Gophers need strong Quick Lane Bowl; P.J. Fleck says no time for half-measures vs. Bowling Green

P.J. Fleck, as Gophers followers well know, will utter a slogan every now and again.

That's the case with the Quick Lane Bowl on Tuesday in Detroit, where the Gophers will face Bowling Green and which Fleck calls the 2023.5 season.

"Whatever happened in 2023 is done and over with. You either got rewarded for your performance or you were not," Fleck explained during a Dec. 7 news conference. "2024 is still a few weeks away. … We've learned from 2023."

Did they ever — the hard way.

The Gophers, who won 11, nine and nine games in the three most recent full seasons entering 2023, finished the regular season with a 5-7 record and four consecutive losses. They did not win the six games needed to achieve bowl eligibility but are playing in the Quick Lane Bowl for the third time since 2015 because their Academic Progress Rate score is the best among the five-win teams, and one of those teams was needed to fill the 82nd and final bowl spot.

The glass-half-empty crowd might say Fleck is using the 2023.5 slogan as a way to distance himself from the 5-7 record. The glass-half-full crowd might say it's just a way to turn the page.

Either way, the Gophers team that will take to Ford Field on Tuesday will look much different than the one that closed the regular season with a 28-14 loss to Wisconsin.

Gone is quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis, who started all 12 games, struggled with consistency and entered the transfer portal three days after the season ended. In his place, but for only one game, is fifth-year senior Cole Kramer, who was all set to enter the business world and concentrate on his upcoming wedding until Fleck, who had no experienced quarterbacks remaining, persuaded him to stay for one more game.

Wide receiver Daniel Jackson sees Kramer as ready for the upgraded role.

"Cole was a little bit like Tanner's younger brother," Jackson said, referring to former Gophers QB Tanner Morgan. "He would always treat things like a professional. … He's been showing progress. He's putting passes on the money, and he's really playing like he's been the starter."

Also gone is defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, the guru who engineered national top 10 total defense finishes in 2019, 2021 and 2022. Rossi, whose defense was hamstrung by key injuries this season, took the Michigan State defensive coordinator job on Dec. 10. Fleck said a replacement likely won't be named until early January but hasn't revealed who will work as interim defensive coordinator for the bowl game.

Linebacker Cody Lindenberg was sad to see Rossi leave for another program, but he is confident the Gophers will be fine on Tuesday.

"Whether or not it was going to be coach Rossi or somebody else calling it, an 'A' gap is an 'A' gap, a 'B' gap is a 'B' gap," Lindenberg said. "We're going to fit our gaps. We're going to be in the right spots, and then we've got to make the play once we get there. It's just different voices that are going to be thrown out there. It's a players' game, and we've got to go out there and execute."

While the Gophers like to break down each game into a one-week season, the result against Bowling Green will put a final stamp on 2023. A win would get them to 6-7 and with the knowledge that two previous Minnesota teams used a Quick Lane Bowl win as a springboard into the next season.

Tracy Claeys' 2015 team — which also was 5-7 and got into a bowl on a high APR score — beat Central Michigan 21-14 in Detroit, and his 2016 squad posted a 9-4 mark. Fleck's 2018 team beat Georgia Tech 34-10 to finish 7-6 and went 11-2 the following season.

For Jackson, a senior who is returning next season, Tuesday brings an opportunity for the Gophers to paint a better finish than they did in their four-game November slide.

"Every game, of course, you want to win, but you especially want to get this one for the seniors," he said. "We didn't win the [Paul Bunyan's] Axe game, but we have one more opportunity. We're going to go out there and make sure the seniors go out with the 'dub.' "