Expectations rest of season

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At the beginning of the season I was optimistic they would win 7 games. Now I'm concerned they may only win 5 games and therefore no bowl game
Michigan L
Iowa L (Fleck hasn't beat them)
MSU toss up
Illinois toss up
Purdue toss up
Ohio State L
Wisconsin L

Even if they win two of the toss up games they will finish 5 - 7.
 

At this point winning another game will be a victory. This offensive scheme is very predictable, even Darrell Thompson said they need to pass more. The defense is soft, what we were promised was they would be Elite. Not even close.
 

Every B1G west game plus MSU (the 5 non-Michigan/OSU games) is about a coin flip. None of these teams is very good.

I think we win at least 2. If we can win 3 of 5, we’ll be going bowling at 6-6. If we get a bowl game—any bowl game—and beat just one of Iowa or Wisconsin, that’s a passing C- on the season from me.
 

PhiloVance said:
At the beginning of the season I was optimistic they would win 7 games. Now I'm concerned they may only win 5 games and therefore no bowl game
Michigan L
Iowa L (Fleck hasn't beat them)
MSU toss up
Illinois toss up
Purdue toss up
Ohio State L
Wisconsin L

Even if they win two of the toss up games they will finish 5 - 7.
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Iowa and Wisconsin aren’t toss ups?
 


semnfan said:
At this point winning another game will be a victory. This offensive scheme is very predictable, even Darrell Thompson said they need to pass more. The defense is soft, what we were promised was they would be Elite. Not even close.
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Lol why do people throw around how we were promised such and such? Promised by who?
 








FanSinceTheFifties said:
7-6 with a bowl win would be a good recovery at this point.
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Yup. NW should have put us in good position for a bowl. That was a huge miss. Fact is....this just isn't a very good team. Defense is pretty bad. Special teams is very bad outside of Kesich. Offense is decent enough to be competitive.....but that's not enough.

With this team.....that's not really a factor in the West.....we should be willing to roll the dice more. Unfortunately, Fleck is chickenshit. Tossing out a vanilla gameplan is okay when you're winning. But if you are going to be boring as shit and lose.......well.........no wonder there's no NIL money.
 

I think we could be 8-4 if we begin to experience explosive plays on offense and our special teams become a positive element in most games. But if we fall into a run 75% of the time rut again, forget about explosive plays. And PJ will need a brain transplant before he will take the risks necessary to farm field position benefits from special teams. (Cooper DeJean returned a punt 70 yards today to ensure an Iowa victory over MSU). So, with a careful, predictable, 1970s running game, a stifled passing game, and STs ignored as an element of offensive football, 6-6 seems like the highest record possible at this point—barring any further defensive meltdowns.🤷🏼‍♂️
 



Um, the Gophers win, and the opponents lose.

I think that's a nice and short summary of the thread!
 

Fleck is confident in his offensive philosophy. He learned it from Jim Tressel who learned it from Woody Hayes who picked it up from the 1933 Chicago Bears.
 

Dakota2 said:
Fleck is confident in his offensive philosophy. He learned it from Jim Tressel who learned it from Woody Hayes who picked it up from the 1933 Chicago Bears.
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And Jared begat Enoch. And Enoch begat begat Methuselah. And Methuselah begat Lamech. And Lamech begat begat Noah. And Noah begat Shem.
 

Goldmember said:
And Jared begat Enoch. And Enoch begat begat Methuselah. And Methuselah begat Lamech. And Lamech begat begat Noah. And Noah begat Shem.
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Just hope the Gophers made it to The Ark...hard to tell some games...
 




I think even with Evans we can get that done.

BWill pass pro/short yardard, STyler for speed/change of pace/receiving.

Obviously we all want Taylor back too.
 

PhiloVance said:
At the beginning of the season I was optimistic they would win 7 games. Now I'm concerned they may only win 5 games and therefore no bowl game
Michigan L
Iowa L (Fleck hasn't beat them)
MSU toss up
Illinois toss up
Purdue toss up
Ohio State L
Wisconsin L

Even if they win two of the toss up games they will finish 5 - 7
Click to expand...

Missed one. PJ owns Wisconsin
 


BilldGopher said:
Since that would happen before November...it would be even more significant to pull that one off.

Even more it's been 24 years since we won in I-O-W-A City. Maybe this team's destiny is to break that curse? That's actually a pleasant thought...I could let a lot of bad slide with Floyd at home from his IC hell.
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Thanks for reinforcement of my point. Far too long the pig has residednim that stinkhole. PJ needs to shed the Iowa monkey off his back
 


Big Ten West Champs at 6-3. Maybe 7-2.

Once again, we have a great run game.

Callahan has pieced together a unit that is still improving as interior guys gain more and more experience.

Very solid at tackle with the two returnees looking like likely All-Big honorees again. Greg Johnson is a freshman All-American candidate and gaining confidence. Boe very solid. Kallerup a great physical blocking tight end. BSF also a big blocking TE.

Very, very nice stepping out party for Zach Evans as another freshman All-American candidate and one of the nation's leading rushers was out. Williams solid. Sean Tyler adds some speed. AK adds some QB run that hasn't been used much yet.

QB position is improving at light speed as Harbaugh, Koehler, Athan figure out what they can and can't do well. Very, very efficient last two weeks. Pass blocking can get better.

Jackson and Crooms are gamers. Will need Spencer (or Hoskins, Lanier?) to step up. Or, use the very nice RBs more in pass game?

Have got next to nothing from TE in pass game so far...so huge upside there moving forward.

Great weapon at kicker to take away opponent return game, hit some 50 yard plus FGs.
 

Like the d-line. Redshirt frosh Anthony Smith improving leaps and bounds. JLR and Joyner can be havoc makers. Striggow very solid. Baugh very solid, can be explosive. Eastern getting better each week.

Need to get Lindenberg back.

Need to coach up Devon, Maverick, Selig. Maybe Stolsky?

Henderson is a god-send.

McDonald might add something down the stretch.

Walley and Nubin good...can be better.

Watson, Jones have upside.

Green, Gousby have upside. Green can hit.

Punter has upside.

Punt and kick return have upside.

Rossi has earned trust to figure things out.
 

Every game vs West and MSU are very winnable.

Maryland and Rutgers and Northwestern might help us out in crossovers. Nebraska might figure some things out by end of season games vs WI and IA.

Still think run first offenses will do better in October and November in Big Ten West.

Iowa down a QB and top TE and RBs banged up. Took a shanked punt and punt return and late MSU fumble to defeat a weak Sparty in a blackout at Kinnick. Wisconsin down a RB. QB takes a lot of hits. Badger star lb not reliable. Illini very banged up on their lines and RB dinged as well.

Coyle needs to help PJ out with some good marketing and gameday logistics/production to get some home crowd advantage in a few of these games.
 
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I would like to see them at least get to 6 wins and a bowl game. I agree with some previous posts in there are reasons to be optimistic (...AK has been better last two weeks, offense has been been scoring touchdowns instead of field goals, we are getting some pressure on QBs, Evans emerged, Lindenburg will be back at some point, some players may have underachieved and pick it up, etc).
 

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