Fox 9 talks Big Ten, Gophers football, new book with Bruce Feldman
Head coach P.J. Fleck of the Minnesota Golden Gophers and his team take the field against the Penn State Nittany Lions at TCFBank Stadium on November 9, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ((Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images))
MINNEAPOLIS - It took all of one week for the COVID-19 pandemic to shake up the Big Ten Conference, with Wisconsin's game at Nebraska canceled due to several positive tests, including quarterback Graham Mertz and head coach Paul Chryst.
This week, we talk with Fox Sports national college football reporter Bruce Feldman about the situation in the Big Ten, Minnesota's opener against Michigan, Tanner Morgan, Rashod Bateman, P.J. Fleck's future with the Gophers, how Minnesota's program is perceived nationally and Feldman's new book, "Flip the Script."
Listen to Jeff Wald's interview with Bruce Feldman here.
How does Wisconsin’s COVID-19 situation change everything in the Big Ten?
What’s different here than what we’ve seen in other leagues is this isn’t a postponement, this is a cancellation. The Big Ten had no wiggle room to adjust the schedule, there are no bye weeks or open weeks later on in the year. Now you have this situation, not just where Wisconsin will be down to their fourth string quarterback, but also now coach Paul Chryst has said he tested positive. You hope A) that all the individuals are OK and there’s nothing more than asymptomatic or mild symptoms, and but also that it doesn’t spread further. Those players are going to be out a minimum of 21 days. If Wisconsin can get back on the field for their next game to play Purdue, they won’t have those players who tested positive. If you’re the Big Ten, you’ve just got to keep your fingers crossed that this is an isolated incident. But I would think that would be wildly optimistic to think that.
How does Graham Mertz testing positive impact the Big Ten West?
Remember the guy who he was behind, Jack Coan, is dealing with a foot injury. That makes it more problematic. You’re talking about playing your fourth string quarterback, and it’s not like Jonathan Taylor is still there. That’s the other question, every year Wisconsin has had a great run game and seemingly had a great running back. If you’re down to your fourth string quarterback, that element is so much more heightened now.
What did you make of Minnesota’s loss to Michigan?
It was the Joe Milton, Michigan offense. Going in I had pretty good expectations on what I think Milton will become, but knowing Minnesota, to me Antoine Winfield Jr. was one of the best players in college football. It’s not like they’re Alabama, where they’re just sitting on 5-star players. He leaves in addition to a lot of other really solid players around him who played a lot of football. They’re not there, and they’re going up against a pretty fast and talented offense. I think that’s the question is how quickly can Joe Rossi and that defense put the pieces back together again? There was no off-season for these guys, so for young players to experience, to get into this system and establish themselves in new roles, that’s going to take some time. If I was a Minnesota fan, I’m sure I would’ve been disappointed by what I saw but at the same time, you have to remember they’re missing a lot of good players right now.
Can the Gophers weather losing 7 defensive starters from last season?
You’re fortunate that you do have Maryland, they looked awful against Northwestern. You still have Tanner Morgan, who’s one of the better quarterbacks in college football. You have Rashod Bateman, who is one of the best players in college football, and in Mo (Ibrahim) you have a really productive running back who you can lean on and also with that run game, I think they want to be physical. When you want to be physical and they have a running back like that, you hope that they can possess the ball and shorten the games a little bit. That’s one of the best things that can help a defense that’s trying to find its way.
What’s the ceiling for Tanner Morgan?
If he can replicate what he did last year, I think that would be a pretty strong statement for him. We had them in two of their not probably best moments. We had them when they had their hands full with South Dakota State, who is a very good FCS team. We had them after Penn State where they lost at Iowa. He looked terrific against Penn State and terrific in a bunch of other games as well. It’s not going to be like what LSU did with Joe Burrow last year, and I think reality is as long as Justin Fields is there, you’re always going to get overshadowed if you’re a Minnesota quarterback at this point. Can he make the strides he did from 2018 to 2019 and then do that again? That’s a tall order, but I think he’s come so far. He’s just got to keep getting better and better.
Is Rashod Bateman a top 10 pick?
If he runs a great time in Indy, that would certainly help his cause. He’s got good size, he’s got really good ball skills, he makes plays. I still think right now JaMarr Chse, after what he did last year, is the clear top receiver coming out. I think right now he has a chance to be a top 10 pick, but if he runs a 4.35 with that size, he’s going to tempt a lot of people because his film is good too and he really has some terrific ball skills.
Should Gophers fans be worried about P.J. Fleck leaving?
I think he is somebody who likes the spotlight and is somebody who has a presence to him. Paul Chryst is a different personality, Kirk Ferentz is a different personality, whereas P.J., you see a little bit of swagger to him. I think people tend to associate that with someone looking to be upwardly mobile and wonder if somebody is going to try to pull that way from us? I don’t think anybody expected him to stay at Western Michigan for 20 years. I think that’s the expectation, I think people assume whether it’s Matt Campbell at Iowa State, Minnesota is not Ohio State or Michigan in terms of its profile in football. I think people always assume that person, it’s not like they played there or grew up there, that they’re going to stay there. Take P.J. Fleck for his word, he seems to be nothing but bought in to establishing something.
What’s the national perception of the Gophers program?
That it’s a good program and that they’ve developed talent and done a really good job here. I think the question has been can you sustain it? You can be really good one year and then you’re OK and then pretty good and then really good. The question is can you be one of those programs, whether it’s Ohio State or Georgia or Alabama where they’re competing as a top-five team every year and they just kind of plug in new guys? Right now, it’s hard to say that Minnesota is at that point.
You had a book released Tuesday, “Flip the Script” – What’s it about?
I did a book 13 years ago called “Meat Market” and it did really well. People always ask me are you going to do a sequel to that? The main character in “Meat Market” was Ed Orgeron, back when he was at Ole Miss. He failed as a head coach there, there’s no other way around it. He had to learn and really ask some hard questions of himself and make some real interesting maneuvers. He was basically Lane Kiffin’s right hand man at Tennessee and USC, so not only did Orgeron learn from his own mistakes, but he learned from Lane Kiffin’s mistakes at USC and Tennessee and even learned from Les Miles’ mistakes. He’s had to continually evolve. I would make the case that there is no coach anywhere in football, college or pro, who has experienced the highest of highs as he has, but also the depths of the lows. We’re talking about a guy who is now 20 years sober, but not that long ago at one point was an assistant on Jimmy Johnson’s staff at Miami. Everything is going great, and all of a sudden he just cannot handle alcoholism. It becomes a life-changing issue for him and because of that, he’s had to learn a lot more about himself. I think a lot of times those folks are willing to address those things. It’s a fascinating story just to see the ride he’s been on. I think there’s a lot of life lessons in it.