Our 5 remaining games are all very winnable

[gopherbadgerman]

There is no getting around the fact that the last 3 games have been rough. Injuries, poor play, and many other factors.....have wiped away the first 4 games and put everyone in a foul mood about the season. And that is totally understandable. After 4 weeks we looked like a team that could run away with the West, now we look like a team that is hanging on for dear life. The silver lining in all this is that our remaining 5 opponents all have some massive flaws as well.

Rutgers - Has looked very mediocre all year
@Nebraska - Very up and down team, very beatable team
Northwestern - Has just been flat out bad all year
Iowa - Defense is very good/great.....offense is a complete dumpster fire
@Wisconsin - Looked good today in beating Purdue but has been a mess for most of this season.

3-2 feels like a minimum record over this stretch with 4-1 or even 5-0 not out of the realm of possibility. Tough to feel confident about anything right now but in spite of the poor play recently, we have the talent to compete with all the teams left on the schedule.

Agree that the Gophers do have the talent to compete. But they are not good enough to win the remaining games on talent alone. They are more talented than NW or Rutgers, but have less overall talent than Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin. So 2-3 would not really be a shock to me, but honestly 4-1 would not either.

 

[46Gophers]

You aren’t feeling good about northwestern?
You should watch northwestern and feel better

I have but I've also watched the Gophers make bad teams suddenly look good again and watching this years team it seems just as capable based off their performance the last three games. Ugh!!

 

[MNVCGUY]

I have but I've also watched the Gophers make bad teams suddenly look good again and watching this years team it seems just as capable based off their performance the last three games. Ugh!!

We played 4 bad/mediocre teams and dominated with basically the same roster we have right now. We played 1 mediocre team (Purdue), played like crap and lost and we have now lost on the road to 2 good teams. Again, I get all the negativity after these last 3 games but the degree of difficulty in our upcoming opponents is lower and in some cases much lower than what we have faced the past 3 weeks.

We still have to clean some things up and play a lot better to beat any of these teams but the remaining teams on our schedule are on par with the likes of MSU this year.

But I get that it is hard to see past the last few games to understand that all is not lost.

 

[cjbfbp]

Same can be said for Rutgers and Northwestern. 3 of the 5 teams left on our schedule are just flat out bad offensive football teams.

Northwestern was not bad at all offensively against Maryland yesterday. It was the second start for new QB Brendan Sullivan and he did pretty well despite throwing 2 interceptions. He also appears to be a pretty decent runner. What makes me feel pretty good about Northwestern this season is that their defense is worse than usual especially against the run.

Rutgers is a bit of a QB carousel this season so I don't know who we'll get. Yesterday was Noah Vedral (probably their most experienced QB). The good thing about them is that they seem to be a more run centric offense with him at QB which plays into our strengths.

 

[cjbfbp]

I have but I've also watched the Gophers make bad teams suddenly look good again

That last two teams we played, while not the very best, are two of the better teams in the league and Purdue is no worse than average for the conference. We didn't lose to any "bad" teams this season.

 

[Dakota2]

This was our worst defensive game. We gave up a similar amount of yards to the Illinois game but at least our defense was able to limit them to field goals most of the time. Offensively, I thought the team was much better than they were in the Illinois game and maybe slightly better than in the Purdue game.

It was our worst defensive game both in execution and coaching game plan. What kind of scheme has Sori-Marin chasing a tight end 30 yards down the field with no help in coverage?

We play five defensive backs. Who is the strong safety covering if not a TE way down the field?

 

[FlaGopher23]

Unfortunately, we will likely make Iowa and Wisconsin look good.

 

[Dakota2]

I'm feeling a lot less confident than I was after the MSU game, but Rutgers and NW are bad. My individual game predictions would be wins against those teams and losses against the other three. That said, I'd be much more surprised if we lost to NW or Rutgers than if we beat one of the other three. Accordingly, my prediction is 3-2, with wins against NW, Rutgers, and one if the others. You still hope we find a way to turn it around and beat the interim coaches who took over teams so bad that they fired their coaches midseason.

There are no bad teams in the Big Ten. Every team has some of the best athletes on the planet. They all have highly payed professional coaching staffs. Ohio St has the most of everything and they are excellent, maybe great. The rest run from really good to OK/good.

Nobody is bad.

 

[Dakota2]

Gopherhole isn't much fun to be around after losses because some posters just assume we will never win again and all is lost. And then there are the "fans" who oddly only post when there is a reason to make fun of the team but have nothing to say when things are going well, almost like they are actually fans of other teams just here to troll. The handful talking about getting rid of Fleck are all part of that special group.

Getting back to the point of creating this thread. For as bad as these past few weeks have been and there is no sugar coating the fact that they have been bad, the rest of our schedule is not all that daunting.

We will have to play better, a lot better, but the 5 remaining teams are far more like MSU than they are like PSU or even ILL.

Looking at the current 3 game funk. The Purdue game is the really frustrating one because we were the better team but no Mo and self inflicted wounds were too much to overcome. Illinois beat us at our own game, did to us exactly what we try to do to other teams. And I do think some have lost sight of the fact that we just lost to a top 20 team on the road with our backup QB making his first start in front of 107,000 fans. This is not the game to throw in the towel and say it's over.

Rutgers game will be key, have to win that one and get some confidence back heading into the final 4 games. There are no great teams left on our schedule.

Unavoidable, I know, but it's a fool's errand to evaluate an opponent coming in November based on first half of season.

Wisconsin showed yesterday they are an eyelash away from the Old Wisconsin -- solid defense, good running game, and good enough passing to balance it out. My guess is they continue to move toward championship form in the next month.

They are responding to Leonard. There is a reason they took the radical step of replacing Chryst with Leonard.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Unavoidable, I know, but it's a fool's errand to evaluate an opponent coming in November based on first half of season.

Wisconsin showed yesterday they are an eyelash away from the Old Wisconsin -- solid defense, good running game, and good enough passing to balance it out. My guess is they continue to move toward championship form in the next month.

They are responding to Leonard. There is a reason they took the radical step of replacing Chryst with Leonard.

You mean the same Wisconsin team that the week before lost to a Michigan State team that we throttled.....that Wisconsin?

They played well yesterday and they jumped out to a quick lead which allowed them to really key in on the Purdue passing game as they played catchup. Purdue was down 14 nothing quick after the TD drive to start the game followed almost immediately by a pick 6.

Wisconsin is a decent team. Will take a great effort to go beat them in Camp Randall at the end of the year but they are more than an eyelash away from being the Wisconsin that dominated the West.

 

[Rowthatboat]

I would flip it to Wisconsin being the most difficult. Iowa game will almost certainly be ugly but as long as we take care of the football they are a team we should beat because their offense is a complete and total mess. I could see that one being a really low scoring game along the lines of the 9-6 game they lost to Illinois.

Before looking up some stats I was in total agreement with you—Iowas offense is total trash —but their other side of the ball is “truly elite”

 

[FanSinceTheFifties]

Based only on this season so far with typical greater weight on recent performances, I would expect an unimpressive win over Rutgers and a close win over Northwestern, close losses to Nebraska and Iowa, and a pretty decisive loss to Wisconsin. 6-6 (3-6). An early bowl. Disappointing after the explosive start, but not so unusual..

 

[stocker08]

Gopherhole isn't much fun to be around after losses because some posters just assume we will never win again and all is lost. And then there are the "fans" who oddly only post when there is a reason to make fun of the team but have nothing to say when things are going well, almost like they are actually fans of other teams just here to troll. The handful talking about getting rid of Fleck are all part of that special group.

Getting back to the point of creating this thread. For as bad as these past few weeks have been and there is no sugar coating the fact that they have been bad, the rest of our schedule is not all that daunting.

We will have to play better, a lot better, but the 5 remaining teams are far more like MSU than they are like PSU or even ILL.

Looking at the current 3 game funk. The Purdue game is the really frustrating one because we were the better team but no Mo and self inflicted wounds were too much to overcome. Illinois beat us at our own game, did to us exactly what we try to do to other teams. And I do think some have lost sight of the fact that we just lost to a top 20 team on the road with our backup QB making his first start in front of 107,000 fans. This is not the game to throw in the towel and say it's over.

Rutgers game will be key, have to win that one and get some confidence back heading into the final 4 games. There are no great teams left on our schedule.

Right. It's just funny to see. I expect the trolls to show up when the team loses....but there's a decent number of regular posters that have lost their marbles. Easy to do when you haven't won in nearly a month....but people are discounting the teams we've played....and what we have coming up.

Northwestern, Nebraska, and Rutgers are the worst three teams in the conference. Maybe with Indiana being in that group too. Have people forgot the trashing we put on MSU? We made them look like a bad G5 team on their home field. That team beat Wisconsin last week.

Just need to reel in the crazy. No reason to think that we won't still finish 8-4....or even win out from here.

 

[Dakota2]

You mean the same Wisconsin team that the week before lost to a Michigan State team that we throttled.....that Wisconsin?

They played well yesterday and they jumped out to a quick lead which allowed them to really key in on the Purdue passing game as they played catchup. Purdue was down 14 nothing quick after the TD drive to start the game followed almost immediately by a pick 6.

Wisconsin is a decent team. Will take a great effort to go beat them in Camp Randall at the end of the year but they are more than an eyelash away from being the Wisconsin that dominated the West.

Give it five weeks and we will see. More importantly, what is our trajectory over the next five weeks?

 

[kg21]

Right. It's just funny to see. I expect the trolls to show up when the team loses....but there's a decent number of regular posters that have lost their marbles. Easy to do when you haven't won in nearly a month....but people are discounting the teams we've played....and what we have coming up.

Northwestern, Nebraska, and Rutgers are the worst three teams in the conference. Maybe with Indiana being in that group too. Have people forgot the trashing we put on MSU? We made them look like a bad G5 team on their home field. That team beat Wisconsin last week.

Just need to reel in the crazy. No reason to think that we won't still finish 8-4....or even win out from here.

I disagree.

The way they are stacking for MO, and the way we are throwing the ball, we could lose almost any of them.

A bad pick, a fumble, a dropped pass and that could be a game. I'm thinking 3-2 at best. I'm leaning toward 2-3

 

[stocker08]

I disagree.

The way they are stacking for MO, and the way we are throwing the ball, we could lose almost any of them.

A bad pick, a fumble, a dropped pass and that could be a game. I'm thinking 3-2 at best. I'm leaning toward 2-3

Who's "they"? The top-25 teams that we've played these past couple weeks? That's not who we're playing in these next five games. These teams are significantly worse.

 

[Live in the now]

What games are some of you watching? Toss ups against Rutgers and Northwestern? Likely losses in the other three? Pull your heads out. We just lost to ranked teams in back to back weeks. With Mo....we probably beat Purdue.

Have you guys watched the teams remaining on our schedule? Get a grip.

Agreed I would think wins against nw and Rutgers. Toss up Nebraska and split W and Iowa. I’d be surprised if they didn’t win 3 of 5.

 

[Live in the now]

Right. It's just funny to see. I expect the trolls to show up when the team loses....but there's a decent number of regular posters that have lost their marbles. Easy to do when you haven't won in nearly a month....but people are discounting the teams we've played....and what we have coming up.

Northwestern, Nebraska, and Rutgers are the worst three teams in the conference. Maybe with Indiana being in that group too. Have people forgot the trashing we put on MSU? We made them look like a bad G5 team on their home field. That team beat Wisconsin last week.

Just need to reel in the crazy. No reason to think that we won't still finish 8-4....or even win out from here.

Probably as much overreacting to the first 3 wins as the last 3 losses for sure. They could still have a decent season. The trophy games are always big. Illinois is just legit and that is probably throwing peoples opinions off because they normally are ass.

 

[kg21]

Who's "they"? The top-25 teams that we've played these past couple weeks? That's not who we're playing in these next five games. These teams are significantly worse.

they would be the teams we are playing, since we literally can't pass the football.

Based on what has been seen lately, it would be a fireable offense for defensive coordinators of other teams not to stack the box.

 

[stocker08]

they would be the teams we are playing, since we literally can't pass the football.

Based on what has been seen lately, it would be a fireable offense for defensive coordinators of other teams not to stack the box.

But the personnel that teams like Rutgers and Northwestern throw out aren't the same as Illinois and PSU. Just because a team has exploitable weaknesses doesn't mean that any team can actually do it.

 

[kg21]

But the personnel that teams like Rutgers and Northwestern throw out aren't the same as Illinois and PSU. Just because a team has exploitable weaknesses doesn't mean that any team can actually do it.

I hope you are right.

I was the one who said this team would struggle with the pass as teams would stack the box, especially when CRAB went down. I was mocked. Purdue is very blah on defense and we struggled big time.

It sure would be nice to get off to a great start against Rutgers, win fairly easily and go from there.

 

[stocker08]

I hope you are right.

I was the one who said this team would struggle with the pass as teams would stack the box, especially when CRAB went down. I was mocked. Purdue is very blah on defense and we struggled big time.

It sure would be nice to get off to a great start against Rutgers, win fairly easily and go from there.

The Purdue game was weird. I don't think the coaches knew that Mo was going to be out....and they hadn't planned for it. Still think we win if Mo played in that one.

Illinois and Penn State are both quite a bit better than anyone we play in the next five games. If you think Illinois made us look bad....remember what they did to Wisconsin at Camp Randall.

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

Right. It's just funny to see. I expect the trolls to show up when the team loses....but there's a decent number of regular posters that have lost their marbles. Easy to do when you haven't won in nearly a month....but people are discounting the teams we've played....and what we have coming up.

Northwestern, Nebraska, and Rutgers are the worst three teams in the conference. Maybe with Indiana being in that group too. Have people forgot the trashing we put on MSU? We made them look like a bad G5 team on their home field. That team beat Wisconsin last week.

Just need to reel in the crazy. No reason to think that we won't still finish 8-4....or even win out from here.

One can't ignore or easily write off how the Gophers have played in the past three games. That has been very obvious. There isn't a whole lot that can be built on or give the average fan some optimism going forward. We are well into the BIG season and not the powder puff teams that we easily handled in the NC. Reality has sunk in. In spite of the preseason comments from Fleck this is not a good football team.

You may be the crazy one here stocker08!!!

But we all should agree that the guys must beat Rutgers to regain their confidence and finish strong.

 

[46Gophers]

But the personnel that teams like Rutgers and Northwestern throw out aren't the same as Illinois and PSU. Just because a team has exploitable weaknesses doesn't mean that any team can actually do it.

Talent is only part of the equation. The game plans on both sides of the ball these last three games have been horrendous and we have been out coached. I hope that they make adjustments and turn it around but don't discount the value Schiano or Fitzgerald coaching brings. I hope we right the ship starting with Rutgers and I do expect them to. Just wouldn't be surprised if they continue to struggle.

 

[stocker08]

One can't ignore or easily write off how the Gophers have played in the past three games. That has been very obvious. There isn't a whole lot that can be built on or give the average fan some optimism going forward. We are well into the BIG season and not the powder puff teams that we easily handled in the NC. Reality has sunk in. In spite of the preseason comments from Fleck this is not a good football team.

You may be the crazy one here stocker08!!!

But we all should agree that the guys must beat Rutgers to regain their confidence and finish strong.

MSU is a Big Ten team. A team that we destroyed. A team that beat Wisconsin. Seems that a lot of the naysayers ignore this.

 

[stocker08]

Talent is only part of the equation. The game plans on both sides of the ball these last three games have been horrendous and we have been out coached. I hope that they make adjustments and turn it around but don't discount the value Schiano or Fitzgerald coaching brings. I hope we right the ship starting with Rutgers and I do expect them to. Just wouldn't be surprised if they continue to struggle.

Sure. But do you think that these bottom feeder Big Ten teams have nothing that the Gophers coaches can exploit? Everyone looks at the Gophers shortcomings and assume that nobody else has any themselves.

 

[PMWinSTP]

they would be the teams we are playing, since we literally can't pass the football.

Based on what has been seen lately, it would be a fireable offense for defensive coordinators of other teams not to stack the box.

Literally?

 

[46Gophers]

Sure. But do you think that these bottom feeder Big Ten teams have nothing that the Gophers coaches can exploit? Everyone looks at the Gophers shortcomings and assume that nobody else has any themselves.

Oh every team has them and I just hope that our coaches can do a better job at exploiting theirs than teams have been doing exploiting ours lately.

 

[Dakota2]

The Purdue game was weird. I don't think the coaches knew that Mo was going to be out....and they hadn't planned for it. Still think we win if Mo played in that one.

Illinois and Penn State are both quite a bit better than anyone we play in the next five games. If you think Illinois made us look bad....remember what they did to Wisconsin at Camp Randall.

How could the coaches not know Mo at least might be out.? They were evaluating him all week. If there is any question at all about your best player being able to go you have to plan for the alternative too.

 

[dpodoll68]

I'm thinking 3-2; Nebraska is improving and can make the big play in their passing game and have two good runners (notwithstanding that IL may stop them cold Saturday). At Lincoln they will be tough. The Badgers will be out to win one for the coaching staff and it's at Madison. Iowa has the kind of run defense that forces MN to pass, which hasn't worked out too well. Rutgers is scrappy, but unless morale has collapsed we should win that one and the Northwestern game, though the Cats will redeem their season by rising up against somebody. So put in one upset, and we are 3-2, with a 7-5 season, plus a bowl somewhere.

You're predicting that the Gophers will lose to Nebraska? I've never seen that from you before. This is a shocking development!