Has Minnesota Surpassed Wisconsin?

[DrunkDons]

No, we haven’t surpassed Wisconsin. They usually out recruit us and Fickle had a top 20 class last year and is on pace to have another this year. Meanwhile, we’re in the low 40’s. until we can improve our recruiting, we will not pass teams that bring in classes rated more than 10 to 15 places higher than us.

That's great and all, but despite all of that, we've beat them 3 out of the last 4. What does that say about them? Seems like more of an indictment on them than a knock on us.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

No, we haven’t surpassed Wisconsin. They usually out recruit us and Fickle had a top 20 class last year and is on pace to have another this year. Meanwhile, we’re in the low 40’s. until we can improve our recruiting, we will not pass teams that bring in classes rated more than 10 to 15 places higher than us.

And why are players recruited?

As my philosophy prof once opined to my answer of “Why not” to the essay question of Why in the midterm exam, “While I generally say there are no wrong answers to this question, there certainly are those which are more correct.”

 

[Tech Machine]

Boise States recruiting the last five years are a high of 62 and a low of 67. How can they possibly be going to the CFB playoff?

 

[Word]

No, we haven’t surpassed Wisconsin. They usually out recruit us and Fickle had a top 20 class last year and is on pace to have another this year. Meanwhile, we’re in the low 40’s. until we can improve our recruiting, we will not pass teams that bring in classes rated more than 10 to 15 places higher than us.

Results on the field say our recruits are better.

 

[West Fargo Gopher Fan]

Minnesota has internet

 

[WAGopher]

That's great and all, but despite all of that, we've beat them 3 out of the last 4. What does that say about them? Seems like more of an indictment on them than a knock on us.

I’d say Fleck has been coaching well, Paul Chryst didn’t recruit well his last couple years, and Fickell changed their offense and hasn’t coach well so far. But if he keeps recruiting in the teens while we’re around 40ish, I don’t think that bodes well for us.

 

[WAGopher]

Results on the field say our recruits are better.

Or a combination of getting good football players (not the best) and doing a good job coaching.

 

[gophernut1]

Minnesota is better as a football team (winning 3 of 4) and we are better at developing talent (more players going to NFL).

However, what we lack compared to Wisconsin is a larger national brand. Wisconsin has years of being relevant. It is a assumed they will be a top half B1G team, even when we know they are worse than our MN team. This perception helps them in recruiting and keeps them relevant in national conversations even when they shouldn't be.

Minnesota will be ahead of Wisconsin when it starts to develop this type of brand identity. While I know there are people that say let the result on the filed speak for themselves, brand matters. Do you think if we beat NC, Rutgers and won against Penn State do you think that a 2 loss Gopher team would be in the the CFP? We would be in the conversation, but I think the Alabama's of the world would get in with 3 vs. our 2. We would be where Miami is, on the outside looking in when we know we deserve to be playing.

 

[swede2]

I would say an enthusiastic Yes.

Based on the following -

Have won 3 of the last 4.

Rarely lose top ranked MN preps to them. I’m old enough to remember to remember, when they would routinely get high rated preps, like: Rosga, McCullough, Powers-O’Neil etc…sometimes we snag A Roy

No longer dread games at Camp Randell.

Whatever shortcomings PJ has, this is certainly an indelible accomplishment.

The Black Friday Beatdown clinched it for me. They had zero hope to win that game after the first quarter; we were the Superior Squad and it wasn’t even close.

I suppose you could say that. Another view is that Wisconsin has fallen way back. Sure, I guess a slight improvement to our program and drastic decline in their program means we've passed Wisconsin. But if Wisconsin had stayed static, then no. As recently as the Bielema regime, Wisconsin was a conference title contender and sometimes mentioned briefly mentored as a pre-season national title contender. Meanwhile, we win 7 games and never won the awful Big 10 west division.

 

[mggoph]

Wisconsin has now lost all 6 of their defensive back signees from the 2023 class. This WAS one of their stronger position groups until recently. I LOVE IT!

Wisconsin Badgers transfer portal tracker: All 6 DBs from the 2023 class are gone

Who is transferring out of the program this offseason?

www.buckys5thquarter.com

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Wisconsin has now lost all 6 of their defensive back signees from the 2023 class. This WAS one of their stronger position groups until recently. I LOVE IT!

Wisconsin Badgers transfer portal tracker: All 6 DBs from the 2023 class are gone

Who is transferring out of the program this offseason?

www.buckys5thquarter.com

from a sinking

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

I suppose you could say that.

I did

Another view is that Wisconsin has fallen way back. Sure, I guess a slight improvement to our program and drastic decline in their program means we've passed Wisconsin. But if Wisconsin had stayed static, then no. As recently as the Bielema regime, Wisconsin was a conference title contender and sometimes mentioned briefly mentored as a pre-season national title contender. Meanwhile, we win 7 games and never won the awful Big 10 west division.

. That’s full on my world

 

[gopherbadgerman]

It sure feels like Wisconsin is in decline. I am not sure MN is on the rise, but they are steady.

 

[MonikerSchmoniker45]

If I cared enough, I'd lurk on Buckyville. Can you imagine the meltdowns that must be going on over there. There has to be one or more posts calling for coach Fickell to be canned. Can Barry come out of retirement one more time for them?

You talked me into it....and it's hilarious. I didn't know his T.E.A.M vest was such a point of contention.

 

[STPGopher]

I did

. That’s full on my world

 

[Word]

Wisconsin has now lost all 6 of their defensive back signees from the 2023 class. This WAS one of their stronger position groups until recently. I LOVE IT!

Wisconsin Badgers transfer portal tracker: All 6 DBs from the 2023 class are gone

Who is transferring out of the program this offseason?

www.buckys5thquarter.com

The portal can be fickell.

 

[SeaBee_Gopher]

Wisconsin has now lost all 6 of their defensive back signees from the 2023 class. This WAS one of their stronger position groups until recently. I LOVE IT!

Wisconsin Badgers transfer portal tracker: All 6 DBs from the 2023 class are gone

Who is transferring out of the program this offseason?

www.buckys5thquarter.com

Is this related to Fickell's focus on recruiting nationally instead of in WI? He's getting slightly higher rated players from other states, but are they staying around? It seems like PJ has focused on recruiting MN harder since the portal took off. We've discussed this in other threads. This might reduce the star rating slightly, but increase long term retention. I don't think we have enough data yet, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out. It could be random or MN just doesn't have the brand to recruit competitively nationally or it could be an actually strategy.

The chances of players sticking with your program if you have a couple bad years in a row should be much higher if they are local, right? Fickell went national from day one and might be seeing how little patience those recruits have for the program struggling right now.

Could it be said that good local recruiting establishes your floor, but not your ceiling? Too bad our recruiting radius is pretty poor, but it counts for something.