College Football Bowl Projections for 2021-22 (Quick Lane Bowl: Minnesota vs Toledo)


The bottom has been set. Anything better is a plus for the season...:p

Still, I've watched the GT game highlights a few times, including this...


Also for the record, stayed in touch with GT fans since the game and they are pretty much Gophers fans across the board at that site. There is a guy who's wife is a Bucky grad...sometimes hard to stomach...but they are rebuilding a few years behind us and hope this year is their 2019 as was for us.

Meanwhile looking for 2021 to be...errr...2021 for us...with 2019 as the foreshadowing...
That reminds me, where is Talon? He was a shirt tail fellow fan.
 

I already bought 8 tickets near the 50 for the Las Vegas Bowl; PAC-12 vs B1G on December 30.

Fingers crossed!
 

I already bought 8 tickets near the 50 for the Las Vegas Bowl; PAC-12 vs B1G on December 30.

Fingers crossed!
I am thrilled we have that bowl tie-in now. If we don't make the higher bowls we are aiming for, a trip to Vegas in December would be a hell of a consolation prize.
 



I am thrilled we have that bowl tie-in now. If we don't make the higher bowls we are aiming for, a trip to Vegas in December would be a hell of a consolation prize.
I'm kinda bumned there's no Holiday bowl tie in ... granted with the stadium being torn down they're playing at a baseball park now .... but even so San Diego is a good location.
 

If we do something we haven’t done for decades, beat Iowa and Wisconsin in the same season, we won’t be bound for the Quick Lane Bowl. This is an experienced team that, as of now, has a chance to beat both Iowa and Wisconsin, but there are so many variables, including psychological ones. Fingers crossed.
This, a thousand times this.
 

If we do something we haven’t done for decades, beat Iowa and Wisconsin in the same season, we won’t be bound for the Quick Lane Bowl. This is an experienced team that, as of now, has a chance to beat both Iowa and Wisconsin, but there are so many variables, including psychological ones. Fingers crossed.
To be elite, this has to happen. No excuses about being young.
 

To be elite, this has to happen. No excuses about being young.
Good lord get a new bit. Not one single time has Fleck referred to this current version of the Gophers as young. He knows he has a super deep and experienced team and all his comments have been about that. Fleck is clearly very excited about this team and has very high expectations. The way he has talked about the 2021 season has been much different than any of the other seasons he has been here.

We get it, you don't like him, but stop trying to manufacture reasons not to like him that are not even there right now.
 




I'm not disputing any of those things, and I am optimistic myself, but a lot of fan bases could list out things they are optimistic about right now. Remember the pundits are looking at everyone, not just us.
Really? What could anyone say that's positive for either nebraska or illinois to not be bottom of the big ten this year? It surely wouldn't be the solid, concrete stuff we have. They might *hope* to have an offensive line or RB, we KNOW we have those.
 





From collegefootballnews.com

Guaranteed Rate Bowl​

Tuesday, December 28
FOX, 10:15 pm
Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ
Bowl Tie-Ins: Big Ten vs. Big 12
Preseason Bowl Projection: Minnesota vs. Texas Tech
 


I don't know why pundits aren't climbing on board the Gopher train. What am I missing here?

1. A fifth-year QB who was magical two years ago
2. An offensive line that is talented, has future pros on it, and might be the most experienced in the nation
3. A defense that can't possibly be worse than last year, and just might take big strides forward
4. A kicker - an actual kicker! - who was the best special teamer in the MAC last year
5. One of the best RBs in the nation
6. An actual full offseason of practice with our offensive coordinator

I'm jacked up about this season. This absolutely feels like a 10-2 year to me. Am I high? Drunk? Delusional?

As other posts indicated, the columnist's research on the Gophs probably comprised pulling a web page with 2020 standings and little more. 2021 is gonna be fun.
 

From collegefootballnews.com

Guaranteed Rate Bowl​

Tuesday, December 28
FOX, 10:15 pm
Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ
Bowl Tie-Ins: Big Ten vs. Big 12
Preseason Bowl Projection: Minnesota vs. Texas Tech
While I would hope the Gophers end the season higher up the bowl pecking order, it would be nice to avenge a couple of past bowl losses to the Red Raiders.
 

Would definitely attend any bowl game that isn’t in Detroit. And I like Detroit! Great food and breweries. But if I’m flying in December it better be mountains or beaches.

Oddly enough the Quick Lane Bowl is about the only one I can easily attend. I'm in the Detroit area for family Xmas most years so I have been to both of the Gopher visits to Ford Field.

Not aiming for the QLB, but if it comes down to fungible low end bowls I like that one, especially if they draw a P5 team.
 


Good lord get a new bit. Not one single time has Fleck referred to this current version of the Gophers as young. He knows he has a super deep and experienced team and all his comments have been about that. Fleck is clearly very excited about this team and has very high expectations. The way he has talked about the 2021 season has been much different than any of the other seasons he has been here.

We get it, you don't like him, but stop trying to manufacture reasons not to like him that are not even there right now.
Fleck was the one that started using excuses from the minute he arrived on campus. You remember the famous "Year Zero"?

There's plenty of talent for a 10 win season. Anything less will be a big miss.
 

Fleck was the one that started using excuses from the minute he arrived on campus. You remember the famous "Year Zero"?

There's plenty of talent for a 10 win season. Anything less will be a big miss.
The year zero stuff got blown so out of proportion by those looking for reasons to hate on Fleck. And yeah coaches downplay expectations all the time, Kill was a master of it, so was Mason. They especially do this early in their tenures. This is not a new concept in any sport anywhere. Very few coaches walk in the door saying they are going to win right away, all you do there is set yourself up for failure during the transition.

But Fleck isn't doing that this year....at all. He has been super positive about this team and is setting really high expectations for them internally. It is sad that a handful of fans can't see past their hatred of the coach to hear the fact that he is talking about this like a championship caliber team and one he fully expects to compete at an extremely high level this season.

You claim to be a Mason guy.....Mason was never as high on any team he had in his 10 years as Fleck is about this one.
 


A lot had to go right to get that 10-2 in 2019. The non-conf started out with three way closer games than anyone expected.

Games at Purdue and at NW were "easier" than would normally be expected. Purdue lost their QB and elite WR, and NW was just down that year with bad QB play.

We got the bottom two East teams in Maryland and @Rutgers, to go with now infamous Penn St home game.

Illinois is what it is and Nebraska has also been historically bad.


Obviously we went out and won all those games. No one is saying we backed into wins.


And that level of good fortune can of course happen this year. Just saying, the ball needs to bounce your way too, if you want a great year.

I would not consider an 8 or 9 win season a miss. The defense is a question mark, and sorry but Sanford's offensive scheme/play calling is a question mark for me.
 

Oddly enough the Quick Lane Bowl is about the only one I can easily attend. I'm in the Detroit area for family Xmas most years so I have been to both of the Gopher visits to Ford Field.

Not aiming for the QLB, but if it comes down to fungible low end bowls I like that one, especially if they draw a P5 team.
The quick lane bowl is a much better bowl when the ACC puts a team in
 

A lot had to go right to get that 10-2 in 2019. The non-conf started out with three way closer games than anyone expected.

Games at Purdue and at NW were "easier" than would normally be expected. Purdue lost their QB and elite WR, and NW was just down that year with bad QB play.

We got the bottom two East teams in Maryland and @Rutgers, to go with now infamous Penn St home game.

Illinois is what it is and Nebraska has also been historically bad.


Obviously we went out and won all those games. No one is saying we backed into wins.


And that level of good fortune can of course happen this year. Just saying, the ball needs to bounce your way too, if you want a great year.

I would not consider an 8 or 9 win season a miss. The defense is a question mark, and sorry but Sanford's offensive scheme/play calling is a question mark for me.
Yeah for team's like ours the margin between 7 and 10 wins can be very thin. I think we are looking at 2020 a lot differently if we pull out those OT games against Maryland and Wisconsin. Flip those and we are 5-2 rather than 3-4. And like you mentioned a few of those 2019 games could have turned the other way and we aren't looking back on that year so fondly.
 

Yeah for team's like ours the margin between 7 and 10 wins can be very thin. I think we are looking at 2020 a lot differently if we pull out those OT games against Maryland and Wisconsin. Flip those and we are 5-2 rather than 3-4. And like you mentioned a few of those 2019 games could have turned the other way and we aren't looking back on that year so fondly.
You point out, correctly, how close the 2019 campaign could have been 7-5 or even 6-6. Yet, we have several here who tout how Fleck is the best HC since Warmath. And they base that primarily on a 10-2 season.

Just emphasizes that many on this forum HOPE Fleck is the best HC since Murray.
 

Anyone remember a game at the metrodome vs Toledo that was absolutly bonkers and Glen won it on a wonky run play to our sideline that seemed to be a shit call ... and caught the opposing team trying to change personnel?
 




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