ESPN's Connelly bumps MN into top 25 with revised SP plus

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swingman

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Bill Connelly went through rosters and factored in transfers, seniors opting in for extra year, changed some weights to reflect differences in Covid games, and some other tweaks...

Gophs end up at #24 in nation on his respected ESPN ranking. Gophs offense at #14, defense at #50.

Ohio State at 4, WI 6, IA 16.

IN 28, NE 32, MD 38, PU 52, CO 69, NW 76, IL 81, Miami 101, BG 126 - 130 total.

www.espn.com

College football 2021 preseason SP+ rankings

Bill Connelly updates his college football SP+ projections based on returning production, recent recruiting and recent history.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 


if hype on Nubin, T-Time, Gibbens, Oliver, Pinckney, Martin and special teams is correct, I expect better than a top 50 defense
 





swingman said:
Bill Connelly went through rosters and factored in transfers, seniors opting in for extra year, changed some weights to reflect differences in Covid games, and some other tweaks...

Gophs end up at #24 in nation on his respected ESPN ranking. Gophs offense at #14, defense at #50.

Ohio State at 4, WI 6, IA 16.

IN 28, NE 32, MD 38, PU 52, CO 69, NW 76, IL 81, Miami 101, BG 126 - 130 total.

www.espn.com

College football 2021 preseason SP+ rankings

Bill Connelly updates his college football SP+ projections based on returning production, recent recruiting and recent history.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
Click to expand...
Don’t look now but conventional wisdom is dropping Indiana since they don’t return much and didn’t beat anyone last year
 

swingman said:
if hype on Nubin, T-Time, Gibbens, Oliver, Pinckney, Martin and special teams is correct, I expect better than a top 50 defense
Click to expand...
If the Gopher offense finishes in the top 20 I think they will have had a very, very good season.

In 2019 the Gophers were 21st in scoring offense, in 2020 they were 71st. I’m hoping the O is In the top 35.

2019 scoring Defense 35th, 2020 70th.

Who’d a thunk that? Scoring D ranked higher than scoring O last year. Yet everyone was saying how much worse the D was, when really the O dropped 50 places vs the D only 35 places.

Source: ESPN College Football Stats.
 
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SP plus?

I'm waiting for the

Super SP Plus Ultimate Edition
 



Some Day...Maybe said:
If the Gopher offense finishes in the top 20 I think they will have had a very, very good season.

In 2019 the Gophers were 21st in scoring offense, in 2020 they were 71st. I’m hoping the O is In the top 35.
Click to expand...
2019 Connelly end of year had Gophs at 13, with offense at 7 and defense at 26
2020 Connelly end of year had Gophs at 34, with offense at 18 and defense at 64
 

Some Day...Maybe said:
If the Gopher offense finishes in the top 20 I think they will have had a very, very good season.

In 2019 the Gophers were 21st in scoring offense, in 2020 they were 71st. I’m hoping the O is In the top 35.

2019 scoring Defense 35th, 2020 70th.

Who’d a thunk that? Scoring D ranked higher than scoring O last year. Yet everyone was saying how much worse the D was, when really the O dropped 50 places vs the D only 35 places.

Source: ESPN College Football Stats.
Click to expand...
When the defense allows unlimited first downs, the offense doesn't see the field.
 

swingman said:
2019 Connelly end of year had Gophs at 13, with offense at 7 and defense at 26
2020 Connelly end of year had Gophs at 34, with offense at 18 and defense at 64
Click to expand...
I was simply looking at scoring Offense and scoring defense, but I see your point. I was mixing Connelly with scoring D and scoring O.

Let’s hope the O is back to top 15 this year and D is back to top 30. I think D will be higher than 50, I hope O is top 15.
 

Jordekorn said:
When the defense allows unlimited first downs, the offense doesn't see the field.
Click to expand...
Against Maryland last year all the O needed to do was get a few first downs in the 4th quarter. They did nothing. The supposed strength of the team couldn’t muster a thing the whole 4th quarter. Couldn’t close out the game.

Then against Wisconsin just score more than 17 points.

5-2 if those things happen. Everyone knew the D would struggle, losing what they did. The O brought pretty much everybody back.
 



swingman said:
2019 Connelly end of year had Gophs at 13, with offense at 7 and defense at 26
2020 Connelly end of year had Gophs at 34, with offense at 18 and defense at 64
Click to expand...
Do you know what Connelly’s preseason rankings for Gophs were for 2019 and 2020?
 

Some Day...Maybe said:
Against Maryland last year all the O needed to do was get a few first downs in the 4th quarter. They did nothing. The supposed strength of the team couldn’t muster a thing the whole 4th quarter. Couldn’t close out the game.

Then against Wisconsin just score more than 17 points.

5-2 if those things happen. Everyone knew the D would struggle, losing what they did. The O brought pretty much everybody back.
Click to expand...
I agree with your points but don't believe they diminish my point. Our offense was offensively conservative last year, which compounded the issue of a defense that couldn't get off the field. Offensive opportunities were lost from a defense that couldn't get a stop and squandered by ultra conservative game plans that refused to acknowledge the status of our underperforming defense.
 

swingman said:
Bill Connelly went through rosters and factored in transfers, seniors opting in for extra year, changed some weights to reflect differences in Covid games, and some other tweaks...

Gophs end up at #24 in nation on his respected ESPN ranking. Gophs offense at #14, defense at #50.

Ohio State at 4, WI 6, IA 16.

IN 28, NE 32, MD 38, PU 52, CO 69, NW 76, IL 81, Miami 101, BG 126 - 130 total.

www.espn.com

College football 2021 preseason SP+ rankings

Bill Connelly updates his college football SP+ projections based on returning production, recent recruiting and recent history.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
Click to expand...
It seems to me Connelly is the best in the business when it comes to this. Would you agree?
 

Jordekorn said:
I agree with your points but don't believe they diminish my point. Our offense was offensively conservative last year, which compounded the issue of a defense that couldn't get off the field. Offensive opportunities were lost from a defense that couldn't get a stop and squandered by ultra conservative game plans that refused to acknowledge the status of our underperforming defense.
Click to expand...
I agree with everything you just said. I was more upset with the Offense though because of my expectations. I hope Sanford has the offense back near 2019 levels because I really enjoyed watching Ciarocca’s offenses.
 

The Gophers can only go in one direction. Up

If the Offense can dominate the TOP and the Defense stay fresh with their depth, it will be a very long day for opponents.
 

Jordekorn said:
I agree with your points but don't believe they diminish my point. Our offense was offensively conservative last year, which compounded the issue of a defense that couldn't get off the field. Offensive opportunities were lost from a defense that couldn't get a stop and squandered by ultra conservative game plans that refused to acknowledge the status of our underperforming defense.
Click to expand...
Do you know what Gophs were ranked in TOP last year?
 


Some Day...Maybe said:
I agree with everything you just said. I was more upset with the Offense though because of my expectations. I hope Sanford has the offense back near 2019 levels because I really enjoyed watching Ciarocca’s offenses.
Click to expand...
Did you enjoy the shutouts in 2017 and 2018?
 


PMWinSTP said:
OK, Do you know what Gophs were ranked in TOP last year?
Click to expand...
Probably pretty high based on the style we play and the style teams we played against

do you know what the gophers were ranked in offensive possessions per game last year?
 


Some guy said:
Don’t look now but conventional wisdom is dropping Indiana since they don’t return much and didn’t beat anyone last year
Click to expand...
Connelly hasn't been high on them this off season. They were an extremely lucky team last year as evidenced by beating Penn State and by having 20 takeaways in an 8 game season -- probably not sustainable in the long run.
 


MplsGopher said:
I seem to recall they played Ohio State tougher than anyone in the conference. :unsure:
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Meh. OSU had a huge lead and then gave up 2 scores late after the game was pretty much over. Score looked closer than the game actually was.
 

Word said:
Meh. OSU had a huge lead and then gave up 2 scores late after the game was pretty much over. Score looked closer than the game actually was.
Click to expand...
Disagree with this summary.

ynBMmgc.png
 

MplsGopher said:
Disagree with this summary.

ynBMmgc.png
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Having watched the game, it never felt like it was in doubt. Certainly IU deserves credit for playing tough until the end, but OSU was in control almost the whole way.
 

Gophers1992 said:
Having watched the game, it never felt like it was in doubt. Certainly IU deserves credit for playing tough until the end, but OSU was in control almost the whole way.
Click to expand...
I'm not denying that OSU won the game, by any means. Fine with OSU being in control for a good part of the game.

But bringing the lead down to 7 with over 10mins left in the game, when you've scored 4 of the last 5 TDs in the game, seems like they were very much in it, to me.
 

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