After 10 years, it's time to demand more from P.J. Fleck and the Gophers

Drake Lindsey’s NFL Draft hype.

Anthony Smith’s return as the Big Ten’s sack leader.

Darius Taylor’s return after an injury-plagued season.

Retaining the head coach, both the offensive and defensive coordinators, and the entire offensive line.

With high expectations, those are just some of the reasons Minnesota’s blowout loss to Mississippi State hits harder than it normally would’ve. Even the Las Vegas oddsmakers thought the Gophers-Bulldogs game was a 50-50 affair that could’ve gone either way.

Instead, rising star quarterback Kamario Taylor and Mississippi State found the end zone on four consecutive possessions to start the game and raced to a 28-3 lead, obliterating the Gophers 38-13 and flushing Minnesota’s hope for more down the toilet for the umpteenth season in a row.

It wasn’t just embarrassing; it was deflating.

Enough is enough. There has to come a day when Fleck leads a team capable of meeting high expectations, and if he can’t do it, then someone else should be given the opportunity.

No, Fleck shouldn’t be fired for his latest disaster. But 10 years of modest expectations and results should be a wake-up call. It’s time to turn up the heat and demand more.

Some will cry that it’s hard to win at Minnesota because the Gophers play in a market saturated with professional sports. That’s a petty excuse that should be thrown in the trash and replaced with a program mindset that demands more because the competition for attention is so stiff.

The only way to maintain interest from non-diehards is by staying in the Big Ten championship and College Football Playoff conversations. The reality of college football is that one or two losses end a team’s chances of competing in the CFP, and fan interest fades just as quickly.

If Minnesota doesn’t bounce back and find itself in contention for a spot in the Big Ten title game — they don’t have to get there; just stay in the conversation — then changes should be considered.

Win all the marginal bowl games you want; let that trash be someone else’s treasure. Minnesotans want Big Ten championships from a ranked program that doesn’t get dog-walked every time another power program enters the picture.

How is it that Mississippi State can throttle a supposedly on-the-rise Gophers team when it replaced most of its offensive line and overhauled its defense in the past 10 months? Mississippi State had an excuse to be mauled by Minnesota, but not the other way around.

The Gophers had better pound Akron next Saturday. Then they’d better beat Washington on Sept. 26 to make up for the home pounding they took on Saturday. They need to be 3-1 entering the Oct. 3 game in Minneapolis against Michigan, who are clearly beatable.

But based on 10 years of results, there’s a much better chance that Fleck won’t lead Minnesota over other solid programs. Outside of the 2019 Fleck-led Gophers upsetting fifth-ranked Penn State and winning 11 games, Fleck’s teams have far more frequently fallen flat.

Fleck said on Saturday that he still believes the 2026 Gophers are an outstanding team. They’d better prove it, because just making it to a bowl game is no longer good enough. It never should’ve been good enough.

And certainly not after the bar was raised so high before the season.

This story was originally published by Bring Me The Sports on Sep 13, 2026, where it first appeared in the MN Gophers section. Add Bring Me The Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.