What was their record the year before he started? Did he pull a PJ, and ruin a nine win team so he'll look better three years later?
I hope this is sarcasm. Even as an optimistic Gopher football fan, I recognize that last year's 9 win season could easily have been only 5 wins. The margin of error was often razor thin, and the team caught enough breaks to eek out 4 of the wins.
Oregon State was 30-23
Colorado State was 31-24
Rutgers was 34-32 (and they were having a bad year)
Washington State (bowl game) was 17-12
All of those games could have easily been losses.
While I'm not happy with the way this season ended, some of the positives from this year included:
- 3-0 in non-conference play, with very convincing wins vs. Oregon St. and Middle Tenn. St.
- The team nearly came back to win vs. Mich State (Demry's best performance as a passer)
- The game vs. Iowa (who pounded Ohio State) was competitive, and we kept it within one score.
- The team took advantage of a Nebraska team in a down year and scored 54 points.
- The emergence of Tyler Johnson as a very solid WR option as a sophomore. He was out in both the Northwestern and Wisconsin games.
Given the combination of injuries to key players (Winfield, Brooks, Johnson, Thomas, Craighton, numerous OL, etc.), lack of B1G depth at many positions (especially WR and QB), and learning new systems on offense and defense, it's not surprising that the team was inconsistent and lost to teams with with better talent and more stability in their programs (, #19 Michigan St, Iowa, Michigan, #20 Northwestern, and #3 Wisconsin).
The only games that really disappointed me were the losses to Maryland and Purdue. However, the team bounced back and played better in 3 of the following 4 games.
As it stands today, the incoming recruiting class looks to be the best (on paper) in the last 10 years. That is in spite of the struggles this season.
While I'm not writing off next season, likely losses include at Ohio State, Iowa, Northwestern and at Wisconsin. Add to that what will likely be tough games vs. Fresno State (9 wins), at Maryland, Indiana and Purdue, and 8 losses wouldn't be surprising.
On the flip side, if the team gets enough breaks similar to the 2016 season and we could see 7 to 8 wins (including at least one underdog win).
What I'll be looking for next year is development of players in their 2nd season in the program. Even though it may not translate into wins in 2018 due to youth and inexperience, I'll be looking for evidence of more overall talent on both sides of the ball with the influx of redshirts from this year, the return of key players like Winfield and Tyler Johnson, and a promising dual-threat QB recruit in VV.