CFN’s “First Look” 2025 Big Ten football rankings (Gophers #10)

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pk2

pk2

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CFN has put out its 2025 “first look” rankings for the B1G. Here’s the blurb about our beloved Gophers:

10 Minnesota​

The defense is a killer. It’s experienced, and transfers will help the offense, but the season is about the QB battle between Zach Pyron (Georgia Tech) and Drake Lindsey.

2024 Record 8-5
2024 Rankings Final 18, Preseason 29
Top Transfer: AJ Turner, RB from Marshall
Top Transfer Lost: Phillip Daniels, OT to Ohio State
Season Opener: Buffalo

Because I figured you’d want to know:

18. Purdue
17. Northwestern
16. UCLA
15. Maryland
14. Rutgers
13. Washington
12. Wisconsin
11. Nebraska
10. Gophers
9. Iowa
8. Michigan State
7. Indiana
6. USC
5. Illinois
4. Oregon
3. Penn State
2. Michigan
1. Ohio State

For the full article:

 

Wow, I'm impressed. I figured Nebraska would be ranked ahead of Minnesota. I question Michigan State and, to an extent, USC. But the rest of the teams ahead in this ranking seem about right considering their record Vs. the Gophers and recent success.
 


Indiana will be an interesting watch, don't they lose a ton compared to last year? I also question Illinois' ability to play to a high standard again.

I like our odds of 9+ in the regular season this year. Favorable schedule and our experienced defense may be able to make up for any growing pains Drake has if he ends up getting the nod. Keep the turnover margin on the plus side and I think we'll be pretty happy come December.
 



mngg11 said:
I like our odds of 9+ in the regular season this year. Favorable schedule and our experienced defense may be able to make up for any growing pains Drake has if he ends up getting the nod. Keep the turnover margin on the plus side and I think we'll be pretty happy come December.
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Interesting to hear given that we weren’t even able to hit 8 in the regular season this year with a favorable OOC schedule, a strong turnover focused defense, and the best Gophers QB in a long time.
 

matt said:
Interesting to hear given that we weren’t even able to hit 8 in the regular season this year with a favorable OOC schedule, a strong turnover focused defense, and the best Gophers QB in a long time.
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Looks like you took a wrong turn on your way to the hoops board - hit that little hamburger looking button at the site header and scroll down to the link that says "Basketball Forum." You'll find a bunch of other miserable people who you can relate to over there. Cheers!
 

mngg11 said:
Indiana will be an interesting watch, don't they lose a ton compared to last year? I also question Illinois' ability to play to a high standard again.

I like our odds of 9+ in the regular season this year. Favorable schedule and our experienced defense may be able to make up for any growing pains Drake has if he ends up getting the nod. Keep the turnover margin on the plus side and I think we'll be pretty happy come December.
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If the QB play, OL play, and WR play is good to very good I could see 9 but IMO that’s a lot of ifs. I’d be satisfied with 8 for sure. But a lot depends on how good the QB situation is. If Brosmer was back it might be a different story.
 




mngg11 said:
Indiana will be an interesting watch, don't they lose a ton compared to last year? I also question Illinois' ability to play to a high standard again.

I like our odds of 9+ in the regular season this year. Favorable schedule and our experienced defense may be able to make up for any growing pains Drake has if he ends up getting the nod. Keep the turnover margin on the plus side and I think we'll be pretty happy come December.
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Indiana did bring in a good transfer qb from Cal, which might actually help us since we play Cal but not Indiana (at least for this year).
 

MSU at 8 is a little surprising but looks like it is based on missing Ohio State and Oregon. They see it as a positive that MSU gets PSU and Michigan at home which I can see on one hand but can also work out as a negative if you lose those games because it means you have to do better on the road to have a good season.

But like most preseason filler it is all just guesswork until we get to see the teams on the field. Middle of the pack seems like a likely landing spot for us in most of these projections. Team has been good enough under Fleck that they won't put us near the bottom but there are also enough question marks, especially at QB, that they also aren't going to rank us near the top.
 

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