This Gophers team is worse than last year. Next year's team will be better. Agree or disagree?

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SeaBee_Gopher said:
I don't think we'll see many Gophers at all getting drafted or picked up as UDFAs this year. Last year, we had quite a few. The large majority of our best players will be coming back so we should be better next year. The only player that has a shot at being drafted in 2026 right now would be Anthony Smith and it might make sense for him to come back for another year of development.

If I had to compare this year's team to last year's, this is how it falls:

Offense

QB - same - Much better on long throws, worse in short game and experience.

RB - worse - Because of injuries. Could get better as the year goes on.

OL - much worse - We lost some good players to graduation and the NFL and then lost our highest ceiling OL, Daniels, to OSU. That was really unfortunate. Keeping an above average player like him on our line this year and filling in with the best remaining four would have helped a lot.

WR/TE - slightly better - I'm actually pleasantly surprised with our WRs this year. They have potential to get even better. We have better depth and more big play potential with less consistency. Unfortunately, they are still an average group at best for the B1G. That's an improvement.

Defense

DL - same

Linebacker - worse - Losing Cody was big!

CBs - worse - Our best starting corner, John Nestor, left Iowa because he couldn't get a starting job there. I'd like to see him at safety (big, strong and smart), but we obviously just have a huge need/deficiency at corner.

Safety - same

I'm not throwing in the towel on this season, most of our remaining games are toss ups just like every year. These are young kids. They can develop for the remainder of the year and just about all of them will be back next year, but my expectations have been lowered watching our first five games.
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The era of "players coming back" is over. NIL and Pay-for-play has ended it. You can't be confident of returnees.
 

SeaBee_Gopher said:
I don't think we'll see many Gophers at all getting drafted or picked up as UDFAs this year. Last year, we had quite a few. The large majority of our best players will be coming back so we should be better next year. The only player that has a shot at being drafted in 2026 right now would be Anthony Smith and it might make sense for him to come back for another year of development.

If I had to compare this year's team to last year's, this is how it falls:

Offense

QB - same - Much better on long throws, worse in short game and experience.

RB - worse - Because of injuries. Could get better as the year goes on.

OL - much worse - We lost some good players to graduation and the NFL and then lost our highest ceiling OL, Daniels, to OSU. That was really unfortunate. Keeping an above average player like him on our line this year and filling in with the best remaining four would have helped a lot.

WR/TE - slightly better - I'm actually pleasantly surprised with our WRs this year. They have potential to get even better. We have better depth and more big play potential with less consistency. Unfortunately, they are still an average group at best for the B1G. That's an improvement.

Defense

DL - same

Linebacker - worse - Losing Cody was big!

CBs - worse - Our best starting corner, John Nestor, left Iowa because he couldn't get a starting job there. I'd like to see him at safety (big, strong and smart), but we obviously just have a huge need/deficiency at corner.

Safety - same

I'm not throwing in the towel on this season, most of our remaining games are toss ups just like every year. These are young kids. They can develop for the remainder of the year and just about all of them will be back next year, but my expectations have been lowered watching our first five games.
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Agree with most of what you said but the DL IMO is not the same. Last year DL was better than this years team. If a team needs 1 yard to get the 1st down it's damn near automatic on this years team. The CB room is obvious but I really like the talent we have in Nestor, Gerald, and Parrish. But the flaws in the secondary could also be contributed to the lack of pressure from the DL. All in all we have to fix the lines on both sides of the ball before we do anything else.
 

Gopherchase said:
Nonsense. It would have mattered.
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I agree with Gopherchase, it wouldn't have mattered. The score would have probably been the same or similar. Either way, we weren't going to win. I believe our biggest flaw is our DC play calling. I like Collins but the inexperience flaws are showing. I'm not sure if he's the guy or not but hopefully that will improve next year.
 


IMO, 75% of the whole thing in the OL. We have to, have to, be able to run the ball adequately. Not the old 65% run, but closer to 50% and effective. There's some really good things about winning TOP, including reducing exposure to some defensive weaknesses.
 




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