seriously, enough about selfish a.j. barker. want to actually discuss the MSU game?

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supadupafly

supadupafly

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any takers? or is it still tabloid talkie time? personally, i don't have any more time or concern for someone who obviously cares so little for his teammates, OUR university and OUR football program. it is apparently all about petulant a.j. barker, his coddling and self-reinforcing parents, and his mom's friend. he is now just grandstanding for a bloodsucking media.

my attention and focus is on this saturday's MSU game. as i am sure the coaching staff and the rest of the team's already is. win and we have a chance to move up in the bowl pecking order. this is an important game. anyone want to actually discuss football and this saturday's game?
 

Whether we like it or not, the Barker "thing" will have an effect on the players. It will interesting to see how they react and see if they will push it aside, focus on the team, regroup and play hard. Or allow it to be a negative distraction.
 

It is not going to be easy beating MSU without our most productive receiver. Do you think it is too late for Kill to talk Barker into coming back to the team? Maybe Kill can persuade him to rejoin the team by offering him a scholarship. Or maybe all Kill has to do is apologize to Barker and tell him he will never criticize his family and demean him in front of the rest of the team ever again. It might be worth a shot.
 

Go4Broke said:
It is not going to be easy beating MSU without our most productive receiver. Do you think it is too late for Kill to talk Barker into coming back to the team? Maybe Kill can persuade him to rejoin the team by offering him a scholarship. Or maybe all Kill has to do is apologize to Barker and tell him he will never criticize his family and demean him in front of the rest of the team ever again. It might be worth a shot.
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So reward the temper tantrum?
 



At least we aren't posting about the weather forecast for Saturday's game.
 

Looks like 38 and a 10% chance of rain as of now.

:)
 

I'm excited about this game. It is my first game at TCF. I'll have most of the family in tow. And apparently this game could really matter. I know, they all matter. But I've read elsewhere that, without a win, we are not certain to go bowling.
 

ProfessorBum said:
I'm excited about this game. It is my first game at TCF. I'll have most of the family in tow. And apparently this game could really matter. I know, they all matter. But I've read elsewhere that, without a win, we are not certain to go bowling.
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Entirely false. With a maximum of 7 B1G teams heading to bowls, and 8 B1G bowl tie-ins, we are guaranteed to go bowling this year. MSU, however, needs to win to get to 6 wins and go bowling.
 



Well...that's a relief. So are we playing for the quality of the bowl game we'll get?
 

ProfessorBum said:
I'm excited about this game. It is my first game at TCF. I'll have most of the family in tow. And apparently this game could really matter. I know, they all matter. But I've read elsewhere that, without a win, we are not certain to go bowling.
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It is contractually impossible for the Gophers not to get a bowl bid this year. There are 8 guaranteed bowl tie ins (9 if Michigan wins out and gets a BCS at large) and only 7 bowl eligible teams (IF MSU and Purdue win). If OSU and PSU were both eligible this year, yes it would be possible the Gophers would be left out and would have to find an at large bowl. They would be most likely to be left out at 6-6 given a poor finish to the season and poor strength of schedule compared to MSU and Purdue.
 

ProfessorBum said:
Well...that's a relief. So are we playing for the quality of the bowl game we'll get?
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Pretty much. Overall there are eight bowls with B1G tie-ins. They get to choose in a set order, and can choose any team they want, unless there is a team still available with 2+ more wins (can't choose a 6-6 Ohio State over an 8-4 Minnesota, for example). Here are the four scenarios that could play out Saturday:

MSU beats Minnesota, Purdue beats Indiana: MSU, Minnesota and Purdue all finish 6-6. MSU almost certainly heads to the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl in Tempe (because they travel fairly well - the BWW bowl is the #5 B1G bowl).

Minnesota and Purdue almost certainly go to the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Houston (the #6 B1G bowl), and the Heart of Dallas Bowl in Dallas (the #7 B1G bowl - the Houston bowl is the "better" of the two bowls). Which bowl chooses which team is up in the air.

MSU beats Minnesota, Indiana beats Purdue: MSU and Minnesota finish 6-6, while Purdue is out of the bowl picture entirely.

MSU almost certainly gets chosen to go to the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl in Tempe, while the Gophers get chosen for Houston and the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

Minnesota beats MSU, Purdue beats Indiana: Minnesota finishes 7-5, Purdue finishes 6-6. Minnesota probably gets chosen for the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl in Tempe by virtue of a better record than Purdue, while Purdue ends up in the Car Care Bowl.

Minnesota beats MSU, Indiana beats Purdue: With only 5 eligible B1G teams, Minnesota is chosen for the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl in Tempe without a doubt.
 

Thanks! Good run-down. Very helpful. I could almost swing the Meineke Car Care Bowl...my folks live in the Houston area. But a win against MSU would be great. A 7-5 record with 3 B1G wins would be awesome. And right on the cusp of what should be a good gopher basketball year to boot. (nice win against Richmond!)
 



I think this will be an interesting game. MSU is awful on offense. They will try to give the ball to LaVeon Bell 40 times. I was disappointed in our D-Line play against Nebraska, we gave Martinez all day to throw. MSU's QB is terrible, but we cannot give him the time we gave Martinez.

I am more concerned about how we handle MSU's font 7 on defense. I just do not see how we are going to be able to score a ton of points. You would think this is going to be a 20-17, 14-13 type of game.

I also sense that we will see Gray lined up at QB for a handful of plays on Saturday.
 

I was a big fan of that Wisconsin columnist (can't believe I'm saying that) with the funny predictions we discussed the other day. I was especialy amused by his labeling MSU vs. NW as a must win for MSU because otherwise they would figure out how to "Sparty one away" at TCF this week. I think he is right. Some teams bring there best for big games and big plays, MSU seems to choke in those situations. I don't think we get MSU's best, and they have not looked great. If we can figure out how to plug up the run, I like our chances.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I was a big fan of that Wisconsin columnist (can't believe I'm saying that) with the funny predictions we discussed the other day. I was especialy amused by his labeling MSU vs. NW as a must win for MSU because otherwise they would figure out how to "Sparty one away" at TCF this week. I think he is right. Some teams bring there best for big games and big plays, MSU seems to choke in those situations. I don't think we get MSU's best, and they have not looked great. If we can figure out how to plug up the run, I like our chances.
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bingo. i also think run D statistics will be the key for our gophers.
 

Looking forward to another fun home game!

Too bad there wasn’t more written about all our seniors and their stories/careers here at the U of M. However, there is still more time this week to cover them and what makes up a team.

This week, I will bring along four more casual fans that are excited to see our Gophers play!
 

My fiancee is an MSU alum, so this is "the game" for us yearly. We love that it got moved to the season finale...even if everyone else doesn't care. Lol.

Anyone have any good or classic Gopher/Spartan YouTube links? I'm going to try to tweet her something once a day for the entire week. Sent her one of Vereen crushing Martin from 2011 this morning. :D
 

If it is cold, does that give us any kind of advantage? I find it hard to think that Sparty is going to be excited to come to Minneapolis and play us on a cold day for their last game of the year. I am probably completely wrong though. But, I hope not. HAHA. :)
 


e.bigelow said:
I find it hard to think that Sparty is going to be excited to come to Minneapolis and lay us
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I doubt that as well. Perhaps A.J. Barker's mom's friend would be excited for that.
 


e.bigelow said:
If it is cold, does that give us any kind of advantage? I find it hard to think that Sparty is going to be excited to come to Minneapolis and play us on a cold day for their last game of the year. I am probably completely wrong though. But, I hope not. HAHA. :)
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They have plenty of motivation, they still need this game to even get to a bowl. I can't believe they wanna end their season by losing to us on a cold day in Minneapolis. I think they'll be ready to play. The question for us is, with it unlikely we generate a ton of offense, can we keep Bell under control and keep this nip and tuck?

MSU has yet to play a conference game that didn't end within 4 points, so chances are, it'll be a tight one. At home, we compete pretty well despite the injuries, so I wouldn't expect anything different here. If MSU comes with the mindset of really wanting this one to get to the bowl game, I'd have to lean their way here, unfortunately. All it takes is a couple big plays though, and we're in business.
 

I hope we score. Could be the best defense we have played. Since Barker went down in 14 quarters we have 47 offensive points.....
If you want to take away the 14 against the Nebraska seniors we have scored 33 offensive points in 13 quarters.

We have had 1 TD drive start in our own territory since Barker went down.....and it started at the 49.
 


I think the first quarter will tell it all. If things go MSU's way and they get up a score or two early, we'll get thumped. If a couple things go against MSU, I think they'll fold. MSU just looks like a team that rides its emotions too closely. Something goes wrong and they really get thrown. If the game starts out evenly, it could be a dogfight the whole way through. I think MSU has better athletes than we do and if the game is close, I expect them to win late.

Maxwell has been so inconsistent and our offense has been so bad, it's difficult to envision either side making a significant comeback if they get down by two scores.
 

According to Matt Charboneau from Detroit News: Mark Dantonio: "When we win on Saturday, and I'll say when, we won't be climbing out of the cellar." MSU coach trying to put the pressure on his boys.
 


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