Rank the remaining opponents

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Go Gophers Rah

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Given their level of play thus far and the relative home-field advantage, here is how I rank our remaining opponents (from easiest to hardest):

1. @ Illinois (team looks no better than the one we demolished last November)
2. Northwestern (I like our home field advantage in this one)
3. @ Iowa (they'll be scrappin' for a W)
4. Purdue
5. Michigan (could this be the year to win the brown jug at home? hasn't happened since 1977 :eek:)
6. @ Wisconsin (Madison is a difficult place to win)
7. Michigan State (we've played them hard in the last few years)
8. @ Nebraska (I just don't like the way we line up against the Huskers)

What do other folks think?
 

1. Northwestern
2. Purdue
3. @Illinois
4.@Iowa
5.@Wisconsin
6. Michigan
7. Michigan State
8.@Nebraska
 

Easiest to hardest:

1. @ Illinois: They are not particularly good right now, blown out in their last two against FBS opponents.

2. @ Iowa: This will be difficult. But if they're still figuring things out and hungover from a complete shocker last Saturday, we could be getting them at a good time. Think when Michigan State beat us in 2003 ... we were so hungover from the Michigan debacle that we were losing pretty much right away.

3. vs. Purdue: This could be a great defensive struggle, and given they come to our house we could give them a game. I think our o-line gets dominated by their d-line but if Gray is healthy perhaps he can create with his legs and escapability.

4. vs. Northwestern: I don't like how we match up against Venric Mark. We do get them at home, thankfully.

5. @ Wisconsin: They stink so far but it's in Madison and they've got some time to figure things out. I wager the team we face will be better than the team we've seen in the non-conference.

6. vs. Michigan State: Their defense is tough but if we really stack the box and force Maxwell to beat us, I'm not sure he can in a late November game at TCF. Not impressed by him or their receivers at all this year.

7. vs. Michigan: Denard is not the kind of athlete we can contain easily. We sure didn't last year.

8. @ Nebraska: Road game, against a running team? Eeep.
 

1. @Illinois. They've proven they can lose at home to crummy teams. We've played very well against them, even away, recently.
2. @Iowa. They've looked anemic on O (save for Weisman) and I think their team may already be losing confidence
3. Purdue. They looked good on the road against ND, but their other 2 games don't tell us enough, IMO. We have them at home or I'd say #4
4. Northwestern. They looked solid against 3 BCS conf schools. Their D isn't as good as ours but their O will give us some trouble, I think.
5. @Wisconsin. Their line stinks this year but I still think @Madison and that running attack will wear us down. Kill can outcoach Bielema, though.
6. Michigan. Denard is very good, they have plenty of talent, and even in down years they seem to beat us. Hopefully good home crowd turns the tide?
7. Michigan State. A very good running attack and a very solid D will make this game very tough, yet we played them close on the road last year. Who knows
8. @Nebraska. Maybe not the most talented team overall but the most complete team, on the road, and just a bad matchup for us. If TMart and Burkhead are healthy I think it will be ugly again.

To be honest, at the beginning of the year I would have had Purdue at #2 with Iowa at #4 and flop Wisconsin and MSU. I also would have had the line at 2.5 games O/U. Now, I would place Big Ten wins O/U at 4, to be honest. I could see us winning 3 of 4 from 1-4 in my list and maybe 1-2 in the top half. Which is amazing.
 

Gopher07 said:
Easiest to hardest:

1. @ Illinois: They are not particularly good right now, blown out in their last two against FBS opponents.

2. @ Iowa: This will be difficult. But if they're still figuring things out and hungover from a complete shocker last Saturday, we could be getting them at a good time. Think when Michigan State beat us in 2003 ... we were so hungover from the Michigan debacle that we were losing pretty much right away.

3. vs. Purdue: This could be a great defensive struggle, and given they come to our house we could give them a game. I think our o-line gets dominated by their d-line but if Gray is healthy perhaps he can create with his legs and escapability.

4. vs. Northwestern: I don't like how we match up against Venric Mark. We do get them at home, thankfully.

5. @ Wisconsin: They stink so far but it's in Madison and they've got some time to figure things out. I wager the team we face will be better than the team we've seen in the non-conference.

6. vs. Michigan State: Their defense is tough but if we really stack the box and force Maxwell to beat us, I'm not sure he can in a late November game at TCF. Not impressed by him or their receivers at all this year.

7. vs. Michigan: Denard is not the kind of athlete we can contain easily. We sure didn't last year.

8. @ Nebraska: Road game, against a running team? Eeep.
Click to expand...

Pretty close, just flipped MSU/UM.
 


I think Purdue will be more difficult than Northwestern....
 

Easiest to hardest:
1. @Illinois: They can still score but they looked horrendous versus LaTech. Tough year 1 for Beckman.
2. @Iowa: We haven't won at Kinnick since 1999 but Iowa does look beatable. We can't let them hang around next week, score early and break their spirit and we get the W.
3. Northwestern: I feel a lot better about our chances to defend passing then running for the first time in a long time, but Fitzgerald will have the Cats ready for us.
4. Michigan State: If we can keep Bell from beating us we have a good shot because their QB throws worse than MG.
5. Michigan: Denard Robinson. We need to contain him to win, we haven't shown we can do that yet.
6. Purdue: People are sleeping on these guys and I don't know why. They had the best effort against the Irish of the B1G teams and their schedule shapes up very favorably for a run to Indy. They will be a tough out.
7. @Wisconsin: October 22, 1994, the date of the last Gopher victory in Madison. Wisconsin is not as bad as people are saying around here, and their 3pt loss to Oregon State even with their inept offense is looking better and better now that the Beavers knocked off UCLA. Their offense is getting better and their defense is improved on last year. This is going to be a brutally tough game.
8. @Nebraska: Martinez is mobile and beating the Big Red in Lincoln would be a signature achievement for this staff early on. Not going to happen unless Nebraska's defense implodes and we drop 40+.
 

Winnable, but no pushovers: Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin - but all three are on the road;
Tough: Northwestern, Purdue, Michigan, Mich. State
Impossibly tough: Nebraska
 

Easiest to hardest:

Northwestern - TCF now a tough place to play, we have a much better defense than NU
Purdue - see above
@ Illinois - hoping for full collapse & IL mails it in
@ Iowa - desperate but beatable
@ Wisconsin - always a tough place to play but best chance in years
Michigan State - still a really good defense, hopefully still a mess on offense when we play them
Michigan - 58-0 last year, still probably a good defense, haven't lost in MSP since '77, inside Gopher's heads?
@Nebraska - Difficult place to play. When they're on they've looked solid.

It's funny, responding to this thread I recognize that the home schedule I was once so disappointed in now has me excited. In NU and PU you get a couple of games we could win early, in Michigan you get a shot at knocking them off in their first trip to TCF, and in MSU you get a late season game against the pre-season favorite in the Legends. Sure would be nice to take four conference wins into November for the first time in a long time!!
 



Illinois
Iowa
N'western

Wisconsin
Purdue
Mich St

Michigan
Nebraska
 

1. @Illinois
2. @Iowa
3. Northwestern
4. Purdue
5. Michigan
6.@Wisconsin
7. Michigan State
8.@Nebraska
 


I'm resurrecting this thread from a couple of weeks ago.
Sadly we've lost to two teams that most of us put as being amongst the more likely wins.

Here's how I see it as of today:

1. @ Illinois (11/10)
2. Purdue (10/27)
[big gap]
3. Michigan State (11/24)
4. @ Wisconsin (10/20)
5. Michigan (11/3)
6. @ Nebraska (11/17)

I get depressed looking at this list.
 



Go Gophers Rah said:
I'm resurrecting this thread from a couple of weeks ago.
Sadly we've lost to two teams that most of us put as being amongst the more likely wins.

Here's how I see it as of today:

1. @ Illinois (11/10)
2. Purdue (10/27)
[big gap]
3. Michigan State (11/24)
4. @ Wisconsin (10/20)
5. Michigan (11/3)
6. @ Nebraska (11/17)

I get depressed looking at this list.
Click to expand...

Agree with this list, although I will say I'm feeling better about our chances against the Illini, the Boilermakers and Sparty after this past weekend. We could take any of those games with a good day from our offense.
 

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