge, huge play in the game. And how about that Mohamed Ibrahim, huh?

Last thing I'll leave you with is this: people always ask me what the hardest thing about being the head football coach at Minnesota is. It's about changing people's minds, perspectives, thoughts, and ideas can become as a University -- what this football program can become! Within two years of this culture being here, your Axe is back!

And everybody has to understand something. We can and we will -- Wisconsin made a video that says only seniors can touch the Axe. Everybody gets to touch the Axe!

(Axe is passed around and crowd chants PJ! PJ! PJ!)

PJ opened that he was so proud to bring the Axe back to Minnesota: “This is for our alumni, our state, for our Twin Cities area that have waited a long time to get the Axe back.” He made a mention of a campaign with the Axe in the cities so that fans will get an opportunity to see it.

Fleck liked the defensive gameplan was excellent to stop the run and make the quarterback for Wisconsin beat them. All four touchdowns by Minnesota were scored by freshmen. “We won the 78 percent. We won the turnover battle, won the tackling battle, and won in explosive plays.”

The offensive line was given credit by PJ for meshing together well despite only having two seniors on the line. The team had to dominate the line of scrimmage and win in key short yardage situations, which Coach thought that they did.

The team knew that they had to be able to run the ball to win the game and exploit them in the passing game. In order for the RPO’s to open up, the running game has to be going. Fleck told the staff and players before the game that he was going to be very aggressive all game. “This our style of football. This is what we want to be able to implement. I’m glad our players executed it the way we wanted.”

At the start of the fourth quarter, Minnesota had a drive that took over nine minutes off the clock that essentially took the life out of Camp Randall stadium. The team wants to do that and wants to be balanced. PJ noted that that’s what they needed to win the game. At Western Michigan they were #2 in time of possession behind Wisconsin.

Sid questioned if he felt something different this week that they felt they could pull off an upset: “To be honest, I’ve felt it all year with this group. They know that they were going to have ups and downs and hard times. But they’ve always been excited to practice and kept their oar in the water. This is what Row The Boat is all about. I’m so thankful that all of our fans met us at the complex afterwards and we could share the Axe with them.”

Mo Ibrahim had a great day with 121 yards rushing and is approaching 1,000 yards on the season. Bryce Williams had 50 yards rushing with two touchdowns. With those two coming back, and Rodney Smith/Shannon Brooks in the fold, there will be a lot of talent in the backfield next year. Fleck reiterated that it is his job to stockpile talent and the player’s job to keep their starting spot.

The defense improved greatly after the firing of Robb Smith after the Illinois game. Coach credited Joe Rossi for doing an outstanding job and keeping the defense much simpler that it was before. This allowed the players to understand their role better and play faster.

PJ did comment that they will try to get a lot of players involved in the bowl game that haven’t used up their four games for a redshirt. If a player has already played in exactly four, the team won’t use up their redshirt for one game.

Now that the team is bowl eligible with six wins, the young players get an extra month of practices which Fleck compared to spring ball. The older guys will get some time to relax and take care of their bodies in preparation now for the bowl game.

Edwards: ‘Never in a million years thought we would lose’

By JIM HOEHN / SPECIAL TO THE PIONEER PRESS |
November 24, 2018 at 9:08 pm

MADISON, Wis. – Watching Minnesota’s exuberant players hoist Paul Bunyan’s Axe on the Badgers’ home turf was something Wisconsin’s outgoing seniors never envisioned.

Minnesota convincingly took possession of the coveted rivalry trophy for the first time in 15 years with a surprisingly one-sided, 37-15 thumping of the Badgers on Saturday at Camp Randall.

“You feel like you kind of let the guys down who were here before you,” said senior linebacker T.J. Edwards. “That’s really tough to think about. I never would have in a million years thought that we would lose this game, but we did.”

The last time the Gophers had possessed the Axe was in 2003, with a 37-34 victory in Minneapolis. Minnesota had not beaten the Badgers at Camp Randall since a 17-14 victory in 1994 – the Gophers’ only Big Ten victory that season.

Over the 14-game winning streak – the longest by either team in the history of the rivalry – the Badgers had scored at least 31 points in 13 of those games, and outscored the Gophers by an average of 35.6 to 19.4.

That all came to a halt Saturday in the 128th edition of college football’s most played rivalry.

After watching every Badgers class ahead of him chop down the goalposts, senior safety D’Cota Dixon was asked how long the image of Minnesota’s postgame celebration would stick with him.

“Forever,” Dixon said. “Forever, that’s a legacy right there. Disappointed. I let down the guys that were in front of me.

“There’s no excuses. Nothing to talk about,” he said. “Plain and simple, they were the better team tonight, and they got the Axe.”

Sophomore wide receiver Kendric Pryor said he was disappointed in not being able to help the seniors leave Camp Randall with a victory in their final home game.

“We’ve had the Axe for so long, just letting it slip away and not being able to help the seniors win their last game that they can remember, it stings a lot.”

Senior offensive lineman Michael Deiter, who extended his school record with his 53rd career start, said he made a point of watching the Gophers celebrate with the Axe.

“I saw it,” said Deiter, a semifinalist for the Outland Trophy, awarded annually to the nation’s best college interior lineman on offense or defense. “It hurt, it sucked. I wanted to do it, but not going to be able to. Hats off to them, they played a good football game.”


https://www.twincities.com/2018/11/...ver-in-a-million-years-thought-we-would-lose/

184 yards rushing, two TD’s

1) 2.5 hour replay of game on espnu at 2:30 AM Monday

2) very impressive for the Gophers to have played their best football in November

From Nick: https://minnesota.rivals.com/news/film-room-turnovers-opportunistic-nature

We have an interesting home match vs. SDSU this Sunday at the Maturi Pavilion at 1pm. It will be a competitive match, that we should be able to win. The match line-ups haven't been posted yet in the Match Notes, so I can't make predictions yet. I'll post these as soon as the Match Notes are out.

Come on down, this should be a fun match to watch!!!

Here's the article from Gophersports.com:


Gophers Welcome South Dakota State to the Pav

Minnesota hosting for the second straight weekend

photo by Jerry E. Lee

Gophersports.com
Wrestling
11/21/2018

Watch Online
Tickets
Promotions
Youth Day
Flowrestling

The Gophers host South Dakota State for their second consecutive home dual to open the 2018-19 season. They take on the Jackrabbits at the Pav at 1 p.m.

The Match-Up

The Gophers and Jackrabbits meet in a border battle between two great wrestling programs. The Gophers enter the dual 1-1 coming off of a loss to Oklahoma State after defeating Air Force 33-3 the previous week. The home Gophers have six ranked wrestlers in their lineup and are considered the 9th best dual team in the nation by Intermat. The Gophers have seven ranked wrestlers across all weight classes.

The Jackrabbits are also coming off a loss to Oklahoma State in which the Jackrabbits won only one match, an injury default which awarded Henry Pohlmeyer the six team points.

Last Time Out

Last Sunday, November 18, the Gophers took on No. 2 Oklahoma State in the 40th matchup between the two programs. Oklahoma State jumped out to a 5-0 lead before No. 5 Mitch McKee, a Minnesota native, had a third period comeback victory to put the home team on the board. Tommy Thorn dropped the next match before No. 11 Steve Bleise had a last minute victory despite an injured hand.

The Cowboys rolled out of intermission with three major decisions, but No. 2 Gable Steveson helped the home crowd leave happy with a huge upset of No. 3 Derek White after a takedown and nearfall in the first minute of the match.

The Gophers fell 23-9, but it was their tightest margin against Oklahoma State since a 20-17 loss on November 29, 2015.

About the Jackrabbits

The star attraction for the Jackrabbits is No. 1 Seth Gross, an NCAA finalist in 2017 before taking home the individual title last season. He finished last year with only one loss. Gross has been a two-time All-American and two-time Big 12 conference champion at 133-pounds.

Gross pinned Arizona State's Josiah Kline on November 11 in his only match this season.

Their other ranked wrestler is Henry Pohlymeyer. Pohlmeyer was an NCAA qualifier last season and he won one match on the consolation side of the bracket. The Iowa native had a 137-31 high school record.

Senior leaders

The Gophers boast a lineup full of experienced wrestlers with national experience. The team's lineup from the Oklahoma State included five different redshirt seniors (Sean Russell, Ethan Lizak, Tommy Thorn, Steve Bleise, and Brandon Krone.)

Accompanying those five were juniors Mitch McKee and Owen Webster while Carson Brolsma and Devin Skatzka are redshirt juniors.

Freshman Gable Steveson was the lone underclassmen in last Sunday's starting lineup.

Welcoming back Damion
Jackrabbits coach Damion Hahn will be returning to Maturi Pavilion for the first time as a head coach after becoming a Gophers wrestling legend during his four years at the university. Hahn was a four-time All-American and a three-time Big 10 individual champion as the Gophers won team national titles during his first two years on campus.

In 2004, Hahn was named Jesse Owens Big 10 Male Athlete of Year. Hahn was inducted to the school Hall of Fame in 2018.

Sunday, more like Funday!

Sunday's dual will feature multiple promotions catering towards children, family, and the Gopher wrestling community. Sunday will be the first of the Gophers two Youth Days which will allow registered youth teams and accompanying coaches to attend the dual for free. Click on the "Youth Day" tab for more information.

Sunday is also Superhero Day if you want to watch some Gopher wrestling action while dressed as any hero of your choice. We encourage you to take pictures of your costumes and tweet them at us on gameday!

Finally, the team will "takedown cancer" on Sunday host an event directed at promoting awareness and research for cancer treatment. Donations will be accepted and directed towards The Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund.

Up Next

Next up the Gophers head to Las Vegas for the Cliff Keen Invitational before heading even further out west to take on Fresno State in California the following weekend.

The Gophers begin Big Ten competition on January 6 against Rutgers at home.

Three big games this week and none at the Barn: @ Boston College (4-1), OK St (3-2) at US Bank and @OSU (6-0).

BC has beat Chi Loyola, OKSt beat Memphis and lost to Villanova both by 20 and OSU biggest win is Cincinnati. Guessing we will be favored over BC and OK St.

I'm just watching the replay of our win over the Badgers for the 3rd time and something started to stand out. I suppose it's been becoming more evident all along but our DBs are right on the receivers on almost every play. The run after catch yards are getting smaller all the time. Several of the passes that were completed against us yesterday were so tightly contested it was hard to believe the catch was completed. Considering how young we are in those positions the future pretty darn good. Add a real pass rush to mix and who knows how good they could be.

...Packers are gonna make a weekend 2 fer tonight !

PJ Fleck:

• We treated the game all week like a playoff. We treated it just like a playoff game.
• Time of possession matters. Wisconsin and Western Michigan were usually #1 and #2 in time of possession.
• Targeting call was fine. We need to keep players safe. Julian Huff got reps in practice and he executed when his name was called.
• The kids aren't going to remember what the playcall was on third down, they're going to remember celebrating in the locker room. There's nothing better then sharing those moments with your team and wife.
• Yesterday I told them to visualize the cold, the boos, running to get the Axe, and they did it.
• Joe Rossi is the new DC. He was basically able to do a whole year self-scout in one week. When I told the players we were removing the interim tag, they went absolutely ballistic.
• Douglas' punt return was the biggest punt return of the game.
• There's a lot of people that work hard in this fashion. There's not many that work harder than Rob Wenger and that showed today.

Emmit Carpenter:

• I used to b a Badger fan. Minnesota took me in with open arms and made this a new home.
• Before the game, visualized hugging his mom and dad in the stands and was fortunate to be able to do that.

Tanner Morgan:

• Was visualizing lots of throws last night and visualized responding well if things went poorly.
• Throughout the game, I was praying a lot. I was incredibly thankful the opportunities I've had in my lifetime and I'm so proud of my teammates and seniors.
• Mo Ibrahim's an animal now. He played a huge role and has the heart of a lion. When he's hit on contact, he's pushing and getting 2-3 extra yards.
• The ball is the program, no doubt about it. We stressed that throughout the week.

Thomas Barber:

• We know how much work Rossi and the defensive staff is doing short of staff and we always thank them for it.
• Juju came in and was ready to go. He's got a lot of reps with the 1s and 2s.

Carter Coughlin:

• Getting the Axe was surreal. Hugged my dad afterwards.
• Once Blake went out, we were playing for Blake. He plays harder than anyone I've ever seen Blake play. He brings it every single week. When he got ejected, we all huddled around him and he was unbelievably supportive, ran off the field and didn't make it about him.
• Credit to Wisconsin, they're a great team, but straight up we just outplayed them.

1) give us a thread where all recruit's playoff situations are posted, or if their season is done, their final stats for the year.

2) @Alex Carlson can one of y'all post some film review of the guys we don't hear alot about from the badger game. Dunlap played. Maye played. Etc. We have a ton of time until the bowl game, and I know you guys do the breakdown of the film review for the offense and the defense. I would just love to see a couple film clips and reviews from y'all on some of these players that are true freshman so we can get a glimpse on to what to look for next year and in the bowl game.

3) who else is on the "recruiting radar" ? What is your best guess as to the Top 10 uncommitted list that we are after ?

4) can you give us an approximate breakdown of how many times we played deep safety man coverage, to safety cover to man coverage, and zone defense with and without blitzing? I love the fact we were not allowing their quarterback to get a read pre-snap because we had defensive backs and linebackers constantly moving.

Since we promoted internally, we should have 1 coaching position opening. I believe Rossi should focus on DC functions so what defensive position do we hire for.
If I researched correctly we will have Delattiboudere, Otomewo, Renner, Teague, Silver, Coughlin, and Mafe returning from the DL 2-deeps.
Others for the D-Line include: Devers, Umlor, Hickox, Robinson, Okonji, Reigelsperger, Ahanotu with potential signees in December Richter, Daniels, Schad, Griffen, and D Harris. Thats a total of 19 players.
I personally believe Coughlin should go back to LB to start with Martin and Barbers (as seniors). But that still leaves 18 players to coach up for coach Marcus West. I would hope Fleck would go out and try to make a killer hire for D-line coach since there is obviously a great amount of players that need coaching up.
Or he needs to hire a killer LB coach and leave Rossi to also help with the DL.
We should be ok this year at LB as long as we don't have injuries to our starters but we will be hurting for depth. I would feel more comfortable with a couple of more LB recruits to finish off this class (possibly 1 a JC transfer).

What are your thoughts?

Headline from yesterday is getting the axe, and second headline is bowl eligibility.

Lost in the above - Fleck and Co got their first road win in Conference. That is huge going forward.

Plays LSU today at 3:00 on ESPN2. They beat Memphis by 20 and lost to Villinova by 20. How do you think we match up with them on friday?

What is the date and time of the football social?

What is the date and time of the football social?

Does anybody know what Freshmen have only played in 3 games or less?

I got up this morning and saw that the sun was shinning a little brighter today.

With the feeling that all was right with the world.

From Corey Evans: https://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/news/the-evans-awards-holiday-hoopsgiving

1. Mo Ibrahim is a HOWpher. Dude always falls forward even though he is smaller in stature. And how about Julian Huff? He has been a HOWpher his entire career. He had a huge game when Blake went out

2. O-line gelled this year and gained serious momentum and confidence going into bowl game. Add Dunlap to the mix and this group will anchor the offense

3. Offense proved it can move the ball via pass or run. This was a true multi-dimension offense which gopher fans haven’t seen in oh so long! Loved seeing the run game dominate today. Bucky couldn’t stop it

4. Very happy for Rossi and the D. Those boys made game winning plays tonight and didn’t play scared. Credit to coaching staff

5. Anyone else happy for Seth Green and the role he filled all season? He didn’t pout, give up, or quit but embraced the culture and earned a serious role that won us some games

6. Last but not least, we get to watch these seniors play one last time. And this board gets to stay hot with football material for many more weeks!!

Go gophers

@Sherman Hemsley ????

Thoughts ????