Gophers finish regular season 7-5, 5-4 in Big Ten, win over wisconsin - what grade would you give the regular season?

Gophers finish regular season 7-5, 5-4 in Big Ten, win over wisconsin - what grade would you give th

  • A

    Votes: 6 3.7%

  • B

    Votes: 114 70.8%

  • C

    Votes: 40 24.8%

  • D

    Votes: 1 0.6%

  • F

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    161
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Gophers finish regular season 7-5, 5-4 in Big Ten, win over wisconsin - what grade would you give the regular season?
 



This is my 42nd year as a fan. My baptism into Gophers football was being a young lad and following the team during the brutal 1983 season.

I believe this is the 10th time in my fandom that we've been above .500 in Big Ten conference play. I'll take it. Let's build on it.
 



C for coaching. Yes close losses. Took too long for the Offense to catch fire. If you are going to bring in Brossmer, let him do his thing. We didn't do that early.
 

I think it's in the C+, B- range. The schedule ended up being not as tough as we thought and there were some missed opportunities. There isn't a game I feel like we couldn't have won.

But overall it was a fairly entertaining season. We were better than many expected but also think we are better than the 7-5 record indicates.
 

B. This team could've bailed on PJ after the Iowa debacle and instead showed a ton of resilience almost coming back against Michigan and ripping off four straight conference wins. Yeah, the Rutgers game sucked but we almost beat PSU and took back the Axe. It could've been better but it could've been much, much worse and it's pretty clear that Fleck, while not amazing to this point, is a good coach worthy of this gig. We're in good hands.
 

B. It obviously could have been better and there were missed opportunities, but the team and coaches showed so much resilience week after week. Total night and day from last year when the team gave up after the Illinois choke.
 



B. Win one of the NC, Iowa, Penn St, Mich games and I’d probably have gone with A.

I came into this season figuring it was a 5 win season and really down on the prospects. Fleck opened up his game and the players stepped up with it. Really glad to have been proven wrong. Fun team to watch this year.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
This is my 42nd year as a fan. My baptism into Gophers football was being a young lad and following the team during the brutal 1983 season.

I believe this is the 10th time in my fandom that we've been above .500 in Big Ten conference play. I'll take it. Let's build on it.
Click to expand...
I hate to quote my own post but just to build on this stat.....
10th time in last 42 years above .500 in Big Ten....but Fleck has done it now 3 of last 4 and 4 of last 6. That means prior to 2019 it was 6 times in 36 years.

Fleck deserves credit for changing our slot in the pecking order. We aren't elite but we are no longer relegated to the bottom tier.
 

B. The schedule was less difficult than expected with USC and Michigan being average, but a small handful of killer turnovers and bad calls separated a decent season from a very good one.

The program is back trending in the right direction, the Axe is back, and all of the games were competitive in a difficult conference.
 

It’s a B for me. Most had us picked to be a 4 or 5 win team, so going 7-5 is a pretty big deal. Having said that, once again this team continues to give away games they should win. At a minimum, you should have beat North Carolina and been 8-4. As it was, 9-3, ranked snd going to a new Years’s bowl was definitely on the table and within reach.

Getting the axe is a big deal to close out this season. Looking forward to the bowl game, portal season, and next year. Hoping we get a bowl matchup with a decent SEC team, like Florida or LSU.
 




As much as I've criticized Fleck and Harbaugh, I've got to give Harbaugh credit for seeming to get better as the year has gone on. I really hope he continues to improve. I give credit to Fleck in any role he's played in that improvement. With that being said, I think we win against NC and PSU with a better OC, and maybe even MI. Let's hope the trend continues upward. I think the DC has been great! This defense was as fun to watch as any I can remember.
 

Was between a C and B, so I rounded up to a B given the good feeling coming out of today's win.

So easily could have been 8-4, if we just make the kick vs UNC. In a perfect world, you don't play that game the first week of the season. Brosmer wasn't up to speed yet.

Also ideally you don't play Iowa in week 4.

Michigan and Penn State probably weren't going to be wins.

Rutgers is the Bowling Green equivalent for this year. Really no excuses for that one.


But damn, I'll take a win in Madison, 4 out of last 7, Axe home, ends a 22 year winning season streak, and maybe just maybe keeps them out of a bowl game. :)
 

Taking out the two cupcakes, they only won two games by more than one score and they only lost one game by more than one score. Some couldas and shouldas went our way and some didn't. It's disappointing that a play here or there (or a missed kick or bad call) kept us from 8-4 or 9-3, but for all the hand-wringing in the fan base and all the downplaying by the national media in the pre-season, I'll take this and give them a solid-B.
 
Last edited:

GopherGrit said:
Was between a C and B, so I rounded up to a B given the good feeling coming out of today's win.

So easily could have been 8-4, if we just make the kick vs UNC. In a perfect world, you don't play that game the first week of the season. Brosmer wasn't up to speed yet.

Also ideally you don't play Iowa in week 4.

Michigan and Penn State probably weren't going to be wins.

Rutgers is the Bowling Green equivalent for this year. Really no excuses for that one.


But damn, I'll take a win in Madison, 4 out of last 7, Axe home, ends a 22 year winning season streak, and maybe just maybe keeps them out of a bowl game. :)
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Rutgers loss was no where near as bad a loss as Bowling Green though. We were only favored by like 6.5 I think.
 


Low B, high C so went with B. Left some meat on the bone with close loses in winnable games and had the clunker against Rutgers. Still managed to finish over .500 in conference and will be going bowling.

Closer to a truly special season than a disastrous one.
 

Solid B. Couple wins slipped away. Could have been a 9-10 win season, which would have been serious overachieving from my preseason expectations.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Low B, high C so went with B. Left some meat on the bone with close loses in winnable games and had the clunker against Rutgers. Still managed to finish over .500 in conference and will be going bowling.

Closer to a truly special season than a disastrous one.
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For sure

I wish they had finsihed

Literally left 10-2 on table not even including Penn state


2 turnovers in own red zone vs michigan
Fumble vs Rutgers
Missed field goal Vs North Carolina
 

Some guy said:
For sure

I wish they had finsihed

Literally left 10-2 on table not even including Penn state


2 turnovers in own red zone vs michigan
Fumble vs Rutgers
Missed field goal Vs North Carolina
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I went with a B too. I always struggle with how to grade a season with a Medicare win total but lots of meat left on the bone. Coaching staff deserves credit for having us in all those games, especially Penn State, but also deserves blame for not closing more of those opportunities due to self-inflicted wounds (can't stop thinking about PSU burning us on the poorly disguised fake punt).
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I went with a B too. I always struggle with how to grade a season with a Medicare win total but lots of meat left on the bone. Coaching staff deserves credit for having us in all those games, especially Penn State, but also deserves blame for not closing more of those opportunities due to self-inflicted wounds (can't stop thinking about PSU burning us on the poorly disguised fake punt).
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Yup
Definitely not an A
Definitely not a C to have the 10th winning big ten season since 1970
 

Any season with a win over Wisconsin is at least a C. Winning record makes it a B.
 

if we were grading on the 4.0 scale, I would give this season a 2.7 - better than a C, but a little short of the B in my eyes.

the losses to North Carolina and Rutgers really stand out. win those games, finish 9-3, and it's a 3.5 season.

I had doubts going into the season, but this team turned out to have more talent than I thought. Brosmer, Taylor, Jackson, Spencer, Perich, etc. In my book, this group was more talented than 7-5.
but the two losses I cited, and the uneven play, held them down from reaching their potential. They beat themselves just as much as other teams beat them.

I will add that the Gophers did not play 3 of the top 4 teams in the B1G. of course, they did not play 2 of the 3 worst teams either (Purdue & NWestern).

next year the Gophs play Oregon and Ohio State, but the rest of the schedule is more favorable.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
I hate to quote my own post but just to build on this stat.....
10th time in last 42 years above .500 in Big Ten....but Fleck has done it now 3 of last 4 and 4 of last 6. That means prior to 2019 it was 6 times in 36 years.

Fleck deserves credit for changing our slot in the pecking order. We aren't elite but we are no longer relegated to the bottom tier.
Click to expand...
But it only happened this year because the west is so weak. Oh wait...
 

short ornery norwegian said:
if we were grading on the 4.0 scale, I would give this season a 2.7 - better than a C, but a little short of the B in my eyes.

the losses to North Carolina and Rutgers really stand out. win those games, finish 9-3, and it's a 3.5 season.

I had doubts going into the season, but this team turned out to have more talent than I thought. Brosmer, Taylor, Jackson, Spencer, Perich, etc. In my book, this group was more talented than 7-5.
but the two losses I cited, and the uneven play, held them down from reaching their potential. They beat themselves just as much as other teams beat them.

I will add that the Gophers did not play 3 of the top 4 teams in the B1G. of course, they did not play 2 of the 3 worst teams either (Purdue & NWestern).

next year the Gophs play Oregon and Ohio State, but the rest of the schedule is more favorable.
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Yes, this years schedule was easier to go 10-2 against
Next years schedule is easier to go 8-4 against
 

3-4 in 1 score games this year, you have to figure out a way to win those close games.
 

BronkosGhost said:
3-4 in 1 score games this year, you have to figure out a way to win those close games.
Click to expand...
If we gave up two more score todays we are 4-4!


But yes

2019 taught us:
Go 9-0 vs medium or worse teams
Go 2-2 vs top 20 teams
 

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