BTN's Dienhart: I think the Gophers could win the Big Ten West, 9-3 is possible

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per Dienhart's Q&A:

Looking at Minnesota’s schedule this year, I see five “probable wins” with home games against Oregon State, Indiana State, Colorado State, Rutgers and Purdue.
I see five games where the Gophers could win or pull of an upset: at Penn State, Maryland and Illinois and home games vs Iowa and Northwestern. I see two definite losses at Nebraska and Wisconsin. How do you see the schedule playing out? – Jeff

It will be a fun season in Dinkytown. In fact, I think the Golden Gophers could win the Big Ten West, as long as the offense gets better run-pass balance and a rebuilt secondary comes together quickly. It also will be key for senior QB Mitch Leidner to stay healthy. The schedule also is favorable.

Here is my breakdown of the Gopher slate.

Oregon State W
Indiana State W
Colorado State W
At Penn State L
Iowa L
At Maryland W
Rutgers W
At Illinois W
Purdue W
At Nebraska W
Northwestern W
At Wisconsin L

So, a 9-3 mark is possible. If that happens, the Gophers just may win the West. Maybe I am being a bit overzealous. Still, an 8-4 mark looks very possible. A 7-5 record would be a bit disappointing.

http://btn.com/2016/08/05/big-ten-mailbag-2016-win-totals-beathards-heisman-hopes-more/

Go Gophers!!
 



I would take this in a second - but it seems kind of odd/arbitrary to have us losing @ PSU and winning @ Neb. I think Neb is a much tougher matchup for us. Also - I agree the above scenario probably wouldn't get us to INDY. The badgers and Iowa would both have to have 4 conference losses, which seems unlikely (more so w/Iowa).
 

I'm sure this has been brought up before - but, if you're having separate divisions, then the division title should be decided by the record against divisional teams. In case of a tie, you could use the cross-divisional games as a tie-breaker. But, if you're deciding a division title, and a chance to play for the conference title, it should be based on common opponents. If - to use an example- IA goes 4-2 in the division and 3-0 in cross-division games, while the Gophs go 5-1 in the division, with a win over IA, but 1-2 in cross-division games, IA would win the West with a 7-2 conf mark - even though the Gophs had a better record within the division, and won the head-to-head game.
 





short ornery norwegian said:
I'm sure this has been brought up before - but, if you're having separate divisions, then the division title should be decided by the record against divisional teams. In case of a tie, you could use the cross-divisional games as a tie-breaker. But, if you're deciding a division title, and a chance to play for the conference title, it should be based on common opponents. If - to use an example- IA goes 4-2 in the division and 3-0 in cross-division games, while the Gophs go 5-1 in the division, with a win over IA, but 1-2 in cross-division games, IA would win the West with a 7-2 conf mark - even though the Gophs had a better record within the division, and won the head-to-head game.
Click to expand...

I've heard this argument before and thought about it myself. I think the biggest downside to it is that it makes cross-division games almost inconsequential. The Big Ten East isn't some foreign entity that's only loosely related to the West. Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana etc. are conference teams, and games against those teams should be more than just a tiebreaker. I understand the appeal of judging the 7 teams in the West just by the games they play against each other, but I think it overly trivializes games against the other 7 teams in the conference.
 



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