STrib: Neal: Why the Gophers could struggle this football season

[SHGopher]

Gophers football prediction: Mid-level bowl could be ceiling

The Gophers football team must replace three offensive line starters and faces a tough schedule featuring teams especially talented along the D-line.

www.startribune.com

Coach P.J. Fleck's Gophers must replace three offensive line starters with a tough schedule featuring teams especially talented along the D-line.

 

[highwayman]

Bummer.

 

[mngg11]

May as well not play any games this season I guess

 

[TNGophfan]

If it was Chip or Randy, I might be worried. LaVelle knows baseball a little, other sports very little.

 

[MNVCGUY]

I always forget Neal is LaVelle. Yeah he knows very little about college football. Much better with baseball or talking about the Bears.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

He is hard to listen to.

 

[DarthGopher]

LOL Neal wrote this. The big Illinois fan and like Reusse never is positive on Gopher football. How does our home town papers allow these clowns to write for them?

It is an easy filler piece that doesn't require a lot of substance but will generate clicks based on the title of the article. There are several journalists in the metro that treat the U like a late night bootie call - when nothing else is available, hit up the U for a piece. With the size of the school and its location, it doesn't take a lot of effort to find something to nail.

 

[Wehatebadgers]

Stop subscribing and or buying the trib and they will go away hopefully

 

[FredCoxRocks]

Killing time looking at some of our preseason predictions, etc. We were a silly bunch.

Imagine getting upset that LaVelle predicted a rough year with a 7-5 finish at best for the Gophers, and four months later having to accept the fact that it was even worse.

 

[SPEGOPHER]

Didn’t read the article, but aren’t we only replacing one OL starter (Boe)?

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Didn’t read the article, but aren’t we only replacing one OL starter (Boe)?

that article was a pre-season prediction for the '23 season.

for '24, you are correct about the OL - as of today. but in the wacky world of college football, nothing is guaranteed anymore. I would not be surprised if the Gophers brought in some OL options through the portal.

 

[btowngopher]

He was right, but the oline ranked pretty low as far as causes.

 

[RememberMurray]

We all thought Athan Kaliakmanis would light it up in 2023. If he had been as good as we thought he was, this team would have a markedly better record.

It isn't fair to blame everything on him, but QB is the most important position on the field.

That said, if the Gophers had merely held on vs. Northwestern and Illinois, their record would have indeed been 7-5.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

then again, the odds are pretty good that in any given year, some Twin Cities writer, blogger or radio host is going to do an article or a segment on "why the Gophers could struggle this football season."

it's like writing an article that "Eden Prairie expects strong football season," or "Twins trying to find more pitching."

you could keep the same article on file and run it every year with minor corrections.