Stewart Mandel has the Gophers finishing 5-7 overall.

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MNVCGUY said:
He was there last year and their offense was good enough to beat crappy Michigan State, even crappier Indiana and mediocre Northwestern in conference games. And now he is handing the keys to that barn burner offense to a guy who played like garbage in the same conference....

Hey, maybe I'm totally missing the boat and Rutgers will be awesome this year. They have a manageable schedule and maybe KC can unlock something in Athan that was clearly not there last year. Will be interesting to see what happens.

On a side note, in looking up KC's bio I ran across the Rutgers staff page on their roster. Holy crap support staff sizes have gotten ridiculous in college football. Some of the titles are just ridiculous...

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KC has really only had two really good offenses in all his years as an FBS assistant

2017 western Michigan and 2019 Minnesota
 

Some guy said:
KC has really only had two really good offenses in all his years as an FBS assistant

2017 western Michigan and 2019 Minnesota
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I think KC is a solid OC but I also think there are a lot of assumptions being made that he will somehow unlock something in Athan that was not there last year.

Had they brought in a bigtime transfer QB I would understand the Rutgers preseason love a little more but they brought in a QB that was highly rated out of high school but hasn't proven he can be effective at the college level yet.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I think KC is a solid OC but I also think there are a lot of assumptions being made that he will somehow unlock something in Athan that was not there last year.

Had they brought in a bigtime transfer QB I would understand the Rutgers preseason love a little more but they brought in a QB that was highly rated out of high school but hasn't proven he can be effective at the college level yet.
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Not very much is going to separate team #5-6 from team 15 this year.
Who wins the close games is the difference between 5-7 and 8-4 for a lot of teams.

People aren’t saying Rutgers is going to be good because of AK. They’re saying they’re going to win 8-9 games because they have an easier schedule and won 7 last year.
 

Some guy said:
Not very much is going to separate team #5-6 from team 15 this year.
Who wins the close games is the difference between 5-7 and 8-4 for a lot of teams.

People aren’t saying Rutgers is going to be good because of AK. They’re saying they’re going to win 8-9 games because they have an easier schedule and won 7 last year.
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True but you rarely see a team with a good record and poor QB play. Iowa may be the one exception because their defense and special teams played at a ridiculous level that was able to offset the crap they were running out there on offense.

Easy schedule or not, if they get the same Athan we got last year they are going to struggle to win the 8 games they are predicted to win by many of the experts.

But I agree that the margin is slim for the majority of the conference and the spacing between the teams in the middle of the pack will probably be minimal.
 



Some guy said:
Not necessarily. The gophers are running a different scheme than AK was recruited to. He might just be a better fit.

Also, sometimes guys need a change of scenery to be effective after they face significant adversity.
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What happened with AK last year was something that got in his head. He is better physically than he showed. We'll see if KC is still his his horse whisperer like that night in Madison.
 

MNVCGUY said:
True but you rarely see a team with a good record and poor QB play. Iowa may be the one exception because their defense and special teams played at a ridiculous level that was able to offset the crap they were running out there on offense.

Easy schedule or not, if they get the same Athan we got last year they are going to struggle to win the 8 games they are predicted to win by many of the experts.

But I agree that the margin is slim for the majority of the conference and the spacing between the teams in the middle of the pack will probably be minimal.
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They won 7 last year with a tougher schedule and a QB who was equally as bad

8 isn’t a huge stretch.

I agree on 9 wins being tough though. I personally predict Rutgers has 6-7 wins
 


Gophers1992 said:
What? I can't think of a regular starter from the 21st century that was worse than AK.

Cockerham was better
Asad was way better.
Cupito was way better
Weber was way better
Shortell I'll give you is debatable
Philip Nelson was better
Leidner was better (and people who know me know that I am a huge Leidner critic)
Croft/Rhoda I suppose are debatable
Tanner was better
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While I am not an AK defender at all - I would say the following:
AAK, Cupito, Morgan, and Weber were better passers for sure. The rest I think its debatable. Cockerham was a much better runner. I would take AK over Shortell, Croft, Rhoda, and I think its close with Nelson and Leidner...
 




Breakin' The Plane said:
9 Wins is about their average under Ferentz the last 10 years. Year in, year out, they make chicken salad out of chicken shit.
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Yeah unfortunately if you look at their schedule it's possible they are favored in 11/12 games. As much as I'd hate to see it, 9 wins seems pretty realistic for them.
 

Only 2 conference wins would be pretty bad. If that comes to pass, PJ should start feeling some heat.
 

gopherbadgerman said:
While I am not an AK defender at all - I would say the following:
AAK, Cupito, Morgan, and Weber were better passers for sure. The rest I think its debatable. Cockerham was a much better runner. I would take AK over Shortell, Croft, Rhoda, and I think its close with Nelson and Leidner...
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If you think it's close between AK and Leidner, are you basing that on what you think AK will do going forward? Because I don't think it's a particularly close call when comparing how well Leidner played the position for us (including the running component) and how well AK did last year. I recognize AK is still young and could prove to be a good college QB at some time.
 



bleedsmaroonandgold said:
If you think it's close between AK and Leidner, are you basing that on what you think AK will do going forward? Because I don't think it's a particularly close call when comparing how well Leidner played the position for us (including the running component) and how well AK did last year. I recognize AK is still young and could prove to be a good college QB at some time.
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Fair points. Their career passer ratings are about 3 points difference. Leidner was a bulldog runner too…
 

gopherbadgerman said:
Fair points. Their career passer ratings are about 3 points difference. Leidner was a bulldog runner too…
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Yeah, that was my thought process. Basically a wash in passing, but Leidner added another dimension running.

If you lined them up side by side at a draft combine type event, I'm sure I'd take AK, but somehow his higher passing skill didn't translate into effectiveness.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Heck, I would probably even take Leidner over what we got from AK last year.
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I definitely would take Leidner over AK. Leidner had a pretty good record as a starting QB. It also must be said that, other than 2014, he had a thin receiving squad. He also was tough to bring down and a fair runner.
 

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