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As long as I don't have to hear anything about greg paulus, this year will already have a leg up on last year through week one.
 

RodentRampage said:
Getting back to talk about the actual football season, there isn't too much talk about the game, except for the daily weather reports, comparing the weather between here and Middle Tennessee. They seem to really be hanging their hats on the heat and humidity being unbearable for us. They just can't imagine that we just might be able to handle the heat, and completely disregard that we have an indoor practice facility that can be set to be a lot hotter and a lot more humid than anything they will ever have down there.

We played FAU in the heat and humidity in 2007, and although we lost, they were the ones who wore out, not us. We roared back, but we had dug too deep a hole to climb out of. They are talking about going undefeated, going to the BCS, looking down their noses at the WAC and MWC. Well, we'll see, won't we?
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Here's an article about their practice and utilizing the heat.

http://www.dnj.com/article/20100707/BLUERAIDERS01/7070319/Blue-Raiders-trying-to-beat-summer-heat

"Patterson said one day in June the heat index topped off at 142 degrees on the turf."
 

This is the biggest trap game of all time.
 

josh087 said:
People are overlooking the road factor a lot. If this game was at TCF, I think the Gophers would have a very good chance of winning. Being on the road is totally different. You have to go back to 2006 to find the last truly easy road win for the Gophers. Simply put, Brewster's teams have never won easily on the road in his 3 years.

People are also using the Bowling Green game as a measuring stick. BG committed 5 turnovers, and yet if Weber had not somehow picked up that bad snap early in the fourth and somehow found Kuznia with his shoelace in bounds on 3rd and 11, BG would have had the ball with a chance for the lead down just 21-17 in the 4th quarter. People forget how close that game was until BG gift-wrapped us 2 TDs in the final few minutes.

The Gophers may beat MTSU, but if people think its going to be/should be some sort of dominating performance - given this team's road history combined with the recent play of MTSU - I think they are in for a big surprise.
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I agree with you there.
 

MN needs to do something about Goldy Gopher. He sounds like the ex boyfriend of Chucky Cheese (not that there's anything wrong with that). However, nothing is as intimidating as a blue horse with wings that spits lightning and craps knuckle sandwiches.
 





SportingNews has MTSU #43 and UMN at #98, as we all know. Here is how Dave Curtis from SN sums up MTSU:

http://www.sportingnews.com/college...otball-countdown-no-43-middle-tennessee-state


Sporting News previews the Blue Raiders as we count down our preseason top 100 college football teams leading into the season opener on Sept. 2.

Last year: 10-3


QB Dwight Dasher needs to quickly get up to speed with new receivers.2010 projected record: 11-1, 8-0 (Sun Belt)

Why we know we're right: The Blue Raiders boast the league's best players, hottest head coach and most favorable schedule. Quarterback Dwight Dasher, who accounted for 3,943 yards last season, and four offensive linemen headline the 14 returning starters. The defense, second-best in the Sun Belt last year, should improve against the pass with a more experienced secondary.

Why we might be wrong: Coach Rick Stockstill's coaching staff endured a shake-up, and coordinators Mike Schultz (offense) and Randall McCray (defense) are new to the program. MTSU also lost Dasher's top two receivers from a year ago, plus 2009 Sun Belt Co-Defensive Player of the Year Chris McCoy, who recorded 20.5 tackles for loss last season.

Our confidence level in this pick: High. Dasher's athleticism trumps most defenses he'll face, as the Blue Raiders should overwhelm most of their Sun Belt opponents. A kind nonconference schedule, with Minnesota struggling and Memphis in disarray, makes double-digit wins likely.
Judgment day: Sept. 2 vs. Minnesota. Dominating the Sun Belt doesn't bring credibility coast-to-coast. But beating a Big Ten team in a Thursday night opener? Make way for the national recognition.

Coach's job security: Strong. Give credit to MTSU athletic director Chris Massaro for plucking Stockstill from Steve Spurrier's staff following the 2005 season. The school should expect an annual effort to keep Stockstill—he rejected advances from East Carolina and Memphis, and maybe more, last offseason.

Grading the positions: QB (B-), RB (C), WR/TE (C), OL (C+), DL (C+), LB (C-), DB (B-), ST (C+).



Read more: http://www.sportingnews.com/college...wn-no-43-middle-tennessee-state#ixzz0ubvSKHOW
 



GopherHomer said:
Now, I admit that I know nothing of MTSU (why should I, they are from a no-count conference) but the lead up to this game reminds me a lot of when Toledo came to town a handful of years ago. If I remember correctly, it was the first game of the year and Toledo was everyone's little darling. Cupito and the Gophs thoroughly embarrassed them. Granted, that Gophers' team turned out to be very good, but I'm just saying I see similarities between the two season openers.
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I remember when The Gophers first played Toledo at Toledo three years earlier and just got dominated. Lost 38 to 7 or something like that. OUR first game will really show just how good or bad we really are!
 

It's a trap game because we're looking past them to South Dakota. :rolleyes:

We won't be looking past them. We might lose but I don't think it is because of a trap, there aren't going to take us by surprise. And I don't think the weather will play that big of a factor, contrary to popular belief, Minnesota is not permafrost. We have facilities to practice in as hot and as humid as we want.

It's always a mistake to judge how players will approach the game from how the fans will approach the game, but MTSU fans seem to be taking this for granted, assuming the heat will take care of it for them.
 

Hey guys,

I know you guys are looking forward to the start of football season as much as we are. This game can't get here fast enough. I'd like to offer my perspective on a few things...

The weather: Yes we are talking the weather a great deal on our board, but to say that we think the weather will do the work for us is off base. We are very confident in our team, we look at the weather as an advantage, not as something that will in the game for us. Also it's not the game time weather we're really focusing on, the game time weather will probably be not too different to what Minnesota is experiencing now, high seventies, maybe low eighties with high humidity. The weather now is the focus. Our guys are getting conditioning in heat now that will make Sept 2nd feel like a cool spring afternoon.

FAU 2007 comparisons: In 2006 FAU went 5-7 and lost to Clemson(8-5), Kansas State(7-6), Oklahoma State(7-6) and South Carolina(8-5) by a combined score of 192-20. They weren't a very good team the year before, nor did they turn out to be all that great in 2007, they just happened to be a FG better than the Gophers in a bad game by Minnesota. The 2010 Blue Raiders will be much better than the 2007 Owls were. As to how the 2010 Gophers will compare to the 2007 version, I'm sure you guys know better than I would.

Our secondary: It was said that both corners are gone, we actually lost one starter and our nickel, it just so happened that our nickel led the team in picks so it might look like we lost both, but SR Rod Issac is back, who started all 13 games last year and led all DB's with 72 tackles. Taking the other starting position we have a couple of incoming standout JUCOs and a crop of talented youngsters including Kenneth Gilstrap one of fastest players in the country and Malcom Beyah a kid who played both ways in high school, but is switching to corner this year after playing two years at WR for the Blue Raiders. More importantly we have both safeties back seniors Jeremy Kellem and Kevin Brown both started all 13 games last year. In 2009 Kellem(I think our best overall defensive player) had 64 tackles(7.5 TFL) 3 sacks, 3 INTs, two FF, one FR and two blocked punts, Brown had 63 tackles and four INTs.

Expectations of an undefeated season and BCS bowl: While there has been a good bit of talk surrounding this idea, most of it has been perpetuated by outside sources most notably Bleacher Report which has zero cred. You won't see too many, if any, Blue Raider fans actually predicting an undefeated season, our fans are just about split down the middle in predicting whether or not we'll beat Troy(despite most preseason mags and SBC media days picking us as conference champs, the Trojans have beaten us the last four years so we're all hesitant to pick a win in this game) and I don't think you'll find any Blue Raider fan who is predicting us to beat Georgia Tech. The way I see it, we definitely should beat our seven conference opponents not named Troy as well as Memphis and FCS Austin Peay, that's nine wins right there and not many teams in this country are looking at nine games they should win on their schedule. After that we have two tough opponents in Troy and Minnesota and one very tough opponent in Georgia Tech. Personally I think we will win on Sept 2nd. We have a very good team and are playing at home on the heels of our best FBS, we're going to have a very good crowd for this game and I think we win by 10-14 points. I really hope that we beat Troy this year and get that monkey off our back and I hope that against Georgia Tech we stay in the game long enough to maybe pull something off in the fourth quarter, but am not counting on even that.
 

Should be a fun game and I don't blame you for predicting a win over MN. I hope we win but until Brewster proves he is a bona fide head coach, I'm not getting too confident about this game. I think you guys will be tough to beat. We definetly have a chance but it's hard to predict what this year is going to be like for Minnesota.
 



I don't get this weather talk. Tennessee right? I'd be surprised if there was more than a five degree average difference. We're coming out of the dog days of Minnesota summer, should be close to ninety for the two weeks before the game. And it's at night.
 

Nashville

August
•Average High 88
•Average Low 68
September
•Average High 82
•Average Low 61
 

I reallt think that some people believe the hype of Minnesota being an icebox all year round. It will be hotter there than here, but not insanely so. We could set our practice facility hot and humid enough to steam lobster.
 

Schnoodler said:
I don't get this weather talk. Tennessee right? I'd be surprised if there was more than a five degree average difference. We're coming out of the dog days of Minnesota summer, should be close to ninety for the two weeks before the game. And it's at night.
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Right now in Minneapolis, 83 degrees, "feels like" 83 degrees.

Right now in Murfreesboro, 97 degrees, "feels like" 109 degrees.

No one is claiming that Minnesota is a year round ice box, but clearly you haven't spent much time in Tennessee or the South in general if you think there's not that much of a difference.
 

The thing is, the game isn't being played now. It's not being played in late July, it's being played in September, the difference won't be as great as it is now. We also have an indoor practice facility which can be set to whatever temperature and humidity conditions we wish.
 

RodentRampage said:
The thing is, the game isn't being played now. It's not being played in late July, it's being played in September, the difference won't be as great as it is now. We also have an indoor practice facility which can be set to whatever temperature and humidity conditions we wish.
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You're right, but we'll also be in camp in another week or so. I don't know how Tim Brewster runs things, but I wonder if he'll be simulating Tennessee conditions in the indoor facility every day. In camp our players will be playing outside every day in conditions very similar to what we're experiencing right now, your players will be playing in whatever conditions the indoor is set at.

When it comes time for the actual game, the temperature at 7pm in September, will be similar to the high temps Minneapolis is experiencing right now, but with more humidity. Our players will have been conditioned in mid to high 90's every day, so when game time rolls around and the temperature is ten to fifteen degrees cooler they'll be just fine. One year recently, I think 2007, we had a stretch of like 15 days that the high was over 100 degrees and that went right through camp. Perhaps Brewster will make simulating Tennessee conditions a priority, but when you don't play another game all season out of Big Ten country and the next trip "south" that you make is to Madison in October, I wonder how much of a priority it will be, don't get me wrong, I'm sure it will be considered, but I just don't see you guys practicing all day every day in it.
 

Relative humidity Nashville
August = 89
September = 89

Minneapolis
August = 84
September = 85

Really, it's just not that different. And I have been down there on a few different occasions. Nashville is not Florida. Minnesota is not Hudson Bay.

Your game day temp and humidity will be extemely similar to the start of camp here. By extremely, I mean almost identical. It's a meaningless angle.
 

Dear Johnny Reb, this will end just like the first one.

-Billy Yank
 

I don't think we will be looking past MTSU. The next game is against the University of South Dakota, a team still in transition to the FCS from D-II. You'll have our full attention. In game 3, we play Southern Cal, so we might look past South Dakota, but if we are prepared for Southern Cal, we should be prepared for South Dakota.
 

Schnoodler said:
Relative humidity Nashville
August = 89
September = 89

Minneapolis
August = 84
September = 85

Really, it's just not that different. And I have been down there on a few different occasions. Nashville is not Florida. Minnesota is not Hudson Bay.

Your game day temp and humidity will be extemely similar to the start of camp here. By extremely, I mean almost identical. It's a meaningless angle.
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And our guys will have conditioned in considerably hotter conditions. Your guys will be used to it(provided the indoor facility is set to those conditions) and our guys will be thinking how much cooler it is than it was during camp, I definitely wouldn't call it a meaningless angle.

Who knows, maybe it will be an unseasonably cool September and it will be low seventies at kickoff, then it really will be meaningless, but even in that unlikely event, give me the home town team with the high powered offense.
 

wait!what? said:
Dear Johnny Reb, this will end just like the first one.

-Billy Yank
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Are you referring to the civil war? Or to the first time the Gophers traveled south to play a Sun Belt team? If it's the former, I sincerely hope not, lots of bloodshed and lives lost over things that have nothing to do with football. If it's the latter, than I agree, though I think we'll beat you by more than a field goal.
 

MTPiKapp said:
When it comes time for the actual game, the temperature at 7pm in September, will be similar to the high temps Minneapolis is experiencing right now
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No.

Average high/low for Murfreesboro, Sept. 2: 87/62
Average high/low for Minneapolis, July 26: 83/64

Since the average high for September 2 in Murfreesboro is 87, I highly doubt it will be 83 at 7 pm. It could be, but I doubt it.
 

dpodoll68 said:
No.

Average high/low for Murfreesboro, Sept. 2: 87/62
Average high/low for Minneapolis, July 26: 83/64

Since the average high for September 2 in Murfreesboro is 87, I highly doubt it will be 83 at 7 pm. It could be, but I doubt it.
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To be fair, I did say similar not identical, but if the averages hold, the game time temp won't drop below seventy five and once you add in the high humidity, it will probably be very similar. Not to mention the on the field temp is always higher.
 

Perhaps not meaningless, but perhaps not as meaningful as some think either.
 

Just bring the pickle juice like we did @Baylor in 2000.
 

RodentRampage said:
Perhaps not meaningless, but perhaps not as meaningful as some think either.
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I'd say that's a fair assessment. Let me put it this way, I'm confident in my team and like the fact that the weather shouldn't affect us much if at all. If the weather affects the visiting team in the slightest more than it does the home team, I'll take that advantage any time I can get against any team we play.
 


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