ESPN: Undercover Contender

[die hard gopher]

1. Undercover contender?: Maybe it's among the longest of long shots. Maybe the passing game is too weak, the schedule too hard and the rebuilding project too incomplete at this point. But if a one-loss Big Ten champion is likely to make it into the College Football Playoff field as I believe it is, why not Minnesota? Don't laugh. The Gophers will be favored in the next three games before taking the first Saturday in November off with a bye, and winning all those matchups would not only put them in the driver's seat in the West Division, it would potentially put them in position for an unlikely bid into the four-team field at the end of the season. Obviously the hard part will come next month when the Gophers host Ohio State and follow that up with an extremely difficult two-game road trip against Nebraska and Wisconsin. But if Minnesota can somehow find a way to run the table in the Big Ten, its only loss would be on the road against a TCU -- a defeat that looks better every week. Are the Gophers likely to pull it off? Of course not. But in a few weeks, the spotlight might be shining brightly on Jerry Kill's program.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/108820/big-ten-morning-links-45#comments

 

[BleedGopher]

Screw talk of us winning two BT games in a row, or being a contender for the BT West, or having an outside shot at winning the BT title game...ESPN ups the ante and throws a scenario where we are in the College Football Playoffs!

Wow.

Go Gophers!!

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Lol. What have we done to warrant this discussion? Our best win is currently sitting 80th in the Sagarin Ratings.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Yes there is a chance, but this is such a flawed notion. There is absolutely nothing to make the TCU loss look better. We simply got destroyed. This description fits Oklahoma better than MN. Who do you think goes to the final four a 12-1 Minnesota or a 11-1 Oklahoma? This also means we would have to beat Ohio State twice or MSU in the title game. I hope we build on every week and we are playing our best ball later in the season. The teams we have beat are a combined 9-14.

Those 9 wins are against
UNLV
North Dakota
Appalachin St
Miami (OH)
Austin Peay
Savannah St
Western Kentucky
Old Dominion
Southern Mississippis

 

[scools12]

Yes there is a chance, but this is such a flawed notion. There is absolutely nothing to make the TCU loss look better. We simply got destroyed. This description fits Oklahoma better than MN. Who do you think goes to the final four a 12-1 Minnesota or a 11-1 Oklahoma? This also means we would have to beat Ohio State twice or MSU in the title game. I hope we build on every week and we are playing our best ball later in the season. The teams we have beat are a combined 9-14.

Those 9 wins are against
UNLV
North Dakota
Appalachin St
Miami (OH)
Austin Peay
Savannah St
Western Kentucky
Old Dominion
Southern Mississippis

Agree with this but there are some on GHole that believe every TCU win somehow does make the Gophers look better.

 

[Governor Sibley]

lol

 

[fryguy22]

1. This is hilarious. We'll see one month today if it was even the first step on the path to valid (we'd have to be 8-1 at that point)
2. The fact that this article could even be dreamed up, let alone written, is awesome. Last time that was the case was 2008

 

[Cayman]

Agree with this but there are some on GHole that believe every TCU win somehow does make the Gophers look better.

It makes the loss look less bad if nothing else. TCU winning might not make the Gophers look better per se, but them losing would make the Gophers look worse.

 

[BarnBoy]

Agree with this but there are some on GHole that believe every TCU win somehow does make the Gophers look better.

So in your book losing to Eastern Illinois would have been the same as losing to an eventual playoff team? (if that were to happen in TCU)

 

[Ski U Master]

1. Undercover contender?: Maybe it's among the longest of long shots. Maybe the passing game is too weak, the schedule too hard and the rebuilding project too incomplete at this point. But if a one-loss Big Ten champion is likely to make it into the College Football Playoff field as I believe it is, why not Minnesota? Don't laugh. The Gophers will be favored in the next three games before taking the first Saturday in November off with a bye, and winning all those matchups would not only put them in the driver's seat in the West Division, it would potentially put them in position for an unlikely bid into the four-team field at the end of the season. Obviously the hard part will come next month when the Gophers host Ohio State and follow that up with an extremely difficult two-game road trip against Nebraska and Wisconsin. But if Minnesota can somehow find a way to run the table in the Big Ten, its only loss would be on the road against a TCU -- a defeat that looks better every week. Are the Gophers likely to pull it off? Of course not. But in a few weeks, the spotlight might be shining brightly on Jerry Kill's program.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/108820/big-ten-morning-links-45#comments

Pls stop ESPN.

 

[WorkingMyTailOff]

Rematch vs TCU!!

 

[MNVCGUY]

Agree with this but there are some on GHole that believe every TCU win somehow does make the Gophers look better.

Yeah I still can't figure that logic out. Clearly it makes it not a bad loss in terms of the caliber of the opponent but doesn't change the fact that were were dominated in the game.

All these little stories that have come out in the past week are so are fun to read from the pipe dream standpoint but there is a long way to go before any of this has any shot of being a reality. Not to mention the fact that even looking at this team with maroon and gold colored glasses this is not a playoff caliber team right now.

 

[mplsbadger]

Right now every two loss SEC / Notre Dame is still alive, every one loss B10/P12/B12/ACC is still alive, and every unbeaten 'other' is still alive. This is the formula until mid-November when teams start getting eliminated from their division or conference races.

At the end of the season they will select four teams from among the five conference champions and ND. The only way they'll deviate from the above is if there are 2-3 champs with 2-3 losses, in which case SEC #2 will be considered (not likely the champ game loser - more likely a div runner up that hasn't lost since October).

The Gophs are in the mix at least until they lose again. Pretty cool in my view. Will be really cool to be nationally relevant in mid-November if things go well.

 

[scools12]

So in your book losing to Eastern Illinois would have been the same as losing to an eventual playoff team? (if that were to happen in TCU)

How does TCU or any team that may beat the Gophers and that team reaches the playoff make the Gophers better?

 

[Ski U Master]

How does TCU or any team that may beat the Gophers and that team reaches the playoff make the Gophers better?

It doesn't change the Gophers today, but it does change the perception of the Gophers which can impact recruiting, which can make the team better in the long run.

 

[RodentRampage]

TCU winning doesn't make the Gophers better. It means that the Gophers were better than we thought.

Sent from my LG-L38C using Tapatalk 2

 

[BarnBoy]

How does TCU or any team that may beat the Gophers and that team reaches the playoff make the Gophers better?

Well, in the unlikely event that we end up with 1 loss to a "Top Four" national contender - as opposed to Eastern Illinois - I would say that makes us look better, yes. You really don't get that?

 

[beatles]

Agree with this but there are some on GHole that believe every TCU win somehow does make the Gophers look better.

Umm, that's because TCU beating OU does make the Gophers look better. At the time we lost to an unranked team. Now that loss is to a top ten team. Had TCU gone winless the rest of the year our loss to them would look even worse than it did at the time. If they win the National title the loss looks ok which makes us look better. Not sure why you can't see that.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Umm, that's because TCU beating OU does make the Gophers look better. At the time we lost to an unranked team. Now that loss is to a top ten team. Had TCU gone winless the rest of the year our loss to them would look even worse than it did at the time. If they win the National title the loss looks ok which makes us look better. Not sure why you can't see that.

I disagree with the notion that it makes the Gophers look better, had we hung with them and made a game of it then their current status would make us look better.

The only thing that really gets accomplished by them being so highly ranked is that no one should consider it a bad loss along the lines of losing to someone like New Mexico State back in 2011.

 

[scools12]

Well, in the unlikely event that we end up with 1 loss to a "Top Four" national contender - as opposed to Eastern Illinois - I would say that makes us look better, yes. You really don't get that?

Your theory is that if the Gophers went 11-1 that because the 1 loss was to a team that made the 4 team play-offs the team actually looks better than their record?

You're right I don't get that. I would think the 11-1 record speaks for itself but that's just me.

 

[scools12]

Umm, that's because TCU beating OU does make the Gophers look better. At the time we lost to an unranked team. Now that loss is to a top ten team. Had TCU gone winless the rest of the year our loss to them would look even worse than it did at the time. If they win the National title the loss looks ok which makes us look better. Not sure why you can't see that.

All it means is the Gophers lost to a really good team. What if the Gophers finish 6-6? If TCU wins the national title does that make the Gophers 6-6 record look better? 6-6 is still 6-6 no matter where the losses came from. Not sure why you can't see that what TCU or any other team does has nothing to do with the Gophers.

 

[BarnBoy]

I disagree with the notion that it makes the Gophers look better, had we hung with them and made a game of it then their current status would make us look better.

The only thing that really gets accomplished by them being so highly ranked is that no one should consider it a bad loss along the lines of losing to someone like New Mexico State back in 2011.

This is basically our point.

 

[beatles]

All it means is the Gophers lost to a really good team. What if the Gophers finish 6-6? If TCU wins the national title does that make the Gophers 6-6 record look better? 6-6 is still 6-6 no matter where the losses came from. Not sure why you can't see that what TCU or any other team does has nothing to do with the Gophers.

You're making my point for me. It matters who you lose to and now we know we lost to a very good team. Who cares, we'll just agree to disagree. Gopher fans should stick together!

 

[mnsportsgeek]

TCU winning doesn't make the Gophers better. It means that the Gophers were better than we thought.

Sent from my LG-L38C using Tapatalk 2

Seriously? I think it makes us look like a 23 point loser. But to each their own.

 

[wait!what?]

leidner.

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

The only thing the lopsided TCU loss does for me is reinforce the fact that a gimpy Leidner shouldn't have played against a defense of that caliber. That was a bad choice, but then again, starting a RS FR in his first start, on the road, wasn't a great option either.

There was very little good that could have come out of that situation but turning the ball over 5 times definitely enhanced the margin of victory. At this point, it doesn't really matter one way or the other.

 

[dpodoll68]

All it means is the Gophers lost to a really good team. What if the Gophers finish 6-6? If TCU wins the national title does that make the Gophers 6-6 record look better? 6-6 is still 6-6 no matter where the losses came from. Not sure why you can't see that what TCU or any other team does has nothing to do with the Gophers.

I love how you twist yourself into pretzels to avoid giving the Gophers any credit for anything ever.

Also, you're completely clueless. By your (horrible) logic, you're trying to say that Kentucky (for example) at 6-6 is the same as Akron (for example) at 6-6, despite the fact that the former played an SEC schedule and the latter a MAC schedule. In case you're new to college football - the quality of the teams you play makes a difference in how the team is perceived. A 6-6 Gophers squad who played a brutal schedule might be a better team than a 9-3 Gophers squad who played an easy schedule. I don't know why I'm bothering to give you this lesson in schedule strength, since you're clearly the expert.

 

[DMB123]

All it means is the Gophers lost to a really good team. What if the Gophers finish 6-6? If TCU wins the national title does that make the Gophers 6-6 record look better? 6-6 is still 6-6 no matter where the losses came from. Not sure why you can't see that what TCU or any other team does has nothing to do with the Gophers.

Wow, you're a college football fan and you don't understand how important strength of schedule is?

 

[RodentRampage]

Seriously? I think it makes us look like a 23 point loser. But to each their own.

It is rather obvious if you aren't looking at it through a maroon and gold spitoon. Yes, the Gophers lost by 23 points, and that's never a good thing. But how bad that loss is depends on the strength of the opponent. If the Gophers lost by 23 to Eastern Illinois, that would be an exceedingly bad loss. 23 points to TCU is not as bad. The better TCU turns out to be, the less bad the loss to TCU is. If TCU had turned out to be a dumpster fire, the loss would have looked worse. And "less bad" is another way of saying "better".

Sent from my LG-L38C using Tapatalk 2

 

[beatles]

It is rather obvious if you aren't looking at it through a maroon and gold spitoon. Yes, the Gophers lost by 23 points, and that's never a good thing. But how bad that loss is depends on the strength of the opponent. If the Gophers lost by 23 to Eastern Illinois, that would be an exceedingly bad loss. 23 points to TCU is not as bad. The better TCU turns out to be, the less bad the loss to TCU is. If TCU had turned out to be a dumpster fire, the loss would have looked worse. And "less bad" is another way of saying "better".

Sent from my LG-L38C using Tapatalk 2

Well said. I'm surprised that some on here aren't seeing our point more clearly.