10-2 vs 2-10

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SJUgopher

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This season was the epitome of the hypothetical that gets tossed around - would you rather be 2-10 and beat Iowa and Wisconsin or 10-2 and lose to both?

So, we had the 10-2 year...what’d you think? Would you trade those 10 wins in for 2?
 

SJUgopher said:
This season was the epitome of the hypothetical that gets tossed around - would you rather be 2-10 and beat Iowa and Wisconsin or 10-2 and lose to both?

So, we had the 10-2 year...what’d you think? Would you trade those 10 wins in for 2?
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Absolutely not. 10-2 vs 9-3? I'd consider that (especially when, as is the case this year, the 9-3 with wins over Iowa and Wisconsin would have us in Indy).
 

This talker drives me crazy. I heard a caller on Sunday Sermons say that he’d rather go 2-10 and beat Iowa and Wisconsin than 10-2 and lose to both. I’d like to give him the benefit as a prisoner of the moment, because that is such a silly prideful thought.

This has been one of the most fun seasons of football to follow, right up there with the Minneapolis Miracle season for the Vikings. It’d be a shame to miss out on it because of a state border.
 


10 win seasons are rare. Look at Alvarez, in his career he only had 4 - 10 win seasons and Fleck is one year ahead of him in this Gopher turn around. I will take a 10 win season any time, the loss to WI will teach the team a valuable lesson.
 



Don’t forget the axe! said:
This talker drives me crazy. I heard a caller on Sunday Sermons say that he’d rather go 2-10 and beat Iowa and Wisconsin than 10-2 and lose to both. I’d like to give him the benefit as a prisoner of the moment, because that is such a silly prideful thought.

This has been one of the most fun seasons of football to follow, right up there with the Minneapolis Miracle season for the Vikings. It’d be a shame to miss out on it because of a state border.
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This. I don't blame the OP for asking the question because I've seen it posted at least once on this board, but it's a ridiculous proposition.

As someone said in another thread, if you sat through those miserable couple years where MN won 2 or 3 games but beat Iowa, you'd probably agree it's much better to enjoy an entire season of joy as opposed to one weekend.
 


I get the hypothetical and agree that 9-3 id consider. But to give up 8 wins? No freaking way.

10 wins is a lot. Helps in every facet of the program to win games. Not just two rivalry games
 



Don’t forget the axe! said:
This talker drives me crazy. I heard a caller on Sunday Sermons say that he’d rather go 2-10 and beat Iowa and Wisconsin than 10-2 and lose to both. I’d like to give him the benefit as a prisoner of the moment, because that is such a silly prideful thought.

This has been one of the most fun seasons of football to follow, right up there with the Minneapolis Miracle season for the Vikings. It’d be a shame to miss out on it because of a state border.
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Saw it posted a few times in here after the game as well but you would hope after coming down off the ledge those people would realize just how foolish that thought is.

It sucks to lose to Iowa and Wisconsin....on every level.....but there is no way I would trade a 10 win season and suffer through 2.5 months worth of losing football just to get wins over our top rivals.

The loses to Iowa and Wisconsin this year take a little bit of shine off the season but anyone not thrilled with going 10-2, 7-2 in the regular season is nuts.
 

This one is easy. 10-2 helps recruiting. Being ranked helps recruiting. Big Bowl games helps recruiting. Beating Iowa and Sconnie on the way to 2-10 isn't noticed by much of anyone.
 

SJUgopher said:
I have heard may times, you won’t remember what the record was but whether we beat Wisconsin and Iowa.


That was before a 10 win season was ever really realistic, but was just curious if anyone would trade it.
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No problem, it's a sort of interesting topic of discussion.
 

This was debated in multiple threads after Fleck got hired. More than a few posters said they would take middling (or even losing) records if they included consistently beating WI and IA, and consider the hire successful.

To each their own, I guess.
 




Beating Iowa and Wisconsin are nice but total wins is how I measure the success of a season. One win against either of them may be worth more than one win against Purdue or Maryland or SDSU but it is not more valuable than two wins against any two teams.

Total wins trumps who you beat.
 

Sparlimb said:
This one is easy. 10-2 helps recruiting. Being ranked helps recruiting. Big Bowl games helps recruiting. Beating Iowa and Sconnie on the way to 2-10 isn't noticed by much of anyone.
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And to recruits in the south unfamiliar to the rivalry, beating Iowa and Wisconsin really only matters in that those are two good programs that are usually ranked.

If we beat Nebraska or PSU when they are ranked #10 in the country, it's going to be just as impressive to them as it would if beat Iowa or Wisconsin when they are #10.
 

Who ever said they would rather be 2-10 with the wins coming over Wi and Ia either is on heavy psychotic drugs or should be on them. Lets analyze this...2-10 would mean:
1. No bowl game
2. Losses to Rutgers, SDSU, GaSo., PU, NW, Ill, Neb.
3.Complaining and whinning every week that PJFleck is nothing more than a snake-oil salesman ala Brewster 2.0.

Can you imagine how potential 3*, 4*, and 5*recruits would feel about joining a team like this????
Fine , we would have 2 trophies in our case but IMHO, the program would be seriouly setback for years and the coaching carousel would continue.
 


I can't imagine the actual thought process of rather going 2-10, or as a Vikings fan 2-14 but with 2 wins over the Packers, etc.

Those type of feel good moments only apply when your team is so bad that they actually only win 2 games and those are the games...in that scenario you can look back at "well at least we beat our rivals." In no way do you substitute a winning season on that.

Again, anyone who has that mentality doesn't understand how sports work.
 

A better question might be would you take 8-4 with wins over Iowa and Wisconsin or 10-2 with those being the only two losses.

Assume your conference record is 7-2 in both scenarios.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
A better question might be would you take 8-4 with wins over Iowa and Wisconsin or 10-2 with those being the only two losses.

Assume your conference record is 7-2 in both scenarios.
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Definitely a tougher question. Especially with the 7-2 conference record kicker in there. I would still take 10-2 though. As much as it would suck to lose to Iowa and Wisconsin, 10-2 gets you more National attention, has you in the CFP hunt, and ranked up in the top 15.

8-4 has you at the very bottom of the top 25 or more then likely on the outside looking in. Trophy games are fun and important but I want the team to finish with the best possible record every year even if that means losing some rivalry games to get there.
 


We did go 2-2 in trophy games this season, albeit the ones we REALLY wanted eluded us. That's why we play them next year.
 

I heard that caller to the Barreiro show opine about rather having a 2-10 season. Pardon the vulgarity, but that was the dumbest effing thing I heard all weekend. Idiotic. Guy must have been hung over.
 

Panthadad2 said:
I heard that caller to the Barreiro show opine about rather having a 2-10 season. Pardon the vulgarity, but that was the dumbest effing thing I heard all weekend. Idiotic. Guy must have been hung over.
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Would certainly be the kind of comment that would do very well in Common Man's preposterous statement contest. Of course the reality is that same fan saying they would be happy with 2-10 if the wins were over Wisc and Iowa would be at the front of the line demanding the coach be fired for the teams crappy record.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Definitely a tougher question. Especially with the 7-2 conference record kicker in there. I would still take 10-2 though. As much as it would suck to lose to Iowa and Wisconsin, 10-2 gets you more National attention, has you in the CFP hunt, and ranked up in the top 15.

8-4 has you at the very bottom of the top 25 or more then likely on the outside looking in. Trophy games are fun and important but I want the team to finish with the best possible record every year even if that means losing some rivalry games to get there.
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8-4 also means Gophs would lose a non-con game...if not P5, then that also works against them. Would you trade losing to a GA Southern, or South Dakota State but beating IA or Wisconsin?
 

Side note to OP: Congrats Johnnies. With Erdmann, anything is possible!
 

PMWinSTP said:
8-4 also means Gophs would lose a non-con game...if not P5, then that also works against them. Would you trade losing to a GA Southern, or South Dakota State but beating IA or Wisconsin?
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Nope you take 10-2 every single time...i'd rather be 10-2 every season, ranked top 10-15, have college gameday, be the biggest story on KFAN for the whole week, talked about in college football shows, etc. and lose every game against Wisconsin and iowa forever...stinging losses no doubt but 10-2 seasons make you a helmet school.
 

tmvander said:
Nope you take 10-2 every single time...i'd rather be 10-2 every season, ranked top 10-15, have college gameday, be the biggest story on KFAN for the whole week, talked about in college football shows, etc. and lose every game against Wisconsin and iowa forever...stinging losses no doubt but 10-2 seasons make you a helmet school.
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I'm in the same boat, no pun intended, for the most part. 8-4 is a nice season but it means Gophs lost a non-con, and most likely lost the rival games. In an 8-4 season where Gophs do beat both IA and WI, it means they also most likely lost to a couple B1G teams they should have beaten.
 
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I will make a halfhearted argument for 2-10. If we played WI and IA at home in the 2-10 season, it would be priceless watching their dejected fanbases walking out of The Bank after a loss to our horrible unranked team. The pleasure of the moment would not take away from the sting of the reality that we were a horrible 10 loss team that season. 10-2 every time has to be my vote.
 

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