(ESPN) Big Ten Power Rankings: Preseason

Donate To GopherHole
J

Jon

Active member
Joined
Sep 17, 2010
Messages
1,255
Reaction score
0
Points
36
#10 Minnesota Golden Gophers
On paper, the Gophers look several steps behind the top teams in the league across the board. What's their strength, running the football? Still, coach Jerry Kill and his staff get the benefit of the doubt because of their remarkable progress a year ago.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/104947/big-ten-power-rankings-preseason

Just think how many more games we would have won if Glen Mason was allowed to coach/recruit with the new stadium...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Golden_Gophers_football

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Mason
 

Whoa. I take being ranked behind Maryland as a slap in the face.

EDIT: That was a little strong. Let's say that I am very displeased with that.
 

All I have to say is: "I Bet we end up better than 10th in the conference"
 

Seems to be a common theme in the evaluations I have seen this year in that when they look at our team on paper they just don't see how we can stack up talent wise with the rest of the conference yet there is a little doubt based on how things played out last season. Our positional groups get ranked in the lower part of the conference and few of our players are picked for any post season conference awards. Right now Kill is getting a lot of the "benefit of the doubt" based on how last year went and the success he has had at previous lower level stops. This year will show if he is truly bringing in the "right" players even if they are not the highest ranked that will enable the program to take that next step.
 

Hey! I found this interesting: 11 Big Ten Teams, we have a winning record all time versus 8 of the 11, including Wisconsin despite our 10 loss streak. Losing record versus Ohio St and Michigan. No surprise there. Two things I thought were surprising. The third team we have a losing record to is Michigan State and it's lopsided but not quite as bad as our all time 7 and 43 mark versus The Ohio State. Be nice to have some momentum and upset OSU this year.
 


Pretty sure our strength is Defense.
 


It's a pretty safe bet to take the over on this one.
 

every gopher player on the field needs to be prepared to house it. every player on every down.
 



Power Rankings IMO:

1)Michigan State
2)Ohio State
3)Iowa
4)Wisconsin
5)Nebraska
T6)Michigan (I'll give them the slight edge)
T6)Minnesota
8)Penn State
9)Northwestern
10)Indiana
T11)Maryland
T11)Illinois
13)Rutgers
14)Purdue
 

Jon said:
#10 Minnesota Golden Gophers
On paper, the Gophers look several steps behind the top teams in the league across the board. What's their strength, running the football? Still, coach Jerry Kill and his staff get the benefit of the doubt because of their remarkable progress a year ago.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/104947/big-ten-power-rankings-preseason

Just think how many more games we would have won if Glen Mason was allowed to coach/recruit with the new stadium...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Golden_Gophers_football

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Mason
Click to expand...

Picking us 10th is giving us the benefit of the doubt? And that first sentence is ridiculous. For some reason people just don't believe Minnesota could possibly have a talented roster, mainly due to our recruiting classes being ranked low. I believe we have talent spread throughout our roster that we haven't seen since who knows.

OSU and MSU are the two best teams in the conference. I truly think Minnesota is as good as Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and better than Penn State, Maryland, Northwestern. People who don't follow this program closely are blind to what Kill is building here.
 

I'd probably put the Gophers at #7 at this point behind OSU, MSU, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska, and Iowa.
 

By ESPN rankings we play their Top 7 ranked teams in the Big Ten. Does anybody else play all 7? That's in the equation here.
 



I think #3-10 is wide open. Perhaps more than any recent year, I don't see a clear pre-season second tier behind the top teams. Should be a fun race for the West!
 


BJN said:
Power Rankings IMO:

1)Michigan State
2)Ohio State
3)Iowa
4)Wisconsin
5)Nebraska
T6)Michigan (I'll give them the slight edge)
T6)Minnesota
8)Penn State
9)Northwestern
10)Indiana
T11)Maryland
T11)Illinois
13)Rutgers
14)Purdue
Click to expand...

So then why the tie if you have Michigan ahead slightly?
 

I like it. Right where we want to be. Low expectations and hopefully a chip on our shoulder.
 

It's the mainstream thing amongst the national media to pick us to finish low. I honestly don't care what they think, because they quite frankly don't know anything about the Gophers.
 

IMO:

1) OSU
2) MSU (I could be wrong here, but I think OSU wins the East...it'll be close, though)
3) wisconsin
4) Michigan
5) Nebraska
6) Iowa
7-9) Minnesota, PSU, Northwestern (No idea - we'll see how it shakes out)
8-14) Gross
 

60's Guy said:
Hey! I found this interesting: 11 Big Ten Teams, we have a winning record all time versus 8 of the 11, including Wisconsin despite our 10 loss streak. Losing record versus Ohio St and Michigan. No surprise there. Two things I thought were surprising. The third team we have a losing record to is Michigan State and it's lopsided but not quite as bad as our all time 7 and 43 mark versus The Ohio State. Be nice to have some momentum and upset OSU this year.
Click to expand...

It goes to show how strong the Gopher Program was prior to 1968. Since the last Big Ten Championship Team for the Gophers (1967), the Gophers have a losing record against all Big Ten opponents except Illinois and Northwestern.

Illinois: 18-14-2
Indiana: 19-20
Iowa: 20-25-1
Maryland: 0-1
Michigan: 3-39
Michigan State: 12-25
Nebraska: 1-14
Northwestern: 22-15-1
Ohio State: 2-36
Penn State: 5-8
Purdue: 18-19
Wisconsin: 18-29

Per CFB Data Warehouse, Minnesota has never played Rutgers.
 

PapaHawk21 said:
It goes to show how strong the Gopher Program was prior to 1968. Since the last Big Ten Championship Team for the Gophers (1967), the Gophers have a losing record against all Big Ten opponents except Illinois and Northwestern.

Illinois: 18-14-2
Indiana: 19-20
Iowa: 20-25-1
Maryland: 0-1
Michigan: 3-39
Michigan State: 12-25
Nebraska: 1-14
Northwestern: 22-15-1
Ohio State: 2-36
Penn State: 5-8
Purdue: 18-19
Wisconsin: 18-29

Per CFB Data Warehouse, Minnesota has never played Rutgers.
Click to expand...

That's embarrassing.
 

SJUgopher said:
So then why the tie if you have Michigan ahead slightly?
Click to expand...

Lol idk. I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted them tied or I wanted Michigan ahead. So I just kind of did both.
 

10th would be a bummer.

But if Mitch goes down, 10th might be a victory. Gulp.
 

DMB123 said:
Picking us 10th is giving us the benefit of the doubt? And that first sentence is ridiculous. For some reason people just don't believe Minnesota could possibly have a talented roster, mainly due to our recruiting classes being ranked low. I believe we have talent spread throughout our roster that we haven't seen since who knows.

OSU and MSU are the two best teams in the conference. I truly think Minnesota is as good as Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and better than Penn State, Maryland, Northwestern. People who don't follow this program closely are blind to what Kill is building here.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. All it proves is that this dude wanted to pick the Gophers for dead last, but couldn't bring himself to actually do it. What he's really trying to say is that the Gophers flat out suck but they get the "benefit of the doubt" by being picked 10th in a 14 team league. Always amusing to see writers try to put a happy face on being ranked 10th out of 14.
 

PapaHawk21 said:
Since the last Big Ten Championship Team for the Gophers (1967), the Gophers have a losing record against all Big Ten opponents except Illinois and Northwestern.

Illinois: 18-14-2
Indiana: 19-20
Iowa: 20-25-1
Maryland: 0-1
Michigan: 3-39
Michigan State: 12-25
Nebraska: 1-14
Northwestern: 22-15-1
Ohio State: 2-36
Penn State: 5-8
Purdue: 18-19
Wisconsin: 18-29

Per CFB Data Warehouse, Minnesota has never played Rutgers.
Click to expand...

Where do I puke?
 

Every trend is 'stable.' So basically ESPN just mailed it in and went with the notion that nothing changes. Yawn.
 

GopherInPittsburgh said:
Every trend is 'stable.' So basically ESPN just mailed it in and went with the notion that nothing changes. Yawn.
Click to expand...

Every trend is stable because it's the first ranking. Hard to trend up or down on the first ranking. So basically you just mailed it in with anti-ESPN analysis based on a writer putting out August analysis that didn't conform to your (or my) worldview.

Move the gophers up two spots ahead of Maryland and PSU from my perspective.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 



When they say power rankings do they mean projected record or truly how good the teams are?
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom