Serious conversation

[Nax5]

He sounds like an @ss. So glad my college football experience isn't based on enjoying the season if the team is in the top ten. Minnesota will never be like Michigan and OSU again. But they can have good to really good teams and we can enjoy watching/communing with our fellow fans. Maybe I'm the exception though as I would rather not have a college football playoff and just regular bowl games like before.

I guess the fact that we almost beat (and probably should have) the defending national champions, things can seemingly change in an instant in the world of CFB.

It would be easier if we just had bowl games. My only dream goal before was winning the Big Ten. Which would still be great. But sneaking into the playoffs could be even more realistic in the re-imagined CFB landscape.

 

[gopherbadgerman]

The question was about expectations for the program given the climate today. Assuming the BiG stays the same for the next five years, here's what I think are reasonable goals:
1. Win 11 of the 15 non-conference games.
2. Beat Iowa/Wisconsin 4 of the 10 games
3. Win 22 of the 35 remaining conference games
4. Win 2 of 4 bowl games

That's winning 37 of the 60 regular season games on a typical season of 7-5, 8-4.

Based on the program history going 26-19 over a five year period in the big ten will be a tall order.

 

[PMWinSTP]

The question was about expectations for the program given the climate today. Assuming the BiG stays the same for the next five years, here's what I think are reasonable goals:
1. Win 11 of the 15 non-conference games.
2. Beat Iowa/Wisconsin 4 of the 10 games
3. Win 22 of the 35 remaining conference games
4. Win 2 of 4 bowl games

That's winning 37 of the 60 regular season games on a typical season of 7-5, 8-4.

Did you mean to say win 22 of the 45 conference games?

 

[FanSinceTheFifties]

Did you mean to say win 22 of the 45 conference games?

No. I listed the goal for Iowa and Wisconsin separately.

 

[DanvilleGopher]

We consistently recruit in the 25-40 range and that's about where we are. Need to catch lightening in a bottle. It's possible. At the very least we need to improve the OL. That alone can cover up some warts. We will be fine.

Wait a second, when have we ever hit 25 for recruiting, or even below 30? I would say we consistently hit 37-50. We do get some good players no doubt but the overall talent level we recruit across the board will keep us where we are.

 

[60's Guy]

Wait a second, when have we ever hit 25 for recruiting, or even below 30? I would say we consistently hit 37-50. We do get some good players no doubt but the overall talent level we recruit across the board will keep us where we are.

Kinda crazy how it seems to work. At least at Minnesota. We do recruit in the 37 to 50 range in the rankings on an annual basis and our team pretty much slots into that same level every year on the field.

Question I guess is...should we be happy? It'd be easy to under perform on the field. Over performing is likely a rarity no matter who the coach is? So achieving the season finish in the 35 to 50 range is good....it is certainly not a guarantee.

It seems the only way to change it is to recruit better. And we need millions of outside money to do that. We also probably need a mindset change in administration. The reality is our climate is not an advantage in recruiting. And our proximity to 4 and 5 star recruits within 200 miles likely offers the fewest candidate opportunities among the Big Ten teams.

There you have it...