Who are our peers and how are we comparing?

[Go Gophers Rah]

As a long-time Gopher fan (I've been a season ticket holder since 1999) I always struggle with expectations. Obviously, I'd like the Gophers to have the kind of winning record and conference championships of a "helmet school." I just don't know if that will ever be in the cards, especially now with NIL, transfers and super-conferences.

So I try to think of how we're doing as compared with our "peers." Within the conference, that is for-sure the likes of Illinois, Maryland and Michigan State. I don't see a reason that the Gophers shouldn't be as good as Wisconsin (which has been the case the last 5 or 6 years) and Iowa. Outside our conference, some examples (to me) of our peers would be: North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Arizona State, Mizzou. I am sure that arguments could be made against these teams and for others. My point is... We will NEVER again be a Michigan, tOSU or USC. We can possibly hope to compete with Penn State and Washington from time to time (ie winning 1 out of every 4 or 5). We will likely split our games with Purdue, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska (who is likely to improve), Michigan State (and should be splitting with Wisconsin and Iowa). And we should be beating Indiana, NU and Rutgers on most occasions.

By this set of expectations, the Gophers have done (almost) as I would have expected during his tenure. if we could go .500 against Iowa and Wisconsin and were competitive with any team ranked #20 -25 and the "also receiving votes" teams, I would feel satisfied (satisfied, not elated).

I am okay with a "down year" once every 4 or 5 years - most teams that don't meet the "helmet school" description have them.

So my question to GopherHolers is: who would you consider as peer schools and how have we done in comparison over the past 10 +/- years?

 

[BleedGopher]

Good post and I like the premise of peers. I think you have most of the group I'd include, I'll throw in Pittsburgh as another comp.

Without dissecting each of these records in the Fleck era, the eyeball test leads me to believe we'd be in the upper half, maybe upper third of this peer set.

Go Gophers!!

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

I've always thought Washington is a good comparison. Big city campus, pro sports competition, not the most storied program in the conference. They certainly haven't been able to make themselves CFP contenders every year, but with the right coach, don't think there is any reason we can't do what they can.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

I distinctly remember in 2020 reading articles from other teams pointing at the Gophers and asking “why can’t we do that?”

 

[Panthadad2]

As a long-time Gopher fan (I've been a season ticket holder since 1999) I always struggle with expectations. Obviously, I'd like the Gophers to have the kind of winning record and conference championships of a "helmet school." I just don't know if that will ever be in the cards, especially now with NIL, transfers and super-conferences.

So I try to think of how we're doing as compared with our "peers." Within the conference, that is for-sure the likes of Illinois, Maryland and Michigan State. I don't see a reason that the Gophers shouldn't be as good as Wisconsin (which has been the case the last 5 or 6 years) and Iowa. Outside our conference, some examples (to me) of our peers would be: North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Arizona State, Mizzou. I am sure that arguments could be made against these teams and for others. My point is... We will NEVER again be a Michigan, tOSU or USC. We can possibly hope to compete with Penn State and Washington from time to time (ie winning 1 out of every 4 or 5). We will likely split our games with Purdue, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska (who is likely to improve), Michigan State (and should be splitting with Wisconsin and Iowa). And we should be beating Indiana, NU and Rutgers on most occasions.

By this set of expectations, the Gophers have done (almost) as I would have expected during his tenure. if we could go .500 against Iowa and Wisconsin and were competitive with any team ranked #20 -25 and the "also receiving votes" teams, I would feel satisfied (satisfied, not elated).

I am okay with a "down year" once every 4 or 5 years - most teams that don't meet the "helmet school" description have them.

So my question to GopherHolers is: who would you consider as peer schools and how have we done in comparison over the past 10 +/- years?

The notion of competition against peers is why I'm sad the BG10 West is going away. It was real tangible competition with a sort of JV conference title instead just an intangible look-back at records.

 

[denguegopher]

So I try to think of how we're doing as compared with our "peers." Within the conference, that is for-sure the likes of Illinois, Maryland and Michigan State. I don't see a reason that the Gophers shouldn't be as good as Wisconsin (which has been the case the last 5 or 6 years) and Iowa. Outside our conference, some examples (to me) of our peers would be: North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Arizona State, Mizzou.

Not sure if I would include Mizzou, and like Bleed I think that Pittsburgh is a good comparison.

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

North Dakota State.

 

[hello-world]

As a long-time Gopher fan (I've been a season ticket holder since 1999) I always struggle with expectations. Obviously, I'd like the Gophers to have the kind of winning record and conference championships of a "helmet school." I just don't know if that will ever be in the cards, especially now with NIL, transfers and super-conferences.

So I try to think of how we're doing as compared with our "peers." Within the conference, that is for-sure the likes of Illinois, Maryland and Michigan State. I don't see a reason that the Gophers shouldn't be as good as Wisconsin (which has been the case the last 5 or 6 years) and Iowa. Outside our conference, some examples (to me) of our peers would be: North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Arizona State, Mizzou. I am sure that arguments could be made against these teams and for others. My point is... We will NEVER again be a Michigan, tOSU or USC. We can possibly hope to compete with Penn State and Washington from time to time (ie winning 1 out of every 4 or 5). We will likely split our games with Purdue, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska (who is likely to improve), Michigan State (and should be splitting with Wisconsin and Iowa). And we should be beating Indiana, NU and Rutgers on most occasions.

By this set of expectations, the Gophers have done (almost) as I would have expected during his tenure. if we could go .500 against Iowa and Wisconsin and were competitive with any team ranked #20 -25 and the "also receiving votes" teams, I would feel satisfied (satisfied, not elated).

I am okay with a "down year" once every 4 or 5 years - most teams that don't meet the "helmet school" description have them.

So my question to GopherHolers is: who would you consider as peer schools and how have we done in comparison over the past 10 +/- years?

Never is a very long time. For all we know, Michigan could get the death penalty, fire their coach and turn into the next Nebraska.

With transfers, Minnesota could pull a 5-star homesick QB out of the portal (think Weinke) and win the B1G. Etc. Etc.

I think there’s probably a world where the CFB superstars fraction off and create their own division/league in the next few years and maybe turns Minnesota into a powerhouse in the next division down, then they build on that.

Stranger things have happened than Minnesota developing an elite CFB team. Esp cause Minnesota has already developed an elite CFB team.

 

[Gopher 461]

As a long-time Gopher fan (I've been a season ticket holder since 1999) I always struggle with expectations. Obviously, I'd like the Gophers to have the kind of winning record and conference championships of a "helmet school." I just don't know if that will ever be in the cards, especially now with NIL, transfers and super-conferences.

So I try to think of how we're doing as compared with our "peers." Within the conference, that is for-sure the likes of Illinois, Maryland and Michigan State. I don't see a reason that the Gophers shouldn't be as good as Wisconsin (which has been the case the last 5 or 6 years) and Iowa. Outside our conference, some examples (to me) of our peers would be: North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Arizona State, Mizzou. I am sure that arguments could be made against these teams and for others. My point is... We will NEVER again be a Michigan, tOSU or USC. We can possibly hope to compete with Penn State and Washington from time to time (ie winning 1 out of every 4 or 5). We will likely split our games with Purdue, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska (who is likely to improve), Michigan State (and should be splitting with Wisconsin and Iowa). And we should be beating Indiana, NU and Rutgers on most occasions.

By this set of expectations, the Gophers have done (almost) as I would have expected during his tenure. if we could go .500 against Iowa and Wisconsin and were competitive with any team ranked #20 -25 and the "also receiving votes" teams, I would feel satisfied (satisfied, not elated).

I am okay with a "down year" once every 4 or 5 years - most teams that don't meet the "helmet school" description have them.

So my question to GopherHolers is: who would you consider as peer schools and how have we done in comparison over the past 10 +/- years?

I have been thinking about the same thing as you articulated in your post. I would also add other factors that are important to me: (1) how many players graduate, (2) how many players go on to graduate school in medicine, law, engineering, computer science, other disciplines(3) how many players give back to the community, (4) how many players view their time spent at the U a life changing experience meeting peers that they will know for the rest of their lives. I could go on , but I think GopherHolers will get where I'm going. I want to win as much as any of us that post but there's more to it than just winning football games at an acceptable rate. Thoughts?

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Peers for MN:

by process of elimination - Gophers are not on the same level as the perennial top-20 teams.
But, because the Gophers are in the B1G, that does put them a rung above most G5 teams - at least in perceived stature.

So take the SEC, B1G, ACC, Big-12 and the current Pac-12. Eliminate any teams that have finished in the top-20 multiple times in recent years, and the remaining schools are the Gophers' peers.

where does that put MN - in the OK but not great category. teams that open each season hoping to be (at least) bowl eligible, and if things break right, maybe win between 7 to 9 games and qualify for a better bowl game. Maybe once or twice in a decade, the stars align and you produce double-digit wins and get some national attention. and try to avoid bottoming out (defined as 4 wins or less in a season).

 

[Some guy]

Peers for MN:

by process of elimination - Gophers are not on the same level as the perennial top-20 teams.
But, because the Gophers are in the B1G, that does put them a rung above most G5 teams - at least in perceived stature.

So take the SEC, B1G, ACC, Big-12 and the current Pac-12. Eliminate any teams that have finished in the top-20 multiple times in recent years, and the remaining schools are the Gophers' peers.

where does that put MN - in the OK but not great category. teams that open each season hoping to be (at least) bowl eligible, and if things break right, maybe win between 7 to 9 games and qualify for a better bowl game. Maybe once or twice in a decade, the stars align and you produce double-digit wins and get some national attention. and try to avoid bottoming out (defined as 4 wins or less in a season).

You have this great rationale then you don’t name names