At the halfway point, what grade would you give this season?

At the halfway point, what grade would you give this season?

  • A

    Votes: 1 1.1%

  • B

    Votes: 33 36.7%

  • C

    Votes: 52 57.8%

  • D

    Votes: 4 4.4%
  • Total voters
    90
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We've won a road game, beat a few bad teams at home, had a solid win over a BCS team at home and have struggled to stay sharp in the B1G games so far. Adding all that up, at the halfway point, what grade would you give this season?
 

B-
Won the games we were susposed to. Lost to two bowl eligible teams who we were not. Defense gets an expectations weighted B+... Offense gets a generous C.
Special Teams net a unremarkable B-.
I see another year of stagnation on O in 2013 with our D becoming top 5 in BIG 10.
 

Certainly a B, and I think it would be an A if not for injuries. We NEED to get healthy, seriously dude. Overall though, on the up and up. Like the players we are developing and the philosophy on both sides of the ball. Good job Jerry and Co.
 

I think after the Northwestern game I put them at a B-. Just too many fundamental mistakes made.
 

If we had looked competitive in losing the Iowa and Northwestern games I would give them a B but with the way we played against Iowa in the first half on both sides of the ball and in the second on offense combined with all the mental errors and mistakes made during the Northwestern game I would put the season grade at a C.
 



I feel like right now it's like Mid terms in a class for the team. We have a B-, but could easily let it slip to a C- or even D if we bomb any more tests this semester.
 

MNVCGUY said:
If we had looked competitive in losing the Iowa and Northwestern games I would give them a B but with the way we played against Iowa in the first half on both sides of the ball and in the second on offense combined with all the mental errors and mistakes made during the Northwestern game I would put the season grade at a C.
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Agree.
 

5 fumbled snaps in one game halfway through season! I gave a "C". IMO anything above that is looking at the program in maroon/gold glasses.
 



HopherGole said:
I feel like right now it's like Mid terms in a class for the team. We have a B-, but could easily let it slip to a C- or even D if we bomb any more tests this semester.
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This is where I'm at as well. The Syracuse game is the only game in which I thought we looked really good. It was nice to see them beat up on New Hampshire given our problems with FCS teams over the past few years, but better athletes should dominate in a game like that.

The Northwestern game was the equivalent of a pop-quiz "F" to me. I had flashbacks to earlier eras of futility throughout that game and I hope it's an aberration. Hopefully we can bounce back and play solid football.
 

I say B/B-. We're on pace with my original expectations of 5 or 6 wins. Got super excited with the 4-0 start and started wondering if we were destined for more, but the last two games have reminded me that patience is the key.

I still say Illinois is a win with a possibility of Purdue. Plus, we could come up with a shocker elsewhere.
 

I give the Gophers a B. The Gophers were 1-5 at this point last year, now they are 4-2. The defense only gave up 24 points to Iowa (the offense gave up 7), and only gave up 21 to Northwestern. It's the offense that is sputtering: 10 points against 13 points in regulation against UNLV, 17 points against Syracuse, 13 against Iowa and 13 against Northwestern. The offense is getting yards, but drives are breaking down before there is a chance to score. Bad snaps are drive killers, if they can't count on a good snap, they may have to be under center more.

While the defense has generally played pretty well, against Northwestern, they seemed unready to go in on short notice right after a turnover. After the fumbled kick, they took only one play to score, and after the interception, it took only two plays.
 

I put B, I'd lean a low B-, close to a C+. Good strides, but still some core issues (run defense mainly), and we just need to get healthier if we want to improve on last year's 2-6 record, starting with Gray.
 



I'm at the C+/B- range for the season to date. We're seeing improvement, and the defense is ahead of the offense right now (expected), but we didn't take advantage of Northwestern last week and we should have.

Breakdown:
Offense = C- (injuries to OL and Gray have brought this grade down)
Defense = B+ (pass D solid, improved pass rush, but spotty run defense-especially up the middle)
Special Teams = C (kicking game has improved recently, but return teams making me nervous every time the ball comes back to us)
 

I would say B-, but for the poll reasons, I selected B. We have inceased our win total from the last two years and we look much better defensively, run defense not withstanding, in all the games we have played.

This team, I feel, has the ability to have AT LEAST two more B1G Ten wins and have a chance to win and be competitive every game. The last two losses are tough, but I'm confident we will rebound and eek out two more wins to get us to a bowl game!

Go Gophers!
 

How does B but fading fast sound?

I am afraid some of the supposed improvement is more based on the quality of teams we played rather than the quality of the Gopher play. The one place I see the clear improvement is the pass defense. After that its a wait and see with this team as we now get to the stronger opponents. The biggest negative I continue to see is the mistakes in the football basics. Snaps, penaltys at the worst possible times, the inability to make a big play happen when its really needed. A B for now can quickly turn to a C or D down the road. I said 6 wins is a must this season not a good start it must happen or this season is a D or F.
 

I give it a C for now.
The way I see it if we can win 1 B1G game we go to a B/B-, if we win two B+/A-, two with a rival or 3+ is an A. Winning 0 B1G games would be a D or F.
 

In relation to what was expected coming into the season, I give them a solid B; I've been saying since Spring Ball that this team is built for next year (and beyond). Just too much youth and lack of experience on the O-Line, and that hasn't changed.

Defense: A-/B+, has been far better than expected, considering the experience at various positions. The success of the defense likely has a lot to do with the relative lack of injuries. Defense has been relatively injury free.

Offense: B, has moved the ball with reasonable success, with both QB's, but can't seem to finish drives. The O-Line was young and inexperienced to start the season, and the injuries have only compounded the issues. With no real playmakers at WR, I wonder how much of an impact Harbison would have had?

Special Teams: complete F. Just an abysmal dumpster fire. No other way to put it, and it's been across the board. Besides the obvious of Wettstein missing FG's, they have LOST, massively LOST the field position battle in virtually every game. Too many long fields to tackle to come up with some points. Can't believe through 6 games they have not busted ONE single true kickoff return for any major momentum-shifting field position.

All in all, the defense is well ahead of what I expected coming into the season, the offense is about where I expected, and the ST have been as big of a disappointment as I could possibly imagine.
 

WolfontheProwl said:
How does B but fading fast sound?
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That's kind of where I am.

To carry the grading analogy a step further, the team is like that student who aces the first quiz or two (4-0 start but victory over Syracuse has lost a bit of its luster) but then starts missing an assignment or two (sloppy play, first half in Iowa) and you wonder if the student peaked in the first month of the semester or will come back and ace the final.

OK, maybe that's taking the analogy too far, but if they get blown out in the Wisconsin, Michigan and Nebraska games, it will make the season seem less successful. Also, while I think the Gophers will beat Illinois, no road game is a guarantee. And Illinois has to be looking at that game as its best chance to keep from going 0-for in the Big Ten this year.

Anyway, five wins is about what I expected this year, so that would be a B-/C+ for the season and six wins would put the season solidly in the B/B+ category for me--provided that the three toughest games are competitive/respectable.
 



Solid C but trending down, looks like it could be a D by the end of season. It's not the two losses, it's the way the team played like crap in first half against Iowa and the mistake-filled game against NW. Need two more wins to keep the C and be as average a team as you could possibly find in the whole of college football.
 

C-
Last year at this time half way through would have been a D- or an F and post midseason probably a C-. The overall state of the program taking into account recruiting, coaching, etc has to be a C- at best. To give the gophers a better grade they need to win a big ten game on the road (almost two years now) Wisc has won 8 in a row and last lost to MN in Madison in 1994. The gophers have played 10 true freshmen this year so far, so some questions there (or not).

In a nut shell for them to be better than a C- they would need to.......
a. Kill wins a big ten road game.
b. Land a significantly higher recruiting class
c. Lose the handcuffs. For example; 7 fumbles, 9 penalties, special teams in a single game (NW)
d. Not start the Big Ten 0-3 for the third straight season
e. Come into a game prepared for battle in the first half

I am curious as to those of you who are putting B's on the helmets of the gophers....were they not an F the last couple of years? What are you basing these on? If Kill wins his first road big ten game is the team an A suddenly? Isn’t some of what gopher fans are seeing are kids who have matured on the team that can beat the likes of UNLV. I mean what if NDSU was on the schedule again and they happened to lay a beatdown on the gophers again (50/50 chance) and the rest of the season this year was the same wouldn’t they then still be a D or an F. I predict you’ve seen the improvements you’re likely to see and next year is going to be worse based on what we know to date. Perhaps I just grade tough

This is just my opinion
 

MspHawk said:
C-

I am curious as to those of you who are putting B's on the helmets of the gophers....were they not an F the last couple of years? What are you basing these on? If Kill wins his first road big ten game is the team an A suddenly? Isn’t some of what gopher fans are seeing are kids who have matured on the team that can beat the likes of UNLV. I mean what if NDSU was on the schedule again and they happened to lay a beatdown on the gophers again (50/50 chance) and the rest of the season this year was the same wouldn’t they then still be a D or an F. I predict you’ve seen the improvements you’re likely to see and next year is going to be worse based on what we know to date. Perhaps I just grade tough

This is just my opinion
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People that are giving higher grades are doing so because they are measuring their satisfaction with improvement relative to what we've seen the last couple of years. I agree, if you are simply grading the team straight up in relation to other teams in the country they would deserve a lower grade. However, people are somewhat happy with what they've seen considering where the program was at, and hence the higher grades.
 

Ron Johnson Super Fan said:
People that are giving higher grades are doing so because they are measuring their satisfaction with improvement relative to what we've seen the last couple of years. I agree, if you are simply grading the team straight up in relation to other teams in the country they would deserve a lower grade. However, people are somewhat happy with what they've seen considering where the program was at, and hence the higher grades.
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Fair point. Thanks
 

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