College football's biggest potential shockers in 2021 (Minnesota upsets Ohio State in Week 1)

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Taji34

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Minnesota upsets Ohio State in Week 1​

"Let me kick you this scenario. It's week two, and Oregon is playing Ohio State, well that's not what we're going to talk about. I think everyone's attention is on Week 2, but a lot of you said excuse me, this is not the NFL, this is not a preseason game when Ohio State goes up to Minnesota on that Thursday night in Week 1, like they're actually going to count that in the Big Ten standings. What if Minnesota just outright beats the Buckeyes? Thursday night in Week 1, what if it were to happen?


"Now here's the way it probably happens. It would have a lot to do with probably an undervaluation of Minnesota's roster because they return pretty much everyone and they got gutted by COVID last year. So you have a lot of experience returning combined with an undervalued roster because a lot of it didn't get to see meaningful playing time last year. You also on the Ohio State side of things all likelihood have C.J. Stroud making not only his first start but it's a road start."
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247sports.com

College football's biggest potential shockers in 2021

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247sports.com 247sports.com
 

I guarantee this game makes the Ohio State coaching staff really nervous. There is zero doubt that Ohio State is the more talented team but there are a number of factors working in our favor and if things break right an upset is a very real possibility.
 





Nax5 said:
My only fear is the team starts slow typically. Takes a bit for them to hit their stride. They're gunna have to dig deep for the first game of the season.
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I worry about that every year .... and now have to vs. Ohio St... :O
 


watertown 1987 guy n said:
Not falling for this one! Gophers play a competitive game - That is all I am hoping for.
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Nothing wrong with hoping for a win. Expecting a win is setting yourself up for disappointment given who the opponent is but hope is a good thing :).

The exciting part is that we are not at a point where it would take a miracle to beat them. We will have to play really well but there are plenty of scenarios where if we take care of business we can pull off the upset.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I worry about that every year .... and now have to vs. Ohio St... :O
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I always wondered if the slow starts were due to "lack of focus" for perceived inferior early non-conference opponents. If so, that would be a non factor here.
 



Nax5 said:
My only fear is the team starts slow typically. Takes a bit for them to hit their stride. They're gunna have to dig deep for the first game of the season.
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We currently have the longest non conference winning streak in the country and those games mostly come at the beginning of the season.
 


Certainly, I want a competitive game.

The thing is, if you lose a game by a score of....oh....40-14, then there is no doubt about which team was better.

on the other hand, if you lose a game by.....let's say....34-31, then you can drive yourself crazy thinking of all the ways the game could have turned out differently.

So in that sense, a one-sided loss is easier to deal with than a close loss. the close losses are the ones that you obsess about. the one-sided games get thrown in the mental trash heap and forgotten.
 

Some guy said:
We currently have the longest non conference winning streak in the country and those games mostly come at the beginning of the season.
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And we barely survived a lot of those. 2019 Gophers for example. Had Week 8 Gophers been playing, they probably would have crushed those teams.

OSU doesn't count as non conference, right? So we can still keep the streak alive in case we lose.
 




short ornery norwegian said:
Certainly, I want a competitive game.

The thing is, if you lose a game by a score of....oh....40-14, then there is no doubt about which team was better.

on the other hand, if you lose a game by.....let's say....34-31, then you can drive yourself crazy thinking of all the ways the game could have turned out differently.

So in that sense, a one-sided loss is easier to deal with than a close loss. the close losses are the ones that you obsess about. the one-sided games get thrown in the mental trash heap and forgotten.
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Get what you are saying but it is also a matter of how you choose to look at it and it also depends on what your goals for the season are.

If your goal for the season is just to be ok then yeah a blow out loss to a team like Ohio State is easy to shake off because of who they are.

But if your goal is to compete with the best and try to win a championship....you are going to be far more crushed by a blowout loss than you would be by a competitive loss to one of the best teams in the country.

A competitive game with a team like Ohio State, even if the end result is a loss, tells you that you are not far away from being able to compete with the best and a break or two your way probably flips the final score. For a team that wants to win a championship that should fire them up even more to get back to work, figure out where they can improve, and get better so that when the rematch comes in the Big Ten Championship game they are ready to go out and win it.
 






I like the blitz a lot idea - assuming enough success to justify, let’s set the tone. Their speed is going to suck at times, hopefully we can limit the 20+ yards gains.
 



At this stage of the college football season with many teams in the BIG eschewing munching on cup cakes and actually playing worthy opponents anything can happen.
This is the part of the season when money can be made.
For the MN/tOSU game it is experience vs potential.
 



I predict the Buckeyes play three QBs throughout the game.
 

I say go for it right off the get go.

Onside kick if OSU ends up receiving. Go for the 1 on 1 coverage stop and go and deep throw to our fastest receiver. Or throw some trick plays at their inexperienced D and hope someone screws up. Like others have said put the pressure on the OSU QB. You get the drift.

I hope Fleck doesn't try to go conservative and toe to toe right away. Keep OSU off balance and take some chances.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Certainly, I want a competitive game.

The thing is, if you lose a game by a score of....oh....40-14, then there is no doubt about which team was better.

on the other hand, if you lose a game by.....let's say....34-31, then you can drive yourself crazy thinking of all the ways the game could have turned out differently.

So in that sense, a one-sided loss is easier to deal with than a close loss. the close losses are the ones that you obsess about. the one-sided games get thrown in the mental trash heap and forgotten.
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If we lose this particular game, I’d prefer it to be excruciatingly close … and then have tOSU go undefeated … until we meet them again in Indy!
 


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