Neal: This smells like an eight-win Gophers team, but it's not going to be easy.

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Per La Velle:

The Gophers are 5-3 with four regular-season games left, including a trip to Nebraska next week to face a Cornhuskers team that can be tough when they limit mistakes and boneheaded plays. They also have Iowa, whose defense is tougher than Rutgers', and a season finale at Wisconsin. This smells like an eight-win Gophers team, but it's not going to be easy.

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Go Gophers!!
 


Beat Nebraska and we'll dream from there...

Really though...getting bowl eligible will be a big deal after our awful October. Unfortunately that's a gorilla right now that would nice to become a monkey starting next weekend.

Don't know if an 11 AM start will be good, bad, or no matter. Probably good though...no time to ruminate and just get it done...
 












Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
Maybe he's been promoted to columnist so he's writing on broader topics?
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the way the newspaper and media are trending, LaVelle will be covering the Gophers while also covering technology, global affairs, the weather, and writing a recipe for a tater tot hot dish from the press box
 

I agree with lavelle. If the gophers continue playing like yesterday it won’t be easy to win less than 9 games.
 



We've still got the bottom four teams in our division in front of us. Unless one of them gets hot, we get could to 9-3 without needing to beat a single B1G with a winning conference record. This still has the makings of a really nice season if we can continue taking care of business against weaker competition.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
We've still got the bottom four teams in our division in front of us. Unless one of them gets hot, we get could to 9-3 without needing to beat a single B1G with a winning conference record. This still has the makings of a really nice season if we can continue taking care of business against weaker competition.
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I'd like to think this way too. But we know that you throw the records out the window when you play Iowa and Wisc.
 

Gophers_4life said:
I'd like to think this way too. But we know that you throw the records out the window when you play Iowa and Wisc.
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I certainly don't think we can bank on them to roll over and play dead, but I do think if we play like we are capable of, we should win. Obviously, we are very capable of losing these games as well.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
We've still got the bottom four teams in our division in front of us. Unless one of them gets hot, we get could to 9-3 without needing to beat a single B1G with a winning conference record. This still has the makings of a really nice season if we can continue taking care of business against weaker competition.
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Agreed.
9-3 or even 8-4 would make this the best four year stretch since 68-71 for the team.

9-3 this year would likely be the 5th best season since 1990
8-4 would be the 6th best season since 1990 in my opinion.

1) 2019 - 11-2 (one win from division title but top 10 in nation final)
2) 2003 - 10-3 (one win from conf title)
3) 1999 - 8-4 (one win from conf title)
4) 2016 - 9-4 (one win from division title)

9-3 - 2022

2014 - 8-5 (one win from division title if I remember correctly, but 5 losses)

8-4 - 2022

9-4 - 2021 (didn’t control own destiny a long portion of season)
 
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Some guy said:
Agreed.
9-3 or even 8-4 would make this the best four year stretch since 68-71 for the team.

9-3 this year would likely be the 5th best season since 1990
8-4 would be the 6th best season since 1990 in my opinion.

1) 2019 - 11-3 (one win from division title but top 10 in nation final)
2) 2003 - 10-3 (one win from conf title)
3) 1999 - 8-4 (one win from conf title)
4) 2016 - 9-4 (one win from division title)

9-3 - 2022

2014 - 8-5 (one win from division title if I remember correctly, but 5 losses)

8-4 - 2022

9-4 - 2021 (didn’t control own destiny a long portion of season)
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2016 makes an interesting comparison. That year showed how nice of a record you can have, even without having to beat any really good opponents, if you just take care of business against the bad to below-average teams. What would make this year more fun is that Iowa and Wisconsin are some of the down teams, so this year that outcome would come with some trophies, whereas we got skunked in those games in 2016.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
2016 makes an interesting comparison. That year showed how nice of a record you can have, even without having to beat any really good opponents, if you just take care of business against the bad to below-average teams. What would make this year more fun is that Iowa and Wisconsin are some of the down teams, so this year that outcome would come with some trophies, whereas we got skunked in those games in 2016.
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So both 2014 and 2016 had the thing gopher for it that the division was in play going into the last week (at least in my memory)
Now, the division was certainly in play when the gophers played Illinois, so if the gophers happened to play Illinois the last game instead of Wisconsin (and the gophers end 9-3) it means this team was probably equal or better….but the season doesn’t feel as cool because the divisional championships were lost week 7 instead of week 14


By that measure I may have 2021 underrated as it turns out in retrospect the game at Iowa was a division title game.

At the same time, I downgrade 2021 for two bad losses to non bowl teams the same reason I downgrade 2014 for 5 total losses (because it just didn’t feel as good as the others)
 

Some guy said:
Agreed.
9-3 or even 8-4 would make this the best four year stretch since 68-71 for the team.

9-3 this year would likely be the 5th best season since 1990
8-4 would be the 6th best season since 1990 in my opinion.

1) 2019 - 11-3 (one win from division title but top 10 in nation final)
2) 2003 - 10-3 (one win from conf title)
3) 1999 - 8-4 (one win from conf title)
4) 2016 - 9-4 (one win from division title)

9-3 - 2022

2014 - 8-5 (one win from division title if I remember correctly, but 5 losses)

8-4 - 2022

9-4 - 2021 (didn’t control own destiny a long portion of season)
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We were 11-2 in 2019
 


Assuming we go 8-4 or better this year I think this is a clear top 7 season post 1990

My question would be….what would be the 8th best season on this list that I didn’t list?

Probably 2013?
Other contenders 2005 or 2002?


We should appreciate this season if we go 8-4
Because the fact that a 3-5 (2002) season is probably in the top 12 of the last 32 years probably means we should always appreciate the wins even if we have 2 fewer than we wanted
 

Strictly on wins it would slot in nicely.

2019 - 11-2
2003 - 10-3
2021 - 9-4
2016 - 9-4

2022 - 10-3 with Floyd and the Axe and a Bowl game win? It would be a fine season. And feel way better than it felt around here a week ago.
 

Iceland12 said:
Strictly on wins it would slot in nicely.

2019 - 11-2
2003 - 10-3
2021 - 9-4
2016 - 9-4

2022 - 10-3 with Floyd and the Axe and a Bowl game win? It would be a fine season. And feel way better than it felt around here a week ago.
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And if the Illinois game was week 14 for the division title and we lost on the road to a top 15 team we probably would be even more disappointed but also more impressed with the team. It’s a weird thing to think about.
 

Is there even a chance of an Illinois collapse?! lol.

Yea, we are down to trophies it looks like - bummer how things turned out. I think we have one more loss on the schedule.
 

I also think 9-3 with two losses on the road against top 15ish teams is more respectable. The Purdue game is frustrating obviously.
 

Mr. 131 said:
Is there even a chance of an Illinois collapse?! lol.

Yea, we are down to trophies it looks like - bummer how things turned out. I think we have one more loss on the schedule.
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I think it would take injuries to key players for Illinois to collapse (similar to Mo, CrAB, Tanner, etc.).

If Devito or Brown were hurt, they would be toast for that game.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
2016 makes an interesting comparison. That year showed how nice of a record you can have, even without having to beat any really good opponents, if you just take care of business against the bad to below-average teams. What would make this year more fun is that Iowa and Wisconsin are some of the down teams, so this year that outcome would come with some trophies, whereas we got skunked in those games in 2016.
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2016 comparison is interesting, but what's encouraging is that we have a legit QB1 for next season who has shown to have a very high ceiling.

In 2016 we literally had no QB for the following season. (Leidner went to NFL, JUCO QB left and Conor Rhoda graduated and talked into coming back)

EDIT: Demry Croft was the only true QB left who had a few snaps in a blowout loss on the road against NW in 2015?

But totally agree, what would further distinguish 2022 from 2016 would be some rivalry victory trophies.
 

Unless he is a recent convert, Lavelle barely watches college football. I am not sure he would know what a 9-3 or 8-4 team smells like.

It's so weird how MN sports are often covered by people who don't really follow sports.
 

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