Adam Rittenberg: MN/IN don't deserve any real praise until they beat somebody

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Rittenberg's ESPN Mailbag:

Misplaced Gopher from Fargo, N.D., writes: Adam, I need you to explain something to me. Why are so many writers and TV talking heads willing to project improvement for Indiana but not for Minnesota? Why the reluctance to credit the Gophers for improvements in personnel, execution and wins? All summer we've heard encouraging words about Indiana, but Minnesota's future has been downplayed. Now I'm looking at your Week 2 picks (both yours and Brian's) and you're both making their game against NMSU a close affair. Why is it so easy for you to see Indiana getting better, but so hard to perceive any improvement on Minnesota's part? Case in point: Indiana gets gushing praise from all quarters for blowing out a bad FCS team last week, but Minnesota gets criticism or faint praise for a four-touchdown win against a team that took them to triple OT last year. Personally, I think it's a lack of imagination. Not in the dreamy la-la-land sense, but in terms of vision. You commentators have a lot to keep track of, and your job is easier if you can generalize. So you embrace a herd mentality, rarely expressing an opinion different from the consensus, assuming (for the sake of ease) that bad teams have to stay bad, and considering it a surprise if any down program ever improves.What do you think?

Adam Rittenberg: A Minnesota-Indiana hype debate?!?! Bring it on! Seriously, Gopher, I'm surprised you're getting upset by this. Is Indiana really getting that much more praise than Minnesota? Maybe a little, but look where Indiana is coming from (1-11 in 2011), while Minnesota has stabilized under coach Jerry Kill following the Tim Brewster mess. Both programs are viewed as being on the rise, at least by the Big Ten blog. But the truth is neither team deserves a ton of praise for beating lowly UNLV and Indiana State.

The Minnesota score was misleading, as the Gophers sputtered on offense for much of the night and couldn't stop UNLV on fourth downs. Credit Minnesota for making big plays, especially on special teams, and Ra'Shede Hageman looks ready for a huge senior season. But you're deluding yourself if you think there isn't a lot of room for improvement. Indiana looked great on offense, but it should against Indiana State. And the Hoosiers' historically poor defense still allowed some garbage-time points. Do our Minnesota-NM State predictions really bother you? They shouldn't. Neither of these teams deserves any real praise until they go out and beat somebody. For Minnesota, the big game comes on Sept. 21 against San Jose State and standout quarterback David Fales. We'll learn a lot more about the Gophers' trajectory after that contest.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/83159/big-ten-friday-mailblog-153

Go Gophers!!
 

I honestly think it's because Indiana is the flashier team. They put up a lot of points and that's more fun to watch for most college football fans. They're also getting higher rated players in recruiting. Minnesota won more games last year, we'll see who has more at the end of the season this year. I like our chances, I'm not sold on Indiana like some seem to be.
 

But you're deluding yourself if you think there isn't a lot of room for improvement.
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I don't recall anyone saying the Gophers didn't have a lot of room for improvement.
 

Rittenberg & Bennett definitely gush over IU much more than any other team on the same level.
 



Asinine logic. Using that reasoning, almost none of the Big Ten schools deserve praise because almost all played powder puffs last week. This is a Bennett-quality response. You're better than this, Rittenberg.

As to the meat of the question, Indiana scores a lot of points, while Minnesota doesn't, and Kevin Wilson has a flashy pedigree, while Kill doesn't. Also, we'll probably lose to them this year (only because it's on the road), so their stupid opinions will be "validated".
 

This is bulletin board material. I'm glad I don't read his trash anymore. He still has much to learn about this program.
 

Hardly anything to get worked up bout. Let the season play out and then we'll know who does or does not deserve praise.
 




Rittenberg ignored the question that was asked ("Why does Indiana get more praise than Minnesota?") and instead answered a question that wasn't raised ("Why aren't you hyping the Gophers?"). He's usually better than this. Disappointing.
 

meh, not sure what the big deal is. He is right about all kinds of room for improvement and the misleading score. If we start worrying about Indiana getting more praise for a win against lowly Indiana State than our win over lowly UNLV, we are definitely in a sad, sad place.
 

The response is fair. They are paid to state an opinion. In his response, it sounds like he feels the two teams are about on the same level, and both have a lot yet to prove.
 

That's just embarrassing by this Gopher fan. Indiana was last 3-5 in the Big Ten in 2007. Since that time, they have went : 1-7,1-7,1-7, 0-8, 2-6. Kevin Wilson getting 2 wins in his second season was somewhat significant given the circumstances. By contrast, the Gophers went 2-6 the year before Kill took over and have been 2-6 in both of Kill's seasons. It is certainly easier to see the improvement at Indiana, they are coming from a lower place.

Like goldy93 stated, if this is what we are worried about, we are definitely in a sad, sad place.
 




It's a total package view of both programs. Indiana has really improved recruiting which has drawn more coverage to the program. Last season they won a pair of games with their top QB out most of the year. Now they return a team with more talent and more chances to win in a weak division.

If the Gophers want to get more positive pub they need to win games over weak opponents by dominating them in the traditional sense of the word. Run over them and use the strength of the team. Last week the Gophers scored way to many fluke type TD's.
 




I am fine with people being skeptical until we win conference games. They are right about that.
 

He said nothing wrong at all... fans are too sensitive...
 



I still don't think we have earned any big hype yet. I think we are going the right direction under Kill. Two years ago, we were 3-9 in what was a pretty embarrassing season all around (not saying it was Kill's fault, but we didn't look good). Last year, we won 6 games against pretty unimpressive opponents (4 weak out of conference games and 2 games against B1G teams who failed to qualify for bowl games). It was a step in the right direction, because we showed that we could take care of business against the teams we should take care of business against. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that we won't get any real respect until we beat one of the big boys. We several opportunities to turn some heads with wins against ranked opponents this year, I'd love to see us capitalize.
 


thailleagle said:
Syracuse was a solid win for us last year...
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It was solid, and I'm not trying to diminish the win. I just don't think they are the kind of head turning win that a win over Michigan, Nebraska, or Wisconsin would be. Syracuse was not ranked, and was 7-5 regular season with a reasonable but not spectacular schedule. One of the benefits of being in the B1G is that we have four currently ranked teams on our schedule. If we win one of those games, we still won't be the belle of the ball just yet, but we'll get some some looks.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
It was solid, and I'm not trying to diminish the win. I just don't think they are the kind of head turning win that a win over Michigan, Nebraska, or Wisconsin would be. Syracuse was not ranked, and was 7-5 regular season with a reasonable but not spectacular schedule. One of the benefits of being in the B1G is that we have four currently ranked teams on our schedule. If we win one of those games, we still won't be the belle of the ball just yet, but we'll get some some looks.
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I can't really argue that & you're right we didn't have any impressive wins on paper but the team was much improved over the previous last year... just hoping we can make a similar improvement this Season despite our Record...
 


Ski U Master said:
If you don't understand the point he was making give back your degree.
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LOL - I would love to give him the third degree for writing that. The problem is not that we didn't understanding it. The problem was his poor writing. I think most people just thought it was humorous and therefore made their comments in jest.
 

thailleagle said:
I can't really argue that & you're right we didn't have any impressive wins on paper but the team was much improved over the previous last year... just hoping we can make a similar improvement this Season despite our Record...
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The program will get respect when the program starts beating MORE Conference Teams. Wins against MSU, Northwestern, Nebraska, iowa, Michigan, PSU, the Ohio State, wisky could be considered "signature" wins for Coach Kill and his team and this program. The MORE wins against this level of teams the better. Coach Kill will HAVE to start winning these kinds of games and then he will get to close out the season with a bowl game appearance where there may be the opportunity to beat a year in and year out "household name-brand-recognition" Big Twelve, SEC, PAC-10...12...14 type team.
That's really about the only way to get it done. Win MORE than 2 Conference games in a year...and make them be against the mid-level to upper echelon "well-respected" Conference type teams... You can't join the club until you can beat the other teams in the club.

Then and only then will you folks be able to expect some "respect" from the media and any other of the people some of you feel disrespect our Gophers so much. Now THAT would get the job done...it is FAR better to AVERAGE 2.5 or 2.75 Conference wins a year, or more than it is to average 2.0 Conference games per season or less. THAT is what these media-types notice...the wins against OTHER Conference teams vs. the losses vs. other Conference teams. And there must be invitations to bowl games MOST seasons...

: 0 )
 

Navy 14, Indiana 0 with 5 minutes left in the 1st quarter. Navy with 122 rushing yards already. I know Navy runs the triple option so it may not be a fair comparison, but this is why I think Indiana is a good matchup for us. They struggle stopping the run.
 

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