Gophers Add Future Series With Cal

[RememberMurray]

Nah...Fresno would have finished middle of the pack at best in the Big Ten that year. We overrate them to make that win look better.

Uh huh.

Well, "we" weren't the only ones; The AP Final Poll 'overrated' them, too, and put them in their Top 25.

AP Top 25 Poll, Rankings: 2018 Final

At the end of the 2019 season, what are the final rankings in the AP poll? The previous rankings are in parentheses. 25. Iowa Hawkeyes 9-4 (NR) 24. Cincinnati Bearcats 11-2 (NR) 23. Boise State Bro…

collegefootballnews.com

I wonder: was the AP "overrating" Fresno in order to make Minnesota's win over the Bulldogs "look better"? If so, I had no idea there were Gopher partisans at the AP. That's a pleasant surprise.

 

[PitinoFan]

Uh huh.

Well, "we" weren't the only ones; The AP Final Poll 'overrated' them, too, and put them in their Top 25.

AP Top 25 Poll, Rankings: 2018 Final

At the end of the 2019 season, what are the final rankings in the AP poll? The previous rankings are in parentheses. 25. Iowa Hawkeyes 9-4 (NR) 24. Cincinnati Bearcats 11-2 (NR) 23. Boise State Bro…

collegefootballnews.com

I wonder: was the AP "overrating" Fresno in order to make Minnesota's win over the Bulldogs "look better"? If so, I had no idea there were Gopher partisans at the AP. That's a pleasant surprise.

Even with the Robb Smith defense, we were pretty even with them in that game. You must have missed what happened once we started playing Big Ten teams (with the Robb Smith defense)...mediocre to bad teams. Given how big of a college football fan you are, I don’t think I need to explain the difference in the level of competition between the Big Ten and the MW. Losing that game at home would have been a bad loss.

 

[Urbandale]

I mean, I'm happy we scheduled a quality opponent in Cal, and it's better than a kick in the teeth - but why couldn't we schedule one of the 10 Pac-12 schools we haven't played in the last decade-plus? A home-and-home with Arizona St. (for example) would have been much better.

Nah. That would be redundant after we play Herm and the Sun Devils multiple times in the Rose Bowl in the years prior.

 

[RememberMurray]

Even with the Robb Smith defense, we were pretty even with them in that game. You must have missed what happened once we started playing Big Ten teams (with the Robb Smith defense)...mediocre to bad teams. Given how big of a college football fan you are, I don’t think I need to explain the difference in the level of competition between the Big Ten and the MW. Losing that game at home would have been a bad loss.

Oh. Robb Smith. Got it.

 

[PitinoFan]

I gave you my reasoning. We played a tossup game with them at home, and then proceeded to get boat raced by Maryland, Nebraska and Illinois. Make of that what you will.

 

[RememberMurray]

I gave you my reasoning. We played a tossup game with them at home, and then proceeded to get boat raced by Maryland, Nebraska and Illinois. Make of that what you will.

I already have. Thanks.

 

[Zeppelin Gopher]

I mean, I'm happy we scheduled a quality opponent in Cal, and it's better than a kick in the teeth - but why couldn't we schedule one of the 10 Pac-12 schools we haven't played in the last decade-plus? A home-and-home with Arizona St. (for example) would have been much better.

+1. Nice to add another quality home & home, but some variety would've been nice.

We've done recent home & homes with Cal, USC, and Oregon State from the Pac12. Somebody fresh would've been better.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

+1. Nice to add another quality home & home, but some variety would've been nice.

We've done recent home & homes with Cal, USC, and Oregon State from the Pac12. Somebody fresh would've been better.

 

[mjfelton15]

I love non-con games like these and couldn't disagree more with those that think we should schedule three sure wins. That was Mason's mentality; we're beyond that now. What did Fleck say? If you want to be a blue blood, you have to beat the blue bloods. (Or at least mid-level P5) Plus, I'm sure Coyle looks at it from a ticket sales angle. I love the upcoming docket of Cal, Colorado, Miss St., UNC, & BYU. Lots of cool away game destinations. As others have said, the trip to Cal a few years ago was AWESOME!

Wife and I are already counting on taking the trip for Colorado and UNC. I think we have to add Cal to the list for sure.

 

[hungan1]

Not to get too far off topic since this is about a new home and home, I disagree w your take about UC that year. They benefited from some slip ups from other teams. But they earned that spot. How many teams were in the top 15 on the Gophers schedule this year? One more than them?

They played at Pitt, at USF, and scheduled at Oregon St. The home game against WVU likely also gets categorized as a quality win. Think they may have had more quality wins than FL that year as well.

Not sure if you ever saw Tony Pike and Marty Gilyard play, but it was pretty magical. This was before BK (Brian Kelly) went postal on the coaching circut.

Sometimes you come out flat for bowl games. Could be what happened to Auburn this year. It is hard to go from Dec 5 to Jan 1 without playing for anyone.

FIFY:

BK (Brian Kelly), can't quite follow your story line with acronyms.

 

[KillmeNow]

I already discussed this at another site. If you look back BEFORE we played our ooc opponents, almost half of them had big seasons 2-6 years before we scheduled them.

I don't have my notes handy, but trust me. But just off the top of my head, I can name a few of them.

Oregon St made the Top 25 rankings a couple years before we played them.
San Jose St made the Top 25 rankings a couple years before we played them.
Fresno St made the Top 25 rankings a couple years before we played them, and then again the year we did play them.
South Dakota St had beaten NDSU twice in the 5 years leading up to our playing them and were the #3 ranked team in the FCS the year before we played them.

Then of course there was USC, TCU and Cal.

I'll look for my notes because I believe there were 2 or 3 other instances of our ooc opponents having at least one good year in that time frame of 3-6 years before we played, which may have been one reason why we scheduled them? Nothing better than beating someone like Fresno St when they may be getting overrated, makes us look good. And our losing to TCU and USC never made us look bad, and in fact we came close to beating each of those teams.

 

[Nomellini]

Made the trip out to Cal for that game as well. Great trip--stayed in the City and took the BART out to the game, caught the Barry Bonds era Giants play the Padres, did the Alcatraz tour, great food and drink options--good times. If you are a sports tourist, I highly recommend it.

I was there also. Loved the fact that the stadium has no running track so you're really close to the field. I remember the wooden benches in the Gopher section were so old and neglected that I was picking splinters out of my pants as I walked toward the Bart, past the houses full of jeering frat boys. The Gophers scored first and a chant began among the Gopher fans of "You can't stop us!" Turns out they could. Plus the Gophers had no answers for Marshawn Lynchor DeSean Jackson.