Predicting wild card teams for College Football Playoff (Minnesota Gophers: Minnesota is a really dangerous team this year.)

Donate To GopherHole
BleedGopher

BleedGopher

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 11, 2008
Messages
61,980
Reaction score
18,170
Points
113
per Austin:

"Minnesota is a really dangerous team this year," Pate said. "On a scale of 1-10 when it comes to the misleading scale from 2020, I think it was a 9.5 misleading for Minnesota. They had a couple of games postponed. I think they had one game with like 33 guys out. I don’t really know what to make of last year, but what I do know is for argument’s sake, it could be more of the same this year or it could be that last year is by no means an indication of what this team is this year. They have got Tanner Morgan at quarterback, so they have got experience there. They have got veteran pieces at running back, veteran pieces at wide receiver, and they’ve got a great big chip on their shoulder as a program right now because a lot of people are rubbed the wrong way by how P.J. Fleck carries himself up there. To his credit, he doesn’t care, but a lot of people are rubbed the wrong way. … What I’m saying is, if you’ve got an opportunity to hang an extra seven or 10 on Minnesota, you take liberty with it. Kind of the way they do to Georgia Tech in the ACC.

How will they handle the Ohio State game? That’s the big question for Minnesota because if you look at their schedule, they open with the Buckeyes at home. They’re going to be about a two-touchdown underdog in that game. If they win it, totally different discussion. Even if they lose it in blowout fashion, they’ve got a winnable stretch after that. You can afford to lose to Ohio State. You can’t afford to lose three times to the same team. Is there a lot of residue coming off that game against Ohio State or do they lose, lick their wounds, use it as a building block, and emerge in the middle part of the season and look totally different?"

247sports.com

Predicting wild card teams for College Football Playoff

...
247sports.com 247sports.com

Go Gophers!!
 

Is there a lot of residue coming off that game against Ohio State or do they lose, lick their wounds, use it as a building block, and emerge in the middle part of the season and look totally different?

Pretty fundamental key to the season, with that question.

Would absolutely accept as a "victory" to keep the game competitive for 4 qtrs, lose by <=10 pts, learn what we can learn from it, and move on. Hopefully head into that huge @Purdue game 3-1.
 

MplsGopher said:
Is there a lot of residue coming off that game against Ohio State or do they lose, lick their wounds, use it as a building block, and emerge in the middle part of the season and look totally different?

Pretty fundamental key to the season, with that question.

Would absolutely accept as a "victory" to keep the game competitive for 4 qtrs, lose by <=10 pts, learn what we can learn from it, and move on. Hopefully head into that huge @Purdue game 3-1.
Click to expand...
Depends on how that impacts the team more than anything. I’d rather get shit stomped and have a pissed off and focused team the rest of the year than lose by one score and “feel good” about ourselves and not continually strive to get better. Fully depends on the response whenever you lose a game no matter how you lose it
 

Yes they may feel good if they lose by a few to Ohio State. At the same time they realize that they are good and will work harder to do good the rest of the year. Fleck isn't going to let them screw up.

I also appreciate where it says "... a lot of people are rubbed the wrong way by how P.J. Fleck carries himself up there. To his credit, he doesn’t care, but a lot of people are rubbed the wrong way. … ." I don't want Fleck to be like some of the other coaches. I want Fleck to be Fleck. He is creative, willing to do knew things, and teaches a good message.
 

I’m glad they play Miami oh in game two instead of at Colorado, because if they do happen to pull off the upset you don’t want to see a mental let down the following week.
 


There are such things as "moral" wins. Losing by <2 scores would be a positive to me and likely gets positive vibs from the national media.
 

btowngopher said:
I’m glad they play Miami oh in game two instead of at Colorado, because if they do happen to pull off the upset you don’t want to see a mental let down the following week.
Click to expand...
Miami of Ohio is a pretty good MAC team. Won’t be a cake walk. Only “soft” game on the Gophers’ 2021 schedule is Bowling Green.
 
Last edited:


There is no such thing as a "good" loss.
But there is such a thing as a great win.
 





btowngopher said:
I’m glad they play Miami oh in game two instead of at Colorado, because if they do happen to pull off the upset you don’t want to see a mental let down the following week.
Click to expand...
Now you’ve done it.
The team will beat Ohio state and Colorado but lost to Miami in between
 




upnorthkid said:
Depends on how that impacts the team more than anything. I’d rather get shit stomped and have a pissed off and focused team the rest of the year than lose by one score and “feel good” about ourselves and not continually strive to get better. Fully depends on the response whenever you lose a game no matter how you lose it
Click to expand...
I always find takes like these interesting. There is nobody directly associated with the team that would feel good about a close loss to Ohio State. A close loss would be a driving force to the team that says we are pretty damn good but not quite good enough to beat the best yet.

This is an area where fans struggle because what they see is the result/record and many struggle with the nuance of it. In the end it all depends on how the team plays. You can be ok with a loss to a good team if you know you played well and just didn't have enough to get it done. In the same way you can feel upset about a win if you played bad against a garbage team but still managed to get the W. It gets way oversimplified when people get hung up on just what the record says.
 

Plato said:
There is no such thing as a "good" loss.
But there is such a thing as a great win.
Click to expand...
While it is true there might not be a "good" loss, all loses are not created equal. Playing well against a great team and coming up short is very different then playing poorly against a medicore team and getting beat.

I do a fair amount of coaching in youth sports. I never feel good about losing, but if we lose to a team that is clearly better than us I can accept it and move on way faster than if we go out and lose to a team that we should have beaten.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I always find takes like these interesting. There is nobody directly associated with the team that would feel good about a close loss to Ohio State.
Click to expand...
I don't think coach's handle everything as binary. "good" or "bad"

In a given game there is winning and losing and what the players did right and wrong and etc.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I don't think coach's handle everything as binary. "good" or "bad"

In a given game there is winning and losing and what the players did right and wrong and etc.
Click to expand...
Yep, but it always amazes me how many fans struggle to get that.
 

Moral victories are BS. Can we beat OSU? Yes and if we lose by 1 or 100, its the same.
 

gopherjay said:
Moral victories are BS. Can we beat OSU? Yes and if we lose by 1 or 100, its the same.
Click to expand...
Except they aren't the same. A close competitive loss to OSU is not the same as getting blown out by them. A close competitive loss tells you that you are close to being where you need to be to compete with the team that should be the best in the Big Ten and one of the best in the country. A blowout tells you that you have a long ways to go in order to get to that top tier where you can compete with the best.

It is a loss either way but in one scenario you feel pretty confident in where you team is at and in the other you feel like you have a lot of work to do. In both cases the goal is to flip the result the next time you play them but you confidence in your ability to do so is going to be very different in each scenario.

If you play well there is zero shame in losing to what has been one of the best teams in the country. You aren't happy or satisfied with the loss but you also don't get depressed about it. You learn from it and try to make the changes needed to not let it happen again. A 1 point loss and a 100 point loss are not the same thing, they just aren't.
 


MNVCGUY said:
Except they aren't the same. A close competitive loss to OSU is not the same as getting blown out by them. A close competitive loss tells you that you are close to being where you need to be to compete with the team that should be the best in the Big Ten and one of the best in the country. A blowout tells you that you have a long ways to go in order to get to that top tier where you can compete with the best.

It is a loss either way but in one scenario you feel pretty confident in where you team is at and in the other you feel like you have a lot of work to do. In both cases the goal is to flip the result the next time you play them but you confidence in your ability to do so is going to be very different in each scenario.

If you play well there is zero shame in losing to what has been one of the best teams in the country. You aren't happy or satisfied with the loss but you also don't get depressed about it. You learn from it and try to make the changes needed to not let it happen again. A 1 point loss and a 100 point loss are not the same thing, they just aren't.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I don't get why this would even be arguable or why people are claiming a loss is a loss is a loss. All of us know this is true instinctively - the comments on this board will completely different if we lose to OSU 38-35 as opposed to 48-3 (neither of which will happen, of course, because I took Minnesota to win on the moneyline at +475).
 

Urbandale said:
Yeah, I don't get why this would even be arguable or why people are claiming a loss is a loss is a loss. All of us know this is true instinctively - the comments on this board will completely different if we lose to OSU 38-35 as opposed to 48-3 (neither of which will happen, of course, because I took Minnesota to win on the moneyline at +475).
Click to expand...
Honestly this game doesn’t matter. The winner of the rematch game the weekend after thanksgiving goes to the playoff.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I always find takes like these interesting. There is nobody directly associated with the team that would feel good about a close loss to Ohio State. A close loss would be a driving force to the team that says we are pretty damn good but not quite good enough to beat the best yet.

This is an area where fans struggle because what they see is the result/record and many struggle with the nuance of it. In the end it all depends on how the team plays. You can be ok with a loss to a good team if you know you played well and just didn't have enough to get it done. In the same way you can feel upset about a win if you played bad against a garbage team but still managed to get the W. It gets way oversimplified when people get hung up on just what the record says.
Click to expand...
unsure if you're saying you agree or disagree with my post but anyways...

regarding the bold, you assume and hope this is the case yes. the opposite can happen as well if you review even team psychology literature, it can go either way; that's why i was saying i want the team that responds either way depending on how the game goes, win or loss.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
Miami of Ohio is a pretty good MAC team. Won’t be a cake walk. Only “soft” game on the Gophers’ 2021 schedule is Bowling Green.
Click to expand...
Miami of Ohio is ok in a bad MAC conference. But this game should be won very comfortably.
 

Some guy said:
Honestly this game doesn’t matter. The winner of the rematch game the weekend after thanksgiving goes to the playoff.
Click to expand...

That depends on which SEC teams have two losses.
 

stocker08 said:
That depends on which SEC teams have two losses.
Click to expand...
False.
11-1 Minnesota vs 12-0 Ohio state
Or
12-0 Minnesota Fs 11-1 Ohio state

Winner goes either way.

Either team goes over any 1 loss SEC team, a 2 loss big ten champ doesn’t go, simple
 

Some guy said:
False.
11-1 Minnesota vs 12-0 Ohio state
Or
12-0 Minnesota Fs 11-1 Ohio state

Winner goes either way.

Either team goes over any 1 loss SEC team, a 2 loss big ten champ doesn’t go, simple
Click to expand...

I was joking. A 12-1 Big Ten Champion Gopher team is a no brainer. But the fact is that the ESPN talking head dodos would 100% still be bringing it up like it should be considered.
 

Ask Ohio State if losing by 3 is different than losing by 20+. I am fairly certain losing "big" cost them two opportunities to be in BSC playoffs. If losing to OSU is our only loss of the season it will matter a ton if we lost to them by 3 or by 35. I do think it is good that we have them early. Win or lose if we run the table we are BSC bound.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I always find takes like these interesting. There is nobody directly associated with the team that would feel good about a close loss to Ohio State. A close loss would be a driving force to the team that says we are pretty damn good but not quite good enough to beat the best yet.

This is an area where fans struggle because what they see is the result/record and many struggle with the nuance of it. In the end it all depends on how the team plays. You can be ok with a loss to a good team if you know you played well and just didn't have enough to get it done. In the same way you can feel upset about a win if you played bad against a garbage team but still managed to get the W. It gets way oversimplified when people get hung up on just what the record says.
Click to expand...
Good points.

This is an area where the attitude and motivational aspects of a head coach are critical.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom