hungan1
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A close friend of ours and his wife who are avid Gopher fans came over yesterday for a visit to check up on my wife and I and catch up.
I shared some good news about my health scare. No, I did not have a heart attack or deep vein trombosis. But, of course they found some other stuff through the thorough checkup. My biopsies came up okay. However, I am to give up drinking, exercise more, watch my diet. The alternative is surgery for one of the ailments. "You're killing me doc!". My doctor said, no. Quite the contrary. What the heck? A whole slew of things to watch out and worry about?
On top of all things that are borderline, I have fatty liver disease. Early stages of it. So, he said okay. You can have a drink occasionally. But, do not drink regularly like you have been doing. That has to stop. Whew! I really felt with everything else going on I have dodged the proverbial bullet for now. I have to behave.
I promised my wife that I will behave. ?
My friends don't go to Gopher football games anymore. Their own health issues make it difficult. But, they do watch on TV and keep up with the team.
We had some interesting heated discussions about the Gophers season. His wife is turned off by Fleck. So that is that. My buddy said that the Gophers really haven't proven that they can dance with the big boys yet. Although he was elated about how the season turned out. "They have beaten only one ranked team! Until they can beat Iowa and Wisconsin with regularity, then I will believe that they have arrived. Go look at the stats on the SRS and SOS". So I did.
The SRS Rating System takes into account the average point differential and the strength of schedule (SOS). Zero is average.
Okay, I give him this. He is right. The Gophers had the second softest schedule in the Big Ten West. Clearly, Wisconsin then Iowa had the toughest schedule, and both have higher SRS than the Gophers:
Team / SRS / SOS
WI--+18.93--7.62
IA--+13.64--4.64
NE--+3.24--4.58
PU--(-0.17)--4.49
NW--(-2.68)--3.91
MN--+11.21--1.38
ILL--1.26--0.76
IMHO, I told him that this is exactly the type of schedule that worked in the Gophers favor as far as a developing young team goes. That is the break that they got and they made the very best of it.
What catapulted the Gophers to a tie with Wisconsin as co-champs is their SRS. They have explosive offense and good enough defense. Early on when it was a difference between winning and losing close games, that was a difference maker in addition to beating the softer teams on the schedule by larger point differentials.
So, I guess we shall see how the Gophers do the next few seasons.
He said that clearly, Wisconsin is the class of the Big Ten West. They have been dominating their Big Ten West opponents for quite a while. I agree with him. Fa'alele being out with an injury made it tougher for the Gophers whatever chance they've had. In the big scheme of things, the Gophers were clearly out-coached by Wiscy.
He made an interesting observation that I never thought of. An impact player for the Iowa Hawkeyes may have been the difference between beating Iowa and going to the Rose Bowl and the Outback Bowl. That player is Iowa's NFL-bound 5-Star 6' 6" 280-lb. DE A.J. Epenesa. Two or three plays could have made the difference if AJ Epenesa wasn't on the team.
Hopefully, the Gophers are recruiting on defense to get disruptive pass rushers. Maybe someday, the Gophers will have their own impact players not only on Offense, but also on Defense.
I shared some good news about my health scare. No, I did not have a heart attack or deep vein trombosis. But, of course they found some other stuff through the thorough checkup. My biopsies came up okay. However, I am to give up drinking, exercise more, watch my diet. The alternative is surgery for one of the ailments. "You're killing me doc!". My doctor said, no. Quite the contrary. What the heck? A whole slew of things to watch out and worry about?
On top of all things that are borderline, I have fatty liver disease. Early stages of it. So, he said okay. You can have a drink occasionally. But, do not drink regularly like you have been doing. That has to stop. Whew! I really felt with everything else going on I have dodged the proverbial bullet for now. I have to behave.
I promised my wife that I will behave. ?My friends don't go to Gopher football games anymore. Their own health issues make it difficult. But, they do watch on TV and keep up with the team.
We had some interesting heated discussions about the Gophers season. His wife is turned off by Fleck. So that is that. My buddy said that the Gophers really haven't proven that they can dance with the big boys yet. Although he was elated about how the season turned out. "They have beaten only one ranked team! Until they can beat Iowa and Wisconsin with regularity, then I will believe that they have arrived. Go look at the stats on the SRS and SOS". So I did.
The SRS Rating System takes into account the average point differential and the strength of schedule (SOS). Zero is average.
Okay, I give him this. He is right. The Gophers had the second softest schedule in the Big Ten West. Clearly, Wisconsin then Iowa had the toughest schedule, and both have higher SRS than the Gophers:
Team / SRS / SOS
WI--+18.93--7.62
IA--+13.64--4.64
NE--+3.24--4.58
PU--(-0.17)--4.49
NW--(-2.68)--3.91
MN--+11.21--1.38
ILL--1.26--0.76
IMHO, I told him that this is exactly the type of schedule that worked in the Gophers favor as far as a developing young team goes. That is the break that they got and they made the very best of it.
What catapulted the Gophers to a tie with Wisconsin as co-champs is their SRS. They have explosive offense and good enough defense. Early on when it was a difference between winning and losing close games, that was a difference maker in addition to beating the softer teams on the schedule by larger point differentials.
So, I guess we shall see how the Gophers do the next few seasons.
He said that clearly, Wisconsin is the class of the Big Ten West. They have been dominating their Big Ten West opponents for quite a while. I agree with him. Fa'alele being out with an injury made it tougher for the Gophers whatever chance they've had. In the big scheme of things, the Gophers were clearly out-coached by Wiscy.
He made an interesting observation that I never thought of. An impact player for the Iowa Hawkeyes may have been the difference between beating Iowa and going to the Rose Bowl and the Outback Bowl. That player is Iowa's NFL-bound 5-Star 6' 6" 280-lb. DE A.J. Epenesa. Two or three plays could have made the difference if AJ Epenesa wasn't on the team.
Hopefully, the Gophers are recruiting on defense to get disruptive pass rushers. Maybe someday, the Gophers will have their own impact players not only on Offense, but also on Defense.
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