Beneficial or Damaging?

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This question is intended to the whole of the program. Was playing USC and to a lessor extent Cal last year benefiticial or harmful to the progression of this program?

I'm sure many answers will be directed at the preservation/demise of the current coaching staff, but that is not the intend of the question
 

This game did nothing to benefit the progam or damage it. The damage was last week. Everyone knew we would lose this game. The only way it would have benefited was had we won.
 

The Cal game last year slightly hurt our program, mainly because of the injuries we sustained. But we were playing a great, exciting game and let one guy beat us. There had to be a letdown after that game.

The USC game definitely helps our program. They didn't blow us out, and if our special teams didn't make some costly mistakes, the game would have been closer, and maybe a chance to win. We had some highly rated recruits in for the game, and they saw a respectable game by the Gophers.
 

I would say it depends upon the context. For instance, when Brewster scheduled those games, he said something to the effect that he intended to improve the program by scheduling tougher non-conference opponents. That was, of course, at that particular time.

Now, having played those two games, I can't say the effect has been positive. However, I can't say it's been negative either. Neither game was really all that close. In both cases, the team was soundly defeated, so if you hold to Brewster's whole shtick about getting better by playing better teams, then I guess you might be able to call it damaging.

But that's the kind of program we've had for years; one that wasn't ready to play teams such as Cal and USC. That's why I don't really think of those losses as particularly damaging, but rather neutral because in actuality, we were never really ready to face and seriously challenge that kind of competition from the get go regardless of what Brewster said.

NDSU and South Dakota on the other hand? Well, you already know the answer....
 

Happy they were scheduled and look forward to more of them. What is the point of going 6-6 every beating 4 brutal teams and a couple of B10 bottom feeders. I 100% love scheduling USC, North Carolina, etc...
 


Even with the loss, the SC game is beneficial to us. I live in SoCal, and the local ESPN station, which is the "home of the Trojans" as a part of the pre-game talked at length about the U of M. The pre-game guys (which started approx 4 hrs before kick-off) talked about the 1960 team, how beautiful TCF is and the urban feel of the campus. Obviously they didn't have very many good things to say about the Gopher FB team, but they did mention that we have been effective running the ball.
That sort of coverage is invaluable when trying to recruit in SoCal. The U isn't going to beat SC or UCLA or even Oregon for a recruit down here, but it certainly gives the program some exposure.
Finally from a fan standpoint, I would rather watch a loss to SC than blowing out some random MAC team.
 

Finally from a fan standpoint, I would rather watch a loss to SC than blowing out some random MAC team.
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Right and Im sure it will be fun watching 7 other B10 schools play in a bowl this winter.
 

gopherweirdo said:
Right and Im sure it will be fun watching 7 other B10 schools play in a bowl this winter.
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Listen going back to the Insight Bowl/Music City type bowl game isn't exciting anyone. I think when Mase was where scheduling patsies and going to many bowl games was the thing to do. However once it become obvious that the Gophs were kind of gaming the system going to bowl games at 2-6 in the Big Ten, the value of those bowl games were pretty questionable anyway.

IMO playing a MAC type team is far more damaging for where the fan base wants right now. Blowing out a MAC team does nothing, but losing to one is another chance to pick on the team. By playing a BCS team, maybe we surprise one over the next few years? Of course, if we go winless against BCS OOC teams for the next few years (completely possible), it might be time to go back to play Murray State, Buffalo, Toledo and FAU.
 

gopherweirdo said:
Right and Im sure it will be fun watching 7 other B10 schools play in a bowl this winter.
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The SD loss really screwed up the plan this year. If they go 3-1 in the non-conference and 3-5 in the Big 10, they go to a bowl game. And until the 9 game conference schedule starts, it is still a recipe for success. So one loss to a big time non-conference opponent should not hurt our chances if we are indeed good enough to go to a bowl game.
 



I'm hoping with this tremendous effort we can steal a few more recruits from Western Kentucy and Yale...
 

even though im pretty sure everyone (besides the kool aid drinkers) thought we would get smoked by USC, im still glad the administration scheduled them. just watching USC playing the goophs was still pretty cool in my mind. i kept thinking about all the Rose Bowls and National Title games that they have been apart of in the last decade (albeit cheating, but honestly who cares).
 

Stealing shamelessly

This mirrorred my thoughts when I posted the question.


MRJ said:
I would say it depends upon the context. For instance, when Brewster scheduled those games, he said something to the effect that he intended to improve the program by scheduling tougher non-conference opponents. That was, of course, at that particular time.

Now, having played those two games, I can't say the effect has been positive. However, I can't say it's been negative either. Neither game was really all that close. In both cases, the team was soundly defeated, so if you hold to Brewster's whole shtick about getting better by playing better teams, then I guess you might be able to call it damaging.

But that's the kind of program we've had for years; one that wasn't ready to play teams such as Cal and USC. That's why I don't really think of those losses as particularly damaging, but rather neutral because in actuality, we were never really ready to face and seriously challenge that kind of competition from the get go regardless of what Brewster said.

NDSU and South Dakota on the other hand? Well, you already know the answer....
Click to expand...
 

WAGopher said:
The SD loss really screwed up the plan this year. If they go 3-1 in the non-conference and 3-5 in the Big 10, they go to a bowl game. And until the 9 game conference schedule starts, it is still a recipe for success. So one loss to a big time non-conference opponent should not hurt our chances if we are indeed good enough to go to a bowl game.
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It's sad that is what passes for success.
 




As a season-ticket holder, I'll take the scheduling of high-caliber teams in a landslide over the non-conference tomato cans of of previous years.
Without a doubt, TCF Bank Stadium had an electricity today that felt like REAL college football. It felt like we were on the national map.
 

CP Gopher said:
As a season-ticket holder, I'll take the scheduling of high-caliber teams in a landslide over the non-conference tomato cans of of previous years.
Without a doubt, TCF Bank Stadium had an electricity today that felt like REAL college football. It felt like we were on the national map.
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i agree. may dad and i were saying how it actually felt strange having such an iconic non-conference team in the building. we're so used to seeing cupcakes roll through, it was a good feeling.
 


Cal was slightly good, but what kept in from being great was that Cal didn't end up having as good a year as it looked like they were.

USC was all good. We played with them competitively. After getting beat by USD that actually probably is a good thing. But mostly it puts us on the big stage in a nationaly televised game. The announcers were kind and actually said good things about many of the players and the facilities. I think it was a giant win for recruiting. Of course nothing stands alone, so we'll need to back it up by actually winning a few games. But if we can't, USC won't be the reason for the demise of the program. At worst it's just a wasted opportunity.
 

No doubt about it this game helped. We were outmanned, but the game was way more enjoyable than most gopher games I've been to. Face it, everyone, except for a few Masonites, want to play these games: coaches, players, fans. We don't have to play a powerhouse every week, but at least two of our non conference opponents should be from the power conferences and and then two from among the non-aq schools.
 

If the goal is to do just enough to limp into a lower-level bowl game every year and keep hovering somewhere in the lower half of the Big Ten, then by all means keep scheduled SE Louisiana School for the Blind and as many other cupcake teams as possible.

If the goal is to some day improve the program, then it's imperative that we schedule stronger non-conference competition. We didn't beat Cal last year or USC this year, but we showed up and didn't embarrass ourselves. It gives us more national exposure and, someday, it'll hopefully make the difference in getting where we want to be: bowling in January.
 

USC was similiar to some of the Big Ten competition. Some of the weaknesses were exposed and they know what to work on for the Big Ten season. Greatly beneficial and it was competitive. If all you care about are the win loss result and are not a fan so much of football then there was no benefit. I really enjoyed the game. The gophers make that sack in the fourth quarter they might have had a chance, they really are jinxed.

The game plan was interesting, I didn't know they hired Mason back to call the plays. On a more serious side, great game, I'll watch that anyday.
 

I would define these games on "up side" and "down side". There's little to no "down side" to playing Cal and USC. If they beat us, it's no surprise. If we win, it's a lot of good press.

Games like NDSU, SDSU, and USD, on the other hand have nothing but down side. It would be impossible to impress anyone regardless of the score.
 

Of all the mistakes that have been made with Gopher football during the last 40 years one of the worst was to stop playing the annual game against Nebraska. It was a signal to everyone that the Gophers could no longer compete against top ranked teams. A soft non-conference schedule is an unspoken message to recruits that the Gophers are a second rate team.
 

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