Expectations, Then and Now

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MplsGopher said:
2019 obviously was higher than any reasonable person was willing to predict. That's my opinion. I thought we'd go 7-5, but was hoping for 8-4. Nebraska, and especially Purdue and NW, were far worse than expected. I also expected Maryland and Illinois to put up more of a fight. Was hoping we'd get one win out of Penn St, Iowa, Wisconsin, and was not expecting it to be Penn St. Was hoping it'd be Wisconsin. Oh well, the Penn St game was the greatest Gopher football home game I've ever been to.

2020, like Chip said in his article today, 7-5 is not acceptable. The floor has to be 8-4, and that is absolutely achievable. Anything less than that has to be seen as a regression.
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Preseason GH Poll had a majority expecting at least nine wins.
 

The offense was better than I expected - or, let's say more explosive. I expected more of a grind-it-out running team with the occasional pass. Obviously, that wasn't the case.

The defense was, in some ways, not quite what I expected. the DL continues to be one of the biggest areas of concern. They find guys who are serviceable, but I'm still hoping to see a dominant DT or DE one of these years.

Special teams were a huge disappointment.

Overall, better year than I expected. But lots of questions on defense going into next year. especially in the first 3-4 games, the offense may need to carry the defense. would not be surprised to see a lot of high-scoring games. And - being that coaches are copycats - you can bet that every B1G coach watched what WI did against MN and will try to incorporate some of those tactics.

So, for next year - expect 8 wins, hope for 9, thrilled with 10.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Preseason GH Poll had a majority expecting at least nine wins.
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I’m guessing the poll had a majority around 7-8, with a good number at 9. People saying 10 or higher weren’t doing so with any reasonable basis.

My point was that 10 is greater than 7,8, or 9, thus surpassing expectations.
 

MplsGopher said:
I’m guessing the poll had a majority around 7-8, with a good number at 9. People saying 10 or higher weren’t doing so with any reasonable basis.

My point was that 10 is greater than 7,8, or 9, thus surpassing expectations.
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Ahh, no. More voted for 9 or 10 than 7 or 8.
 

Looks like a 9-3 type season to me, with a decent chance for 10-2. The defense might take a step back, and we’ll probably face better offenses, on average, so I expect we’ll have to throw the ball more to keep up in some of those games. 3500 yards and 30+ TDs for Morgan.
 


Now that we are at the end of the regular season this year's wins and losses feel like Tracey Claeys 9 win season.
 

Spaulding!No! said:
Now that we are at the end of the regular season this year's wins and losses feel like Tracey Claeys 9 win season.
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If you say it feels that way to you, nobody can deny your feelings. But I'd submit to you that this year's season was far more impressive. More difficult strength of schedule, more dominant wins in the B1G, much better statistically (including record setting production on O), signature win over a top 10 team, two home sellouts, multiple weeks ranked in the top 10, College Gameday, and 2 more regular season wins than 2016.

I don't mean to downplay 2016 because it was a lot of fun as a fan -- especially the bowl win -- but 2019 was just better by most metrics. Again though, if it "felt" similar to some, that's their perception...
 

Spaulding!No! said:
Now that we are at the end of the regular season this year's wins and losses feel like Tracey Claeys 9 win season.
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I felt like TC's teams played well but hung on by their fingertips offensively.

This team makes plays.
 






PMWinSTP said:
I put it in post #15.
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Apologies, I missed it. The poll I posted above had similar amounts of votes. Regardless, most people either voted for 8(+) or 9(+). And my point, still, stands with those results. If you have something to say addressing my actual point that I was making, please feel free.
 

MplsGopher said:
Apologies, I missed it. The poll I posted above had similar amounts of votes. Regardless, most people either voted for 8(+) or 9(+). And my point, still, stands with those results. If you have something to say addressing my actual point that I was making, please feel free.
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I did. As I posted, majority in the poll expected at least 9 wins.
 




MGGopher said:
If you say it feels that way to you, nobody can deny your feelings. But I'd submit to you that this year's season was far more impressive. More difficult strength of schedule, more dominant wins in the B1G, much better statistically (including record setting production on O), signature win over a top 10 team, two home sellouts, multiple weeks ranked in the top 10, College Gameday, and 2 more regular season wins than 2016.

I don't mean to downplay 2016 because it was a lot of fun as a fan -- especially the bowl win -- but 2019 was just better by most metrics. Again though, if it "felt" similar to some, that's their perception...
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Well said. Prior to the Penn State game there were some definite similarities between 2016 and 2019 but after that game those comparisons were gone.

2016 - 8-4, 5-4 regular season - tied for 4th in the West, 2 games behind the leader
2019 - 10-2, 7-2 regular season - tied for 1st in the West.

2016 was a solid season that ended with a good bowl win but 2019 was significantly better in almost all ways and if we take care of business in the bowl game we have a chance to end up with 11 wins.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Well said. Prior to the Penn State game there were some definite similarities between 2016 and 2019 but after that game those comparisons were gone.

2016 - 8-4, 5-4 regular season - tied for 4th in the West, 2 games behind the leader
2019 - 10-2, 7-2 regular season - tied for 1st in the West.

2016 was a solid season that ended with a good bowl win but 2019 was significantly better in almost all ways and if we take care of business in the bowl game we have a chance to end up with 11 wins.
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Exactly.

I was a huge Claeys fan, and I was among those who believed he got a raw deal. I loved the 2016 team and still am impressed with their accomplishments.

But 2019 was the next step up the ladder, for exactly the reasons that MNVCGUY articulated.
 

we must have been expecting much more in 2016. It feels like the expectations were higher for 2016 - in the doogie interview mitch says he had a hard time letting go of that season.
 

I said preseason we had to have 9 wins to feel like we were headed in the right direction. We are at 10 and counting so I feel really good about the season. I think next year we need to hit at least 9 wins again to feel like this is sustainable. I don't need 10 or 11 wins every season to call the program a success. It takes a little bit of luck along with being good to put up those kind of seasons. I really made an effort to enjoy this season because I felt we were good and lucky and we might be better in the coming years but not have the same kind of win total.
 

2019 Gopher Football:

1st - tie for B1G West
1st - 7 win conference record
1st - since 1904 to be 9-0
1st - to be 6-0 in conference since 1940's
1st - time to get College GameDay on campus
1st - B1G team to have two 1,000 yard receivers
1st - Team in B1G history to have 2 all-B1G first team receivers

Compare to previous seasons if you want but this season was and is special.
 
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Otis said:
2019 Gopher Football:

1st - tie for B1G West
1st - 7 win conference record
1st - since 1904 to be 9-0
1st - to be 6-0 in conference since 1940's
1st - time to get College GameDay on campus
1st - B1G team to have two 1,000 yard receivers

Compare to previous seasons if you want but this season was and is special.
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It was (and is) special, indeed.

But it's also valid to point out that, according to our head coach, 2019-level success is the 'New Normal'. Hopefully, Fleck has shown the way way to raised expectations in Lake Wobegon.

I am eagerly awaiting reaching even higher heights in 2020.
 

I expect the West to be decided on the last week of the season again next year and possibly the top four teams in the West playing in those games. MN at Nebraska on Friday and Wisconsin at Iowa on the Saturday.
 

as far as comparing to other seasons:
National Titles: 1904, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, 1960
Big Ten Titles: 18 including days as Western Conference. 7 outright, 11 shared.

so, to place this season in historical context, it is certainly one of the best seasons in recent history - key word being recent.
I know fans are starving for success, and want to embrace the 2019 season as a milestone. But, let's remember the entire history of the program.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
as far as comparing to other seasons:
National Titles: 1904, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, 1960
Big Ten Titles: 18 including days as Western Conference. 7 outright, 11 shared.

so, to place this season in historical context, it is certainly one of the best seasons in recent history - key word being recent.
I know fans are starving for success, and want to embrace the 2019 season as a milestone. But, let's remember the entire history of the program.
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We all know that Gopher football was once dominant but I would bet if we did a survey we would find that the vast majority of the board wasn't even born yet in 1960. So for the majority of us this was the first time the Gopher Football program has been truly relevant on a National level in our lifetime.

There have been occasional flashes but this season reached another level and has the look of being sustainable going forward.

When you have to go back 60 years to find a better season then the one we just had, it qualifies as more then just a recent milestone. Sure, in the total history of Gopher Football this season falls behind the National Championship years and maybe even some other seasons along the way. But it is also more then just the best season in recent memory, for a vast majority of us it was the best season of Gopher Football in our lifetimes and it gives us hope that bigger and better things are actually possible for this program.
 

You build toward the future and you play today. I was imagining big things (no number derived from my cranium) and I think that in the future, the discussion will be how we challenge to get into the playoffs on a regular basis, not knowing if that is a 5 year cycle or a 3 year cycle. But, my concern for the future is still recruiting the lines of offense and defense. We still need more power to move mass in the middle and to slow its momentum in a push. I don't like years where we only take 2-3 linemen. It hurts depth and development.
 

MplsGopher said:
That's fine, it's established.
Which doesn't address the actual point I was making.
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You actually made several, which one in particular would you like me to address?
 

RememberMurray said:
Well said.

You're right; we do, in fact, belong on the field with any of those teams. We have reached that point.

Doesn't mean we'll beat teams of that quality every time we play them, but I'm confident we'll compete with them most every time, and win against them some of the time.

Getting this far represents real progress. I don't think we've reached the final goal — I think Fleck believes we can rise above our current level — but we're moving in the right direction.

Looking ahead at our 2020 schedule, I'm fully expecting another 10-win season.
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Remember, it will be an upward zig-zag. He showed us his chart for success.
 


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