MN has to win out to win the West

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RememberMurray said:
You could make an argument that they knock each other off, though. Plus, it's a little early to put much stock in polls, in my opinion.

I read a lot of posts on here during and after the Iowa-Illinois game last night. The main thrust of the posts was the usual: it's two "mediocre" to "bad" teams. Blah, blah, blah.

It's funny; what I saw was tough, physical, old-school football. 'Buckle your chinstrap tight' stuff.

Yes, both offenses struggled. But could part of that be due to really good defense?

I guess you can tell I'm not a fan of basketball-on-grass style football, and I don't play video games.
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I enjoy that style of football too, but I think Iowa is a bad team
 

We done fucked up by losing to Purdue, PERIOD.
 


SPB_Gophers said:
I enjoy that style of football too, but I think Iowa is a bad team
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I think you'd agree that a football team is made up of offense, defense and special teams.

I'm willing to bet that you would agree that Iowa's defense and Iowa's special teams are far from bad. In fact, they're excellent.

Iowa is 2/3 of a very good football team that is handicapped by their brutally bad offense.
 

Yah-E said:
Boy, we may not even beat Illinois this week 🤷🏻‍♂️
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We may not. And then again, we might just surprise you.

If we knew in advance who would win and who would lose, we'd be rich.
 


Gophergrandpa said:
True. Kind of makes you wonder about our offensive game plan against Purdue. Purdue moves its DL around a lot, which can confuse the OL and create some numbers mismatches, … but also can leave some gaps not adequately covered by the D. We need to be able to exploit defenses that take such chances. And that is coaching and game plan as much as player execution.
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Against Purdue it was both but more blame on game plan blocking scheme and failure to adjust. KC had a rare bad game.
 

Spoofin said:
Got it - you are on record as thinking the B1G West isn’t weak. You’re wrong, but you are entitled to your opinion. It is a group of average teams and a group of below average teams. The East having a some average and below average teams also doesn’t change that. The West is weak - compared to the East, compared to past West conferences, compared to just about any P5 conference. Don’t take it so personal - it is what it is.
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One way for Murray to judge the divisions would be to look at conference title games. Hint: Rutgers, Maryland, and Indiana don't play in that game.
 

Dakota2 said:
One way for Murray to judge the divisions would be to look at conference title games. Hint: Rutgers, Maryland, and Indiana don't play in that game.
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3 top 10 teams vs 1 top 25 (#24 in 1 poll) May work too 🤷‍♂️
 

Spoofin said:
3 top 10 teams vs 1 top 25 (#24 in 1 poll) May work too 🤷‍♂️
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How do you feel about Sagarin, Massey, Connelly?

And remember: my argument is that the conventional wisdom (B1G West is weak) is overstated, not that the West was better than the East.
 



RememberMurray said:
I think you'd agree that a football team is made up of offense, defense and special teams.

I'm willing to bet that you would agree that Iowa's defense and Iowa's special teams are far from bad. In fact, they're excellent.

Iowa is 2/3 of a very good football team that is handicapped by their brutally bad offense.
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If Iowas offense was just bad i would agree with you. It’s worse than bad. it’s historically bad. it’s probably the worst i’ve ever seen


when you’ve got a whole side of the ball that’s that bad, it’s kinda hard to call you a good team
 

RememberMurray said:
How do you feel about Sagarin, Massey, Connelly?

And remember: my argument is that the conventional wisdom (B1G West is weak) is overstated, not that the West was better than the East.
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Yes this is a critical point.
No one is arguing the west is better or even as good

Many correctly argue the difference is overstated.
 

Some guy said:
Yes this is a critical point.
No one is arguing the west is better or even as good

Many correctly argue the difference is overstated.
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Thank you.

Yet the conventional wisdom lovers continue to make it seem as if the B1G West is the worst division in college football.
 

beatles said:
All trustworthy info comes from the bar. Fleck flat out said if Mo had just a few more days to get ready for Purdue he would have played. I fully expect a healthy Mo vs Illinois.
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Hope that you are correct, but PJ's statements about injured players are generally no more reliable than the ramblings of a drunken frat boy at Sally's.
 



2nd Degree Gopher said:
Hope that you are correct, but PJ's statements about injured players are generally no more reliable than the ramblings of a drunken frat boy at Sally's.
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Outside of some random post saying they got info at a bar that Mo wasn't playing has there been anything anywhere reliable at all that would give any indication he will be out?

He was suited up and going through pregame warmups against Purdue which would indicate he was very close to being able to play. That was 2 weeks ago.

I will be shocked if Mo is not ready to go on Saturday.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Outside of some random post saying they got info at a bar that Mo wasn't playing has there been anything anywhere reliable at all that would give any indication he will be out?

He was suited up and going through pregame warmups against Purdue which would indicate he was very close to being able to play. That was 2 weeks ago.

I will be shocked if Mo is not ready to go on Saturday.
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I have no idea if Mo will play, my post was strictly about the perils of relying on PJ's public comments as a source of injury info.
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
I have no idea if Mo will play, my post was strictly about the perils of relying on PJ's public comments as a source of injury info.
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That's fair, however in Mo's case we have the additional evidence of him being suited up against Purdue and looking very close to being able to play. Given that was on October 1st and he will have had 2 additional weeks of rest and treatment before we play on the 15th, the assumption should be he will be good to go unless we hear otherwise from a reliable source.
 

Lose tiebreaker to Purdue, but 3-way scenario would favor the Gophers likely with the below.

Illinois 7-2 (lose to MN and Indiana)
MN 7-2 (lose to Pur and Penn State)
Pur 7-2 (Lose to Illinois and another West team)

Purdue eliminated by Division Record. MN Wins H2H over Illinois.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Lose tiebreaker to Purdue, but 3-way scenario would favor the Gophers likely with the below.

Illinois 7-2 (lose to MN and Indiana)
MN 7-2 (lose to Pur and Penn State)
Pur 7-2 (Lose to Illinois and another West team)

Purdue eliminated by Division Record. MN Wins H2H over Illinois.
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Purdue already lost to PSU as well, so if things play out as above sans another Purdue loss (so just Illinois and PSU), then division record will be the same and they'd go to the next tie breaker which is winning percentage against teams 3 - 7 in the division. Since they'd all be undefeated against those other teams, it would go to winning percentage against common opponents. Impossible to predict how that will shake out this far in advance, but I do like the mental gymnastics, lol. I think we're all hoping MN finishes 8-1 in conference and this becomes moot.
 

I keep thinking about how Nebraska battled back against Rutgers. They played with spirit, like a team that hadn't yet given up, but instead were still playing hard and playing to win.

Maybe — against all odds — they can do the Gophers a huge favor this weekend and beat Purdue.

And, of course, the Gophers need to beat Illinois; no easy task. I'm more than a little surprised by the spread... I guess pollsters and bettors have differing viewpoints when it comes to Illinois and Minnesota.
 

MGGopher said:
Purdue already lost to PSU as well, so if things play out as above sans another Purdue loss (so just Illinois and PSU), then division record will be the same and they'd go to the next tie breaker which is winning percentage against teams 3 - 7 in the division. Since they'd all be undefeated against those other teams, it would go to winning percentage against common opponents. Impossible to predict how that will shake out this far in advance, but I do like the mental gymnastics, lol. I think we're all hoping MN finishes 8-1 in conference and this becomes moot.
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Illinois will lose to Mich too, so they’re likely going to have 3-4 losses (IU, Mich, Gophs, maybe one more?), I think Ill goes 6-3 in the conference.

Purdue already had a loss (PSU), and I think they’re good for 1-2 more among Neb, Iowa, Wis, Ill) - they’re just too inconsistent. I bet Purdue lands at 7-2 or 6-3.

That’s leaves us the Gophs, we already have one (dang it!!!) I think we lose one more among PSU, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin; puts us at 7-2.

Best case is that we go 7-2 and Purdue / Ill go 6-3 and we don’t have to sweat this tie breaker nonesense.

We really screwed ourselves by dropping to Purdue…
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Lose tiebreaker to Purdue, but 3-way scenario would favor the Gophers likely with the below.

Illinois 7-2 (lose to MN and Indiana)
MN 7-2 (lose to Pur and Penn State)
Pur 7-2 (Lose to Illinois and another West team)

Purdue eliminated by Division Record. MN Wins H2H over Illinois.
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Correct.
 

Shiv0014 said:
Illinois will lose to Mich too, so they’re likely going to have 3-4 losses (IU, Mich, Gophs, maybe one more?), I think Ill goes 6-3 in the conference.

Purdue already had a loss (PSU), and I think they’re good for 1-2 more among Neb, Iowa, Wis, Ill) - they’re just too inconsistent. I bet Purdue lands at 7-2 or 6-3.

That’s leaves us the Gophs, we already have one (dang it!!!) I think we lose one more among PSU, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin; puts us at 7-2.

Best case is that we go 7-2 and Purdue / Ill go 6-3 and we don’t have to sweat this tie breaker nonesense.

We really screwed ourselves by dropping to Purdue…
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Correct
But Purdue loses to Nebraska this weekend
 


Some Day...Maybe said:
How many “good” teams do you think there are in the FBS right now?
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Not sure because I haven’t watched probably 75% of the teams in FBS.
Teams I’d consider good that I have watched:
Ohio state
Michigan
Alabama
Georgia
Tennessee


There are some others that could be good that I haven’t seen enough of to say.
Ok state might be good. I literally haven’t watched them play.
Syracuse could be good. I only watched them for about a quarter.

There are a bunch of teams I’d consider average to above average.
There are a bunch of teams I’d consider bad.


My definition of average isn’t teams in the middle third of the country. My definition of average are teams that I consider neither nor bad. It’s more an average based on my interpretation of how good they are than where they rank numerically.

If it is where they rank numerically then everyone in the big ten outside of northwestern is probably good. Because everyone 65th or better is better than average.
 

Shiv0014 said:
Illinois will lose to Mich too, so they’re likely going to have 3-4 losses (IU, Mich, Gophs, maybe one more?), I think Ill goes 6-3 in the conference.

Purdue already had a loss (PSU), and I think they’re good for 1-2 more among Neb, Iowa, Wis, Ill) - they’re just too inconsistent. I bet Purdue lands at 7-2 or 6-3.

That’s leaves us the Gophs, we already have one (dang it!!!) I think we lose one more among PSU, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin; puts us at 7-2.

Best case is that we go 7-2 and Purdue / Ill go 6-3 and we don’t have to sweat this tie breaker nonesense.

We really screwed ourselves by dropping to Purdue…
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That’s extremely optimistic. I don’t think there is much hope to have less than 3 losses. I could be pessimistic but I feel like the gophers have 2 more losses for sure. Hard to win big ten games on the road and as history has shown pj can’t beat Iowa anywhere.
 

There is a very strong possibility that there will not be divisions in BIG football after USC and UCLA are added to the scheduling process, so the very minor glory of winning the West only to be embarrassed by the winner of the East in Indianapolis will be at an end.
I suspect to mollify the networks for the $$$ they have thrown at the BIG that each team will play ten conference games, which I favor.
 

Plato said:
There is a very strong possibility that there will not be divisions in BIG football after USC and UCLA are added to the scheduling process, so the very minor glory of winning the West only to be embarrassed by the winner of the East in Indianapolis will be at an end.
I suspect to mollify the networks for the $$$ they have thrown at the BIG that each team will play ten conference games, which I favor.
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Yup
And if no divisions you kind of need an even number for fairness sake. Have the conference with more home games than the other is ridiculous and part of why the big 12 model is stupid.
 


upnorthkid said:
you could make an awful lot of money on that one and that would put Nebraska (lol what) in the division driver's seat
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Nebraska +13 is easy money IMO. That line is ridiculous. Hoping for a win but wouldn't bet on it.
 

Some guy said:
Yup
And if no divisions you kind of need an even number for fairness sake. Have the conference with more home games than the other is ridiculous and part of why the big 12 model is stupid.
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With a 12-team playoff, the SEC will get four teams in, the BIG will get four, the ACC one or two, and some also-rans will get the remainder.
So playing ten conference games will not be a competitive disadvantage.
 

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