When will the Gophers finish in the top 3 in BT?

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Weisbrod

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Everyone seems to always say that the Gophers "have promise" and will "be good in a couple of years." This seems to be the motto for this team for god knows how long. Ok, so when will this team actually finish in the top three of the Big Ten and fulfill these expectations? I want numbers (years) people:D
 



This year. There's no time like the present. We can be 3-0 when we hit the road for OSU and PSU. If we split with these teams (we won at OSU in 2000 and won at PSU when they were #3 and undefeated), we can take down MSU and Illinois at home. Iowa becomes a toss-up, but were still a top 3 team in the conference either way.
 

It's really hard to predict that without knowing how the rest of the programs will pan out. The problem is with Michigan apparently righting its ship it's going to be really hard to leapfrog Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State.

The program still could improve dramatically and not crack the top 3.
 


My guess would be 2011. That is the year that the 2008 recruiting class is in their 4th year and with the 2009 & 2010 classes providing depth it is when we start to combine talent, experience, and depth (if you believe in recruiting rankings) at a high level.

However, you never know how things are going to progress. If our OL develops and we put together an Iowa type of improvement throughout the season we could finish 6-2 and in the top 3 this year (PSU, OSU, and Iowa are the only teams on our schedule that clearly look better to me but all three have weaknesses that could potentially be exploited for an upset). We also could fail to develop a running game leaving us one dimensional and leading to a 2-6 or 3-5 record in the Big Ten.

I just consider myself along for the ride on a program that is getting better and I'm enjoying a real college gameday experience for home games for the first time in my lifetime.
 


Weisbrod said:
Everyone seems to always say that the Gophers "have promise" and will "be good in a couple of years." This seems to be the motto for this team for god knows how long. Ok, so when will this team actually finish in the top three of the Big Ten and fulfill these expectations? I want numbers (years) people:D
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There is no reason to think a top 3 finish is impossible this year. Ohio State isn't a top 5 team, MSU doesn't look as good as people expected, and while teams like Iowa/Wisconsin are certainly capable of beating the Gophers...they don't look like great teams at this point. With the possible exception of Penn State every other team in the big ten is beatable.

There are plenty of holes on this team, but I think they have played well enough in the first 3 games where people shouldn't expect the worst. They look better then last year and way better then 2 years ago. I don't know how anybody could write off this year when the only loss was to a very good team.
 

I think it's pretty equal between 2010 and 2011.

2010: We will be replacing many starting spots (esp on defense), but the schedule gets easier, with the tougher teams at home and more winnable road games. I think that many of the defensive spots that will be vacated next year will not hurt that much. DE: not terribly productive players right now. DT: We have 2 studs in waiting. LB: Cooper, Reeves, Maresh & company will be ready to step up. S: Both return CB: Will be the biggest holes to fill, go Micheal Carter!

2011: From a roster standpoint this will be our first big chance to make some noise since much of Brewster's first big recruiting class will be seniors. However the schedule is brutal, with road games @ Michigan, @ Ohio State & @ Iowa, and a home game against Penn State. We miss out on Illinois and Purdue. If this class could develop though, then if there was ever going to be a year where our program breaks out and competes nationally, it likely will be this one.

2012: Not looking good right now - again the schedule will be tough missing out on Illinois & Purdue, and we will have a small senior class.
 



chi-town gopher said:
There is no reason to think a top 3 finish is impossible this year. Ohio State isn't a top 5 team, MSU doesn't look as good as people expected, and while teams like Iowa/Wisconsin are certainly capable of beating the Gophers...they don't look like great teams at this point. With the possible exception of Penn State every other team in the big ten is beatable.

There are plenty of holes on this team, but I think they have played well enough in the first 3 games where people shouldn't expect the worst. They look better then last year and way better then 2 years ago. I don't know how anybody could write off this year when the only loss was to a very good team.
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I agree. I am not going to discount a top-3 finish this year until we have 3 losses, but the schedule is not in our favor. We play 3 of the best teams in the conference on the road.
 

I guess a big part of why I'm skeptical about 2010 and 2011 is the failure of the team to establish any meaningful offensive weapons outside of Decker. The Gophers lose Decker after this season and possibly Weber with him. Even if they don't the team's probably going to take a huge step backwards offensively without Decker.
 

top three

Top three would have been realistic this year if the offense would not have struggled so much this year. I would have never thought I'd be saying that about a Gopher football team. Many people including me thought the offense could be dangerous this year. Griese made three very good points about our offense

1. Oline is bad - Not a suprise

2. Running backs slow - That sobbered up a lot of Gopher fans who blamed our lack of running game entirely on the o-line.

3. Too much talent not to be good - This gives me hope that maybe we can get it turned around.
 

2012-13.

We'll be good from here on out, top three?? we'll need to get lucky like Illinois did or wait until the sixth year of the program.
 



chi-town gopher said:
There is no reason to think a top 3 finish is impossible this year. Ohio State isn't a top 5 team, MSU doesn't look as good as people expected, and while teams like Iowa/Wisconsin are certainly capable of beating the Gophers...they don't look like great teams at this point. With the possible exception of Penn State every other team in the big ten is beatable.
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Am I the only one who hasnt bought a ticket to the Penn State express yet? They might be the best the big ten has to offer and they might not be but either way I think they're beatable.
 

I say we have an outside shot at top 3 this year, the conference is weak this year. I think every team is beatable but every team also has what it takes to beat the Gophs, so we will see how it plays out.
 

Have to be able to run the football to beat the big boys. I agree that no one has really seperated themselves as a big time team in the Big 10.

Penn St. will suffer from their weak OOC as they won't be battle tested when they start hitting the Big 10. Not to mention that they haven't really looked all that so far.
 

Cmich Gopher said:
Am I the only one who hasnt bought a ticket to the Penn State express yet? They might be the best the big ten has to offer and they might not be but either way I think they're beatable.
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PSU is good this year, but certainly beatable.:D
 

Cmich Gopher said:
Am I the only one who hasnt bought a ticket to the Penn State express yet? They might be the best the big ten has to offer and they might not be but either way I think they're beatable.
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You are not alone. One of the reasons they appear less flawed than other teams in the conference is that they haven't played anyone yet.

As bad as our running game has looked, PSU rushed for less yardage against Syracuse than we did. When you have Evan Royster in the backfield that is a problem with the OL.

PSU has a solid front 7 on defense but they have some huge question marks in their secondary. They just haven't played a team that can exploit that yet. Stanzi can throw and will test PSU but I think we'll learn a lot about PSU on Oct. 3 when they play Illinois. Illinois defense is crap so they'll have to turn it in to a shootout if they are going to win.

I like our matchup with PSU because unless their OL really improves I think our DL should be able to contain their running game making their offense one dimensional. PSU will likely end up splitting Royster out as a WR to get him the ball (see Cal's use of Best) and I'm less afraid of Royster than Best. I wouldn't be surprised to see us use a lot of 3-4 as they become one dimensional and hopefully that allows Lawrence, Cooper, etc to get to the QB and get some hits on Clark.

On offense we're unlikely to be able to run the ball because their front 7 > our OL. We'll likely approach this game with a plan to pass 66% of the time which hopefully gets them on their heels and opens the run game as the game progresses. Luckily Illinois plays PSU the week prior and they'll likely test the PSU secondary so our gameplan should benefit from being able to study what Illinois did effectively. As long as Weber has time to throw we should be able to create and exploit mismatches in the secondary.

It is hard to win in Happy Valley but I personally think Minnesota is as well equipped as any team in the conference to knock off Penn State. I've talked to Penn State fans and they are more afraid of the Gophers than most teams because of our passing game and past history.
 

This year.
I was originally predicting a 5-7 to 7-5 season, but now I think we scould be 6-6 to 9-3. Its not that I think we're better than I did a month ago, its just that I think a number of teams (Illinois and Michigan State come to mind) are worse than I had thought.
It is precisely this kind of season that gives opportunities where they would not normally be.

I could see #1 and #2 being 7-1 or 6-2 teams and then having a bunch of teams tied at 5-3 or even 4-4 for 3rd place.

I'm not saying "now or never" but this would be an ideal year to be better than mediocre in a mediocre conference.
 

I think it's all based on a favorable schedule, but we certainly can play with anyone. If we only had a running back...
 

Cmich Gopher said:
Am I the only one who hasnt bought a ticket to the Penn State express yet? They might be the best the big ten has to offer and they might not be but either way I think they're beatable.
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That is why I said possible exception. I haven't watched them play this year, so I don't want to speculate as to whether or not the Gophers can win that game as my opinion wouldn't really be based on anything. They have a high ranking and plenty of good players, but I realize they haven't played anybody yet.

Plenty of people on the board seem to think they are beatable, and I hope they are right.
 

We have finished as high as 3rd once in the last 30 years, last time was 1986, I think. Not trying to be negative, but I would settle for a .500 big ten record this year with our schedule. As for why we are not favored going into this game, last year we were 17th in nation and favored by 7.5 going into Evanston........

I think 2011 or 2012 maybe our best chance to finish that high in the big ten.
 

In order to win the conference title, we must have no more than 1 loss in conference play against the big schools. Obviously that list includes Penn St, Ohio St, and Michigan, but I will also add Iowa -- since we seem to struggle against them. Mich St, Wisconsin, and Illinois are all comparable to us, but we'll assume wins if we're worthy of a conference title.

That said, here's how they pit the next few years:

2010: PSU, OSU, Iowa at home. No Mich. -- This is favorable.
2011: PSU at home. OSU, Iowa, Mich on the road. -- Not gonna happen.
2012: OSU, Iowa, Mich at home. PSU on the road. -- This is doable.
 

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