BTN: 2016 football schedule analysis: Minnesota (Must Win: Iowa)

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per BTN:

Best chance to pull an upset: at Penn State, Oct. 1.

It wouldn’t be a shock to see Minnesota waltz into Beaver Stadium and shock Penn State. The Nittany Lions are still a work in progress in Year Three under James Franklin. There is a new offense and quarterback, as well as a new defensive coordinator. And a new o-line coach in former Gopher OC and offensive line coach Matt Limegrover. The Gophers could be riding high on a 3-0 start as they head to State College, Pennsylvania, for their first road game of the season coming off a home tilt vs. Colorado State. Penn State will be coming off a tough, physical game at Michigan.

Must win: vs. Iowa, Oct. 8.

If the Gophers want to contend in what looks like an open Big Ten West, they probably will need to win the battle for Floyd of Rosedale. The Hawkeyes have won three of the last four meetings, but the Gophers won the last time Iowa came to Dinkytown in 2014. The week before, Minnesota plays at Penn State, so the Gophers may be a bit worn down.

http://btn.com/2016/05/16/2016-football-schedule-analysis-minnesota-golden-gophers/

Go Gophers!!
 


BleedGopher said:
per BTN:

Best chance to pull an upset: at Penn State, Oct. 1.

It wouldn’t be a shock to see Minnesota waltz into Beaver Stadium and shock Penn State. The Nittany Lions are still a work in progress in Year Three under James Franklin. There is a new offense and quarterback, as well as a new defensive coordinator. And a new o-line coach in former Gopher OC and offensive line coach Matt Limegrover. The Gophers could be riding high on a 3-0 start as they head to State College, Pennsylvania, for their first road game of the season coming off a home tilt vs. Colorado State. Penn State will be coming off a tough, physical game at Michigan.

Must win: vs. Iowa, Oct. 8.

If the Gophers want to contend in what looks like an open Big Ten West, they probably will need to win the battle for Floyd of Rosedale. The Hawkeyes have won three of the last four meetings, but the Gophers won the last time Iowa came to Dinkytown in 2014. The week before, Minnesota plays at Penn State, so the Gophers may be a bit worn down.

http://btn.com/2016/05/16/2016-football-schedule-analysis-minnesota-golden-gophers/

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

"Upset"? "Shock"? I guess they didn't notice the two-touchdown beatdown two years ago that wasn't as close as the score would indicate.
 

dpodoll68 said:
"Upset"? "Shock"? I guess they didn't notice the two-touchdown beatdown two years ago that wasn't as close as the score would indicate.
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Penn State could be as irrelevant as they have been for ten more years and still get treated like the Penn State of old.
 

dpodoll68 said:
"Upset"? "Shock"? I guess they didn't notice the two-touchdown beatdown two years ago that wasn't as close as the score would indicate.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming Penn St. will be favored but "shock" is a little over the top.
 


GophersInIowa said:
I'm assuming Penn St. will be favored but "shock" is a little over the top.
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I agree. Depending on how things go in the games prior, they'll probably be favored somewhere between 6.5-9.5 points. What a "shock"ing "upset" it would be!
 

dpodoll68 said:
"Upset"? "Shock"? I guess they didn't notice the two-touchdown beat down two years ago that wasn't as close as the score would indicate.
Click to expand...

You mean the game that featured about 100 kids that are no longer on the rosters and both teams went scoreless in the second half? The game where Hackenberg fumbled with about 6:30 left on the 2 yard line that would have made it a 1 score game.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
You mean the game that featured about 100 kids that are no longer on the rosters and both teams went scoreless in the second half? The game where Hackenberg fumbled with about 6:30 left on the 2 yard line that would have made it a 1 score game.
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It is more pertinent to the conversation than the fact that Penn St. used to be really good and won a couple of national titles over 30 years ago.
 

3-4 @ Home (including the 1 point loss in OT - frustrating game)
2-4 @ Happy Valley (includes 1 point Victory and 1 point loss)

Only media having no sense of the series would be "shocked".
Personally, I believe they have to get at least a split out of PSU or Iowa.
0-2 disapponting
2-0 delighted
1-1 must
 



I see this as a meat grinder schedule. We have 5 Big Ten games on the road. We have 4 Big Ten games at home. Our Bye week comes at the beginning of the season on 17 September 2016, the week after the ISU Sycamores and the week before CSU Rams. Ideally, I would think we would want a Bye week deep into the Big Ten season, like 29 October 2016 when we play the Illini. We are going to play 10 straight games against D1 opponents (9 straight Big Ten games) and the injuries, they will mount, and we will not have a break to heal. Our schedule and our Bye week must have been designed by and / or vetted through Zygi and Mark Wilf. Three of the five Big Ten road games are in front of huge opposing crowds, PSU, Nebraska, and Wisconsin, all 80,000+ sell out venues. Regarding our 4 home Big Ten games, we only catch a break against Iowa vis-a-vis hostile crowds, the other 3, (75 percent of our home Big Ten games) we play teams who don't draw many more fans than we do at TCF Bank (Rutgers, Purdue, Northwestern). Amazing how we draw a Bye week after playing only two games, the second of which is a D1A team. So to those who say this is a favorable schedule, I say don't count your chickens before your eggs hatch.
 


Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
If they want any chance of playing for the BT Championship, they are all pretty much must wins.
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If we want to be sure of it yeah.

Having said that the West is so wonky it really could just be a mediocre fest and someone just falls into Indianapolis ... hard to know.
 





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