Adam Rittenberg: MN hasn't turned the corner, MN reminds him of NW prior to bowl wins

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Go Gophers!!
 

Agree 100%
Gophers beat 2 teams over .500 all year.

One was a 7-6 Iowa team who doesn't have a win against a team over .500 all year.
 

LOL. Even if we have won we have not turned the corner. Turning the corner is winning the division and winning the Big Ten. I am sure coach Kill would agree.
 


I think Minnesota has taken the spot of Iowa in the Big Ten. A dangerous team who can't quite challenge for a B1G title. Ferentz and Iowa were consistenly a 7-9 win team as long as I can remember but are rarely a serious contender. Not saying Minnesota won't continue to get better but I think that's where we're at now.
 


MN4LYFE said:
I think Minnesota has taken the spot of Iowa in the Big Ten. A dangerous team who can't quite challenge for a B1G title. Ferentz and Iowa were consistenly a 7-9 win team as long as I can remember but are rarely a serious contender. Not saying Minnesota won't continue to get better but I think that's where we're at now.
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If MN with Kill gets to Ferentz's numbers they will build a statue of him here. 68-60 B10 record and two ties for conference championships, 2 Orange Bowls, 4 Outback Bowls, and a Capitol One bowl...
 

gopherbadgerman said:
If MN with Kill gets to Ferentz's numbers they will build a statue of him here. 68-60 B10 record and two ties for conference championships, 2 Orange Bowls, 4 Outback Bowls, and a Capitol One bowl...
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The way some view Kill around here they already believe a statue should be built and change the name to Jerry Kill Field at TCF Bank Stadium.
 


This team in on the verge of being the clear second to WI in the division. Having MICH and OSU on the schedule next year will not help though.
 



MN4LYFE said:
I think Minnesota has taken the spot of Iowa in the Big Ten. A dangerous team who can't quite challenge for a B1G title. Ferentz and Iowa were consistenly a 7-9 win team as long as I can remember but are rarely a serious contender. Not saying Minnesota won't continue to get better but I think that's where we're at now.
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That's my impression as well. Everyone we play knows they've been in a game, but we still don't have all that much pizzazz at the skilled positions. M. Williams is great and Cobb is very good, but that's about it right now. Curious to see how R. Williams, Edwards, and Jones fare next season. Still, there's room for growth and while we haven't turned the corner, at least the corner is in sight.

I don't like dogging on anyone, but I've always thought Northwestern was doing it with smoke and mirrors.
 


We were 5-3.

That's one win north of .500.

That's good for us.

Perspective.
 





I consider "turning the corner" to mean approximately the same as "having arrived."

I've coached athletes in state competitions, and never felt my program had "arrived" until we did it with an entirely different roster.

In my opinion, it's the consistency over a period of years that determines whether a program has "turned the corner."
 

50PoundHead said:
That's my impression as well. Everyone we play knows they've been in a game, but we still don't have all that much pizzazz at the skilled positions. M. Williams is great and Cobb is very good, but that's about it right now. Curious to see how R. Williams, Edwards, and Jones fare next season. Still, there's room for growth and while we haven't turned the corner, at least the corner is in sight.

I don't like dogging on anyone, but I've always thought Northwestern was doing it with smoke and mirrors.
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To be fair, they did win or share 3 big ten chamionships from 1995 to 2000. They have had a pretty poor bowl game record though...
 

MaxyJR1 said:
This team in on the verge of being the clear second to WI in the division. Having MICH and OSU on the schedule next year will not help though.
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So were already overrating scUM for next year. That's a new record. Theyll still be the same **** team just with a new ****** on the sidelines
 

I tend to disagree. The bowl game doesn't mean anything to me as far as "turning the corner." It would have been a huge coup, as far as recruiting and national exposure.....but this team has turned a corner. Relative to 2010, this team has fully gone around the racetrack.

I still feel that the Gophers could have, if not should have, won that game. They are a few stupid mistakes (mental, not a talent issue) from the national media talking about how this program has arrived, and how they just beat an SEC division champ (one of the most overrated things to ever be rated, I think that became clear this bowl season).

If that onside kick had bounced the Gophers way, and totally changed the complexion of that game, possibly leading to a Gopher TD and maybe a Gopher win, would the program have "turned a corner?" That may be how thin the line is.

If Kill would have been more aggressive going into halftime, and someone broke a touchdown (or at the very least, kicked a FG), negating Mizzou's momentum, completely changing the complexion of the game, and possibly leading to a Gopher win, would the program have "turned a corner?"

Would he be saying the saying the same thing if they Gophers had been selected to the Holiday bowl and beaten USC? That's a very real possibility. Would he then view them as "turned the corner," even though it would be the exact same team? If BBC hadn't stripped that ball and Nebraska (a very good team, and ranked at the time) won the game in the regular season, the Gophers get selected to the Music City Bowl and beat Tennessee, did the team "turn a corner?"

I think it says a lot more that they were selected to a Jan 1 bowl, and showed that they belong. I'll take that over some rinky dink bowl win any day.

Also, saying they only beat a couple teams over .500 (or whatever was commented above).....How about the losses?: A team that got snubbed for the playoffs, and could be the number 1 team to open 2015 (TCU). Lost to the possible national champ, that just beat Alabama, by a slim margin (Ohio State). Lost to another Jan 1 bowl participant, and perennial B1G power (Wisconsin). Finally, in the posteason, on Jan 1, lost to the runner up of the SEC. Not to mention, they were in all of those games will realistic chances to win, with the exception of TCU. Pretty impressive.
 


Studwell55 said:
We were 5-3.

That's one win north of .500.

That's good for us.

Perspective.
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True - but Northwestern, Purdue and Nebraska could have gone either way - and we ended up 30th in rushing but 121st in passing yards nationally. The offense isn't there quite yet.
 

I think we are a much better team and will be next year. QB is a must position to have and we don't have the right guy that can bring us to the next level. We could have the best offensive weapons but if we have a crap QB it will show. With what we have I think we will again be in competition for our division title. We have a lot of good things going, and people want to get mad at the bowl loss but you go back and look at the yearly prediction and most people didn't even think we would be where were at. Even Meyer thought his team as a year away, sometimes it happens sooner and maybe truly our team is a year away.
 

If you could press a button and we'd finish 5-3 every year forever and ever....would you press it?

I would.
 

Dean S said:
The "ifs" never happened.
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I wasn't claiming that the "ifs" happened. But, thanks for that.

Just illustrating how how thin the line is between "turned the corner," and "not turned the corner," in the eyes of the national media.
 

GopherSteak said:
If we win 8 games every year I'll be ok with that.
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Coach Mason is that you? Way to shoot for the stars. If 8 is the average that would be different-- throw in a 6 win season with a 10 win one then that's different. Going 8-5 every year would not cut it
 

TheBulldog said:
If BBC hadn't stripped that ball and Nebraska (a very good team, and ranked at the time) won the game in the regular season, the Gophers get selected to the Music City Bowl and beat Tennessee, did the team "turn a corner?".
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I've seen this comment a number of times since the NE game. While it was a great play by BBC to seal the game, it was 99% certain we would have won had BBC not made a play. If you recall, the receiver had gone out of bounds on his own and came back into play to make that catch. The flag had been thrown and the penalty correctly called. That "touchdown" without BBC's play would have been negated and NE would have had likely one last play from approx the 35 yard line.
 

gopherfield said:
I've seen this comment a number of times since the NE game. While it was a great play by BBC to seal the game, it was 99% certain we would have won had BBC not made a play. If you recall, the receiver had gone out of bounds on his own and came back into play to make that catch. The flag had been thrown and the penalty correctly called. That "touchdown" without BBC's play would have been negated and NE would have had likely one last play from approx the 35 yard line.
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Spot on. Not sure why everyone (mostly media) keeps saying that BBC stripping the ball 'saved' a TD by NEB. The play would have been called back regardless of BBC stripping it or not due to Pierson-El going out of bounds on his own and coming back in and touch in the football first.
 



TheBulldog said:
I wasn't claiming that the "ifs" happened. But, thanks for that.

Just illustrating how how thin the line is between "turned the corner," and "not turned the corner," in the eyes of the national media.
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I already understood that. Thanks for following up. We haven't turned the corner and I would say we are close. It is deja vu all over again. We are more competitive but not championship caliber yet. Next year, we will hopefully be better. I am not certain that we have the horses to do it yet. We need some better athletes that won't take 4 years to mature. We need a few more Richardson type players that can develop over time to be even better.
 


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