We Are Maroon and Gold Episode 129

               

The NBA Draft and a Purdue-Minnesota preview.

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Midweek Review: Iowa 35-7 Minnesota

There's no sugarcoating, sidestepping, or excusing it: That game sucked.

Iowa dominated Minnesota on the ground and on defense, and the Floyd of Rosedale will stay south for a sixth straight year. The Gophers have one win at the halfway point of the abbreviated regular season, and they likely won't get more than a couple more by the end. No sane observer is questioning the program's direction or retroactively labeling its 2019 breakthrough as a fluke, but it is abundantly clear that in this moment, Minnesota is too inconsistent and too young to contend for a while.

We Are Maroon and Gold Episode 128

              

The Gophers' easy win over Illinois and how they can reclaim the Floyd of Rosedale.

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Midweek Review: Minnesota 41-14 Illinois

The Gophers needed to bounce back against Illinois to get their season back on track, and they did so in a big way. While their 41-14 blowout win was against a shorthanded Illini team, and it did not totally alleviate concerns about Minnesota's flaws, it was the kind of Saturday that eased fans' anxieties and keeps Minnesota in the hunt for a high finish in the Big Ten West.

We Are Maroon and Gold Episode 127

             

The Gophers' Maryland disaster and a preview of Illinois.

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Midweek Review: Minnesota 44-45 Maryland

The Gophers' opener hinted that their defense would be a bigger problem than anticipated. Their second game indicated that it might be bad enough to wreck their season. Against a team that scored just three points in their first game, the Gophers' defense wasted a strong offensive performance by allowing 10.2 yards per play in a 44-45 overtime loss to hapless Maryland. It was a catastrophe that potentially forebodes more catastrophe, and it demands a postmortem.

We Are Maroon and Gold Episode 126

            

Minnesota's loss to Michigan and Friday night's game at Maryland.

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Midweek Review: Michigan 49-24 Minnesota

Success, as P.J. Fleck said and graphed in his first season, does not always arrive on a perfectly linear path. It is also not guaranteed to maintain over time; it may fade, even partially, and only with time may it return to its previous heights.

A shorthanded and young Minnesota team demonstrated this fact by getting shellacked by Michigan Saturday, tempering some (perhaps overly) expectant fans' enthusiasm for the follow-up to the program's 2019 breakthrough. Poor run defense and a formidable Michigan front did them in, and the Little Brown Jug continues its residency in Ann Arbor.