How Good are the Gophers?

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Laker

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I have missed watching them the first 2 weeks of the season due to some out of town family commitments . Reading the recaps and posts here it looks like they are the favorite to win the Big west. Beating 2 weak opponents makes it hard to gauge how good they are relative to the rest of the Big. It appears that Mich and Ohio State are a step above . Question is can the Gophers jump to the next level?
 

The gophers are firmly in level 2 of the conference.
I am not sure they are good enough to be level 1 this year.

I am not sure Iowa, wisconsin, Purdue, or penn state are good enough to be level 2 this year though.

Usually it’s Ohio state then a big pack of teams clumped behind them.

This year it is Michigan and Ohio state tier 1
Michigan state and Minnesota tier 2.


Waiting to see if any other teams are tier two but to my eye it so far looks like the rest might be tier 3.
 

Laker said:
I have missed watching them the first 2 weeks of the season due to some out of town family commitments . Reading the recaps and posts here it looks like they are the favorite to win the Big west. Beating 2 weak opponents makes it hard to gauge how good they are relative to the rest of the Big. It appears that Mich and Ohio State are a step above . Question is can the Gophers jump to the next level?
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You should look into a DVR. You can watch the games when it is convenient for you.

The Michigan State and Purdue games will reveal a lot. Right now the defense looks fast and the offense looks dynamic and this seems to project beyond the two easy opponents that have been played so far.
 
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Laker said:
I have missed watching them the first 2 weeks of the season due to some out of town family commitments . Reading the recaps and posts here it looks like they are the favorite to win the Big west. Beating 2 weak opponents makes it hard to gauge how good they are relative to the rest of the Big. It appears that Mich and Ohio State are a step above . Question is can the Gophers jump to the next level?
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They look really good. Very efficient, disciplined. Of course the opponents haven't been great, but they did what a good team is supposed to do in those situations.

I'd say right now they look like an upper level Big Ten team, second tier. Reminding me of that 2019 squad. They're not on the Michigan/Ohio State level, but still a really good team.
 



Kinda of what I thought. My old ball coach used to say” you don’t learn how to kill polar bears by clubbing baby seals” . Time will tell. I have a DVR but is usually full of Hallmark shows and Murder mysteries that my wife prefers. Should I be worried?
 

Schnauzer said:
You should look into a DVR. You can watch the games when it is convenient for you.

The Michigan State and Purdue games will reveal a lot. Right now the defense looks fast and the offense looks dynamic and this seems to project beyond the two easy opponents that have been played so far.
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Yup, pretty much this. We'll know a ton by Oct 1.

Things that make me think MN might have a special season:
  • Mo and Potts look healthy
  • Kirk C being very multiple on offense and throwing into stacked boxes
  • Tanner looks so locked in. He's been very accurate and poised.
  • OL not having much trouble with movement unlike previous years.
  • The D looks so fast. Hard to imagine them allowing many explosive plays.
  • DB's really locking up opposing pass catchers as expected.
Questions I still have:
  • Can the D get to the passer and finish consistently against better OLs?
  • Can the D cause more turnovers?
  • Are the WRs explosive enough to "scare" better teams into moving defenders away from the box? CAB looks great, but Wright still seems a step behind, Jackson hurt, and MBS with a fumble and at least one bad drop I remember.
  • Will the OL be able to move bigger, more athletic DLs in the B1G? There's experience on the OL in terms of age, but not starts and play as a unit.
 

Nice breakdown. mCGopher. Thanks. It looks like the rest of the conference with the possible exception of MSU and maybe Purdue is down this year. Perennial contenders Iowa and Wisc look really bad. Gophers to Indy might be more than a dream this year.
 

We don't have the proof yet, but I think the Gophers are the 3rd best team in the conference behind OSU and Michigan, and should we win the West we have a non-negligible chance of beating OSU or Michigan in the championship game.
 



I would say the one obvious difference this year is that the Gophers are not messing around with "lesser" opponents. they dominated the first two games - when, in previous years, we often saw the Gophers mess around and make those types of games closer than they needed to be.

it's hard to tell how "good" the Gophers are when they are facing lesser opponents, but the attitude and approach to those games is encouraging.

the next big marker for me will be to see how the Gophers respond when they are challenged.

as Mike Tyson said, "everyone's got a game plan until they get punched in the mouth." at some point, the Gophers are going to get punched in the mouth. if they respond well, then this could be a VERY interesting season.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
I would say the one obvious difference this year is that the Gophers are not messing around with "lesser" opponents. they dominated the first two games - when, in previous years, we often saw the Gophers mess around and make those types of games closer than they needed to be.

it's hard to tell how "good" the Gophers are when they are facing lesser opponents, but the attitude and approach to those games is encouraging.

the next big marker for me will be to see how the Gophers respond when they are challenged.

as Mike Tyson said, "everyone'th got a game plan until they get punthed in the mouth." at some point, the Gophers are going to get punched in the mouth. if they respond well, then this could be a VERY interesting season.
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FIFY
 

You can buy your tickets to Indy for the conference championship game now. No trip insurance necessary.
 

You can debate about which West team is the best. However what you can't really argue is, compared to the other challengers in the West, the Gophers are on the easier end of the schedule spectrum.

Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois all play at least two games against Michigan, MSU and OSU. We only play one. Purdue plays none, but they already lost to Penn State.

At this point I don't see any way Illinois doesn't have at least 4 conference losses. They already have 1, plus they have @ Wisconsin, vs. Michigan State, @ Michigan. They are improving though and definitely could pull a couple upsets.

Iowa has the toughest schedule of all. vs. Michigan, @ Ohio State, then @ Purdue, @ Minnesota & @ Illinois. They may have 5-6 conference losses. They have a really good defense though, so if their offense can come around even just a little they will be in most of their games.

Wisconsin... @ Ohio State, @ Michigan State, @ Iowa

Northwestern would need several major road upsets to be in the mix.

Purdue is a wild card. They look like they could be dangerous, and they have by far the EASIEST remaining schedule. Our game against them will basically be their season. If they lose to us, they probably won't recover from 0-2. If they beat us, they're 1-1 with their toughest remaining game @ Wisconsin. I'm glad we have them at home.

The fun part is we will know really early just how we stand, since our first two games are against Michigan State (toughest opponent) and Purdue (maybe the other top challenger). If we can come out of those 2-0 we will obviously be the heavy favorite to win the west.

Based on what I've seen so far and especially factoring in the schedules, I would predict the final standings in the West as:

1. Minnesota
2. Purdue
3. Wisconsin
4. Illinois
5, Iowa
6. Northwestern
7. Nebraska
 



matt said:
You can buy your tickets to Indy for the conference championship game now. No trip insurance necessary.
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When will they book this at US Bank Stadium? Once USC and UCLA join?
 

Some guy said:
The gophers are firmly in level 2 of the conference.
I am not sure they are good enough to be level 1 this year.

I am not sure Iowa, wisconsin, Purdue, or penn state are good enough to be level 2 this year though.

Usually it’s Ohio state then a big pack of teams clumped behind them.

This year it is Michigan and Ohio state tier 1
Michigan state and Minnesota tier 2.


Waiting to see if any other teams are tier two but to my eye it so far looks like the rest might be tier 3.
Click to expand...
I think Penn St is better than Michigan St. personally.
 

Laker said:
Kinda of what I thought. My old ball coach used to say” you don’t learn how to kill polar bears by clubbing baby seals” . Time will tell. I have a DVR but is usually full of Hallmark shows and Murder mysteries that my wife prefers. Should I be worried?
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Sounds like you need to "accidentally" erase some shows off your DVR.
 


On offense it looks like the slant pattern and RPO is back...this is a good thing along with Mo, Trey, and Bryce looking in good form. We can also do consistent touchbacks on KO...also a good thing.
 

I don't feel good about going to PSU and facing their secondary -- nor do I like playing Iowa's secondary but I don't think Iowa can score enough to make that matter. Otherwise I don't see a team on the schedule where I think the Gophs can't win -- not saying they will win -- but if we can pass the ball I think we'll be in a good enough position with Rossi's defense win a lot of games.
 


QB Morgan looks really poised, very accurate, very much in tune with the OC. He knows the offense Ciarrocca is running backwards and forwards. Sixth year mature, married man.

The back-up QBs look very solid...the RS frosh Kaliakmanis has the best arm I've seen in 40 years...stands tall in the pocket....moves gracefully. The other reserve Kramer could be counted on in a pinch to run the offense in a mistake free manner.

The 2021 pre-season All-American RB Ibrahim doesn't look like he has missed a beat since he was tearing up OSU defense before the achilles injury. Sixth year mature man.

His back-up Potts looks better than he did before 2021 injury. 3rd string RB Williams is very solid.

The o-line may end up better than the 2021 o-line that sent 3 guys into NFL camps and had another guy who I think started more games than anyone in Gopher history.

The center is a pre-season All American and grading out as top in nation according to FootballFocus. Sixth year mature man.

The left guard Ruschmeyer was a starter in 2020 and sixth man in for 2021...he looks very solid. Sixth year mature man.

The right guard Filiaga transferred in from Michigan and looks like he has been part of this system his entire career....another sixth year mature man.

The left tackle Ersery is a third year player who Fleck and the o-line coach say may be the best talent they ever have had. So far his strength, footwork, and technique look All Big Ten level. Moving opponents well into the second level frequently.

The right tackle transferred in from ND where he was a back-up...he was a four-star recruit out of Edina whose dad was a Gopher great and Viking (Jay Carroll)...he seems to be getting up to speed. There are two guys behind him pushing for time. Lewis looks like he has some great raw talent. Guedet has been here a long time and may be coming back from injury still.

They have some fifth year backups in Shaw and Boe who could play on the interior if needed.

The TE SpannFord is rated as among best in nation. Fifth year guy who has all the tools needed to be an All Big TE (or better). They have a walk-on kid Kallerup who is playing in two te formations who seems very physical. He is no Kieft, but he is solid. They have worked a fb formation with Morgan under center using a tough walk on linebacker named LeCaptain that looks good so far.

The top WR AutmanBell seems faster and more agile. He is another sixth year guy who Morgan has a great relationship with. He will get NFL looks.

Michael Brown-Stephens has been getting separation, showing speed, showing good hands. Morgan seems to trust him. (Did you hear his aunt is Chrissy Teigen?)

The most talented WR has yet to truly emerge. Dylan Wright has NFL tools. Can win fifty-fifty balls. Staff wants to know they can trust him on every route, every play, every blocking assignment, every bad play, every opponent baiting him with smack talk.

Daniel Jackson, who was #2/#3 WR last year might be back from injury this week.

Seventh year veteran Clay Geary is back from injury. He was likely #4 WR before injury last year. He can be counted on to run exact route, every play, make every blocking assignment, not draw a personal foul.

Two young guys, Lemeke Brockington and Ike White are getting some run.

The offense looks very disciplined, organized, balanced in its attack, has some different home run hitters to turn too. Has depth.

Fleck, Ciarrocca, RB coach Burns, WR coach Simon, OL coach Callahan, TE coach Harbaugh Jr., go back to WMU together. Lot of continuity there.
 
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Laker said:
I have a DVR but is usually full of Hallmark shows and Murder mysteries that my wife prefers. Should I be worried?
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I think so. Sounds like she's figuring out a way to get away with offing you.
 



If they beat any three of MSU, Purdue, Illinois, and Penn State I will be more comfortable with their chances for an outright Big Ten title.
 

Eating cupcakes is no test of your bite.
Next week's dish will be a lot tougher and we will see then how tough a bite the Gopher has.
 





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