A loss sure effect the optimism here in GH

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wait!what?

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Prior to the MI loss we had posters here determining how MN could win the Legends division. Cmon gang, if MN beat IL I am counting on the optimistic posts to return and discuss how 8-4 is possible. I think 8-4 gets MN a good bowl.
 

When it comes to Gopher football, I've always been an optimist. But that optimism is grounded in reality, so any 'winning the Legends division' talk won't come from me (at least this year). I've said 6-6 would be a good season, and I stick to that. We have a very good chance to get bowl eligible this Saturday, and any wins after that would be gravy. I like our chances against MSU at home too, but one step at a time.

How's that for optimism?
 

wait!what? said:
Prior to the MI loss we had posters here determining how MN could win the Legends division. Cmon gang, if MN beat IL I am counting on the optimistic posts to return and discuss how 8-4 is possible. I think 8-4 gets MN a good bowl.
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Count me as an optimist, I'm just pacing myself. Although the score may not have been an accurate indication, I felt this years and last years Michigan game was completely different. We were in this last game, we had a chance. We never had a chance last year. I saw progress whether the score showed it or not. If we get a bowl game this year I'll be stoked, but its not needed for me to feel like our team is making progress. Now next year, I expect there to be a difference in the W/L column. Doesn't have to be huge, but progress. Bottom line, I like this teams trajectory. We are going up baby, so all the bandwagoners better hop on now while there's still space!!! Ski-U-Mah
 

I guessed we would win anywhere between 3-5 games this year. So basically i came into the season with no expectations. Sometimes I have been pleasantly surprised and on the flip side I have wondered what else kill and staff could do to handicap the team. Regardless I'm going to continue the "no expectations" attitude, its been a lot more fun
 

The only thing that has been odd is how people have gone from expecting a win against Illinois to talking like it might be difficult to get the victory. Early in the year basically everyone had the game at Illinois circled as a win, now you hear some people talk and it is like we will be lucky to get out of there with the W. Look at the media predictions, this is a game the Gophers should win and fairly convincingly. Coaches need to get the team ready to play and the players need to hit the field knowing they are the better team and not give Illinois any hope of pulling the upset.
 


MNVCGUY said:
The only thing that has been odd is how people have gone from expecting a win against Illinois to talking like it might be difficult to get the victory. Early in the year basically everyone had the game at Illinois circled as a win, now you hear some people talk and it is like we will be lucky to get out of there with the W. Look at the media predictions, this is a game the Gophers should win and fairly convincingly. Coaches need to get the team ready to play and the players need to hit the field knowing they are the better team and not give Illinois any hope of pulling the upset.
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I think you are missing the point. I've posted about concerns going into Illinois. While I think that the Gophers will win, IMHO it is not a gimme. The players still need to show up and take it to them. Not let the Illini hang around. For where the program is now, any road win could have challenges.

With that said, I think the team comes out inspired and takes it to them.
 

Please cite the thread about winning the Legends division. Yoy are right though that the board is bi-polar.
 

Nothing personal, but this board is extremely bi-polar. After a victory, (almost) everyone is amped up and predicting great things for the program. After a loss, (almost) everyone acts like the Gophs will never win another game - ever!

To paraphrase Denny Green, the Gophers are who we thought they were: a young team with potential, but prone to mistakes and inconsistency. Yes, I believe the overall talent level is improved, and I can see reasons for optimism - but this program still has a long way to go to be considered a consistent contender. For this year, and probably next year, too, if they can manage to win 6 or 7 games, and qualify for a bowl game, that's about all I could possible expect.

As far as Illinois is concerned - on paper, this is a game the Gophs probably should win, but the injuries to the WR corps makes me very nervous. IMHO, the Gophs must establish the run game, and stay with it, to win the game. On defense, I really want to see the Gophs force a couple of turnovers.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Nothing personal, but this board is extremely bi-polar. After a victory, (almost) everyone is amped up and predicting great things for the program. After a loss, (almost) everyone acts like the Gophs will never win another game - ever!

To paraphrase Denny Green, the Gophers are who we thought they were: a young team with potential, but prone to mistakes and inconsistency. Yes, I believe the overall talent level is improved, and I can see reasons for optimism - but this program still has a long way to go to be considered a consistent contender. For this year, and probably next year, too, if they can manage to win 6 or 7 games, and qualify for a bowl game, that's about all I could possible expect.

As far as Illinois is concerned - on paper, this is a game the Gophs probably should win, but the injuries to the WR corps makes me very nervous. IMHO, the Gophs must establish the run game, and stay with it, to win the game. On defense, I really want to see the Gophs force a couple of turnovers.
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During the season, it is bi-polar, but greatly slanted toward negativity--which is the Minnesota Way. After the losses to Northwestern and Wisconsin, this board was lit up like a Christmas tree. After we beat Purdue, you could hardly find a new post...
 



MNVCGUY said:
The only thing that has been odd is how people have gone from expecting a win against Illinois to talking like it might be difficult to get the victory.
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It not only might be difficult to get the victory, it's almost a certainty that it will be difficult to get the victory. Have you been a Gopher fan long?
 

dpodoll68 said:
It not only might be difficult to get the victory, it's almost a certainty that it will be difficult to get the victory. Have you been a Gopher fan long?
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I've been a Gopher fan long enough to know they probably will figure out a way to make what should be a comfortable win uncomfortable. Still holding out hope though that the coaches will have the team ready to play when they take the field and that they will handle this very bad Illinois team the way everyone else is.

Illinois is a complete trawinwreck this year much like we were in 2007 when Brewster took over and to a lesser degree last year. This is one of those rare opportunities in the Big Ten where a team like ours should take the field as the road team with the belief that they will win the game if they play up to their abilities (poor play stupid penalties, turnovers will kill any team). We should win by at least a TD (don't care what the line is, look at their results this year) but no matter what, we need to come out of there with the W.
 

dpodoll68 said:
It not only might be difficult to get the victory, it's almost a certainty that it will be difficult to get the victory. Have you been a Gopher fan long?
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When was the last road game period that this team came out and walked away from an opponent, even the ones they "should"? The last game we won by double digits was NU back in '09, but that one was one of those late scores to put it away type. Then going further, I think we shut down Purdue pretty good in '08. It's not like our road history instills ultimate confidence. I do think they will win this game, but as you said, I do think it will be a battle, especially with our current health situation. I would love to be pleasantly surprised by a rare road easy win, but history says that's just not gonna happen.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Still holding out hope though that the coaches will have the team ready to play when they take the field and that they will handle this very bad Illinois team the way everyone else is.
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4 of Illinois's losses in conference have come against Penn St, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio St. Minnesota is not in the class of those 4 teams. Minnesota may win but I don't see them handling Illinois like some of the others have.
 



Monty519 said:
When was the last road game period that this team came out and walked away from an opponent, even the ones they "should"? The last game we won by double digits was NU back in '09, but that one was one of those late scores to put it away type. Then going further, I think we shut down Purdue pretty good in '08. It's not like our road history instills ultimate confidence. I do think they will win this game, but as you said, I do think it will be a battle, especially with our current health situation. I would love to be pleasantly surprised by a rare road easy win, but history says that's just not gonna happen.
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Sing it.
 

scools12 said:
4 of Illinois's losses in conference have come against Penn St, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio St. Minnesota is not in the class of those 4 teams. Minnesota may win but I don't see them handling Illinois like some of the others have.
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What you put there is totally true. Of course you also left out that their 5th loss was at home to Indiana by 14 points. We are not in the same class as Michigan that beat them by 45, or Ohio State that beat them by 30. You are correct that even Penn State right now is still better than us and beat them by 28. Wisconsin while certainly not a great team is also better than us and beat them by 17, but Indiana? Well it sure seems like we should be in the same ballpark as them so yeah expecting us to go win by 30 might be a stretch but expecting us to go win and somewhat comfortably should not be that much of a reach. I mean really this is a bad team in Illinois, are we a great team, of course not but we are better than these guys right now and should go in there expecting to come out with a victory unless we play like total dog crap.
 

Tough to win on the road. Period. Some just don't seem to get a grip on that, regardless of the opponent.

The only upside is, it seems like THIS Illinois team has been an equal opportunity one; they've sucked almost as much at home as they have on the road.
 

MNVCGUY said:
What you put there is totally true. Of course you also left out that their 5th loss was at home to Indiana by 14 points. We are not in the same class as Michigan that beat them by 45, or Ohio State that beat them by 30. You are correct that even Penn State right now is still better than us and beat them by 28. Wisconsin while certainly not a great team is also better than us and beat them by 17, but Indiana? Well it sure seems like we should be in the same ballpark as them so yeah expecting us to go win by 30 might be a stretch but expecting us to go win and somewhat comfortably should not be that much of a reach. I mean really this is a bad team in Illinois, are we a great team, of course not but we are better than these guys right now and should go in there expecting to come out with a victory unless we play like total dog crap.
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the final margin of victory might be misleading as Illinois had 9 more first downs than Indiana, only gave up 292 total yards and held Indiana to 1 out of 13 on 3rd down. Illinois did allow 7 sacks and commit 8 penalities.

The game probably closer than the score as I would think the game with Minnesota and Illinois will be closer than might be expected.
 

scools12 said:
the final margin of victory might be misleading as Illinois had 9 more first downs than Indiana, only gave up 292 total yards and held Indiana to 1 out of 13 on 3rd down. Illinois did allow 7 sacks and commit 8 penalities.

The game probably closer than the score as I would think the game with Minnesota and Illinois will be closer than might be expected.
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All the cautionary points being made by people are valid. Winning is tough on the road, we are a young team....etc...etc...etc....

My point is that if we are to believe that Jerry Kill and his staff can cut it in the Big Ten then this is the kind of game they have the team ready to go win. Is this a make or break game for the future of the program, of course not but this is one of those games that we SHOULD win. Big Ten victories are tough enough to come by when you have a great opportunity like the one we are going to have on Saturday to go play the worst team in the conference we have to win games like that.

We are not good enough to go play poorly or flat and expect to beat them but if the coaches put together a good game plan based on the formula that everyone else on Illinois schedule has used to date and the players execute the game plan then we should beat these guys. Our defense has been pretty solid outside of some breakdowns in run defense and their offense has been terrible (statistically at or near the bottom in every category). Our offense has struggled but has been successful against poor defenses and Illinois fits firmly in that category.

I get the whole defeatest mentality that makes up Gopher fans and Minnesota fans in general. I am just as guilty as everyone else but I am going to be very disappointed if we don't win this game on Saturday because there really is no way to look at Illinois this year and say they should beat us other than the built in well it is on the road excuse and you can't expect to win conference games on the road.
 

I'm going in up to the elbows on this: MN beats IL in a walk over and sends a large number of gopher fans into Jan 1 bowl forecasting. prepare for sh1tstorm regardless of outcome of IL game.
 

MNVCGUY said:
What you put there is totally true. Of course you also left out that their 5th loss was at home to Indiana by 14 points. We are not in the same class as Michigan that beat them by 45, or Ohio State that beat them by 30. You are correct that even Penn State right now is still better than us and beat them by 28. Wisconsin while certainly not a great team is also better than us and beat them by 17, but Indiana? Well it sure seems like we should be in the same ballpark as them so yeah expecting us to go win by 30 might be a stretch but expecting us to go win and somewhat comfortably should not be that much of a reach. I mean really this is a bad team in Illinois, are we a great team, of course not but we are better than these guys right now and should go in there expecting to come out with a victory unless we play like total dog crap.
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You mean the same Indiana team that just beat Iowa. An Iowa team that had no trouble with the gophers. This is far from a guaranteed win this weekend.
 

One of the reasons playing on the road is difficult is crowd noise/environment. The crowd noise/environment will be a non-factor Saturday as apathy has set in with the Illini fan base. The Gophers will win by 10+.
 

I believe a win Saturday clears the bar of making the season a success with three games to improve on it. We would:
- double the win total from a year ago
- match the B10 win total with two to play
- qualify for a bowl game (maybe a pretty good one)
- reduce points against by a third
- become a much more seasoned team bringing back about 18 starters and returning depth at most positions
 

badgergopher said:
I believe a win Saturday clears the bar of making the season a success with three games to improve on it. We would:
- double the win total from a year ago
- match the B10 win total with two to play
- qualify for a bowl game (maybe a pretty good one)
- reduce points against by a third
- become a much more seasoned team bringing back about 18 starters and returning depth at most positions
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My minimum requirement for considering this season a success was at a minimum equaling last seasons Big Ten win total so I agree a win tomorrow would make this a successful season in my mind.
 

MNVCGUY said:
My minimum requirement for considering this season a success was at a minimum equaling last seasons Big Ten win total so I agree a win tomorrow would make this a successful season in my mind.
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Agreed. A win tomorrow gives the season an unequivical thumbs up from me.
 

I'm a realistic optimist and I wasn't expecting miracles this season, but it's been a tough and/or hectic month for the program with the North Carolina decision, the decision to play Nelson, and the disappointing losses to Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Michigan (not that we should have won those games, but could have beaten Northwestern with a better effort and our lack of experience and athleticism showed up against Wisconsin and Michigan). Beat Illinois and get to a low-tier bowl game and things will feel a bit better, but the Wisconsin and Michigan games made me feel that the road is going to be a little bit longer for us. But I've been a fan for over 50 years, so what's a little more waiting to me?
 

GopherGod said:
You mean the same Indiana team that just beat Iowa. An Iowa team that had no trouble with the gophers. This is far from a guaranteed win this weekend.
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Four weeks ago. We're a little better team right now and Iowa is a lot worse.

Iowa won't even be playing in a bowl game, folks. They may beat Purdue, but they aren't beating Michigan and Nebraska.

The B1G is only going to send 6 teams to a bowl game, and after tomorrow, we're one of them. Guaranteed.
 

We are only favored by 3 guys. Illinois still has some athletic kids and they are going to bring their best game. I am excited for the game and I think we should win, but I don't think it will be easy.
 

nokomismod said:
We are only favored by 3 guys. Illinois still has some athletic kids and they are going to bring their best game. I am excited for the game and I think we should win, but I don't think it will be easy.
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Agree. Anyone thinking an easy Gopher win is coming hasn't been paying attention the last four years. Not that it couldn't happen, but 'on the road' is a scary place for our team. I also agree with MNVCGUy: Win and the season can be considered a success overall.
 

highwayman said:
Four weeks ago. We're a little better team right now and Iowa is a lot worse.
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Since they played each other both teams are 1-3 with Minnesota being outscored by 39 and Iowa by 35. Yes, what a huge difference.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
As far as Illinois is concerned - on paper, this is a game the Gophs probably should win, but the injuries to the WR corps makes me very nervous. IMHO, the Gophs must establish the run game, and stay with it, to win the game. On defense, I really want to see the Gophs force a couple of turnovers.
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I think you make an extremely valid point about the WR corps. If they were healthy, i'd probably be quite confident of a victory here. However, I just don't know who Nelson is going to throw to and i'm not sure that our ground game can keep drives going long enough to put points on the board. Hopefully Gray or Raabe can step up and have a huge game.
 

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