We're #74

[CWCWCW]

...at least according to Lindy's. They seem to be the first on the newsstands. I shelled out $7.99 for the magazine. They have us ahead of only Indiana in the Big 10. I paged through it briefly. Their "positive" remark about the squad was that the legislature passed beer sales at TCF stadium. Their "negative" was that fans will need the beer to deflect what is happening on the field. Ouch. No worries. I might be one of about 14 people who buy the magazine. I still enjoy reading the preseason mags.

 

[Formo]

Ouch.. That's brutal. And there are people who bitch about ESPN's lack of knowledge on our squad.. lol

 

[MNGoldenGophers1]

...at least according to Lindy's. They seem to be the first on the newsstands. I shelled out $7.99 for the magazine. They have us ahead of only Indiana in the Big 10. I paged through it briefly. Their "positive" remark about the squad was that the legislature passed beer sales at TCF stadium. Their "negative" was that fans will need the beer to deflect what is happening on the field. Ouch. No worries. I might be one of about 14 people who buy the magazine. I still enjoy reading the preseason mags.

I hate it when people exaggerate like you do... I say no more than a dozen people buy it.

Go Gophers!

 

[Parski1]

...at least according to Lindy's. They seem to be the first on the newsstands. I shelled out $7.99 for the magazine. They have us ahead of only Indiana in the Big 10. I paged through it briefly. Their "positive" remark about the squad was that the legislature passed beer sales at TCF stadium. Their "negative" was that fans will need the beer to deflect what is happening on the field. Ouch. No worries. I might be one of about 14 people who buy the magazine. I still enjoy reading the preseason mags.

All you had to do was look and see that the Gophers were #74 w/o buying it and put the piece of crap back on the shelf.

 

[go4rob]

All you had to do was look and see that the Gophers were #74 w/o buying it and put the piece of crap back on the shelf.

I know we're all Gopher fans here but after two 3-9 seasons in a row, how could anyone expect us to be rated higher by anybody at this point? Once we go out and prove something on the field, other accolades will follow. Remember, it's our ranking at the END of the season that counts.

 

[MinnMarchDTF]

We're likely going to be picked last in our division by everyone this year. No big surprise. Just gotta go out and prove that we're better than that.

 

[RoyalGopher]

Well, we're making improvement. I think we were 77th on Lindy's last year.

 

[SJUgopher]

I know we're all Gopher fans here but after two 3-9 seasons in a row, how could anyone expect us to be rated higher by anybody at this point? Once we go out and prove something on the field, other accolades will follow. Remember, it's our ranking at the END of the season that counts.

I agree. I think we finish higher, but to start the pre-season, I am surprised we were even picked that high. There were a handful of FCS teams that were ranked higher than us in the Sagarin rankings (we finished #88).

There were only a handful of BCS AQ schools that we were better than last year: Indiana, Duke, Maryland, Colorado, Ole Miss, and Kansas. Three or Four of those are usually terrible.

I think our goal should be to make the jump from #75 to #50, which puts us at or around a .500 record (+/- a game or two depending on schedule strength). MN should have no problem being a perennial top 50 program which is where Mason got us, above that we haven't proved we belonged in the last 50 years.

 

[Gopherprof]

I agree. I think we finish higher, but to start the pre-season, I am surprised we were even picked that high. There were a handful of FCS teams that were ranked higher than us in the Sagarin rankings (we finished #88).

Exactly. Purdue was 7-6 last year and 65th in Sagarin's rankings.

I would love it if we went 7-6 this year.

People gets so damn butthurt about everything on here. If you want to read something that confirms what you already want to believe, just write letters to yourself or something. #74 is totally fair for a team that won 3 games last year and lost to a *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#ty WAC school and a team from the FCS. Not to mention getting slaughtered by that same Purdue team.

 

[Rosemountian]

Ouch.. That's brutal. And there are people who bitch about ESPN's lack of knowledge on our squad.. lol

Did you watch last year? 75 is much higher than I'd probably have us.
Lost to new Mexico state and north Dakota.
Lost by 58 to Michigan and some other large number to purdue.

Beat an Illinois team who was playing with essentially a lame duck coach.
Beat Iowa. If we hadn't beat Iowa wed be ranked below 100.

 

[oak_street1981]

...at least according to Lindy's. They seem to be the first on the newsstands. I shelled out $7.99

Pre season rankings are the biggest joke ever. Rankings are moronic anyway in any sports that have playoffs, but the D1A preseason rankings impact the bowl games, and the rankings are absurd.

There should not even be a poll until at least the 2nd or 3rd week of the season.

There have been teams ranked in the top 10 that end up at 7-5 or worse by the end of the season. Name teams like Notre Dame, Miami and Michigan always get over-rated early.

 

[GopherInPittsburgh]

I'll have to agree that 74 is much higher than I would have predicted the outlets pin us at. The reality is we have 2 straight 3-9 seasons. I would expect most predictions to have us between 85 and 95. Good thing is these predictions are meaningless.

 

[dpodoll68]

I'll have to agree that 74 is much higher than I would have predicted the outlets pin us at.

I couldn't agree more. I think that we are benefiting from the assumption that we're on an upward trajectory because of the respect Kill has in the coaching community.

 

[OutHouseGopher]

I couldn't agree more. I think that we are benefiting from the assumption that we're on an upward trajectory because of the respect Kill has in the coaching community.

Respect for accomplishing what? Accomplishing what at the "big boy level?"

 

[ruppertflywheel]

None of the rags will be kind to the Gophers, and why should they? Stat and information wise, Phil Steele's Big Ten Report is about the best. Read them because you like college football, and don't get your shorts in a bundle over what is written about the Gophers.

 

[Killjoy]

If any of you have ever read David Dreman's book “Contrarian Investment Stragies: The Next Generation" you would know how poorly analyst are at picking stocks. By the time the experts recommend an out of favor stock it will have already made a very major move and the majority of the opportunity has been lost. These so called football experts are not really that concerned about their predictions. They don’t get paid for accurate predictions. They get paid for selling magazines.

 

[Jike Spingleton]

I still buy one preseason magazine every year, not for the rankings/predictions, but for the information. Yeah, I could look it all up online, but this way is easier to access.

Way back in the day, I bought Don Heinrich's preview - still the best one, IMO. Lots of info, easy to navigate. When he passed away and the magazine was discontinued, I'd buy The Sporting News yearbook - most informative. They went the "more pictures/less info" route, so I went with Phil Steele, but he spends half the 300+ pages patting himself on the back for his accurate predictions and referencing useless stats from a decade ago, so now Lindy's gets my 8 bucks every year.