P5 teams that go 7-2 are usually ranked - except Minnesota

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Gopher07 said:
Looks like this year we might "pull a Minnesota" again, and reach 7-2 without a ranking. Not saying anything about what we deserve given our schedule strength to date, just find it an interesting little tidbit about the rankings and our team - three of the last eight major conference teams to reach early November with a 7-2 record and no AP ranking were our very own Golden Gophers.

Looking back through the AP Poll, here are the major conference teams that have been unranked following the 9th game of the season for most teams, over the past eight seasons:

2015: No P5 team with a record of 7-2 or greater was unranked in early November (11/8 poll)
2014: Missouri, Minnesota were both 7-2 and unranked (11/9 poll)
2013: Minnesota, Nebraska, Duke all 7-2 or better and unranked (11/10 poll)
2012: Northwestern was 7-2 and unranked (11/4 poll)
2011: No P5 team with a record of 7-2 or greater was unranked in early November (11/6 poll)
2010: No P5 team with a record of 7-2 or greater was unranked in early November (11/7 poll)
2009: No P5 team with a record of 7-2 or greater was unranked in early November (11/8 poll)
2008: Minnesota and Northwestern were 7-2 and unranked (11/2 poll)

This year, there's probably only one team with a shot at pulling it off - our Golden Gophers, who sit at 6-2 but 38th in votes received after this week. It's doubtful we jump 13 spots with a home win over Purdue. Every other major conference team with two or fewer losses on the season is ranked currently, and none of the 7-1 teams are close to falling out of the poll.

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Edit: For those wondering, here are the 7-2 P5 teams that were ranked each of the years:

2015 (5): Michigan, UCLA, Florida State, Mississippi State, Northwestern
2014 (8): Auburn, Michigan State, Kansas State, Notre Dame, Georgia, Arizona, Clemson, Wisconsin
2013 (7): South Carolina, UCLA, Wisconsin, Arizona State, Oklahoma, Texas, Miami
2012 (8): LSU, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Stanford, UCLA, Nebraska, Texas, Mississippi State
2011 (9): Michigan State, Georgia, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Kansas State, USC, Nebraska, Georgia Tech, Michigan
2010 (8): Alabama, Iowa, Arkansas, Virginia Tech, Mississippi State, Arizona, Oklahoma, Missouri
2009 (6): LSU, USC, Miami, Oregon, Oklahoma State, Wisconsin
2008 (5): Ohio State, Missouri, Georgia, Michigan State, Georgia Tech

In all, from 2008-2015, 56 major conference teams were 7-2 and ranked, eight were 7-2 and unranked (13%).

This year, we'll have some combination of: Louisville, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Auburn, Utah, North Carolina, Penn State, Colorado, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech, Washington State
Click to expand...

Thank you, Gopher 07, for doing all the work required to present this interesting post.
 

Nomellini said:
Thank you, Gopher 07, for doing all the work required to present this interesting post.
Click to expand...

It is a good summary. However, without context it just looks like a conspiracy theory.

You have to look at the quality of wins and the timing of losses. In 2008 there were really no big quality wins and the game to get to 7-2 was the loss to NU which I believe dropped the Gophers out of the rankings.

In 2013 there were 2 losses in a row games 5-6 and the only quality win was Nebraska.

In 2014 the game prior to 7-2 was a bad loss to Illinois and again there were no quality wins.

The common themes are no quality/signature/ranked team wins and timing of losses within 1-2 games of getting to 7-2.
 

Here's the problem with the polls, there aren't 25 teams worthy of being ranked in the top 25! There I said it.
 


To be the man, you gotta beat the man woooooooo!

And we have not beaten anyone of note and lost to a team barely in the top 25 and lost to a team not in the top 43 of the coaches poll (which lost to a FCS school). This is probably an unprecedentedly weak 7-2 if we make it. That said, I was hoping for 7 wins all season so glad to have a win this week and then a chance to outperform with the rest of the season.
 

The only teams that we've beaten (that aren't that good anyways) that I feared losing to on the road (Maryland and Illinois) played backup QBs that couldn't complete a 10 yard pass. I doubt the voters even know that, but every team we've beaten has probably been the caliber of a middling MAC school given their QB situations.

If you put Rutgers with any QB, OrSU, Illinois without Lunt, Maryland without Hills, Colorado State in the MAC...do they go over .500 in that conference?

We did our job pounding those teams to death on the ground, but I think if Hills or Lunt played, those games may have been close. And I'm saying that even if you put Mitch in the Maryland game.

We complain about the schedules that Iowa and wisky have gotten in recent years, but we've got an added bump with 2 toss-up road games with QBs that are averaging like 3 yards/pass. Am I complaining? No.
 

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