Every Year

[KD6-3.7]

It seems like every year Gopher fans start to get all amped up as the Gophers are coming out of fall camp, a new season and a fresh start. The coaches are talking about the players who are looking good and wannabe prognosticators on this board and elsewhere are breathlessly talking up the next all-Big Ten Gopher (myself included). We all want to believe that Gopher football has finally turned that corner and will give us something to be proud of; because we love the team, the university and everything about the Gophers.

Then when the season starts and the Gophers start to struggle, or just simply play like crap, we become the jilted lover. We opened ourselves up to our beloved gophers only to feel betrayed when they treat us the way they always have . We get emotional about the games and vent our frustrations about what we see as obvious flaws that should have obviously been fixed. But coaching, playing and recruiting at the Big Ten level is not an easy proposition (being a fan of a cellar dweller trying to become relevant again is not easy either). But Knee-jerk reactions from the stands or the couch are not going to change the team and the conference that they play in, only time will do that.

I think sometimes we forget that the Gophers play in one of the toughest leagues in college football, and while the gophers may be making progress, so is every other team. It would be nice to compete with Wisconsin and Iowa, but those teams have decades of stability and development.

Minnesota is not in the MAC. Minnesota is not in the Gateway Football Conference. Minnesota is in a very tough league that does not slow down and wait for a rebuilding program. I'd love to have one of these (mythical) meteoric turnarounds, but sometimes it takes a lot of time, patience and hard work to turn around a Big Ten program. Especially a program of Minnesota's standing in 2010.

It is good to have a board where we can let out or frustrations, but let's not let that catharsis turn into bitterness. The gophers played bad yesterday, that's a fact. But the gophers just might play better next week. After all, Minnesota played poorly against Penn state in 2005, only to beat Michigan the next week. Yes, I know, Penn State turned out to be very good that year, but that is hindsight. The Gophers were ranked #18 coming into that game and Penn state was unranked. I'm not saying that Iowa is going to win the Big Ten, but they are a good team (that is perhaps sometimes poorly coached).

You can disagree with me, and that is fine. But I am happy with where the Gophers are right now. Not good, but better than last year, with a real potential of a bowl game and with the prospect of being even better next year.

 

[thailleagle]

Iowa is NOT a good team...

 

[RedPoo]

Iowa is NOT a good team...

Iowa is a well above average FBS team.

UNLV took us to triple overtime last year. They were NOT a good team.
A beat-to-hell, 4-8 Iowa team handed it to us last year. They were NOT a good team.

We still made a bowl, and we still improved in the offseason. These things are incremental. I get the frustration, but those who don't have the patience for a real rebuild may be better served sitting it out until the team gets to a point they can be happy with.

 

[MRJ]

Iowa is a well above average FBS team.

UNLV took us to triple overtime last year. They were NOT a good team.
A beat-to-hell, 4-8 Iowa team handed it to us last year. They were NOT a good team.

We still made a bowl, and we still improved in the offseason. These things are incremental. I get the frustration, but those who don't have the patience for a real rebuild may be better served sitting it out until the team gets to a point they can be happy with.

That's the problem for the older folks however. This program has been in "a real rebuild" since the late 1960s, with only a couple of teams during that time being the exception. Therefore, I can completely understand their bitterness. There's only so many times you can watch the same crap happen just about every single year before it wears thin. Asking them to leave until things get better might mean jumping off the ship completely because for them, this "real rebuild" has been ongoing for 40-plus years.

 

[RedPoo]

That's the problem for the older folks however. This program has been in "a real rebuild" since the late 1960s, with only a couple of teams during that time being the exception. Therefore, I can completely understand their bitterness. There's only so many times you can watch the same crap happen just about every single year before it wears thin. Asking them to leave until things get better might mean jumping off the ship completely because for them, this "real rebuild" has been ongoing for 40-plus years.

As I said, I totally get the frustration. For the fans, this has been a decades long "rebuild." But for the coaching staff and the athletic department (i.e. the people who actually do the rebuilding) they're only a few years in. It sucks for us, because we remember all the past failed rebuilds, and they're all one long string of disappointment and frustration. But for most of the people involved in the program, they literally started at square one just a couple of years ago. In that context, losing to a decent Iowa team is only what it is...one step along the path to hopefully creating a strong football program.

 

[Governor Sibley]

Some things are more frustrating than others.

I expect us to always struggle finding skill position players.

I do not expect us to struggle for 3 straight years trying to piece together an offensive line. That's something most teams ought to be able to do well if they really commit to it.

 

[MRJ]

As I said, I totally get the frustration. For the fans, this has been a decades long "rebuild." But for the coaching staff and the athletic department (i.e. the people who actually do the rebuilding) they're only a few years in. It sucks for us, because we remember all the past failed rebuilds, and they're all one long string of disappointment and frustration. But for most of the people involved in the program, they literally started at square one just a couple of years ago. In that context, losing to a decent Iowa team is only what it is...one step along the path to hopefully creating a strong football program.

I see your perspective. For the players and coaches, they ask for more time, which realistically they need. For the older folks, they've heard other staffs and players ask for more time, and are tired of the same old pattern. It's just one of those disconnects that will continue to be there until the program actually turns the corner one of these years.

 

[thailleagle]

I see your perspective. For the players and coaches, they ask for more time, which realistically they need. For the older folks, they've heard other staffs and players ask for more time, and are tired of the same old pattern. It's just one of those disconnects that will continue to be there until the program actually turns the corner one of these years.

Exactly... how long have we been in "rebuilding" mode? Time to show & prove...

 

[Sparlimb]

Some things are more frustrating than others.

I expect us to always struggle finding skill position players.

I do not expect us to struggle for 3 straight years trying to piece together an offensive line. That's something most teams ought to be able to do well if they really commit to it.

I wonder why 2/3rds of the Wide Receivers in the MAC would start on this team. That is concerning to me...

 

[Bad Gopher]

I wonder why 2/3rds of the Wide Receivers in the MAC would start on this team. That is concerning to me...

That's the part I did not expect three years into this regime. This staff was known for finding skilled and speedy receivers under proverbial rocks. I figured they would find a few sleepers to tide is over until they could reel in some big time athletes.

 

[wdgold]

That's the part I did not expect three years into this regime. This staff was known for finding skilled and speedy receivers under proverbial rocks. I figured they would find a few sleepers to tide is over until they could reel in some big time athletes.

I don't know what to think anymore. What is really frustrating is watching teams like Wisconsin and Northwestern who use to be doormats in this league totally turn a 180 over the years and here we sit with the same ole stuff year after year.

 

[RailBaronYarr]

^^ Exactly. Northwestern is a small, private school that has every disadvantage in bringing in high caliber players as we do (if not more, due to academics). In a major metro with tons of rival (or completely irrelevant) alums. Tons of other options for potential fan dollars. A much smaller (and disparate) alumni base. They go from a middling to poor Big Ten team to actually winning games against Iowa, Nebraska, etc. Illinois has major ups and downs - winning a BT title in 01 to doormat for many years and then putting it together for at least a season and going to the Rose Bowl. It's tough playing the perennial waiting game, then doing it all over again when a coach gets let go after 3.5-4 years (or stops caring after 5-6 like Mason) and we hear the same "in 2-3 years" stuff we always do. I'm not melting down, just saying it would be really nice to consistently go 3-5 to 5-3 in the BT, win a big non-conf game every now and again, and take down Michigan/Neb/OSU every 6-8 times we play them and close to every other time with Iowa and Wisconsin.

 

[thailleagle]

^^ Exactly. Northwestern is a small, private school that has every disadvantage in bringing in high caliber players as we do (if not more, due to academics). In a major metro with tons of rival (or completely irrelevant) alums. Tons of other options for potential fan dollars. A much smaller (and disparate) alumni base. They go from a middling to poor Big Ten team to actually winning games against Iowa, Nebraska, etc. Illinois has major ups and downs - winning a BT title in 01 to doormat for many years and then putting it together for at least a season and going to the Rose Bowl. It's tough playing the perennial waiting game, then doing it all over again when a coach gets let go after 3.5-4 years (or stops caring after 5-6 like Mason) and we hear the same "in 2-3 years" stuff we always do. I'm not melting down, just saying it would be really nice to consistently go 3-5 to 5-3 in the BT, win a big non-conf game every now and again, and take down Michigan/Neb/OSU every 6-8 times we play them and close to every other time with Iowa and Wisconsin.

Exactly... why is this hard at Minnesota?

 

[RedPoo]

Exactly... why is this hard at Minnesota?

It's hard everywhere. It's not as though every other team in the world isn't trying to win.
It happened at Northwestern because you cherry-picked one of the teams that's gotten lucky, gotten the right coach(es) and put it all together.

 

[wdgold]

^^ Exactly. Northwestern is a small, private school that has every disadvantage in bringing in high caliber players as we do (if not more, due to academics). In a major metro with tons of rival (or completely irrelevant) alums. Tons of other options for potential fan dollars. A much smaller (and disparate) alumni base. They go from a middling to poor Big Ten team to actually winning games against Iowa, Nebraska, etc. Illinois has major ups and downs - winning a BT title in 01 to doormat for many years and then putting it together for at least a season and going to the Rose Bowl. It's tough playing the perennial waiting game, then doing it all over again when a coach gets let go after 3.5-4 years (or stops caring after 5-6 like Mason) and we hear the same "in 2-3 years" stuff we always do. I'm not melting down, just saying it would be really nice to consistently go 3-5 to 5-3 in the BT, win a big non-conf game every now and again, and take down Michigan/Neb/OSU every 6-8 times we play them and close to every other time with Iowa and Wisconsin.

Oh your not melting down, very thoughtful response. I have been following Gopher FB since the 70's when I saw my first game at Memorial. I bought my first season tickets when TCF opened and now my 17 yr old is hooked on the gophers, he goes to every game. I will never forget when the Brewster ship was sinking and my son said “If the Gophers went 0-12 every year he would still go to the games and cheer on the team. Although frustrating as it is waiting and waiting for this program to really do something I will always follow this team and cheer them on every game. All we can do is hang in there and hope that Kill is still the coach that will finally turn this around.

 

[RailBaronYarr]

It's hard everywhere. It's not as though every other team in the world isn't trying to win.
It happened at Northwestern because you cherry-picked one of the teams that's gotten lucky, gotten the right coach(es) and put it all together.

Do we need to point out that every team save Indiana has had more success since 1967 than us? You don't need to cherry-pick individual teams. It's simple, every team outside OSU and Michigan powerhouses have had at least a season or two in the past 15-20 years in the sun, with Wisconsin having more than that.

 

[wait!what?]

That Drew Wolitarsky runs really clean routes. expect him to have a bigger role this week.

 

[Go Gophers Rah]

Do we need to point out that every team save Indiana has had more success since 1967 than us?

Actually, by some metrics, IU has been more successful than us. Their last 6-2 Big Ten season was in 1987; ours was in 1973. Their last RoseBowl appearance was 1967, ours was 1961.

I think we underestimate how historically bad our team has been for the past 45 years. I wold say that among the 60 or so "major schools" the worst four in my lifetime (since 1970) are the Gophers, Duke, Indiana and Iowa State. I hate to be so down on our team, but we (r maybe its just I) need to be honestabout our past in order to be realistic about the future. This mess took a long time to make and it might take a long time to clean up.

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

This is the third season that the Gophers have been at or near the bottom of the conference in offense. They don't show up in the top ten players this week in either passing or rushing (or receiving). Offense is a continuing problem. James Franklin had Vanderbilt looking good on offense and competing in a very tough conference his first year there. Our QB play Saturday was abysmal. Plus we have to win TWO conference games to get to a bowl - and it is hard to see how we can do that. Indiana will be up and tough at home and Penn State will be improving with a better QB than we have. Hope I'm wrong, but the offense has struggled this year, especially in the first half, even against weak teams.

 

[wait!what?]

we are disappoint. so cute how we expect more.