ESPN: West Division favorite in 2014? (Minnesota: A long shot? Maybe.)

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per ESPN:

Minnesota: A long shot? Maybe. But the Gophers won eight games in '13 and did so with a pretty young team. They lost some valuable defensive stars in Ra'Shede Hageman and Brock Vereen, but almost everybody else is back and the passing game can only get better. Jerry Kill's team does have a tough schedule, however, drawing Ohio State and Michigan as crossovers and facing road games at Nebraska and Wisconsin.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/97264/poll-west-division-favorite-in-2014

Go Gophers!!
 

And on Gopherhole we have some experts claiming we don't have a tougher schedule this upcoming year vs last year.

" Jerry Kill's team does have a tough schedule, however, drawing Ohio State and Michigan as crossovers and facing road games at Nebraska and Wisconsin."
 

Dr.Don said:
And on Gopherhole we have some experts claiming we don't have a tougher schedule this upcoming year vs last year.

" Jerry Kill's team does have a tough schedule, however, drawing Ohio State and Michigan as crossovers and facing road games at Nebraska and Wisconsin."
Click to expand...

So if ESPN says it then it is fact?
 


Man I am excited about this coming season. Leidner should have a break out year and our running game will be ridiculous against any team. Our passing game becomes competent backed with a solid, even improved D. This is how Kill builds programs. We have as good a chance as anyone at winning the division. Anyone.
 





Studwell55 said:
4-4 would be a nice year.
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I'd be happy with 4 conference wins and a 7-5 record. Hope we do more, but that all depends on maturation of offensive players (qb and wr's). If Claeys magic on defense continues, who knows. Maybe with some more playmakers, we finally see why Kill is so loyal to Limegrover.
 




Question on determining division champion in expanded conference: Is the division winner based on division wins or conference wins? It should be division wins, IMO, then crossover parity wouldn't matter as much.
 


Between last year and this year our conference schedule trades Indiana, Penn St., and Michigan St. for Purdue, Illinois, and Ohio St. I'm not sure there's a drastic difference beyond debating home field advantage. The better argument is whether our schedule is harder than the rest of our division opponents' schedules. I say yes it is, and that's what will make winning the division difficult.
 





The team will be better, but we won't be at the elite level just test. Jerry has some really good players on the team, but I still think he is getting more out of them than others would get. Next year we beat Wisky, but not the cross overs with OSU and UM. We play them tougher than ever I think, though. A 9 win season (including a bowl win) would be fantastic, and I don't think it is out of the realm. Luck does play a part - hopefully we stay healthy.
 

Nokomis said:
Question on determining division champion in expanded conference: Is the division winner based on division wins or conference wins? It should be division wins, IMO, then crossover parity wouldn't matter as much.
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Straight from the Big Ten Website:

The following procedure will determine the representative from each division in the event of a tie:

If two teams are tied, the winner of the game between the two tied teams shall be the representative
If three or more teams are tied, steps 1 through 7 will be followed until a determination is made. If only two teams remain tied after any step, the winner of the game between the two tied teams shall be the representative.
The records of the three tied teams will be compared against each other
The records of the three tied teams will be compared within their division
The records of the three teams will be compared against the next highest placed teams in their division in order of finish (4, 5, and 6)
The records of the three teams will be compared against all common conference opponents;
The highest ranked team in the first Bowl Championship Series Poll following the completion of Big Ten regular season conference play shall be the representative in the Big Ten Championship Game, unless the two highest ranked tied teams are ranked within one spot of each other in the BCS poll. In this case, the head-to-head results of the top two ranked tied teams shall determine the representative in the Big Ten Championship
The team with the best overall winning percentage [excluding exempted games] shall be the representative
The representative will be chosen by random draw.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Straight from the Big Ten Website:

The following procedure will determine the representative from each division in the event of a tie:

If two teams are tied, the winner of the game between the two tied teams shall be the representative
If three or more teams are tied, steps 1 through 7 will be followed until a determination is made. If only two teams remain tied after any step, the winner of the game between the two tied teams shall be the representative.
The records of the three tied teams will be compared against each other
The records of the three tied teams will be compared within their division
The records of the three teams will be compared against the next highest placed teams in their division in order of finish (4, 5, and 6)
The records of the three teams will be compared against all common conference opponents;
The highest ranked team in the first Bowl Championship Series Poll following the completion of Big Ten regular season conference play shall be the representative in the Big Ten Championship Game, unless the two highest ranked tied teams are ranked within one spot of each other in the BCS poll. In this case, the head-to-head results of the top two ranked tied teams shall determine the representative in the Big Ten Championship
The team with the best overall winning percentage [excluding exempted games] shall be the representative
The representative will be chosen by random draw.
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That doesn't answer my question. But I did a little digging and found that division champion is still determined by overall conference record, not divisional record, which is dumb.
 

Nokomis said:
That doesn't answer my question. But I did a little digging and found that division champion is still determined by overall conference record, not divisional record, which is dumb.
Click to expand...

Will it be dumb when the B1G introduces parity based cross-over scheduling with the big boys having to play each other every year or will we change our tune then?
 

Dr.Don said:
And on Gopherhole we have some experts claiming we don't have a tougher schedule this upcoming year vs last year.

" Jerry Kill's team does have a tough schedule, however, drawing Ohio State and Michigan as crossovers and facing road games at Nebraska and Wisconsin."
Click to expand...

Brian Bennett is no more of an expert then anybody on GH anyways but seriously, next years OSU will be the exact same as this years MSU, Michigan and Nebraska will be about the same as next year and Wisconsin will be slightly worse then next year. And Purdue and Illinois are inferior to last years PSU and IU. The only part of the schedule that is more difficult is TCU in the non con but they only won 4 games last year anyway and we match up well with them.
 

Sparlimb said:
I'd be happy with 4 conference wins and a 7-5 record. Hope we do more, but that all depends on maturation of offensive players (qb and wr's). If Claeys magic on defense continues, who knows. Maybe with some more playmakers, we finally see why Kill is so loyal to Limegrover.
Click to expand...

Anytime the gophers do not win more games then the previous year i do not consider the season a success. Anytime we win less games then the previous year unless we graduate our entire roster i consider the season a failure. We return the second most amount of starters in the conference and have 3-4 skill position guys coming in next year(Jeff, Holland, Berkley and Erick Carter) that will make our offense instantly more explosive and diverse which we lacked next year so i don't know why everybody thinks 9-10 wins and 5 conference wins is so far fetched.
 

MinneStoa said:
Wait, so do you not agree that we have a tough conference schedule next year?
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I am not convinced our schedule is a lot tougher this year than last. I have us on 10 wins this year.
 

I would be happy with 4-4 again. This, of course, assumes we sweep the noncon schedule. Plus we need to take down whichever scrub team we draw in Houston.
 

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