The Athletic: Grading all 65 Power 5 college football teams: A+ for Michigan, C for Texas, F for Texas A&M (Minnesota: B)

[BleedGopher]

per The Athletic:

Minnesota: B​

The Gophers strung together consecutive seasons of eight or more wins for just the fourth time since 1960. They beat Wisconsin in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1993-94. And they may have found their quarterback of the future, Athan Kaliakmanis. But in a Big Ten West that was right there for the taking, the Gophers will regret home losses to beatable teams in Purdue and Iowa. — Matt Fortuna

From Michigan (A+) to Texas A&M (F), grading every P5 team's season

The Athletic’s college football staff hands out December report cards for every team in the Power 5 (plus Notre Dame).

theathletic.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[60's Guy]

Yay for us, I guess. Alabama is a B. Ohio St is a B+ Iowa is a C and Wisconsin is a D- and we are a B. Maybe after we beat Syracuse I'm feeling better about deserving a B.

 

[Some guy]

Seems like kind of a joke of an article to doc Iowa to a C for blowing it
Doc Minnesota to a B for blowing it
Purdue only a B+ for winning it

Illinois was consensus the best team in the division in late October by 90% of pundits, analysts, and posters. They totally shit the bed. Same grade as Purdue.

 

[BigGopher69]

Seems like kind of a joke of an article to doc Iowa to a C for blowing it
Doc Minnesota to a B for blowing it
Purdue only a B+ for winning it

Illinois was consensus the best team in the division in late October by 90% of pundits, analysts, and posters. They totally shit the bed. Same grade as Purdue.

Expectations are higher at Iowa then any of the other teams mentioned. illinois has done nothing since they went to the Rose bowl

 

[Some guy]

Expectations are higher at Iowa then any of the other teams mentioned. illinois has done nothing since they went to the Rose bowl

If you’re talking about October Expectations were highest at Illinois

You can’t move the expectations for some teams based on how other teams performed but not others. Just super inconsistent way to rate teams.

If you’re not going to change expectations for Illinois based on how the season went and just going to judge them comparing the preseason…well if you compare Minnesota and Iowa to preseason expectations there are two teams that tied for second that were picked to got 2-3

 

[BigGopher69]

If you’re talking about October Expectations were highest at Illinois

You can’t move the expectations for some teams based on how other teams performed but not others. Just super inconsistent way to rate teams.

If you’re not going to change expectations for Illinois based on how the season went and just going to judge them comparing the preseason…well if you compare Minnesota and Iowa to preseason expectations there are two teams that tied for second that were picked to got 2-3

Is kansas season a failure because they started out 5-0 and lost a bunch ....NO. The seasons is graded based on where the programs are at. Iowa has higher expectations from a national media perspective because their a better program, Illinois has literally no expectations because their up and coming. If Vanderbilt were to choke the SEC title away at the end of the year their grade should be an A not an F for choking

 

[MisterGopher]

Yay for us, I guess. Alabama is a B. Ohio St is a B+ Iowa is a C and Wisconsin is a D- and we are a B. Maybe after we beat Syracuse I'm feeling better about deserving a B.

Syracuse: B-​

The top-15 Orange were college football’s darlings at the midway point of the season, starting 6-0 for the first time since 1987 and just the third time since 1935. But the back half of the schedule was always going to be an issue, and Syracuse certainly slid into the finish line, losing five consecutive games from Oct. 22 to Nov. 19 against Clemson, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Florida State and Wake Forest. A win at Boston College ended the regular season on a high note. — Grace Raynor

 

[Some guy]

Is kansas season a failure because they started out 5-0 and lost a bunch ....NO. The seasons is graded based on where the programs are at. Iowa has higher expectations from a national media perspective because their a better program, Illinois has literally no expectations because their up and coming. If Vanderbilt were to choke the SEC title away at the end of the year their grade should be an A not an F for choking

Iowa literally didn’t have higher expectations. Every preseason deal picked them between 2nd and 4th I didn’t see many if any that had them first. They finished tied for 2nd.
Same for Minnesota

Saying Iowa had higher expectations than what they finished doesn’t make it true.


The big ten media picked Iowa 2nd
They received 3 of 36 first place votes.
They finished 2nd. C

Minnesota was picked 3rd with 2 of 36 first place votes.
They finished 2nd
B-

Purdue was picked 4th with zero first place votes…B+?

It’s just a silly way to grade.

 

[Otis]

This is an accurate reflection of media predictions and a high rating for what most of us Gopherholers expected.

They said we would finish 5-4, most here thought we’d be 6-3 or 7-2. So we feel like it should be a C.

And don’t start with that “kiss your sister” assessment that we finished 2nd in the West. We lost to all three of the teams ahead or tied with our record.

That’s fourth, folks!

Going into October we were supposedly walking to Indy as West favorites.

 

[Some guy]

This is an accurate reflection of media predictions and a high rating for what most of us Gopherholers expected.

They said we would finish 5-4, most here thought we’d be 6-3 or 7-2. So we feel like it should be a C.

And don’t start with that “kiss your sister” assessment that we finished 2nd in the West. We lost to all three of the teams ahead or tied with our record.

That’s fourth, folks!

Going into October we were supposedly walking to Indy as West favorites.

We literally tied for second in the west

You can say it doesn’t count because it’s a tie and we lost to them.
But Illinois lost to indiana and Michigan state while Mn beat Rutgers (who beat Indiana) and Michigan state
Iowa lost to Nebraska (who Mn beat)

You should go back and look at some of northwestern, Purdue, wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio state, Michigan big ten titles from the 1994-2012 era. You’d really think some stuff doesn’t count

 

[GophersInIowa]

I'd probably put us at a C+ personally. Probably would have been a D if we didn't beat Wisconsin.

 

[Otis]

We literally tied for second in the west

You can say it doesn’t count because it’s a tie and we lost to them.
But Illinois lost to indiana and Michigan state while Mn beat Rutgers (who beat Indiana) and Michigan state
Iowa lost to Nebraska (who Mn beat)

You should go back and look at some of northwestern, Purdue, wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio state, Michigan big ten titles from the 1994-2012 era. You’d really think some stuff doesn’t count

I disagree, it was there for the taking and we left it on the plate.

We need to take it when we can because it ain’t getting any easier!

8-4 May be an A next year!

 

[RememberMurray]

It's really nice to see a respected outlet like The Athletic give the Gophers their due.

 

[Some guy]

I disagree, it was there for the taking and we left it on the plate.

We need to take it when we can because it ain’t getting any easier!

8-4 May be an A next year!

I agree with statement 1
I agree with statement 2
I disagree with statement 3.
Maybe an A-


None of that disputes the fact that Minnesota was second in the west this year

 

[cjbfbp]

8-4 May be an A next year!

8-4 next season definitely would be an "A" in my grade book.

 

[cjbfbp]

Is kansas season a failure because they started out 5-0 and lost a bunch ....NO. The seasons is graded based on where the programs are at. Iowa has higher expectations from a national media perspective because their a better program, Illinois has literally no expectations because their up and coming. If Vanderbilt were to choke the SEC title away at the end of the year their grade should be an A not an F for choking

If one is grading a single season, I think that's a fair way to do it but that has to be defined (grading based on pre-season expectations). If one is grading a season just based on overall performance among FBS teams, Ohio State would merit an "A" almost every year.

I would agree that our season grade based on media preseason expectations (not the expectations of posters here) should be about what the Athletic gave us. In our case, our grade based on overall performance among FBS teams should be about the same.

So I guess the conclusion is that the Gophers are now a "B" team among FBS programs and played at that level this season. Could be worse.