P.J. Fleck's Gophers dominate after bye weeks, but mostly against bad teams
· Yahoo Sports
P.J. Fleck’s Minnesota teams are creatures of habit.
On the good side, they’re usually disciplined and play hard. On the bad side, the Gophers are experts when it comes to destroying momentum with disheartening losses: Boise State (2021), Iowa (2025), Northwestern (2023), Wisconsin (2019), and Purdue (2026).
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Another Fleck tendency is winning after the bye week. Lo and behold, the Gophers are on bye week before hosting No. 17 Iowa on Oct. 24. In the past nine years, Minnesota is 6-3 after the bye under Fleck, including six wins in the last seven years.
- 2017: 31-24 home LOSS to Maryland
- 2018: 48-31 home LOSS to Iowa
- 2019: 38-31 road WIN over Purdue
- 2019: 31-26 home WIN over No. 4 Penn State
- 2021: 30-23 home WIN over Nebraska
- 2022: 26-14 road LOSS to Illinois
- 2023: 12-10 road WIN over No. 24 Iowa
- 2024: 48-23 home WIN over Maryland
- 2025: 31-28 home WIN over Rutgers
The win over fourth-ranked Penn State during the 11-win season in 2019 is probably Fleck’s most memorable with the Gophers, as it came against a Penn State team that entered the game undefeated.
The 2023 win in Iowa City comes with an asterisk because of the controversial fair catch ruling that took Cooper DeJean’s game-winning punt-return touchdown off the board.
What about the other post-bye wins? Are any of them impressive?
- 2019 Purdue: Nope, the Boilermakers were a 4-8 team
- 2021 Nebraska: Nope, the Cornhuskers went 3-9, with 1 Big Ten win
- 2024 Maryland: Nope, the Terrapins went 4-8, including 1-8 in the Big Ten
- 2025 Rutgers: Nope, the Scarlet Knights went 5-7, including 2-7 in the Big Ten
How about that 2022 post-bye loss at Illinois? That Illini team was good. Like, good-good.
They had three NFLers on offense: quarterback Tommy DeVito, running back Chase Brown, and wide receiver Pat Bryant. They finished 8-5 and almost beat Michigan in the Big House, which was quite a statement considering those J.J. McCarthy-led Wolverines went 13-1, with their only loss in the national semifinals against TCU.
The bottom line here is that Fleck’s Gophers have been pretty darn good after the bye in the past, but four of the six wins were against mediocre competition. Iowa this year is a step up in competition, and it’s a game Minnesota needs as they begin a six-game gauntlet to finish the season.
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This story was originally published by Bring Me The Sports on Oct 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the MN Gophers section. Add Bring Me The Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.