STrib: Gophers football challenges will mount when Big Ten divisions go away

[BleedGopher]

per Randy:

The subtraction of divisions, combined with the addition of two teams, will multiply the challenges Minnesota faces in its quest to win the Big Ten championship.

The Gophers, as their fanbase knows all too well, have not won a Big Ten championship since they shared the title with Indiana and Purdue in 1967. And since the conference adopted a championship game starting in 2011, the Gophers have not advanced to that event either under the Leaders and Legends format (2011-13) or East-West alignment (2014-present).

Minnesota's best chances to reach Indianapolis for the Big Ten title game have been during the East-West era, and the Gophers have had some near-misses.

In 2014, Wisconsin's season-ending 34-24 win over Minnesota sent the Badgers to the title game rather than the Gophers.

In 2019, the Gophers tied Wisconsin for the West title with a 7-2 Big Ten record, but the Badgers went to Indy because of a head-to-head win. Had the Gophers beaten either Wisconsin or Iowa that year, they would have advanced to the title game.

In 2021, a 27-22 loss at Iowa prevented the Gophers from sharing the West title with the Hawkeyes and playing in Indy via the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Last year, a mistake-filled 20-10 loss to Purdue prevented the Gophers from winning the West outright instead of the Boilermakers.

How the end of Big Ten football divisions could impact the Gophers

College Football Insider: The Gophers have had chances to win the Big Ten West and get one more this fall. But then the climb to the conference title game gets steeper.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[Schnauzer]

It really is crazy how many times the Gophers have come painfully close. Definitely frustrating but also not nearly as hopeless as many of our “fans” so confidently describe on Strib or WCCO comments sections.

 

[fmlizard]

Yeah.

Perhaps no school is more harmed in its chances to at least get to the conference title game than Minnesota.

We lose the West path, and we have 2 protected rivalries (that we all want to keep) against traditionally upper-tier programs.

There will be more A-tier games in the scheduled season, fun road trips to LA and the Rose Bowl, more games on network TV, and a feeling of a seat at one of the two big tables.

But it's going to be even more of a game-by-game fandom (which it has been for decades). Dreams of miracle national runs are going to be dimmer. It's not impossible, but it's less likely starting in 2024.

 

[The SF Rock]

This doesn’t harm us at all unless the Gophers stop progressing. Once we own Iowa (we should) and continue beating Wisconsin and Nebraska we are hot on the tails of PSU, OSU, and UM. Not concerned with California because when we win games with our B1G powerhouses we play with anyone nationally. The only setback is if our programs stagnates.

 

[RoseGoldy]

We need another 2019 Penn State win against a top 5 team (heck top 10 would do). That win and the Auburn bowl game victory had us going somewhere we have never been before in modern era. Covid and the draft halted our progress but we can get it back with a Michigan or Ohio State win this year

 

[Some guy]

Yeah.

Perhaps no school is more harmed in its chances to at least get to the conference title game than Minnesota.

We lose the West path, and we have 2 protected rivalries (that we all want to keep) against traditionally upper-tier programs.

There will be more A-tier games in the scheduled season, fun road trips to LA and the Rose Bowl, more games on network TV, and a feeling of a seat at one of the two big tables.

But it's going to be even more of a game-by-game fandom (which it has been for decades). Dreams of miracle national runs are going to be dimmer. It's not impossible, but it's less likely starting in 2024.

Strongly disagree with the last two paragraphs. A 10 win season likely puts almost any big ten team in the CFP playoff mix. Which is definitely not out of the realm of possibility. A 12-0 less likely. But not, in my opinion, any less likely than 13-0 or a 12-1 conference title was before.

 

[FredCoxRocks]

It really is crazy how many times the Gophers have come painfully close. Definitely frustrating but also not nearly as hopeless as many of our “fans” so confidently describe on Strib or WCCO comments sections.

I'll never figure out the mentality of some of those commenters on Strib Gopher football articles...a special kind of sad, deranged people.