College Football News: Minnesota & P.J. Fleck Ready To Row To A Big Ten Title?

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The Gophers may win more than 5 or 6, but once you subtract the games that don't count the total may be at that number or even lower.


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Spoofin said:
The Gophers may win more than 5 or 6, but once you subtract the games that don't count the total may be at that number or even lower.


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Really we have a 4 game season.... at most.... unless we decide it is fewer games after the fact.

All the other games win or lose are only net negatives!
 

Spoofin said:
The Gophers may win more than 5 or 6, but once you subtract the games that don't count the total may be at that number or even lower.


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God forbid Gopher fans view wins over Iowa/Wisconsin/Michigan as more important than wins over Northwestern/Purdue/Illinois.
 

DMB123 said:
God forbid Gopher fans view wins over Iowa/Wisconsin/Michigan as more important than wins over Northwestern/Purdue/Illinois.
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Which is why it's too simplistic to say 8 wins or the season is a complete failure. What if they win only 7 games but the trophy case is full because we won all three of those games? Could you really call that season a failure?
 

joshvanklomp said:
Which is why it's too simplistic to say 8 wins or the season is a complete failure. What if they win only 7 games but the trophy case is full because we won all three of those games? Could you really call that season a failure?
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Exactly. On the flip side, it's exactly why last season wasn't nearly as great as some believe it to be. 9 wins don't matter much when you lose all the important/rivalry games.

I'd rather have 7 wins in 2017 if we beat Iowa and Wisconsin than 9 wins and no victories over a rival. In the NFL records are literally all that matters. In college football it's all about WHO you beat.
 


Hey. Here's a crazy idea. Let's wait and see how the team does this year, and then we can assess how the new coaching staff did with the players they inherited (and the recruiting class.)

I will say this: in general I believe that a B1G team is going to have better overall talent than a MAC team. Yes, there may be instances or given years when a really good MAC team may have better talent than a B1G team. But, in general, I think your average B1G team will have more talent, top to bottom, than a MAC team.

But, each team and each year is unique. There is no way to make a real comparison, unless you have magic powers to turn back time, so that you could have last year's WMU team play last year's Gopher Schedule, and vice versa. Or - switch coaching staffs, and have Fleck's staff coach last year's Gopher team and vice versa.

All we know for sure is what last year's WMU roster did with Fleck as coach, and what last year's Gopher roster did with Claeys as coach.

What happens this year is still to come. Honestly, I would hope that the Gophers win at least 7 games. But, if there are key injuries, I could envision a scenario where they win 5 or 6 games. On the other hand, I can envision a scenario where they win 8 or 9 games.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Hey. Here's a crazy idea. Let's wait and see how the team does this year, and then we can assess how the new coaching staff did with the players they inherited (and the recruiting class.)

I will say this: in general I believe that a B1G team is going to have better overall talent than a MAC team. Yes, there may be instances or given years when a really good MAC team may have better talent than a B1G team. But, in general, I think your average B1G team will have more talent, top to bottom, than a MAC team.

But, each team and each year is unique. There is no way to make a real comparison, unless you have magic powers to turn back time, so that you could have last year's WMU team play last year's Gopher Schedule, and vice versa. Or - switch coaching staffs, and have Fleck's staff coach last year's Gopher team and vice versa.

All we know for sure is what last year's WMU roster did with Fleck as coach, and what last year's Gopher roster did with Claeys as coach.

What happens this year is still to come. Honestly, I would hope that the Gophers win at least 7 games. But, if there are key injuries, I could envision a scenario where they win 5 or 6 games. On the other hand, I can envision a scenario where they win 8 or 9 games.
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Sounds like a "grand" plan to me. Let the season play out.
 

DMB123 said:
God forbid Gopher fans view wins over Iowa/Wisconsin/Michigan as more important than wins over Northwestern/Purdue/Illinois.
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Nah, you don't understand Spoofin values 2 point wins over Rutgers as much as wins over rivals.
 

It's all about context

Johnnyboy18 said:
Nah, you don't understand Spoofin values 2 point wins over Rutgers as much as wins over rivals.
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To the bowl eligibility people all wins count the same. Your record is what it is. Not what some coach declares it was. To fans some wins are definitely more important. Beating Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan is significant to Spoofin and all Gopher fans. It's the BS that beating Rutgers by 2 points doesn't count. It's a win. Wins are wins!!! You can't dismiss that. We won 9 games last year. We were ahead in the second half of all our games. We should have won them all. But we did win 9 games and you can't change that. It happened.

If PJ wins 5 games this year I'll be pretty disappointed. 1000% we have better offensive coaches. Our offense will be better!! We have two prominent line coaches. Two wide receiver coaches who developed a top 5 NFL pick from a lowly rated guy. We have a defensive coordinator who has coached top 5 defenses...we have been really good on defense, but not that good. We got a defensive line coach who was NFL MVP!! He developed NFL talent at the position from another low rated recruit. He's recruiting great guys!!! We have several incoming defensive back candidates who are highly rated at the position, if we need help there. We will not lack enthusiasm!! How the hell are these coaches going to accept winning 5 games??? Not gonna happen!!! They will find a way!!! You might notice in reading several articles from people outside Minnesota, when they evaluate the talent, they think we return a talented team. We got no production outta Mitch. Like Rich Gannon said, he was poorly coached. Whoever plays quarterback this year will exceed his production. We'll be fine.
 



DMB123 said:
God forbid Gopher fans view wins over Iowa/Wisconsin/Michigan as more important than wins over Northwestern/Purdue/Illinois.
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I 100% agree with you that wins over MI/WI/IA/NE matter more than wins over jNU/PU/IL/RU. Not sure when I said any different?
I also don't think we need to discredit wins against those latter schools - which is where my opinion seems to differ from others.


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joshvanklomp said:
Which is why it's too simplistic to say 8 wins or the season is a complete failure. What if they win only 7 games but the trophy case is full because we won all three of those games? Could you really call that season a failure?
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It's a false dichotomy, because if we beat all of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan, we will absolutely have more than 7 victories with 100% certainty.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Hey. Here's a crazy idea. Let's wait and see how the team does this year, and then we can assess how the new coaching staff did with the players they inherited (and the recruiting class.)

I will say this: in general I believe that a B1G team is going to have better overall talent than a MAC team. Yes, there may be instances or given years when a really good MAC team may have better talent than a B1G team. But, in general, I think your average B1G team will have more talent, top to bottom, than a MAC team.

But, each team and each year is unique. There is no way to make a real comparison, unless you have magic powers to turn back time, so that you could have last year's WMU team play last year's Gopher Schedule, and vice versa. Or - switch coaching staffs, and have Fleck's staff coach last year's Gopher team and vice versa.

All we know for sure is what last year's WMU roster did with Fleck as coach, and what last year's Gopher roster did with Claeys as coach.

What happens this year is still to come. Honestly, I would hope that the Gophers win at least 7 games. But, if there are key injuries, I could envision a scenario where they win 5 or 6 games. On the other hand, I can envision a scenario where they win 8 or 9 games.
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There won't be any, since the culture has been changed:p
 




Spoofin said:
I 100% agree with you that wins over MI/WI/IA/NE matter more than wins over jNU/PU/IL/RU. Not sure when I said any different?
I also don't think we need to discredit wins against those latter schools - which is where my opinion seems to differ from others.


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+1
 

WMU would have been somewhere between 6-9 wins in the Big Ten based on advanced stats, common opponents. They beat NW by 1, we beat them by 17. The Illinois differential about the same. Their strength, offense, had about the same output vs Wisconsin as we did but on a neutral field.

The guy projecting a bunch of draftees for WMU while we have zero needs to produce some solid evidence. Fringe players can't be counted as draft locks. It doesn't work that way.
 

I'm calling for 7 wins this year with a realistic range of 4-10. That's gonna mostly depend on QB play, team health, and luck in close games. Our best friend this year is the schedule.
 


ESPN has Gophs projected as favorites in seven games, including NEB and MSU.
 

If we have a great QB this year, yes. 8+ wins could happen. But if QB play is worse...
 

There will be many questions going into fall camp, but my optimistic side thinks we have a decent shot at winning our first 7 games. (Oregon State and Michigan State being the 2 toughest). After that, it's a crap shoot. "If" we win the first 7, we will have a pretty nice head of steam built up for our trip to Iowa City. You just never know. Truth be told, every time I've thought something like this might happen, it hasn't. I'm hoping this might be the year.
 

Face The Facts said:
If we have a great QB this year, yes. 8+ wins could happen. But if QB play is worse...
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I don't think they have to have "great" QB play. This team should have a solid running game, and a very respectable defense. Combined with that, they need a QB who can manage the game, make the routine throw, and NOT SCREW UP IN THE CLUTCH!

The Gophers were literally two or three INT's away from 11 wins last year. If I had to give the Gopher QB advice, it would be "don't turn the ball over. When in doubt, trust the running game. If you have to punt, you've got a good punter and a solid defense. Lean on them."

It may not be the most exciting style of play, but it keeps you in games, and gives you a shot to win in the 4th quarter.
 

Face The Facts said:
If we have a great QB this year, yes. 8+ wins could happen. But if QB play is worse...
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And yet, we've won 8+ games in 3 of the last 4 years without anything approaching "great" QB play. I guess Fleck is just an exceedingly inferior coach if he can't get a 9-win team to a bowl game in year 1 and requires "great" QB play to do something we've done 75% of the time in the last 4 years.
 

dpodoll68 said:
And yet, we've won 8+ games in 3 of the last 4 years without anything approaching "great" QB play. I guess Fleck is just an exceedingly inferior coach if he can't get a 9-win team to a bowl game in year 1 and requires "great" QB play to do something we've done 75% of the time in the last 4 years.
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Mitch was a multi year starter and a tremendous leader. We all know this because it was told to us by the former staff.

Some of you act like anyone else can step in and be Mitch.
 

dpodoll68 said:
And yet, we've won 8+ games in 3 of the last 4 years without anything approaching "great" QB play. I guess Fleck is just an exceedingly inferior coach if he can't get a 9-win team to a bowl game in year 1 and requires "great" QB play to do something we've done 75% of the time in the last 4 years.
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Or half the defensive backfield got kicked off the team but anything to fit your narrative. Still mad Fleck insulted Kill's culture?
 

dpodoll68 said:
And yet, we've won 8+ games in 3 of the last 4 years without anything approaching "great" QB play. I guess Fleck is just an exceedingly inferior coach if he can't get a 9-win team to a bowl game in year 1 and requires "great" QB play to do something we've done 75% of the time in the last 4 years.
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Nope.

No one is saying it can't be done. It's about setting realistic goals. Sure, we could go 10-2 this year and it wouldn't surprise me. But I'm not expecting it, so why hold the new staff up to that standard to deem the season a success or failure?
 

Face The Facts said:
Mitch was a multi year starter and a tremendous leader. We all know this because it was told to us by the former staff.

Some of you act like anyone else can step in and be Mitch.
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He wasn't a multi-year starter in 2014. He was a redshirt sophomore starting the opener for the first time, and he won eight games. We might have one of those this year, too.

You're acting like no one can step in and be Mitch.
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
Or half the defensive backfield got kicked off the team but anything to fit your narrative.
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Great. So we're going to win four fewer games because we're missing a couple of starters at one unit on the field? Yes, that makes a lot of sense.

Johnnyboy18 said:
Still mad Fleck insulted Kill's culture?
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Not mad about it at all, and that has nothing to do with this. But I'm glad you can finally admit that it happened.
 

joshvanklomp said:
Nope.

No one is saying it can't be done. It's about setting realistic goals. Sure, we could go 10-2 this year and it wouldn't surprise me. But I'm not expecting it, so why hold the new staff up to that standard to deem the season a success or failure?
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How is doing something we've done 3 out of the last 4 years not realistic?
 


joshvanklomp said:
We've won 10 games 3 of the last 4 years?
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I responded to the post surmising that we have to get "great" QB play to get 8 wins. (Face the Facts is not a serious poster and is obviously trolling, so I don't know why I'm responding to him in the first place.) You're the one who said 10 games, not me.
 

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