Is this already a succesful season?

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restovich

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Question for Board members. In many many ways, 2023 has been a frustrating season. Well, it certanly felt that way to me after the Michigan game. BUT........is this now a successful season? I mean, beating Iowa gets that losing streak "monkey" off of Fleck's back, and feels very sweet.

And of course there is some hope that, warts and all, we can win a few more games and participate in a decent Bowl game. But what say you? Succesful at this point? Partially successful? Still kind of "sucky"?

Personally I would *also* like a victory over Bucky this year. Call me greedy......
 

restovich said:
Question for Board members. In many many ways, 2023 has been a frustrating season. Well, it certanly felt that way to me after the Michigan game. BUT........is this now a successful season? I mean, beating Iowa gets that losing streak "monkey" off of Fleck's back, and feels very sweet.

And of course there is some hope that, warts and all, we can win a few more games and participate in a decent Bowl game. But what say you? Succesful at this point? Partially successful? Still kind of "sucky"?

Personally I would *also* like a victory over Bucky this year. Call me greedy......
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I'll say this, the year cannot be an absolute failure if we beat Iowa OR Wisconsin.
If we beat Iowa and Wisconsin and don't win another game - it's at a minimum a good year.
 


Season isn't over. Too early to say if successful or not. If the Gophers lose out, definitely not successful.

I look at it this way....what is the ceiling and floor for this program under Fleck. Thusfar the ceiling is 11-2 and 7-2 in conference. Right now the floor is 3-4 (2020 season). If the season plays out and we finish with about 6 or 7 wins and 4 or 5 conference wins then maybe it isn't a rousing success but if that is an confirmation of what the floor is then I think the program is in much better shape.
 

I said at the beginning of the year

With the guys we lost 5-4 in conference or better is a success
4-5 is disappointing
3-6 or worse is a failure.

Wish I was wrong and the rebuild was a reload. But this team simply is pretty average. Can beat some people. Hard for an average team to go 7-0 against the bottom 12 of the big ten.
 



I’d really like to win the West. NW stings, but beating Iowa was really NEEDED to salvage something good this season. As of now my grade is neutral. If we win out besides Ohio State it’s forward progress. If we do that and Iowa picks up another L so we win the west… it’s glorious. If we beat Ohio State and Wisconsin… it’s a smashing success.
 





The win over Iowa was a positive, and I know the ultimate goal is to win the game, but I don't feel great about it. I am not even talking about the return. Just feels like we beat a really bad team that we probably should have crushed. I know they have a good defense but that may be the worst offense I have ever seen in D1 college football.

Through 10/23, I would say this season has been a major buzz kill with one bright spot. Everything our offense does looks really hard. Our defense is playing great some games and average at best in others. Special Teams is still a non-factor, outside of our kicker.
 


Not yet.

Given the schedule and the personnel losses from last season, I would say that a 7-5 regular season finish should be regarded as reasonably successful. A 6-6 finish would be a "I guess it could have been worse" feeling. However, if we get sent to the Quick Lane Bowl to face a MAC team, that will leave a bitter taste.
 

We’re 2-2 in conf with a disappointing loss (NW) and an emotional, awesome win (Iowa).

Next three will be critical to determining the “label” for the season. Somewhat Captain Obvious.

With then OSU and Wisc lingering.
 



8-4 very much on the table. Beat the next three and Wisc. Pig and Axe. Let the rest fall where it does, out of our hands. Indy would be nice to say we did it (finally), but means a beat down.
 

MNfootballfan said:
The win over Iowa was a positive, and I know the ultimate goal is to win the game, but I don't feel great about it. I am not even talking about the return. Just feels like we beat a really bad team that we probably should have crushed. I know they have a good defense but that may be the worst offense I have ever seen in D1 college football.

Through 10/23, I would say this season has been a major buzz kill with one bright spot. Everything our offense does looks really hard. Our defense is playing great some games and average at best in others. Special Teams is still a non-factor, outside of our kicker.
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Amen. We can talk about Iowa's bad offense but ours is pretty anemic against good defensive teams. To date, our defense has been truly good only against poor offensive teams. Louisiana is a G5 team but a pretty good offensive one and we gave up 24 to them.
 

MNfootballfan said:
The win over Iowa was a positive, and I know the ultimate goal is to win the game, but I don't feel great about it. I am not even talking about the return. Just feels like we beat a really bad team that we probably should have crushed. I know they have a good defense but that may be the worst offense I have ever seen in D1 college football.

Through 10/23, I would say this season has been a major buzz kill with one bright spot. Everything our offense does looks really hard. Our defense is playing great some games and average at best in others. Special Teams is still a non-factor, outside of our kicker.
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Not to get super philosophical about this, but in life, we all tend to take for granted the good things and focus on the things that weren't so good.

Take Iowa. It's not a great football team but they are a good football team. They will likely be favored in their last 4 games (10-2 / 7-2 team) but I would say the most likely outcome is that they will go 9-3 (6-3). This team is right in line with how their teams have been the last 5 years. This is not a terrible Iowa team.

Iowa ran for 200 yards against Wisconsin. They ran for 180 years against Purdue. Their defense turned over Michigan State 4 times. Going to Iowa City and beating a decent Iowa team by completely eliminating their running game and playing a clean game on offense is an accomplishment. It's been something some much better Gopher teams couldn't pull off against similarly-situated Iowa teams.

Iowa has a bad offense but our rush defense was really really good on Saturday.
 

Beating Iowa.....especially IN Iowa City certainly helps to put a shine on the season so far. No reason we can't win 7 or 8 still and make a decent bowl game.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Not to get super philosophical about this, but in life, we all tend to take for granted the good things and focus on the things that weren't so good.

Take Iowa. It's not a great football team but they are a good football team. They will likely be favored in their last 4 games (10-2 / 7-2 team) but I would say the most likely outcome is that they will go 9-3 (6-3). This team is right in line with how their teams have been the last 5 years. This is not a terrible Iowa team.

Iowa ran for 200 yards against Wisconsin. They ran for 180 years against Purdue. Their defense turned over Michigan State 4 times. Going to Iowa City and beating a decent Iowa team by completely eliminating their running game and playing a clean game on offense is an accomplishment. It's been something some much better Gopher teams couldn't pull off against similarly-situated Iowa teams.

Iowa has a bad offense but our rush defense was really really good on Saturday.
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Well said. Minnesota beat Iowa because Iowa couldn't even muster 1 YPC against the Gophers. It's almost impossible to win like that unless you have an incredible passing attack.
 

I suppose one of the reasons I really think the year has been already succesful is a purely selfish one. I have worked/lived in Iowa for 39 years. I have endured my share of comments from friends and coworkers over the years about Hawkeye dominance of the Gophers. So, it is really really sweet whenever we beat them. I just wish it would happen more often.
 

If at the season's end we have Floyd, The Axe, and the chair trophies ALL in our trophy room, then 100% this was a successful season.

I grew up hating 3 teams....iowa wisonsin nebraska. To have those 3 trophies all at once....that is as close to a national championship 🏆 as you can get for me in today's world of college football.
 

No, this one win doesn't make a successful season. I don't think any season with less than six wins can be called a success. Winning the pig, regardless of how ugly the game was, is certainly a bright spot. There are many things I don't like about this team, including several areas of the coaching. But wins are wins. A couple weeks ago, I doubted six was realistic. If we get to at least six this year, regardless of the negatives, I'll count it a success.

Even if successful, I'll still be praying for major changes in several aspects of the coaching.
 

MplsGopher said:
Saying 4-5 vs 5-4 is an absurd step jump. Come on
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5-4 means you beat 3/4 of Illinois, Purdue, Michigan state, wisconsin

4-5 means you lost to Either Wisconsin or a second below average team.
 


No, too early to say the season is already a success. Winning Floyd is great, but we need to win a few more games to call it a success.
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
Not to get super philosophical about this, but in life, we all tend to take for granted the good things and focus on the things that weren't so good.

Take Iowa. It's not a great football team but they are a good football team. They will likely be favored in their last 4 games (10-2 / 7-2 team) but I would say the most likely outcome is that they will go 9-3 (6-3). This team is right in line with how their teams have been the last 5 years. This is not a terrible Iowa team.

Iowa ran for 200 yards against Wisconsin. They ran for 180 years against Purdue. Their defense turned over Michigan State 4 times. Going to Iowa City and beating a decent Iowa team by completely eliminating their running game and playing a clean game on offense is an accomplishment. It's been something some much better Gopher teams couldn't pull off against similarly-situated Iowa teams.

Iowa has a bad offense but our rush defense was really really good on Saturday.
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Very well said. Iowa has a pathetic offense but they still win a lot of games because they force you to play a way that most teams are very uncomfortable playing.

Those thinking we should have blown Iowa out have not been paying attention because the only teams that blowout Iowa are teams like Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State who have the firepower to do it. Everyone else ends up in a battle, often low scoring, where the team that makes the fewest mistakes wins and most of the time that team is Iowa.

Getting back to the OPs question....I think it is too early to call the season a success but the win over Iowa will make it tough to see it as a disaster as well. No matter how things play out the Northwestern meltdown is going to be frustrating because it shouldn't have happened. Contending for and winning the West is still a possibility even if it seems likely the winner of the West has no real shot of beating the winner of the East. 4 of the 5 left on the schedule are very winnable for us so a nice record is still possible.

Beat Wisconsin, get to a bowl game and it will be a season people look back fondly on even if there is some lingering frustration over it not being quite as good as it could have been.
 

I'll say it again.

Must score points.

Success or not as a season here on really rests on this fact. Too many times settling for 3. Even more times getting nothing. Yikes.
 

Stuff said:
Need to win out
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lol....I'm optimistic in general but we are not beating Ohio State this year unless something crazy happens (which it could).

Winning 4 of the remaining 5 is a reasonable goal because Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue and Wisconsin are all very mediocre teams this year.
 

MNVCGUY said:
lol....I'm optimistic in general but we are not beating Ohio State this year unless something crazy happens (which it could).

Winning 4 of the remaining 5 is a reasonable goal because Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue and Wisconsin are all very mediocre teams this year.
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It is pretty crazy in a season coming off losing a 5 year starter at QB and one of the all time leading rushers plus a lot of the front end of the defense that if the gophers beat Michigan state on Saturday they will enter November controlling their own destiny for a big ten title when at least a strong contingent wanted the coach fired a couple weeks ago.


And they currently control their own destiny for the conference
 


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