Analysis: Gophers have their mantra for the rest of the football season

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Among the mantras that coach P.J. Fleck uses as a guide for his Gophers football team, one focuses on how he wants players to approach a game.

“Start fast, accelerate in the middle and finish strong,’’ Fleck often says about a philosophy that can apply to both a game and an entire season.

Saturday at SHI Stadium, that mantra was put to the test in a 26-19 loss to Rutgers, a defeat that ended the Gophers’ four-game winning streak and left them with a 6-4 overall record and 4-3 mark in the Big Ten entering this week’s bye. Instead of sitting alone in fifth place in the conference — not a bad place for this program to be, considering the Big Ten’s top four likely will be in the College Football Playoff — the Gophers are tied with Iowa for fifth and are a half-game ahead of Illinois and Wisconsin.

Did the Gophers start strong? Somewhat. They stopped Rutgers on downs on the Scarlet Knights’ opening possession and took a 6-0 lead on Darius Taylor’s 18-yard run on their first possession. Rutgers responded with a 75-yard TD drive before Dragan Kesich gave the Gophers a 9-7 lead with a 51-yard field goal on the final play of the first quarter.

Did Minnesota accelerate in the middle? Not really. Rutgers grabbed a 14-9 lead on another 75-yard drive 5:06 into the second quarter. The Scarlet Knights were marching to add to the lead before Ethan Robinson’s end-zone interception of an Athan Kaliakmanis pass ended the threat. Though the Gophers scored on the opening possession of the third quarter for a 16-14 lead, they couldn’t add to their advantage.

Did the Gophers finish strong? Quite the opposite. After three consecutive Minnesota possessions resulted in punts, Fleck gathered his team before taking the ball with 9:01 left in the fourth quarter, and “I just said, ‘Hey, you know this is the time. This is going to be the drive. We get the ball back. We put a big drive together. Whatever’s happened, happened. It’s over’ ”

Rutgers had other thoughts.

Tyreem Powell separated Gophers tight end Jameson Geers from the ball, and Shaquan Loyal recovered at the Minnesota 12. Three plays later, Rutgers had the lead for good, 21-16 on Kaliakmanis’ 4-yard TD pass to Ian Strong. Three plays after that, Jordan Walker sacked Max Brosmer in the end zone for a safety to make it 23-16.

“We did not play Gopher football and winning Gopher football like we have over the last however many weeks,” Fleck said.

Fleck’s “finish strong” portion of the mantra will be tested again after the Gophers return from their second bye week. Fourth-ranked Penn State visits Huntington Bank Stadium on Nov. 23, and the Gophers finish the regular season at archrival Wisconsin on Friday, Nov. 29.

The last two games have meaning. First, the Gophers are playing for bowl positioning. A 2-0 finish with an upset of Penn State, and maybe they get back in the mix for one of two Florida bowls, the Citrus in Orlando and Reliaquest in Tampa. Go 1-1, and Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte and the Music City Bowl in Nashville are possibilities. An 0-2 finish for a 6-6 record could drop them to the Rate Bowl in Phoenix, the Pinstripe Bowl in New York and even, again, to Detroit for the GameAbove Sports Bowl.

What’s more important than the bowl destination is finishing strong to show that the program is improving, and a 6-6 record does little of that. The four-game win streak, highlighted by the field-storming triumph over then-No. 11 USC and the victory at then-No. 24 Illinois, re-energized the fan base and drew some casual fans to the table. Saturday’s loss to Rutgers was a splash of mud on a previously shiny fender.

The Gophers can buff that right out, though, if they follow the mantra.

Finish strong.