Lopsided road losses leave Gophers football team with ‘scars’

P.J. Fleck assessed the damage and tried to wring out as many drops of positivity as he could.

“Our scars remind us of where we’ve been,” Fleck said Monday during his weekly news conference, three days after the Gophers absorbed body blow after body blow in a 42-13 loss at No. 7 Oregon.

Acquiring scars been the norm this season for Minnesota when it has hit the road in the Big Ten. The Gophers got their nose repeatedly bloodied in a 42-3 loss at top-ranked Ohio State. At Iowa, they took several roundhouse kicks to the chin in a 41-3 loss.

Fleck believes the painful experiences will pay off ... eventually.

“You have to have those scars at some point because it’ll bring it back to some of your hardest times and what you were able to overcome,” he said.

On Saturday morning at 11, the Gophers will play their final Big Ten road game of the season, this one against Northwestern at the Wildcats’ second home — Wrigley Field in Chicago. Minnesota (6-4, 4-3 Big Ten) will try to show it can take a punch on the road and emerge victorious. In Northwestern (5-5, 3-4), the Gophers will face a team that’s lost three consecutive games after a four-game win streak.

Fleck, a Sugar Grove, Ill., native, grew up as a Chicago Cubs fan and regularly attended games at Wrigley Field. He acknowledged that the baseball venue brings a twist of fun to equation, but his team’s mind is on the business at hand.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Drake Lindsey is eager to atone for the slow start the Gophers had at Oregon. Amid the din of Autzen Stadium, the Gophers had a false start on their first play from scrimmage, and Lindsey said he missed a chance at an explosive play on the next snap.

“We’ve just got to execute from the jump; I don’t think there’s much more to it than that,” Lindsey said. “Can’t have a false start to start the game, and that starts with me having better cadence.”

How the Gophers fare on a baseball field on Saturday will help determine where they end up in bowl season. Minnesota gained bowl eligibility with its win over Michigan State on Nov. 1 and will play in its seventh bowl game in Fleck’s nine years in Dinkytown. Victories over Northwestern and then Wisconsin in the Nov. 29 regular-season finale would leave the Gophers with an 8-4 record and a chance to move up in the Big Ten’s bowl pecking order.

Assuming that the Big Ten lands Ohio State, Indiana and Oregon in the College Football Playoff, an 8-4 Gophers team could be a candidate for the Music City, Las Vegas, Pinstripe or Rate bowls. If the Gophers finish 7-5, the Rate and Pinstripe could be in play, while the Music City and Las Vegas would be more of a long shot. And if they lose their final two games to finish 6-6, they might be relegated to Detroit for the Game Above Sports Bowl (the former Quick Lane Bowl) for the fourth time since 2015.

A win over Northwestern becomes more important because it could help eliminate a potential competitor for a bowl spot. If the Wildcats lose Saturday, they will need to beat Illinois in the finale to reach six wins.

“The biggest thing is just go 1-0 each week,” Taylor said. “We’re focused on Northwestern this week, and we’re excited to get out there and play. … We’re not looking ahead to anything. We haven’t really talked much about eligibility."

Many of those scars Fleck mentioned landed on the Gophers defense, which gave up 1,258 yards in the losses to Ohio State, Iowa and Oregon. Under first-year defensive coordinator Danny Collins, the Gophers rank 14^th in the Big Ten in total defense in conference games, allowing 397.3 yards per game.

“Collectively, our eyes have to be in the right spot,” Collins said. “That’s the first thing. You saw early in that [Oregon] game, there’s a lot of eye violations. And when you have eye violations, there’s certain guys that get cut loose at that time. … There’s a collection of things I got to do a way better job coaching it because those things showed up."

Linebacker Matt Kingsbury relishes the chance for the Gophers defense to respond.