ESPN's Dan Murphy on U possibly winning BT West: Possible, but a long shot

[BleedGopher]

per ESPN's Q&A:

@CooanHead: @DanMurphyESPN Does Minnesota have a legitimate chance to win the Big Ten West?

Dan Murphy: This has been a topic of debate on the blog for the past couple of weeks now. My stance is that it's not impossible, but it's a long shot. Minnesota's offense isn't built to come from behind, so a few early mistakes in any game could cost them in a tight race for first place. The biggest obstacle for the Gophers is a brutal November schedule: Iowa, Ohio State, at Nebraska, at Wisconsin. If they get through that stretch intact, Jerry Kill is your national coach of the year.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/109340/big-ten-friday-mailbag-45

Go Gophers!!

 

[Dr.Don]

I read that article on ESPN earlier, and all I could think is, One Game At A Time!!!

GO GOPHERS!!!

 

[GameDay]

This is the same guy who's predicting a Purdue win tomorrow. Credibility=lost

 

[GopherHomer]

Hard to argue with us being a long shot to win the West. We will likely be double digit underdogs for the OSU and Nebraska games...I think Wisconsin will be close to 10 points but we'll probably end up around 7 point underdogs. They're all winnable, but we'll likely have to win 2 of 3...assuming we beat Purdue, Illinois and Iowa.

 

[matt]

Hard to argue with us being a long shot to win the West. We will likely be double digit underdogs for the OSU and Nebraska games...I think Wisconsin will be close to 10 points but we'll probably end up around 7 point underdogs. They're all winnable, but we'll likely have to win 2 of 3...assuming we beat Purdue, Illinois and Iowa.

6-2 will likely win the division. We would only need to pull off 1 upset to go 6-2 so I would hardly call it a long shot.

 

[MaxyJR1]

6-2 will likely win the division. We would only need to pull off 1 upset to go 6-2 so I would hardly call it a long shot.

So you think we will be favored in two of last four games?

 

[Sparlimb]

6-2 will likely win the division. We would only need to pull off 1 upset to go 6-2 so I would hardly call it a long shot.

But losing to Nebraska and them going 6-2 means we don't win the division. Too many game to go to worry about it now. I do know that if we don't win the next 2, we won't have to worry about it. So down Purdue!

 

[Cayman]

So you think we will be favored in two of last four games?

Favored against Purdue, Illinois, Iowa, winning all those puts us at 5-0, get one upset in the last 3, assuming we are not favored in any of them, puts us at 6-2. Would only need one upset from here on out. I guess that it would be more than one upset if you count beating Michigan as an upset that has already occurred.