For those assuming we start off 4-0

Donate To GopherHole
D

Doc1001

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 12, 2008
Messages
3,302
Reaction score
107
Points
63
Be wary. Except for the USC game last year it seems we always pencil in wins over all of our non conference games or at least most of them. . then we leave the non conference schedule greatly disappointed. Take Western Michigan this year for example. I believe some people have them rated like in the top 30 or 40 in the nation. They have six returning players on offense and 8 on defense. Here are their point totals for last year on offense:
10 38 44 20 38 45 22 10 63 45 24 32
In losing to New Mexico State last year I would just guess we would have lost to this years western michigan team by about 41-10 or something like that. SO to beat them this year our defense must be a ton better than last year. I wonder if it is. If not our offense has to be fantastic to beat them. We can do it but wow--we must be way better than last year. Hoping thats the case. Their achilles heel is there defense--so we must really put up the points on them as I doubt we can stop them cold. Should be interesting to see if we have improved as much as we hope. And we must remember those automatic non conference game we assume we will win usually dont pan out. Beware.
 

Are you talking to me? Are, you talking to me? Are you, talking, to me? Are you talking to, me?

Last year is dead and gone. This defense will be more like the one that played against Illinois. Not till late in the season, not until injury allowed him to play did we see Mr. Hageman. I have not seen a defensive tackle at Minnesota play like he did against Illinois. And now we have depth at both defensive tackles. Johnson, Lagana, Botticelli. Out of nowhere comes Michael Carter at Corner and the return of Stoudermire. They are backed up with JC talent and a couple of talented freshmen. Stoudermire played only two games, and Carter was well down the bench. Linebacker is the deepest with 6 or 8 players we have the ablity to play dual threat teams and down hill offenses. And we see a leader not only during the winter conditioning but also in the weight room in Vareen at safety. This defense is markedly better, better than the pieced together group we had last year. And they have had now nearly two years of the same coaching, same system. The thing this defense is poise to do now it play for take aways. I am not looking at a stone cold shut down defense, but one who can do three things. Keep the ball in front of them, tackle well, and get off the field on third down. If they can keep opponents below 20 points its going to be on the offense.
 

Husker's right, the D should be much better at the beginning of this season than it was at the beginning of last year but after reading the season preview for Western Michigan I'm a little less convinced that we can write it down as a win right now. To be honest, i feel like New Hampshire is the only sure thing at this point.
 

The UNLV game will be over by the 3rd quarter ( according to my dream ..Hee , Hee) New Hampshire? ho hum. Western Michigan? Two games under the belt we smoke them. Syracuse?, Gopher fans will be giddy by the 4th quarter and doing the wave. On to Iowa......
 



I can't imagine too many people are assuming 4-0. Most think it's certainly doable, but not a sure thing by any means.
 

Who is assuming that the Gophers will be 4-0? I agree, get over last year. There's every reason to believe that this team will be better than last year. 4-0 is a real possibility, but people aren't assuming the Gophers will be 4-0.

So much gloom. Most people are ranking the Gophers in the 60's or low 70's, but one person puts the Gophers at 101 and everyone seems to embrace that one outlier.
 

Western Michigan is a key game for this season.
They're a quality team & a real test.
We'll know a lot more when it's over.
 

I'm wary, too. 2-0, but not necessarily 4-0. I'm hoping for 3-1 plus two confererence wins. But we could be underdogs in all Big Ten games.
 






I think most fans have learned not to expect too much after watching our team lose to New Mexico, North Dakota and USD for crying out loud. I still cant believe we lost to USD, it baffles me that a B1G team could lose to that tiny school in Vermillion, SD. Im hoping to enjoy a Gophers win in Vegas and go from there.
 



I went out and looked a WMU, they have a good O Line, good Quarterback, and decent Running Backs. They graduated their top three Receivers, since their offense is pass heavy, replacing them is a great big question mark. On defense they have a decent Defensive Backfield and some play makers on the D Line. They don't have great Linebackers so teams that ran against them had good success once the got past the D Line. The run defense was so bad that they have brought in a new Defensive Coordinator. In the kicking game no one knows how good they'll be because they'll be starting freshman at both Kicker and Punter. I'm a little wary but this is not a game I'm worried about, later in the season maybe but they just need to find too many answers too put it together enough to beat us.
 

Assume 4-0?? I never assume even 1-0 on any given game, especially with our football team lately.
 





BleedGopher said:
MrGopher, by "lately" do you mean the last 40 years?! :D

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

Generally speaking, yes. But looking back on some of the early 2000's you could bank on the assumption that Mase would steamroll some creampuff non-cons.
 

MrGopher said:
Generally speaking, yes. But looking back on some of the early 2000's you could bank on the assumption that Mase would steamroll some creampuff non-cons.
Click to expand...

Excellent point, Mase was wonderful at steamrolling teams w/o the d to stop his running game. Although we did drop some games to teams like Ohio that were not that good, not terrible, but not good.
 

husker70 said:
Last year is dead and gone.
Click to expand...

Thank you husker70! I was beginning to think that everybody here were afraid let go of it (Yes, I know that isn't really the case but it has often felt like that). As you stated in your comments in your full post there are so many noticeable and quantifiable reasons why things are different about this upcoming season. Sure there are no guarantees but it is time to move on and appreciate what is taking place here.

Now repeat after me: Last year is dead and gone. Last year is dead and gone. Last year is dead and gone. Etc. Etc Etc.
 

4-0 is doable - and then that may lead to a 7-5 record instead of 6-6.
 

The hardest thing to do when playing any game. Golf, football, you name it is to forget your last play or shot and get ready for the next one. I think this was Ed Olson Jr.'s problem last year. He was too busy self examining his last play, and the next one was in front of him. You cannot execute when you are looking back
 

If they do go undefeated through the non-conference schedule, I believe that they will have simply too much confidence/swag in their ass and go down to Iowa City and whip them soundly and make it 5-0.
 

GoldenHerbs said:
If they do go undefeated through the non-conference schedule, I believe that they will have simply too much confidence/swag in their ass and go down to Iowa City and whip them soundly and make it 5-0.
Click to expand...

Honest question: even if Iowa is also 4-0 coming into that game? They'll have some swagger too (including a rivalry victory under their belt)...

(Disclaimer: I think Iowa will lose one of their non-cons against either NIU or ISU)
 


Lets play the first game and then speculate. We should win at UNLV, but they have a pretty good O Line, for a Non AQ school. If the D Line holds up, and has a good showing, it'll bode well for the season. Each non conference opponent should test us in different ways let's play them one at a time and develop as a team. All four games are winnable as long as the team plays with discipline and focus.
 

One week at a time. We have no business writing off any team these days with who we've lost to in the past three years. Every week is a challenge, anybody can beat anybody, play 100% no matter the opponent. No win is guaranteed...at least not for us.
 

I'm a Gopher fan, I can't conceive of assuming a 4-0 start and I'd want to check the medication of any of my brethren who did make that assumption. I have always thought Murphy's Law should be renamed Goldy's Law.

My Gopher obsession is the one thing that I have in common with Emo kids, I'm addicted to the misery (also a Vikes and Wolves fan, go figure).

I don't think many people are assuming we'll go 4-0. It's possible, but 2-2 is probably as likely as 4-0.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom