2024 Week Four Review: What Happened at Halftime?/Run Defense/Michigan Preview

Chip Scoggins, Ryan Burns and Justin Gaard recap the Gopher loss to Iowa, specifically what happened in the second half? Gopher run defense has been a problem for a while now, can it get better? After a Michigan preview they spin around some of the games in the Big Ten. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Glenn Mason said a long time ago at the University
of Minnesota, you need a Pair and a Spare. Thank
you PJ at his time for another edition of the
Pair and a Spare podcast, We are presented by Jack's
Cafe in Minneapolis Jaxcafe dot com, Chipskoggins from Football across Minnesota,
still Ryan Burns from Gopher Illustrated dot Com. I'm justin
guard from the fan. How are we doing today, guys?

(00:20):
How's everybody doing? How's our This is a Tuesday morning.
We're back on our normal schedule. Mister projects head time
and his planner to fit us in for a little
Tuesday morning taping before I head to the PJ. Fleck
radio show and Burnsy does God knows what. How's everybody doing?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
I'm doing? Speaking of football across Minnesota? So I my
latest one just dropped. I was up in Moorhead, Minnesota,
Friday night seeing a kid, Sam Smith is a phenomenal kid.
He's a gonna play at Division two two falls, but
he's also an accomplished con concert violinist. But I'm standing
in line at the Chipotle to get dinner there before
the game, and a man leans over and says, hey,

(00:57):
love the podcast. So I didn't get his name, but
I appreciate, uh, you know, hearing that from them, and
it's always nice. We got a nice text from Bill
this weekend about someone who visits Jack, so.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
We wrote they wrote it on the receipt. Yeah, we
absolutely love it. And we always wanted to be big
and Morehead and here we are finally.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Many people said we couldn't. We couldn't play Morehead and the.

Speaker 4 (01:23):
Side of the river.

Speaker 5 (01:24):
We don't want to get into bithen territory. On the
other side, it's very dicey up there. Yeah, thank you
everybody for listening. Thanks everybody for subscribing to the YouTube channel.
Thanks everybody for subscribing to the pod. We appreciate all
of it. So let's start.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
We're gonna talk about the Iowa Minnesota game they just
played this weekend. Sure, I'm sure everybody's familiar with it.
My theory going into the game was that the better
quarterback was going to lead their team to victory. Whichever
quarterback played better Max Brosmer or Cade McNamara, that team
was going to come out on top.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
Chips.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Theory was, whoever plays that are in the trenches is
going to win the game. Burnsy, I think you were
in there as well with you gotta stop Caleb Johnson.
I'll be honest, guys. When I walked up the tunnel
at halftime after interviewing PJ. Fleck, after NBC interviewed PJ. Fleck,
I was peacocky. No pun intended for NBC, because I said,
I see this game clearly. I see things clearly. I

(02:20):
know how to prognosticate. I know what it takes to
beat the University of Iowaha, guys, I know I knew
what it took tonight. The Gophers are throwing the ball.
Max Brozemer looks electric. The building is on fire. Kate
Mcdamerica can't throw. When I came back out of the tunnel, though,
I said, Caleb Johnson's still over there. That's scary. I'm
a little nervous about that. And my theory looks great

(02:42):
through thirty minutes and then Chips theory blew it out
of the water in the second half. What were your
guys takeaways from that absolute bloodbath as it turned into
in that third quarter.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, I mean, we'll get to the big picture part
of it and fan reactions in everything but I don't
know it's you know, recency bias here, But I can't
remember covering a game that pivoted to that degree that dramatically.
I'm still at a loss for words to how they
could be so uncompetitive in the second half and just

(03:16):
get pushed around.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
To the degree that they did.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
I was bothered last night as you guys saw my
text to you guys about Pj's quote yesterday at his
press conference yesterday, he says and burns the OWD here,
I was reading your transcript. I had to go back
to look at the YouTube video to make sure I was,
you know, not reading it wrong.

Speaker 5 (03:33):
But we don't trust a pair and brethren. The transcriptrust
I don't want.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
I wanted.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
I wanted to hear from his own words. He said
the second half was a lot closer than the final score.
Indicated like what planet is is he living off? He
thinks that second half was closer than Do you think
any he said, everybody in the stadium saw that. Do
you think anybody who watched that second half said, you know, gosh,

(04:00):
that was a lot closer than the final score, say
it was.

Speaker 4 (04:04):
I don't think many did.

Speaker 5 (04:06):
I wouldn't have I mean, certainly, even the third quarter
where you get outscored seventeen to zero, you average at
one point yard one point one yards per play. But
most importantly here, Iowa averages eight point four and Caleb
Johnson averages over ten yards per carry. Like to me,
it's just I've seen a lot of discourse on this

(04:27):
game since Saturday, and it's absolutely perplexing to me that
one of the storylines, or at least that had kind
of made it into my circle, has been more so
the Gopher offense than the Gopher defense. And it's like,
you gave up thirty one offensive points to Iowa, right, Yeah,
If at any point you give up thirty one points
to Iowa, you're gonna lose that game ninety nine out

(04:49):
of one hundred times because that defense is rarely, if
it ever at all, going to give up thirty plus points.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Well, and they had, yeah, and Iowa scored points at
different times during this year, but a lot of it
because of the running back, and you knew that you had.
You basically had one objective in the second half. It
was to continue to contain him. And he had a
couple of runs in the first half, but once the
second half popped.

Speaker 4 (05:10):
It was.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
I mean, they obviously saw some stuff and I know
you talked about it on Gopher Gridiron Burnsey kind of
the schematics of what they ended up doing and put
the Gophers in bad spots. Once the faucet turned on,
it was over. They could not turn the faucet off.
And what's most disappointed is I think they all knew it.
I think they all felt it down there that we
can't stop these guys, and we specifically we can't stop

(05:33):
Caleb Johnson.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
I'll say this seeing him in person, Kavib Johnson, he's special,
Like he's really good. He's probably for sure in the NFL.
I don't think there's any doubt about that. And I
think one player sucked the life out of that entire stadium. Now,
he had help, obviously the offensive line gave him. He
doesn't need a big crease, but you know he had,

(05:57):
he had room to run. And but the angles that
the the Gophers took on him, or miss angles, the mistackles.
He's a great talent, but they made him look.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Better than Yeah, there were a couple that he should
have been in the backfield, or he should have at
least been gain of one or two, including one of
the touchdown runs where it's like there's like three or
four guys around him.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
Someone's got to bring him down or at least slow
them up.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yes, And I think the first one where someone didn't
set the edge and then the safety took a bad angle.
And it's just like you can do that against Rhode
Island and Nevada, but when you're facing a good back
and a good team with a good scheme. And here's
the thing is like Magnamara was not going to do
anything to hurt him. I mean, they knew it. He's

(06:42):
just not a good passer.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
They were gonna they were gonna let him throw five
yard out passes the rest of the game.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
Basically, they were gonna let him do that.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
I just think it's demoralizing when you know what the
team's gonna do and you still can't stop it. It
just sucked then entire life out of that building.

Speaker 5 (06:57):
Well that's where Fleck came out and talked about yesterday
their game play and we talk about second half adjustments.
Was you're a fourteen seven and a half, you know
you have to stop the run. If you can get
a stop to start the third quarter, they thought, if
they can go down and get points, this thing just
flips and then they have to put kid mcnamaran display.
But then they come out five plays, seventy five yards

(07:17):
and this thing's tied. You go back on the next drive.
Everybody wants to talk right now about establishing the run,
and we can get to that. Will you run it
three times? Four times? Actually, because then you go for
it on fourth down barely get it, which I don't
know why you come out and run the ball four
times to start the second half. You haven't been able
to run the ball all year, and now you're going

(07:38):
to find it against the Iowa Hawkeyes?

Speaker 4 (07:40):
Are you kidding me?

Speaker 5 (07:41):
And then if Brozmer's not perfect, which he wasn't, in
the next three plays, you have to punt, and then
it's twenty one fourteen, and now the whole game plan
goes up the window. So the lack of second half adjustments, sure,
but I think so much of this comes down to it.
Chip was saying going into the game in the trenches.
We can talk about the gofrast defensive line, but why

(08:01):
did the go for defense, especially at the third level,
take some bad angles because they were put in a
spot instantaneously where it's one on one with Caleb Johnson
because the d line didn't show up, linebackers couldn't get
off blocks. I mean, that's it. An Iowa offensive line
that's better than what we've seen. But I think Minnesota
is in the trench, especially on the defensive line, and
their linebackers did not play well at all.

Speaker 4 (08:23):
In the second half.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Well, here's a question I have for both of you,
and either one of you can take this first.

Speaker 3 (08:28):
Is this fixable?

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Because Burns, You've talked a lot about the run defense
being bad last year. I think it's a little bit
different because of who they were missing a year ago.
They were bad for two months last year, just for
a million different reasons. Right this year that you've got dudes, theoretically,
you've got guys that you like. You've said it all
season long. Is so I don't put it all in
the same category. But this is what happened on Saturday

(08:53):
fixable because I don't think the new Michigan quarterback's gonna
pretend like he's Tom Brady on Saturday. I'm pretty sure
they're gonna want to run the ball too. So is
what we saw on Saturday fixable? Because if it's not,
then buckle up, everybody, because the teams are going to
continue to run the ball down your throat.

Speaker 5 (09:11):
Well, I tell you, if you thought Iowa winning and
scoring thirty one offensive points when they pass for sixty
two yards was brutal to watch, Michigan just won a
game against USC in which their quarterback threw for thirty
two yards.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Modern offense, Modern offense one.

Speaker 5 (09:29):
Yeah, So I don't think it's going to look much
better this weekend. We can get into that game. But
that's a Michigan offense that just wants to run the football,
and now you're facing them. I mean, we've talked about
this run defense all of last year, and it is
different issues because Rossy scheme is different than Corey Heatherman's scheme.
But if the issue remains that you still can't stop
the bleep and run, I mean you're gonna give up

(09:52):
thirty points a game again in the Big Ten because
Michigan's going to be able to run the football. USC
is going to just throw the ball. But I mean
there's a lot of teams coming down this pipeline, like
Rutgers in Maryland and I'm sure Wisconsin by that point
to me, the crux of this thing is on defense, boys,
because if you're gonna be giving up thirty plus points
a game again in the Big Ten, I don't care
who your offensive coordinator is in Minnesota unless this is

(10:14):
the twenty nineteen offense, which it is clearly not. Like,
if they don't figure this out defensively, it's gonna get
pair shaped quickly.

Speaker 4 (10:24):
Well.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
The problem is when we saw it against North Carolina
two is you come out second half, they have a
long sustained drive. Well, then you go three and out. Well,
now your defense is back out there and have a
long sustained drive, and it just you never your offense
doesn't have the ball enough to get in any kind
of rhythm. It's like when they don't stop the run
like that, they can't afford to have a three and
out because then it's snowballs. Then your defense is just

(10:47):
out there and then they're getting worred down. And I
think we saw that against Iowa too, And is it fixable?
I mean, Burnsey's a better schematics guy than me. Can
he do things?

Speaker 3 (10:55):
I mean I think he comes out.

Speaker 4 (10:58):
They got to play better. But I don't think it's
the scheme thing.

Speaker 5 (11:01):
I think it's a personnel thing, and I think they
just got punched in the mouth.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
Which is disappointing because I thought through I thought the
defensive line had been the bright spot, you know, going
into that game, right so far this season, I thought
they I thought they had enough guys playmakers up there,
enough you know, size or strength or whatever you want
to say, to at least stand up to it. But man,

(11:27):
it just they lost decisively in the trenches. And you know,
Michigan's gonna be fit. The rest of the teams are
all these teams are gonna be physical.

Speaker 5 (11:37):
See what I come back to again with this game
is the Gopher offense versus the Iowa defense. The Iowa
defense is one of the best in the country. I'd
say they're a top fifteen defense. The Iowa offense is not.
The Iowa offense is the Iowa offense. It's gotten made
fun of for years. It's a little bit better under Lester,
but they just ran the ball down your throat. Caleb
Johnson averaged like nine yards to carry. You look at

(11:57):
this upcoming week. Michigan's offense is even more of a
run heavy scheme. They are more I mean, I think
They're worse than Iowa offensively right now. But their defense,
I think they're front four is arguably the best in
college football. So it's a different standard for the Gopher
offense to go against these defenses, where you got to

(12:18):
go against a great defense, like a top five, potential
ten defense. This weekend, the Michigan offense is nothing to
write home about. They lost their entire offensive line, they
lost Blake Krum, JJ McCarthy, Connor Stallions, They've already made
a quarterback mood.

Speaker 4 (12:34):
Yeah, your guy Connor Stallions.

Speaker 5 (12:36):
But it's just if you can't like if the Gopher defense,
which is going against a average to below average offense,
is going to be giving up thirty points a game. Again,
what are we even discussing. It's a different standard. So
I don't know what to really think here.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
Yeah, we'll talk, we'll talk about the offense and the
struggles running the ball, but to me, the defense in
the second half and both of their losses has set
the tone for or the game to be completely flipped.
Two games that you went into the half feeling really
good about. We felt the same thing at North Carolina
right like they're in control of this. They should now
obviously you got to go play. And that's part of

(13:11):
it too, is I almost wonder if they felt so
good defensively, because Iowa was a mess the end of
the second half, right four or five straight three and outs,
essentially couldn't do anything, and the Gopher offense did what
we've been begging them to do for ten years and
went after it and finished drives with touchdowns, which they
haven't been able to do against Iowa going back to
the first you know, my first year, you know, my

(13:33):
first couple of years here with a completely different coaching scheme,
the defense has put so much pressure on the offense
to sustain drives in the second half, to to stay
on the field, to continue to score. And that's a
complete reversal from anything I'm accustomed to in covering this team.
For how many years Burnsey did we say the defense, man,

(13:53):
they really have to bail the offense out again, That's
not the case this year. The defense in the second
half is putting their offense in a tough spot where
if you have won three and out, you might not
get the ball again until the fourth quarter, and you
might be trailing.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
After giving them the lead in that second quarter.

Speaker 5 (14:09):
The reality for the Gopher offense right now is if
Max Brozmer is not perfect, they're not going to score.
They're not going to sustain drives because they can't run
the football. And that's with three seniors on the offensive line.
And I asked Fleck about that yesterday, and you know,
you got a question that might have struck a nerve
a little.

Speaker 4 (14:26):
Bit when he says your name three times.

Speaker 5 (14:28):
And the answer, well, as you often say, guards you,
the truth cannot be controversial where your offensive line just
isn't playing well. And that's with three seniors up there.

Speaker 4 (14:39):
Now.

Speaker 5 (14:39):
It's not just the seniors, it's the other guys too.
You've got a center in back to back games that
has had a false start because he flinches the ball
in this offense because they can't run. If you put
him in first in fifteen, second in fifteen, the whole
drive just derails. So i it is very strange to
say that. In year eight, Minnesota as an offensive line

(15:01):
that is just struggling to move anyone. And Iowa's defense
is one that you really can't run the ball against
with much effective effectiveness at all. And oh, by the way,
Michigan is one that is I think is a top
five run defense so far college football.

Speaker 4 (15:15):
So when PJ.

Speaker 5 (15:15):
Fleck comes out yesterday, say yesterday and he says, yeah,
we want to establish the run a little bit more,
I'm looking around thinking, you know, you play Michigan in
the big house, which is like, what are do you
want Darius to carry the ball twenty times for forty
four yards? What's that going to get you? Besides okay,
we can say, well you tried to run the football.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
So I was just looking at the stats. Are any good?
These things are going hand to him because last year
third down defense Gophers were one of the worst in
college football forty eight percent, and we said going in
that has to change. I'm just looking at now they're
ranked one hundred and fourth nationally in third down defense
at forty two percent. Well, if you're giving up forty

(15:57):
on third down, like guard you said, you're putting so
much pressure on your offense to be perfect or to
be able to They can't punt because they're not gonna
get them. They're gonna get three possessions in the second half.
It won't get Yeah, but it's uh. And now you
combine it with they're not able to establish the run

(16:17):
to get to keep their chains moving, and so it
is so much on Broseberg, and uh, I thought he
It's funny. It almost was a mirror image of North
Carolina with Broseberg, because I thought he started off nervous,
kind of a little bit too ramped.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
Up by the way I mean it.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
I mean there was everybody had juice, but go ahead.

Speaker 4 (16:37):
Yeah, he was.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
He was amped up.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
You could see.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
I thought, you know, second quarter, they really settled in
ten straight passes, ten straight completions, and then you know,
because they did that, they actually got the third and
sixth run with Darius that was seventeen yards, and you know,
it's like, okay, that's a good time to call that
when you run thrown ten straight completions. But when he

(17:01):
starts getting pressure, which I thought he did in the
second half, and he started getting jumpy again, and he
just started missfiring. He was off in his passes. You
combine that with a defense that can't stop the run,
that's just it's not a formula that you can win with.

Speaker 4 (17:16):
No.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
It's a tough recipe. And I know there's been a
lot of discussion about the other thing. When they came
out after I would tie the game up. They run
the ball four times to pick up that first down.
By the way, I would have punted that fourth and
one like I would have straight up punted it. I
know they ended up having to punt later.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
I get why he did it. It worked out. You know,
there's a lot of discussion. I'm sure people would have grumbled.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
But it's like, I don't know, man, that's a quick
way to give them the ball right there when they
just are feeling good. But that's neither here nor there.
They were clearly thinking we've established the pass. I was
going to go in the locker room and they're going
to say, we have to do something differently against the pass.
Now it's time to run the ball a little bit
just to at least get that going, and then maybe
we can go back to the pass, because they've done

(17:55):
that in second halfs all year and I don't know
why they can't do it, Burnsy, because Iowa did asin.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
I think, take a guy out of the box, if
I'm listening to you correctly.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
And they still can't figure it out, which is which
is another thing that's going to kill him all season long.
As great as it is that Brozmer threw it twenty
six times in the first half, and they went up
and down the field a couple of times. Like I
can't even believe I'm saying this. I feel like I'm
taking crazy pills. The Gophers have to.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
Run the ball more like, they have to be able
to run it, and that has to be part of
the deal.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
We see that with the Vikings this year, how much
Aaron Jones in the running game has helped Sam Darnold
and everybody. It's just I can't believe that we're here.
And that's what we're talking about. They have to be
able to find a running game, a running threat, because
Rosmer and the receivers, I think it's shown you they
can move the ball through the air and now they
just need some help from the running game.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
I don't know. I don't know what podcast this is.

Speaker 4 (18:49):
I don't know. Yeah, I don't know what.

Speaker 3 (18:52):
I don't know what we're doing here, as Burnsy would say, And.

Speaker 5 (18:55):
That's where you look at Darius's day and I know,
again a lot of discourse about it. Ten care for
thirty four yards and one of those carries went seventeen yards,
which was the third and ten run that put you
in the red zone at the end of the second quarter.
That also means he had nine carries for sixteen yards
the rest of the game. It's not just Darius, it's
not just Marcus Major. It's everything upfront right now, and

(19:17):
it's just it's not just one guy. It's just a misassignment.
The offensive line also has eight penalties through four games,
which it's a historically very disciplined team, a historically very
disciplined unit. But I don't know what to tell you
in terms of I agree that they need to find
a running game, but they're not going to find a

(19:38):
running game against Michigan this weekend. Now, if they come
out run the ball with Darius for twenty times for
forty four yards, I hope everybody's happy because Darius touched
the ball twenty times, But what did that accomplish and
putting you in second and eight and third and seven.
I think you'll have a chance starting against the USC
and UCLA to establish the run more. But you're right.

(19:58):
I just think I think this says a lot about
the personnel right now. Is you're in year eight and
you have a very veteran tight end group, a very
veteran offensive line for the most part, and you can't
run the football. I mean, I'm going to be writing
about it today, but they are not looking good in
terms of like offensive line metrics with getting knocked back

(20:20):
and pushed compared to previous seasons. I think it's not
just one thing.

Speaker 4 (20:25):
Now.

Speaker 5 (20:25):
If I was Greg Harbow, I'd try to run outside
the tackles more. Your two best players on the offensive
line are arianta Ercery and Quinn Carroll. You're struggling on
the interior, so trying to get those guys into space more.
I mean, you even saw that their two longest runs
of the day was that Darius outside zone and then
that crack block play with the toss to Marcus.

Speaker 4 (20:45):
Major in space.

Speaker 5 (20:47):
Again, trying to get them outside the tackles more. I
would try to do. I would just caution people, we
all are acknowledging the running game is a big issue
in this. Don't expect it to be fixed this weekend
against the Michigan Wolverines.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
Well this goes back and doesn't I think Fleck was
talking about again this week where you got to find
the right group, the right five guys, Like I don't
think they still settled on that. Like here, you are
a quarter into your season and I'm not sure they
know who their best five guys are.

Speaker 4 (21:14):
Well.

Speaker 5 (21:14):
I think it also just comes back to you've had
three years to figure out right tackle and it's not
Quinn Carrol, because again, I think quin Carroll's their second
best offensive lineman right now. But I will die in
the hill of Quin Carroll's a better guard than he
has tackled, but he has to continue to play tackle
because they haven't found a different right tackle. I mean,
they took one guy from the portal from UTEP and
he's not I mean, he's not an option right now.

(21:37):
And that's a problem. Is you knew right tackle has
been a problem where you want to be able to
slide the din and native back inside. That's where he
should be. But because they just don't have a better
option in their minds, they've continued to put him out there.
And I don't I just don't know what the fix is.
I mean, we can get short term, long term, like

(21:58):
you lose Ariante and Quinn and Tyler Cooper after the
season and you already can't run the football right now,
what does it look like next year? But if you
don't think you have the personnel to replace the guys
that already are performing at the standard.

Speaker 4 (22:10):
Right now, well, it is like guards.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
I mean, the world is up turned upside down because
the one thing you could always count on a PJ.
Fleck team is they're gonna be have a physical line.
They're gonna run the ball like if nothing else, They're
gonna do that right, right right. That might be their
weakness right.

Speaker 5 (22:23):
Now, physicality on the lines in the Big ten.

Speaker 4 (22:28):
It is going to not go well for the team.

Speaker 1 (22:31):
Well, and you're right, you guys are right that at
least my observation was, Iowa figured out they can't run
the ball, We're gonna go at Max a little bit more.
And he was completely sped up. He was absolutely sped
up in the second half, his feever all over the place.
The ball was getting thrown and he relies, it's pretty odden.
Did you guys see the Jay Higgins nugget on his

(22:53):
interception the Darius where Darius Taylor basically wasn't looking for
the ball the first interception, Higgins basically said, and watching film,
I knew that in that formation whatever, and I'm paraphrasing
some of it, he would throw the check down at
exactly three seconds, so he would so first of all,
by the way, I would verify that if I was

(23:13):
Harbo and Max. But that makes sense when you talk
about how his mind processes and he goes on that play,
he got sped up a little bit. He actually threw
it on two because Higgins was just counting. He said
he threw it on two and Darius wasn't ready for it.
I don't know if Darius was also counting.

Speaker 5 (23:29):
Darius was going to go out in the flats, and
I think Max thought he was going to stop.

Speaker 4 (23:33):
But I get the point.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
You're going, yes, so, but he wasn't ready for it.
But I thought that was interesting that and you can
tell Max clearly does. Part of the reason why he's
been successful is he's I'm looking here, I'm looking there, okay,
and now I'm going here like his Yeah, he is
processing to that quickly. I'd love to, you know, I'd
love to know more about that theory that Higgins did,
but I mean, it makes it I'm gonna trust ja Higgins.

(23:54):
By the way, the guy's all American, right, and if
that's right, like you got to figure that out. But
it also shows you, like how much just Max's tempo
matters to how successful he's going to be.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
And he was completely sped up on in the second half.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
That's a great point. I mean, one Higgins, that's tells
you how smart you know. And film study we always say,
yeah it was film study. Get that guy knows three
seconds he's getting read of the ball.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
Mean, it's just a smart player.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
But but it is clear as day when you watch
Brosner when he's comfortable in a rhythm and he's feeling it,
he's got the temple.

Speaker 5 (24:27):
I love that word.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
That's what it is. When he's in tempo, man, he's
he's on the money. He's just is like a point guard,
just distributing. Right when he gets sped up and you
can see his feet starting to move and he gets antsy, he's.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
He gets wild.

Speaker 2 (24:40):
I mean he's just like most guys, right, like most guys. Yeah,
this is not Yeah, he's not a typical. But and
you can just see it clear and we saw it
in the second half where he just never felt comfortable
with because the pass rush was on top of him
a lot.

Speaker 5 (24:55):
And you know, I think it's there to beat you
with an even box, which for the purposes of this say,
five guys in the box versus five Gopher blockers, and
you can't win in an even box. It is going
to be a very long night if no Parker can
just drop back six of which he made some adjustments
in the second half. But that's where, again you look

(25:17):
at the differences in these two teams. I mean, I
think Max Brosmer is a better quarterback than Ked McNamara,
but it doesn't matter because Iowa can run the football.
I always got a better tailback, I always got a
better offensive line, and I always got a better defense.
And that's that's the crux of this thing. So I
just I don't know how they fix it going forward.

(25:38):
If the offensive line just doesn't play better, right, if
they don't, there isn't a lot of solutions to what
fixes the offense.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
Go ahead, Chip, well, no, I was gonna say, and
the defensive line, both lines don't play better because that
was just not competitive in the second half.

Speaker 4 (25:57):
It just wasn't.

Speaker 2 (25:58):
I mean, I don't care what PJ says. It means
I did whatever they wanted. That's not competitive. And so
I to me, it all comes back to and I
think it's like, if you cannot stop the run. It
demoralizes your team. It just sucks the air out of
your entire team because your offense doesn't get on the field,
you don't get off the field. They just keep running

(26:20):
it right down your throat and you can't do anything
about it. To me, their inability to stop the run
takes over everything. It's overarching with this team right now.

Speaker 5 (26:31):
And that's year after year, that is coordinator to different coordinator.
The players remain largely the same from last year. Now
they're healthier than they were last year. And to your point,
which you led the podcast with cardsy like last year,
I think it was just more injuries in personnel which
led to a really poor run defense.

Speaker 3 (26:48):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (26:49):
And now we got to see their first test against
a Big ten team and they failed. I mean, there's
nothing else. You gave up two hundred and fifty plus
rushing yards and now you get Michigan. And if you
can't stop the run in the Big Ten, the offense
isn't going to matter because you're gonna give up twenty
eight thirty one to thirty four points a game. And
they'll be games, say against usc where maybe the offense

(27:12):
puts up twenty eight points, but if you're hemorrhaging thirty eight.
I mean, it's just it. This all comes back to
the defense, and that's where with Rossi it was a
very you know, the interesting difference I think I would
say is this. Rossi's defense was very conservative. It was
very buttoned up. It was very we're gonna take the

(27:34):
four yard chunks, but we're gonna be in the right spot, YadA, YadA.
And that's where the Heatherman style is very much more
risk reward. They're trying to cause havoc and maybe in
certain instances they're a little bit more schematically unsound because
they're trying to put you off your game. But if
the opposing offense hits, they're gonna hit big. If you
can't have guys make tackles in space, which i'd say twelve, sixteen,

(27:57):
and four were put on island in a few different
times and it didn't go well. Now, why were they
put on an island Because the defensive line and the
linebackers weren't where they were supposed to be, or they're
getting knocked out of their gaps, whatever it may be.
But guys, if they can't stop the run, I don't
care what Big ten team you are it's not going
to go well.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah, I think that's a good theme. Twenty nine minutes in,
Chip was right, you gotta win in the trenches. Modern
offense apparently don't need it because Iowa doesn't have one,
Michigan doesn't have one. Evidently, evidently the big ten West
is now USC and UCLA. I think one of theirs
is a little bit more modern than the other.

Speaker 4 (28:38):
I know.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
There was a lot of tension, and this is going
to the punting game. There was a lot of attension
on whatever drive it was that straddled the third and
fourth quarter. PJ ran it on third and ten and
people were mad about that.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
But did you see the first two plays? Like Brosemer
like that you wrote about a chip.

Speaker 4 (28:54):
You're right.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
It was a white flag for that moment because it's like,
we can't drop Max back again in deep in our
territory and I want to punt in the fourth quarter
with the wind, and it didn't work because the punter
in any conditions, it could be a hurricane at Huntington
Bank Stadium and Burnsey.

Speaker 3 (29:13):
How far is the punt gonna go? Forty one point
three yards?

Speaker 1 (29:16):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (29:16):
Tried thirty five?

Speaker 1 (29:18):
Yeah, that was with a return a lot of times
from not Cooper Degen, but a decent little return guy.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
So I got the theory.

Speaker 4 (29:25):
I get it.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
It didn't look good the white flag and you know,
but it's like that was that possession was chaotic. The
ball was flying and it was two plays. Ball was
flying all over the place, like all right, we got
to like try to salvage this thing and punt it
and hope our to god, our defense can get a stop.
But then the punt with the wind, which was formidable,
probably the windiest game they've had this season, it just

(29:46):
didn't matter. It was it literally looked like the same
exact punt and the same exact result.

Speaker 5 (29:51):
Burnsy your thoughts, I tell you why was Iowa was
the Australian punter aber able to put it up into
the third level of hunting Tibank Stadium. Yeah, with fifty
yards per punt, Yet Minnesota's Australian punter had five different
punts that were under thirty seven net yards, which is
just I mean, if you're getting killed by ten yards

(30:12):
per punt when you're looking at Iowa's versus Minnesota's, your
hemorrhaging field position to Iowa in which in what world
are you going to win if you're just consistently losing
field position to the University of Iowa football team. I mean,
that was among the poorest performances I've seen from a
punter in sometime. While Iowa's brand new guy, it looks

(30:34):
like Tory Taylor didn't even left. He just kept kept
the jersey on in the locker room. I mean, he
was fantastic. Minnesota's was not. And that's where one of
these days, boys, we're gonna come on this podcast and
we're gonna talk glowingly about special teams. But until that
day happens, it's just a new thing every single week,
including by the way, two penalties in the second half

(30:55):
on special teams, including Koy Perrich being off sides. On
the opening kick of the second half, John Joyner runs
into the punter, gifting a free first down to Iowa,
and that second half it just can never get out
of their own way. And it's just you've now changed
special teams coordinators and yet here we are with some
of the same issues.

Speaker 3 (31:16):
Well Evenkoy Perrich.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
I'll take the risk reward with the returns, but you
want to talk about the same thing happening over He
almost I thought he was about to pop the opening one.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
I think he was one step away, which that would
have been interesting.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
Yeah, But the rest of them, it was like it
was like you're playing a video game, and he got
tackled between the nineteen and twenty one like four straight times.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
But I liked the fact that they're I like the confidence,
you know, I like the confidence.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
I mean, I'll give up the five yards there because
I think it, and we got to keep getting him
going in that because at some point he's going to
break one.

Speaker 2 (31:47):
But will Yeah, I'd be willing to, you know, forfeit
losing four to six yards on his returns with the
you know potential that he might you know, return win
eighty for you.

Speaker 5 (31:58):
So I don't he better gets blocking in front of him,
because I'll remind you, boys, it's been seventy something games.
It's been since twenty seventeen Nebraska.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
You have a calendar, you're you're That's what he keeps
looking at over his right shoulder.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
Yeah, the content like the Osha sign days since last workplace.

Speaker 4 (32:17):
I agree that.

Speaker 5 (32:18):
Coy Parritch should keep taking him out, but can he
get any blocking in front of him? At some point
here that'd be helpful. We're going to change the returner.
I'm all for it, but you better be able to
block in front of him or else. So you're going
to be losing five yards to eight yards per kick return,
which for an offense that struggling isn't exactly helpful.

Speaker 1 (32:36):
We've talked a little bit about Michigan, will do that
when we come back. We'll also spin around the Big Ten.
It was a busy weekend in the Big Ten. A
lot of interesting developments, including a game on Friday night
where Brett Bielaman does it again. We'll talk about that
and a lot more after we talk about Jack's Cafe
and Jackscafe dot com Jaxcafe dot com in Minneapolis institution

(32:57):
for almost a century and was it two weeks ago?
We had the first anniversary couple This last week we
had somebody write a receipt with a very nice tip congratulations.
I'm here because the Parents Spare podcast told me to
do it. We love that you guys keep going there
and having great experiences because we want to be honest,
we want to be transparent, and we love Jack's Cafe

(33:20):
and we're glad that so many of you chip are
rolling over there and having the same experiences that we are.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
You know what, when you go there, you're gonna have
a sixty minute experience, maybe even longer. Right, it's sixty Yeah,
I'm talking about appetizers, entrees. You know my favorite, the
dessert that's a full sixty minutes. You're going to get
the full sixty minute special occasion, special experience from Jacksonville.

(33:47):
And I want to see more. I love it when
Bill texts us or tweets out that our listeners from
the podcast, you know, call his attention put it on
the receipt.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
Yeah, take a pic.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Sure, let's see more of that. Let's let's try to
get one a week, if not more. Where somebody says, hey,
parent of Spare, sit me.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
Here, and we loved it.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
Here it is burnsy from Anna here from the Parent
of Spare podcast, Go Gophers, smiley face emoji.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
Ps. Tell Bill we said high love that we'll smiley
face emoji. It's good stuff.

Speaker 5 (34:21):
Well, I tell you my bold proclamation for Jack's Cafe,
and this is going to be controversial. I think it's
the best steak in town. And there's a lot of
good steak joints tell me I'm wrong. Go to Jack's Cafe,
get the steak. Tell me I'm wrong. It's I was
blown away when I was there just a few weeks ago.
So how do you go make a reservation?

Speaker 1 (34:39):
Guardsy Jackscafe dot com, Ryan Jaxcafe dot com. Well, how
long until Nebraska's ranked again? Because they they lost on
Friday night. Here's my favorite is they they've had an
oh and twenty six streak against ranked teams. I think

(34:59):
they have, which you know, whatever that happens. The ranked
teams are good, but Illinois comes in their ranked twenty
second and they're like, they're gonna break the streak. I'm like,
can we at least like knock the door down with
a top ten victory? Like gonna we're gonna roll in
with an.

Speaker 3 (35:12):
Illinois squad at twenty two.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
And by the way, you know me, I love Beilama,
I love Illinois's a tough out. They're obviously playing well.
An electric Friday night in Lincoln sold out crowd, obviously
for the four hundred straight time they had the light show.
Riola looked like he was playing well, but Illinois walked
in and said, yeah, we're not.

Speaker 3 (35:32):
We don't care about any of that, and they hung
with them the whole time and.

Speaker 1 (35:35):
Then knocked off the previously ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers in was
it double overtime?

Speaker 4 (35:40):
Just overtime?

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Overtime there and so Illinois now four and oh thirty
one twenty four was the final score.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
I was on the road to Moorhead and didn't get
to see that. I haven't seen illinoy this year, but
I assume they're physical. Brett Bielama are Is it a
classic Brett Bilama. We're gonna be physical in the trenches
and just figure out a way to win. Well.

Speaker 5 (36:03):
Luke Almeyer has also been really good for them. Who's
their quarterback.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
He shared a Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week
honors with Caleb Johnson for his performance. And what I
love it was sorry to interrupt Bernsy. They got to
stop right away, and then they went down and scored,
and he looked over Almyer looked over at the Nebraska
sideline and just started screaming at him all bleeping night,

(36:26):
which I just think is tremendous. There's nothing better than
a cocky college kid in the first quarter of the game.
He was right though he was a stunt. I think
he had four touchdowns and led him to victory. And
that is not an easy place to play, especially now
when they're all feeling it. So congrats to him. Good
on him.

Speaker 5 (36:45):
Is there a more futile team in college football than Nebraska?
And overtime? By the way, have you seen the Nebraska
overtime stats?

Speaker 1 (36:52):
No?

Speaker 4 (36:53):
I think I don't think they won.

Speaker 5 (36:54):
An overtime game since twenty fourteen, and I don't think
they've scored since. I think it's been like six or
seven straight overtime games. I'm sure there'll be a Husker
fan listening to this that can correct me, but it's like,
how do you how have you lost? I think it's
like eight or nine straight overtime games. I mean that's
like the whole Manuel Margo pitch hitting thing, where now

(37:16):
he is zero for thirty. You think if you flip
the coins that many times you can at least score.

Speaker 3 (37:22):
Is that a Twins player? Are you talking about baseball?

Speaker 4 (37:25):
Yeah? Are you a big Twins guy over here?

Speaker 2 (37:27):
How many of those are on Scott frost resume? It
seems like he had won every week, right.

Speaker 5 (37:31):
Well, it's been since twenty fourteen, so I forget when
Frost was hired but now even still it's just like Colley, Nebraska.
But that's where again you thought it was going to
be Nebraska and their defense, which is what they were
going to hang their hat on. Well, Illinois put up
three hundred and eighty three yards of total offense thirty
one points. Like, I don't know, guys, I think this

(37:51):
Illinois team is going to be interesting. Now they got
to go to Penn State. But why is Illinois so good?
Because they are good up for.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
Ye where were they picked in the pre in that
Cleveland dot Co compole? They were like I think like
today down right, Yeah, Illinois was I thought they were
a lot further down than that.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
I don't think there was a lot of talk about
them preseason. I I think they're even lower than that.

Speaker 3 (38:17):
Burnsy.

Speaker 4 (38:18):
I can look.

Speaker 1 (38:19):
I'm looking at it now. Let's see who's got better
internet right here? Enth thirteenth, Burns fifteenth. I'm the Nebraska
of googling things. Burnsy just got me.

Speaker 3 (38:31):
It's unbelievable.

Speaker 5 (38:32):
It's the quantum fighter over here. Now we're gonna learn
a lot more about Illinois over these coming weeks. They
got on the road to Penn State this weekend. In
a couple of weeks, it gets really tough for them.
Before Minnesota they have to go, uh they play Michigan
at home, and then they have to travel to Oregon
before the Gophers come to town.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
Gosh, like this they got.

Speaker 4 (38:53):
For some teams and uh they would be among them.

Speaker 3 (38:58):
Yeah, this big ten man.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
And that's the problem when you're Minnesota and we've talked
about kind of the coin flip games. They're only two
in the coin flip games, right if you wanted to,
I assume, And it's like your reward for that is
you get to go to the big House and then
USC is coming to your barn, like you just nailed
the Illinois schedule. It's like, my god, how our teams
kind of get on a run here or get on

(39:21):
a roll or you start. It kind of reminds me
of basketball in a way, where if you lost a
home game that you weren't supposed to or that you
couldn't afford to lose, all of a sudden, you've got
a five game losing streak just because of the schedule
more or less, and that, man, it's gonna be tough.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
It is for those teams that are fifth through you
say eighteenth, but really fifth through fourteen. You have to
win your coin flip games, yep, because now without the
Big ten West, without divisions, and you're I mean think
I gotta go Penn State, Michigan, Oregon. Okay, They're not
gonna be a favorite in any of those. You have

(39:58):
to be good in your coin flip games, mean.

Speaker 5 (40:01):
And that's where they were against Kansas and against Nebraska,
and that's where like, So you have the go for
two game stretch coming up. You got the twelfth team
in the country on the road this weekend, then you
get the thirteenth at home before you go to UCLA. Well,
I'm glad I brought up Ucla because they were just
in Baton Rouge last weekend. Now they get a top
ten Oregon team at home before they then have to

(40:22):
fly out to Penn State for an eleven am kick,
which is nine am Pacific time for them before they
take on Minnesota. So you're going to have a battle
of potentially two teams that Ucla might be in a
four game losing streak, Minnesota might be in a three
game losing streak, and both of them have that game
circled on the calendar. Where it's like, if we're going
to get back on track, this is the one that

(40:43):
we got to win.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
Yeah, it's crazy. I'm looking ahead this weekend. Anything else
that strikes me? Indiana back in action. They continue to
put up points after points after points.

Speaker 5 (40:55):
Sure, North Carolina slash Florida slash Florida State head coach
Kirk Signetti to you, justin guard.

Speaker 3 (41:02):
Really, you're already starting at You're already starting You're already
starting at board, are you really?

Speaker 4 (41:06):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (41:06):
Yeah, wow, that would be devastating.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
See I hate that.

Speaker 1 (41:10):
I hate that. That's because we live in that world, right,
Like you have a little bit of success at a
place that doesn't usually, you know, happen.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
And then Burnsey's message board is Tim Tim Brewster.

Speaker 4 (41:22):
Is going is just making this thing not fun for everyone?

Speaker 1 (41:26):
Yeah, Tim Brewster is going to us to Tennessee. Tubby
Smith's leaving for this job. Richard Patino's leaving for this job. Uh,
you know PJ is leaving for U c l A.
He's leaving for Tennessee. Why is your school always in
the mix for coaches?

Speaker 4 (41:39):
Chip?

Speaker 2 (41:40):
Now, we're good. You could take us out of that conversation.

Speaker 4 (41:45):
We're good.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
Yeah, I suppose you're found our guy.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
We found our guy.

Speaker 1 (41:47):
But I would actually hate that if that happened for
Indiana like that was because that's just it just talks
about what we've talked about with this new world of
you know, it's so tough when you're a have not
to break route here, a historical have not to break through,
and so that would be a bummer. So you really
ruined my day there at the end of the podcast.

(42:07):
And I talked Gopher defense for the first thirty but
that ruined my day.

Speaker 5 (42:14):
I mean, well, we'll find out if again. I think
Signetti at this point is going to start six and oh,
because they don't have a murderer's row coming up, including
this weekend, which who.

Speaker 4 (42:24):
Do they have this weekend?

Speaker 3 (42:26):
Maryland at home?

Speaker 5 (42:27):
Yeah, and there's a seven point favorite there, so yep.
I mean we're gonna find out a lot about some
of these teams. I mean, you even look at Rutgers,
which I was saying it to Daniel House in the
press box. Kirk Sharaka off of a Bye continues to
be one of the easiest bets to make in all
of college football. Which Athan and Kirk Sharaka out there
at Rutgers going to Virginia Tech, which they had one

(42:50):
of the most perplexing plays of which Chip would be
losing his mind over.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
I heard you. I wasn't watching them. I heard you
losing your mind beside me.

Speaker 5 (43:01):
So it's it's like a fourth and goal at the
two guardsy and they're in Rutgers is up sixteen, okay
where and they go for it and don't get it.
Why would you not kick the field goal there and
go up three scores. I'm losing my mind because I'm like,
Virginia Tech, come back, now, what are you doing? Turns out,
Virginia Tech does come back. They get two touchdowns and

(43:21):
two point conversions and then a late Rutgers field.

Speaker 4 (43:24):
Goal puts it up. But I'm thinking to myself.

Speaker 5 (43:26):
All I could think of is imagine Chip on this
podcast if PJ. Fleck were to have not taken the
points there to go up three scores. What do you
mean you guys always want to go for the dagger.

Speaker 4 (43:37):
You wanted.

Speaker 3 (43:39):
Here, it's kicking the field goals the dagger dagger. No,
Virginia Tech, you really put the stake through. I didn't
realize where you look at Rutgers.

Speaker 5 (43:48):
I mean we talk about Illinois schedule, in Minnesota schedule,
UCLA schedule, part of why people thought Rutgers was going
to be good. I'm looking at their schedule. They got
two ranked teams on the schedule right now. Boys, it's
USC and Illinois and that's it right now. And that's
why they were trendy to begin That's why you have
to capitalize on games like that in schedules like that.

(44:09):
And we'll see if Rutgers eventually does. But goodness, gracious,
that was I'm telling you. I was losing my mind
about why are you not kicking?

Speaker 3 (44:17):
Kicking the kicking?

Speaker 2 (44:20):
So?

Speaker 3 (44:20):
Is that your cat?

Speaker 2 (44:21):
Now?

Speaker 1 (44:21):
It was your dog earlier and now your cat? What's
going on in the Burns Zoo over there? How many
animals do we have?

Speaker 3 (44:26):
Do you guys close your doors? Is that from the
neighborhood or is that yours?

Speaker 5 (44:30):
That's actually the cat that I got from Andy Greeeder
of all people.

Speaker 4 (44:36):
Yeah, there's I don't know.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
What, a lot of stuff, a lot of deals being
cut in the Huntington Stadium Press. I like you.

Speaker 4 (44:42):
I like the bob and weave and I like the barter.
You know that.

Speaker 1 (44:45):
Well, we mentioned the schedules and this is probably more
of an off season conversation, but it's all. It almost
behooves you to look ahead, Like when this revenue sharing
comes down in n I L. You almost have to
look and I think we have big ten schedules for
at least next year, maybe not schedules, but at least
opponents and where you're playing. You almost have to look
ahead and go, all right, we don't need you one

(45:07):
hundred grand now, but in twenty twenty seven, when we
don't play Michigan, we've got Ohio State at home, we
don't play Oregon, we've got you know, Washington or you
see at home. When we feel like we have a
formidable schedule and we don't have a tough non conference,
then we're gonna need your money because we're gonna have
to hit the portal hard that year to make sure
we capitalize on the year that they are like Rutgers

(45:28):
or they are like you know, Indiana, when you don't
because right now, I mean when we've talked about it
in a million times, like nine and three is the
new eleven and one, it really is in this new
big ten in my opinion, and.

Speaker 5 (45:39):
That's where you look at next year's schedule. To your point,
Minnesota's got road games against Ohio State, Oregon, Iowa. I
mean you've also got we get to go to cal
Berkeley next year. There's also we get to go play
it the practice field down by the lake in north I'm.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
Excited for that, the Northwestern. That thing looks cool.

Speaker 5 (45:57):
I'm excited about any worse than Ryan Field. I'll tell
you that it can't be any worse. But the schedule
never gets any easier. So yeah, I hear, I mean,
I hear exactly what you're saying.

Speaker 1 (46:07):
I mean, so do we tell do we say don't
buy the coffee and don't drink the beer for next year,
because that's not good because PJ is going to be.

Speaker 3 (46:13):
In year nine. There's already there's already buy out conversations.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
You guys, well, that's yeah, we should get to the buyout.
There there's no planet, there's no way on they don't
have the money. It would be twenty two million dollars
after well ray.

Speaker 5 (46:29):
Point nine slash twenty three point one, and yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:32):
After January one, it's like twenty eight million before? Did
it this calendar year? This calendar year?

Speaker 4 (46:38):
I verify, well, either way, I don't.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Matter if they're doing it, they're not doing They're not
doing not doing it, not doing it, they're not they
don't have the money.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
But even if Mark Coyle had the money, I still
don't think he would do it. Right now and we
can and you got other I'm this. I can make
this promise on this podcast, especially this year, or just
in my daily life because I have to go you know, public,
and that's all anybody wants to talk about is what
happened against.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
Iowa and blah blah blah.

Speaker 1 (47:02):
I will not be litigating the PJ. Fleck resume or
contract status every day this season for the rest of
my life.

Speaker 3 (47:09):
I'm just not gonna do it.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
Like, you can keep tweeting it at me, you can
keep sending me emails, you can keep saying it at
public like I get it. It's the itch. Everybody wants
to do it. I remember Farens made a crack like
ten years ago. It seems like I hear about my
contract every time we go seven and six, like that's
part of the deal.

Speaker 3 (47:24):
But it's not gonna happen even if it could. Financially.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
First of all, if someone had twenty two million, I'd
say give it to Dinky Town athletes and then you
won't have to worry about you won't have to worry
about any of these coaches. But I'm I personally, you
guys can do what you want. I will not be
litigating the pros and cons of firing a coach well
week four after a five and seven year I'm just
that well.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
And the thing is is like it's kind of waste
of risk because it's not feasible, it's not reality. They
don't have the money to do it. But I will
say PJ needs a good win in a bad way
to bring back some confidence in his fan base because
I have a bunch of friends who are h I'd
call them diehards, not the what do you call them

(48:08):
defensive servers? Yeah, yeah, they're not the observers. I mean
these are people you know, get money to Dinky Town,
that you know gate have uh graduated there, And almost
all of them said they love the way PG runs
the program, terms of home players, accountable, community service, good grades,

(48:29):
not off the field stuff all you know, just to
see you. But they've lost confidence him and as a coach,
I mean they have. And you know, I'm not sharing
anything that you guys don't hear also, and this goes
back to last year, and I think he would have
more equity built up if he would have won one
of those big ten West titles. Yeah, in those three
years where that started it. When you don't come through it,

(48:52):
that the memories of that doesn't go away, it just compounds.
And then when you have you fall apart in November
last year, and then you basically they have two games
this year. I don't care about Rhode Island, I don't
care about no about it.

Speaker 4 (49:03):
Those don't matter.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
You have two opponents this year and you you don't
play well in either. When we saw North Carolina and
PJ can try to dismiss what happened to North Carolina,
is we too, But when you give up seventy to
James Mason, you're not a good team. He's lost confidence.
They he needs to show that this thing is building
somewhere and that you're you're gonna be competitive with Iowa.

Speaker 4 (49:26):
And that.

Speaker 5 (49:30):
You're two and nine in your last eleven Power four games.

Speaker 2 (49:34):
And they've had and the losses have been ones where
you just collapsed, whereas Northwestern or whatever, or ones where
you just get you know, wiped off. The field. Those
are demoralizing for a fan basis. So he needs a
win here to kind of invigorate this fan base again
because right now, I mean, I'm sure you see it
on your message board. It's a bad spot. I mean this,

(49:55):
this fan base is in a bad spot in terms
of their perception of this program.

Speaker 4 (49:58):
Yeah, I mean it is.

Speaker 5 (49:59):
And that's what where I think we nip it in
the button now and say we're not going to come
on here after every loss and talk about the Fleck
contract thing to everybody's point. You know, Chip, I heard
I asked around yesterday about what the biot is because
I know I was texting with some people over at
the SERB about what it is. It's around twenty three
million dollars from what I heard from multiple people, which

(50:20):
there's only been one college football coach in the history
an extensive history of college football that's ever been fired
with a buyout that large. That would be mister Jimbo
Fisher with Texas.

Speaker 4 (50:29):
A and m Oil money.

Speaker 5 (50:31):
And the next year it's around nineteen eighteen million. Well,
guess what, There's only been four college football coaches ever
that have been fired, and none of them have been
big ten So this solution has to come from within,
and the solution is Coil and Fleck got to figure
this thing out because to your point, you're on a
negative trajectory. Now you're two to nine in your last

(50:53):
eleven Power four games. Now you have to go into
the big House where you haven't won since I think
twenty fourteen. You've only won twice against Michigan in my lifetime,
since nineteen ninety two. It's not gonna get much easier
here going forward with two top fifteen opponents. I'd love
to tell you that night game, which, by the way,
can we talk about a third night.

Speaker 4 (51:13):
Game in six games?

Speaker 3 (51:15):
We had a bunch of them last.

Speaker 1 (51:16):
Year two Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 (51:18):
I mean it's the new world, like the new TV
controlled world that.

Speaker 3 (51:22):
We live in TV windows.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
I'm the Coil and PJ figuring it out, and I'm
sure we'll continue to talk about this.

Speaker 3 (51:28):
Like That's where I always am, is like can we
let a guy? Can we give a guy more.

Speaker 1 (51:33):
Than eleven games to figure it out? Like after a
pretty good, like four or five year run. I get it,
the big ten West stuff does bother you, and it should.

Speaker 4 (51:42):
But it's like.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
I just don't understand the quickness to it. I don't
know if it's the quickness to it. I'm not describing
it right. But at one point does a guy earned
the right to try to figure it out? Like if
they have enough, if they're four and eight this year
and they're four and eight next year, obviously I think
everybody would agree.

Speaker 5 (51:59):
But even what are they going to find the eighteen million?
Well there him and also have twenty million to pay
the athletes. That's the crux of the whole issue here.

Speaker 3 (52:07):
My speculation on.

Speaker 5 (52:08):
That would be, you have a Richard Patino like situation
where you, like Paul Chris negotiated yes, and I think.

Speaker 3 (52:17):
And I honestly I think PJ would understand it at
that point.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
Like so that's where that's where my head always is,
Like I'm always I'm fine with letting a guy who's
been fairly successful and like you said, ship runs a
pretty solid program with all the other stuff, I'm let's
let him try to figure it out. We thought he
was on a heater with recruiting, which burns you used,
I mean, how many times, how many years in a row?

Speaker 4 (52:38):
Now?

Speaker 3 (52:38):
Is he got the number one kid in the state.
He retained a bunch of players.

Speaker 1 (52:41):
From what we hear from dickeytwon athletes, he's doing everything
he possibly can as a head coach to make sure
that things where it needs to be, which isn't the
case for every coach at the U. By the way,
like going out and making sure like it to not
make it be a weakness that it was maybe two
or three years ago. That's all That's usually going to
be my position on this For anybody that wants to
talk it is like, I'm more willing to let a

(53:02):
guy try to figure it out, and once you know everybody,
we all can come to the same conclusion. But I'm
just not gonna be talking about buyouts before October in
twenty twenty four. That's just not gonna be my lane.

Speaker 5 (53:15):
So here's kind of where I stand on the whole
thing is, if you think about a college football program
like the University of Minnesota, just college football in general,
can we all agree that the average fans should think
of it this way. Every team is going to go
through peaks and valleys, and it's going to be slick
cyclical every couple of years. You're gonna have some down years.
Every couple years, you're gonna have some up years, especially

(53:35):
for a program like Minnesota. Well, I think from what
I understand from talking with people behind the scenes all
off season, and then even from what Fleck has said
publicly leading up to the season, I believe Minnesota thought
this was going to be one of those peak years
where a seven win season. As guards he has talked
about is you know, the old nine and three to

(53:56):
an extent. Now, there's eight games left on this schedule
and we're not writing off anything yet. But if in
one of your peak seasons where you have a senior quarterback,
you have three senior offensive linemen, Daniel Jackson and Elijah
Spencer are your top two receivers, their seniors John Joyner
is gonna be gone after the year, Danny Strigau, I mean,

(54:17):
you have a lot of elder veteran experience pieces. But
if you're gonna go four and eight in a year
like that, like, that's where I come back down to
what happened?

Speaker 4 (54:27):
Where did it go paar shaped? And how do you
fix it?

Speaker 5 (54:30):
Because this was supposed to be a year and it
still can be. I want to be clear here, We're
only a third of the way through the season. There's
plenty of coin flip games. You have a couple of
ranked opponents here in the next couple of weeks. But
that's where a matchip is. If this was going to
be an up year, why wasn't it? And how do
you fix it? Because next year the roster construction, I mean,

(54:52):
they're gonna have to just absolutely kill it in the portal.

Speaker 2 (54:56):
But well, that's yeah. And when you have a loss
like Saturday again, if you're.

Speaker 4 (55:02):
Time rivals and.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
We would start back to.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
I can't remember a game going that way, just pivoting
so dramatically and where you just fall apart to that degree.
I think that's where when you combine it with what
happened last year, And I think that's where fans are
like what is happening right now? Like what what what
is going on with this program? And I think it's
fair to ask. If you're a fan, I mean, you're emotional,
you're invested.

Speaker 4 (55:26):
That's good.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
Sure to feel disappointment and hurt, that's fine. Now again,
if you start talking about buy it, that's not happening
because they just don't have the money. But it's fine
to be disappointed and asking like where what's going on
right now? Like why is it Why are these issues
that they're having personnel wise, chematically whatever, coaching? Why is

(55:48):
this happening? And how are you going to fix it?
That's the big thing. How are you going to fix
this where you're not getting run out of the place,
but and you're not that so overmatched by Iowa in
the second half in your own place.

Speaker 5 (55:59):
Well, that's I think about the four games that we've
talked about, you know, two to nine in your last
eleven Power four games, will you have the Northwestern collapse
and the Illinois collapse last year, plus you have the
North the North Carolina game, and now you've got the
Iowa game. Four games in which they led in the
second half, four games in which they probably should have won.
Three of those it was defensive ineptitude. The other one,

(56:21):
I would say was probably the offense. And that would
be the more or so on the North Carolina side
of things. But that's where it comes down to for me,
where your defense and all all of those games more
or less was the crux of the issue. And now
you've changed coordinators, not because you wanted to, but because
Michigan State came in and bought Joe Rossi, Which that's

(56:42):
a that's a whole different podcast. But I think if
they can't figure it out defensively, Chip and You're going
to be allowing twenty eight, thirty one to thirty four
points per game. It's just it's a tough place to live.
And I think a lot of this just comes down
to if you can't figure out how to stop the
run and stop explosive plays, it's a tough place to win.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
Have a good week, everyone, have a good week.

Speaker 3 (57:05):
Don't get them you back, never grab my r back here,
and you should. Yeah, I need the play hard tall.

Speaker 2 (57:14):
Yeah. We make you feel better about yourself or you
feel good about life.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
Please subscribe to this podcast on YouTube or wherever you
get your favorite podcast. Please tell a Gopher fan friend
in your life, and if you see Chip around the
Alexandria Chipotle in a couple of weeks, please let him
know that you love the pod. And please make sure
you're always asking what our phone is at. I got
asked that six.

Speaker 5 (57:38):
Times you rub your temples while saying yeah.

Speaker 3 (57:43):
We always like it. We always like baby State.

Speaker 1 (57:46):
Yeah, they always judge me so hard too, And I'm
like it's like fifty three, Like Chip wouldn't like it.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
I got chipping dead disappointment on their faces.

Speaker 3 (57:55):
Yeah, some type of stroke or heart attack.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
Thanks to Jackscafe as always making reservations at jackscafe dot com.
We're in really good brunch weather right now, but you
need to if you want to wear like a little
you know, three quarters zip like chippers got on right now,
you can out on the patio. You'll be very comfortable.
But to appreciate Bill and everybody, stay tuned for more
ticket giveaways as the season goes along on all of
our social media channels, and we will talk to you

(58:19):
next week on the parentis Bear Podcast.

Speaker 3 (58:22):
Thanks everybody,