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

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SeaBee_Gopher

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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.
 







Next year we will be much better - QB is the most critical position and I think we are set there for next year. Our bigger issue is if Lindsey plays lights out, he will jump for NIL dollars the year after. Yeah, I know this is looking way in advance but I think he is as good of a QB as we will ever see here.
 

MNVCGUY said:
"Stealing the win"?

We started really slow but after the slow start we were clearly the better team for the majority of that game.
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I didn’t mean stealing as in underdog situation. Objectively I don’t know how you say “better team for the majority of the game” when Rutgers only trailed for 7 total minutes of game time, had 4x the rushing yards, more total yards, first downs, TOP… it was a toss up win the Gophers certainly earned but had to eke out with a TD in the last few minutes - not much margin for error, they get stopped on that one drive and it’s most likely an L.
 

Unless this were a 1 win or no win team I don't know how one can make any pronouncements about a PJ Fleck team until the end of the year. Last year's team was what, 7-5? And 5-7 the year prior? PJ's teams start slow, always play ugly win or lose, and tend to improve as the season progresses. I'm no Fleckolyte, but there's nothing to suggest that this team is anything other than typical at this point and nothing to be learned from the weekend except that OSU is much better than us, which is no revelation.
 



I think they are about the same. Been about the same since 2018 with the exception of 2019. Not a huge difference between 6 wins and 8 wins besides a few bounces.
 

The OL didn’t run block worth a damn last year, either. That, or our schemes suck which may be the case. As we sit today the CB position is the biggest change for a negative. From two NFL types to I’m not sure what now. It would not have been nearly as easy for tOSU receivers against our two really good corners in ‘24.
 


Gopherchase said:
The OL didn’t run block worth a damn last year, either. That, or our schemes suck which may be the case. As we sit today the CB position is the biggest change for a negative. From two NFL types to I’m not sure what now. It would not have been nearly as easy for tOSU receivers against our two really good corners in ‘24.
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You are so right. Well, that and I think OL. Justin Walley was a four year starter and was in line to start for the Indianapolis Colts until he got hurt this year. Ethan Robinson was also a very good corner. Jack Henderson is still bouncing around the NFL on practice squads and was a big, experienced DB and great athlete! We just did not do a good job of replacing our lost talent at DB this year. I was listening to the Gopher Gridiron podcast the other day and they were talking about how we don't have the skill to go heavy man-to-man this year. Zone is better when you just want to play it safe, but our guys are also struggling with zone because they don't have a lot of experience. Man-to-man is an easier concept for inexperienced players, but you've got to have the athletes for that and it doesn't appear we do. Well, when you can't play zone and you can't play man. Ouch!!!

My hope is that we get a lot better as the year goes on and next year bring in some reinforcements. We won't be losing any of our DBs this offseason so next year should be better.
 




Gopherchase said:
The OL didn’t run block worth a damn last year, either. That, or our schemes suck which may be the case. As we sit today the CB position is the biggest change for a negative. From two NFL types to I’m not sure what now. It would not have been nearly as easy for tOSU receivers against our two really good corners in ‘24.
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OSU has 2 #1 receivers and 3 good tight ends. Last years CBs wouldn’t have made any difference. You can’t double cover both Tate and Smith. Another variable is coaching. Which OSU coaches wouldn’t be an upgrade to the Gopher staff? That’s the ingredient in OSU’s secret sauce that nobody talks about.
 

swede2 said:
Unless this were a 1 win or no win team I don't know how one can make any pronouncements about a PJ Fleck team until the end of the year. Last year's team was what, 7-5? And 5-7 the year prior? PJ's teams start slow, always play ugly win or lose, and tend to improve as the season progresses. I'm no Fleckolyte, but there's nothing to suggest that this team is anything other than typical at this point and nothing to be learned from the weekend except that OSU is much better than us, which is no revelation.
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The 5-7 2023 team didn't get better as the season went on. They lost their last four games of the regular season and only one of them was close.
 

Laker said:
OSU has 2 #1 receivers and 3 good tight ends. Last years CBs wouldn’t have made any difference. You can’t double cover both Tate and Smith. Another variable is coaching. Which OSU coaches wouldn’t be an upgrade to the Gopher staff? That’s the ingredient in OSU’s secret sauce that nobody talks about.
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My buddy from Ohio just sent me this link from Saturday’s game. Even the band has NIL money. How do you compete with that. Haha. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19mWTbxTiu/?mibextid=wwXIfr
 

csom_1991 said:
Our bigger issue is if Lindsey plays lights out, he will jump for NIL dollars the year after.
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He comes from a fairly wealthy family, so I'm not sure that money would be a motivating factor. I'd be more worried about him being offered a chance to play for a team with a "real legit" chance to play for a Championship...
 

I believe that an upgrade in receiver play, which would increase Drake's numbers, may have a greater influence on his decision to stay or go. He was probably drooling over OSU's WRs. He also would love to be throwing to Rutgers' WRs.
 


TwistingMyMelon said:
The 5-7 2023 team didn't get better as the season went on. They lost their last four games of the regular season and only one of them was close.
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We are 3-2, 1-1 in the conference with a ton of winnable games left on the schedule. Take a deep breath and let's see how the team responds against a mediocre Purdue team.

2023 team had crap QB play and a backfield that got decimated by injuries....

I know some can only see doom and gloom after loses but there is a lot of season left and there is only one team left on our schedule that will come anywhere close to looking like the team we played this past weekend.
 

I think they aren’t as good as last year, at this point. But if compared after 5 games, probably about the same.
Last years team was a top 15 to 20 team at the end of the year. If not for the bad call against Mich. probably would have been there.
 

We were 2-3 at this point last year with a tougher looking schedule ahead. I think this year’s team is a little less talented overall, but not massively so. With what could be a potentially more favorable schedule might end up with the same or better record.
 

Laker said:
OSU has 2 #1 receivers and 3 good tight ends. Last years CBs wouldn’t have made any difference. You can’t double cover both Tate and Smith. Another variable is coaching. Which OSU coaches wouldn’t be an upgrade to the Gopher staff? That’s the ingredient in OSU’s secret sauce that nobody talks about.
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Nonsense. It would have mattered.
 

Got steamrolled by the #1 team, it happens, that team OSU on defense has a tough front 7 to play against. We were missing a starting safety, #7 Gousby and that makes a difference too. Ohio State will likely be in the College Football playoff, that is not news. Still a lot of football to be played to be making any kind of judgement.
 

swede2 said:
Unless this were a 1 win or no win team I don't know how one can make any pronouncements about a PJ Fleck team until the end of the year. Last year's team was what, 7-5? And 5-7 the year prior? PJ's teams start slow, always play ugly win or lose, and tend to improve as the season progresses. I'm no Fleckolyte, but there's nothing to suggest that this team is anything other than typical at this point and nothing to be learned from the weekend except that OSU is much better than us, which is no revelation.
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Agree with all of this, except you left out sh!t the bed once or twice during the season (early, late, doesn't matter - Rutgers last year was late in the season).
 


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