Poll!!! - 2022 Expectations

I'll be disappointed if we do anything less than:

  • Total voters
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Looking at Wisconsin Braelon Allen will be an 18 year old sophomore. That might make it onto a few broadcasts. Bigger, stronger? Will Mertz bloom or continue to be a game-crashing headcase, making Wisconsin even more one-dimensional. Classy boo bird fans came out last year, Chryst under some fire. Big questions to the East. Doubts creeping in. Mertz t shirt sales up or down?
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Looking at Wisconsin Braelon Allen will be an 18 year old sophomore. That might make it onto a few broadcasts. Bigger, stronger? Will Mertz bloom or continue to be a game-crashing headcase, making Wisconsin even more one-dimensional. Classy boo bird fans came out last year, Chryst under some fire. Big questions to the East. Doubts creeping in. Mertz t shirt sales up or down?
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A lot of Wisconsin fans I know want Chryst to retire before the DC moves on for a head job or NFL DC job
 

PMWinSTP said:
The poll choices are interesting...so for you seven regular season wins?
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I guess I’ve gone back and forth, but yes as long as they win 7 games (1 being Wisco or Iowa) I’ll be content with a victory at a lesser bowl. That doesn’t mean I’ll be thrilled by any means, but that would be my minimum expectations. Anything beyond that is when it gets fun and I derive the most excitement.
 

Go to the B1G title game. Gotta do it before the divisions get scrapped. Probably the last chance.
 

Win 9 including bowl game.

This has been my mantra for the past decade or so. The Gophers have a huge uphill struggle as we don't get the top players and the stars have to align to have a great year. Go back to 2019 as there were a number of games that easily could have been a L. But the guys figured out the way to get W's.
 


Bayfieldgopher said:
Win 9 including bowl game.

This has been my mantra for the past decade or so. The Gophers have a huge uphill struggle as we don't get the top players and the stars have to align to have a great year. Go back to 2019 as there were a number of games that easily could have been a L. But the guys figured out the way to get W's.
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I’m with you on the minimum of 8 regular season wins because that guarantees better than .500 in the conference. This may change because of rumored future scheduling.

I did go with 10 wins including bowl game for this poll. I’m feeling a little bullish with how the coaching, players and schedule are shaping up for this year.
 


Some guy said:
A lot of Wisconsin fans I know want Chryst to retire before the DC moves on for a head job or NFL DC job
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I still think he's the successor whenever Chryst is done. He is making NFL DC type money right now. I suppose a P5 could snatch him up as HC with a nice salary...but I think he still would go back to be WI HC.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
I went with 8-4 reg season + win a bowl game.

But - depending on how things go, I could see this team finishing anywhere from 7 wins to 11 wins.

my primary concern is the O-Line. if the O-Line play is anywhere close to last year, that is a big plus.

next is the D-Line. 6 of the top 8 guys gone from last year's rotation. how do the replacements perform?

and then comes health at RB. How close are Mo and Potts to 100% of their old form?

this is going to be a very interesting season.

and in closing BEAT IOWA. BEAT IOWA. BEAT IOWA. BEAT IOWA. BEAT IOWA. BEAT IOWA.
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Good points all. But I too am interested in how close the RB's can come to their pre injury form.
 



PMWinSTP said:
I still think he's the successor whenever Chryst is done. He is making NFL DC type money right now. I suppose a P5 could snatch him up as HC with a nice salary...but I think he still would go back to be WI HC.
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That’s true but it’s not always easy to convince a logical candidate to come back.
Ask Louisville about Brohm
Ask Michigan about Les Miles (they dodged a bullet actually maybe)
Ask Wisconsin about chryst when they hired Gary Anderson (eventually got him).
 

I voted for the Gophers to make the Big Ten West title game and win if all the stars are aligned. The low end is 9 wins including a bowl game.

I echo the sentiments about the O-Line being the key to their offensive success. Gopher D is quietly making a lot of noise. They are going to keep the Gophers in a lot of games.
 

Some guy said:
That’s true but it’s not always easy to convince a logical candidate to come back.
Ask Louisville about Brohm
Ask Michigan about Les Miles (they dodged a bullet actually maybe)
Ask Wisconsin about chryst when they hired Gary Anderson (eventually got him).
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Ask Nebraska about Scott Frost!! :devilish:
 




If you listen to Fleck and Rossi, your expectations should be high.

Fleck has been very forthcoming that he was disappointed with 8-4. Saying he did a bad job at that level.

Fleck has repeated in numerous interviews that he is not concerned about the turnover in the o-line.

Fleck has talked about how athletic and fast this team is as a whole.

He loves all of his fifth and sixth year guys making this a player-led team (7 in year 6; 15 in Year 5. Another 16 in year 4).

He loves having Ciarrocca back in the fold.

He thinks his safeties are as good as any in league.

Rossi has had very good things to say about his defense...likes the vets, likes the transfers, likes the young talent.

The schedule is easiest in the Big West. Three cupcakes to tune up on. Avoid Ohio State, Michigan. Get Iowa at home. The talent level as good or better than any in the West.

9-3 should be your downside expectation, don't be surprised at 12-0.
 

We lost some high caliber offensive lineman, but if you think Tanner Morgan and our offensive line were a solid pairing in our 2021 offensive passing attack, you didn't watch the same season I did.

I think O-line protection will be better because of the OC change. Tanner will be more automatic with his passing game, and the line can't drop much from the pass protection issues we had last year.

The bigger O-line risk is if we suddenly can't run the ball. I don't think that's going to be an issue.
 

WAGopher said:
I’m with you on the minimum of 8 regular season wins because that guarantees better than .500 in the conference. This may change because of rumored future scheduling.

I did go with 10 wins including bowl game for this poll. I’m feeling a little bullish with how the coaching, players and schedule are shaping up for this year.
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Depends upon how you read the question. I also picked 10 wins including a bowl game. I picked that because I would be very satisfied with no feelings of disappointment in that case. I always figure a bowl game into my expectations. If the team won 8 regular season games but lost the bowl game, that would be only as good as Kill's two winning seasons and would be a step back from last year.
 

swingman said:
If you listen to Fleck and Rossi, your expectations should be high.

Fleck has been very forthcoming that he was disappointed with 8-4. Saying he did a bad job at that level.

Fleck has repeated in numerous interviews that he is not concerned about the turnover in the o-line.

Fleck has talked about how athletic and fast this team is as a whole.

He loves all of his fifth and sixth year guys making this a player-led team (7 in year 6; 15 in Year 5. Another 16 in year 4).

He loves having Ciarrocca back in the fold.

He thinks his safeties are as good as any in league.

Rossi has had very good things to say about his defense...likes the vets, likes the transfers, likes the young talent.

The schedule is easiest in the Big West. Three cupcakes to tune up on. Avoid Ohio State, Michigan. Get Iowa at home. The talent level as good or better than any in the West.

9-3 should be your downside expectation, don't be surprised at 12-0.
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Heather, is that you??
 

MN:
Offense: QB = >, RB =, WR = >, OL = <
Defense: DL = <, LB =, Secondary = >

Our OL and DL have talent but need time to gel. The great think is that we should have enough talent and improvement in other areas to make up the difference. I also think with superior coaching compared to last year we will be more consistent.

WI:
Offense: QB = >, RB = , WR = <, OL = <
Defense: DL = <, LB = <, secondary =

WI will need Mertz to step up big time. There is no where on their offense where you can say they improved. They need Mertz to get better but even if he does how much separation will his WR's be able to get? Their defense will be solid, but not sure it will be able to steal games for them like it did last year.

IA:
Offense: QB = >, RB = <, WR =, OL = <
Defense: total =

Iowa is an offensive is not very good and was highly dependent on the RB on OL. They have enough talent to win games, but not sure they have enough to win them games. This means their defense will need to win games for them against good teams. Not sure Iowa improves enough to be a B1G West threat this year.

I think 9 - 10 wins for the Gophers is probable. This could be a special year, just hope the consistency returns and OL and DL gels.
 

Drake University Gopher said:
I guess I’ve gone back and forth, but yes as long as they win 7 games (1 being Wisco or Iowa) I’ll be content with a victory at a lesser bowl. That doesn’t mean I’ll be thrilled by any means, but that would be my minimum expectations. Anything beyond that is when it gets fun and I derive the most excitement.
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Not eLITe!
 

Face The Facts said:
We lost some high caliber offensive lineman, but if you think Tanner Morgan and our offensive line were a solid pairing in our 2021 offensive passing attack, you didn't watch the same season I did.

I think O-line protection will be better because of the OC change. Tanner will be more automatic with his passing game, and the line can't drop much from the pass protection issues we had last year.

The bigger O-line risk is if we suddenly can't run the ball. I don't think that's going to be an issue.
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I agree with you. The line was great for the running game last year but not quite as good when it came to pass protection. They did seem to improve on that dimension as the year progressed.
 

This is tough to answer because I EXPECT the Gophers to win 9+ in the regular season and finally win the West, but OP specifically asked for the threshold at which we'd be disappointed with less...so I went with 9 wins including the bowl (so another 8-4 regular season). I could live with that again provided the losses are competitive and to teams who have great seasons. I could easily see all of MSU, Iowa, PSU, and Wisconsin being 8+ win teams, so while a loss to any of them (let alone all of them) would be disappointing, it wouldn't be head-scratching.
 

I could be wrong but it feels like the window of opportunity is shrinking, not only on the Gophers to get to Indy but maybe on CFB as we used to know it. As Stan would say Get ‘er done Fleck! This is a season on a silver platter.






Don’t screw it up.
 

Win 10.

Beat Wisconsin. Beat Iowa.
 

MGGopher said:
This is tough to answer because I EXPECT the Gophers to win 9+ in the regular season and finally win the West, but OP specifically asked for the threshold at which we'd be disappointed with less...so I went with 9 wins including the bowl (so another 8-4 regular season). I could live with that again provided the losses are competitive and to teams who have great seasons. I could easily see all of MSU, Iowa, PSU, and Wisconsin being 8+ win teams, so while a loss to any of them (let alone all of them) would be disappointing, it wouldn't be head-scratching.
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An 8-4 regular season means losing to one or both of Iowa and Wisconsin
 

Win the West.

Nothing else matters.

Otherwise Fleck is still no better than Mason.
 


  • Go 6-6 and make a bowl game (win or lose the bowl)
  • Go 7-5
  • Win 8 including bowl game win
  • Win 9 including bowl game win
  • Win 10 including bowl game win
  • Make the Big Ten Title Game (Win West)
  • Win the Big Ten
  • Make the CFP
  • Win national title
  • I'm already disappointed
I like 12-0...I like winning the Jug in Big Ten Championship game...I like passing on CFP bid for the Rose Bowl.
 

There are two paths to a successful season for me.

1. Beat Nebby, Wisconsin, Iowa and Purdue. (I added Purdue because for some unknown reason I dislike them.)

Or

2. Win the B1G West. It would be severely sad if we beat everyone in 1. and somehow did not win the West, but it is possible.

If I’m completely honest, it would take both to be a satisfactory season.
 

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