Will next year's team be improved over this year's team?

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Given Galty's analysis of this year's senior class (and the relative dearth of talent therein), the obvious answer is yes, the talent level next year will be significantly better than this past year.

I do not believe that 6-6 was overachieving; although beating Wisconsin on the road was a singular overachievement. I would expect a winning season next year, given the upgrade in talent.
 

Mulligan said:
I'm as optimistic for next season as I get, but it's the Gophers so I'm always going to GH hoping there's no bad news. Can't avoid injuries; just hope it's in places where we have depth and they're not season ending for anyone. It's the shock of losing guys for off the field stuff that is so deflating and make you question why you care so much.
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Next Year? It’s all about culture and players holding players accountable to higher standards, harder work, and individual development and stricter codes of conduct. Is an expectation of winning getting infused, or are the players content that making any bowl is success. Are they satisfied or hungry for much better results.

Are there strong leaders amongst the players holding each other accountable and pushing to higher levels (+), or are they expecting coaches to do that (-). Do they think they have to all improve each day(+), or do they get think their current talent is good enough now (-). Are they hungry and humble and want to work (+) or satisfied with a 6-6 bowl game (-). Do Players hold each other accountable for acceptable behavior off the field and the players drive off bad apples (+), or are different groups of players doing their own thing and coaches make the rules which might be different based on how many star recruit you are (-). Do the players play for each other (+) or PJ Fleck (-). Are they willing to make the sacrifice of outworking their competition this summer. Does the S&C team drive a consistent player led culture of accountability. Does PJ try to own the spotlight (-) or do the players own the spotlights in the team culture (+).

These are cultural questions that will determine if the Gopher improve next year.
 
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My optimistic side thinks this 2018 team could have been a 25th ranked team.
They way the played Fresno St, Purdue, and Wisconsin shows this, and the fact we were in a game with Northwestern where we made several mistakes and bad drops.
However due to bad defense and inconsistency, we are instead 49th.

If everything goes well, this team in 2019 should probably hit top 25 rankings during the season. I think they could contend for the Big Ten West.
 

Face The Facts said:
My optimistic side thinks this 2018 team could have been a 25th ranked team.
They way the played Fresno St, Purdue, and Wisconsin shows this, and the fact we were in a game with Northwestern where we made several mistakes and bad drops.
However due to bad defense and inconsistency, we are instead 49th.

If everything goes well, this team in 2019 should probably hit top 25 rankings during the season. I think they could contend for the Big Ten West.
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I like the optimism! How many wins would we need to get to top 25 though? At least 8, if not 9, right?
 


Word said:
I like the optimism! How many wins would we need to get to top 25 though? At least 8, if not 9, right?
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Much of it will depend on how the Big Ten West teams do non-conference, but if you start out 5-0, 6-0, 7-0 at some point you start getting votes because you are still unbeaten.

If NW loses to Duke, and other teams in our conference lose to Eastern Michigan, etc, our conference will look weak. If most go unbeaten, suddenly the Big Ten West looks like it's a power conference because all the teams are unbeaten (until we start losing to Big Ten East Teams).

There are 8-4 teams in the top 25.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Of course you would. 75% of GHers per the Rossi poll believe Gophs would have won at least 8 games this year.

http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/bo...-conference-record-be-if-under-Rossi-all-year
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To clarify, I don't think 6-6 was overachieving. I believe the staff outcoached Fresno and Wisconsin and beat teams with more talent. We were outcoached and lost to a team we should have beaten in Illinois. I wish we would have won at least won game against Maryland or Nebraska, but I can't necessarily argue that we had more talent. 6-6 is about where this team should have been with freshmen all over the field on offense.
 

John Galt said:
I could argue we overachieved at 6-6 by beating Fresno and Wisconsin.
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Fresno, yes; Wisconsin, no. We may have overachieved by beating Wisconsin by the margin that we did but not by winning the game. Wisconsin was a very weak 7-5. They beat one team with a winning record (Iowa) and one .500 team (Purdue). Their other 5 wins came against teams with a cumulative 15-45 (25%) record. Nebraska was a decent team by the latter part of the season but Wisconsin played them early in the season.
 

I think it's very likely. Based on returning players and another solid class getting signed, the depth will likely be more in place. The team seems to be in a pretty good position to take a step forward.
 



Gold Rush said:
RB - Ibrahim turned in a solid season but the additions of Smith and Brooks coming back from injury add to a stable and depth we just did not have. MAJOR improvement next year.
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I would say better than "solid." Ibrahim was better at this stage of his career than either Smith or David Cobb were. I continue to have some doubts about Brooks' health and I'm not sure Smith will, or should, beat out Ibrahim.
 

cjbfbp said:
Fresno, yes; Wisconsin, no. We may have overachieved by beating Wisconsin by the margin that we did but not by winning the game. Wisconsin was a very weak 7-5. They beat one team with a winning record (Iowa) and one .500 team (Purdue). Their other 5 wins came against teams with a cumulative 15-45 (25%) record. Nebraska was a decent team by the latter part of the season but Wisconsin played them early in the season.
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Wisconsin had beaten us 14 years in a row and we hadn't won in Madison since 1994. They finished with a better record than us this year and were 10+ point favorites in the game. They ended up with significantly more all-B1G players than we did. No one was expecting a win in Madison - we overachieved by pulling it off.
 

cjbfbp said:
Fresno, yes; Wisconsin, no. We may have overachieved by beating Wisconsin by the margin that we did but not by winning the game. Wisconsin was a very weak 7-5. They beat one team with a winning record (Iowa) and one .500 team (Purdue). Their other 5 wins came against teams with a cumulative 15-45 (25%) record. Nebraska was a decent team by the latter part of the season but Wisconsin played them early in the season.
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Wisconsin was 7-5.
Most 7-5 teams have wins against inferior opponents. That's why they win.
One of the best WI teams ever? No.
As good as their recent teams? No.
A team that was lucky to be 7-5? No
A team that was overrated 7-5? No.
They were just 7-5 in a major conference.
Better than a MAC 7-5 schedule or an AAC 7-5 schedule.
The bet 7-5 team ever? No.

They were 7-5. Winning team, bowl eligible, at one point ranked, but having not met expectations.

They pretty much were what their record said they were. No need to try to point it out as not a decent win.
 

Face The Facts said:
Wisconsin was 7-5.
Most 7-5 teams have wins against inferior opponents. That's why they win.
One of the best WI teams ever? No.
As good as their recent teams? No.
A team that was lucky to be 7-5? No
A team that was overrated 7-5? No.
They were just 7-5 in a major conference.
Better than a MAC 7-5 schedule or an AAC 7-5 schedule.
The bet 7-5 team ever? No.

They were 7-5. Winning team, bowl eligible, at one point ranked, but having not met expectations.

They pretty much were what their record said they were. No need to try to point it out as not a decent win.
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Disagree. I think they most certainly were overrated. In addition to losing to us at home, they also lost to 6-6 BYU at home. Just because Wisconsin has had a strong program for a long time now doesn't mean that they can't have a mediocre team now and then. As far as needing inferior opponents to have a good record, well, our 6 wins were against opponents with a cumulative winning percentage over .500.

I didn't say it wasn't a decent win. It was a great win because we hadn't beaten them in a long time but this was no miracle. By the end of the season, we were a better team than them and I actually expected us to win the game going into it.
 



cjbfbp said:
Disagree. I think they most certainly were overrated. In addition to losing to us at home, they also lost to 6-6 BYU at home. Just because Wisconsin has had a strong program for a long time now doesn't mean that they can't have a mediocre team now and then. As far as needing inferior opponents to have a good record, well, our 6 wins were against opponents with a cumulative winning percentage over .500.

I didn't say it wasn't a decent win. It was a great win because we hadn't beaten them in a long time but this was no miracle. By the end of the season, we were a better team than them and I actually expected us to win the game going into it.
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I don't think we disagree that much.
They were a 7-5 team.
That's what 7-5 teams are.

If you want to compare all of the 7-5 teams and rank them, my guess is they are somewhere in the middle of all 7-5 teams.
 

Face The Facts said:
My optimistic side thinks this 2018 team could have been a 25th ranked team.
They way the played Fresno St, Purdue, and Wisconsin shows this, and the fact we were in a game with Northwestern where we made several mistakes and bad drops.
However due to bad defense and inconsistency, we are instead 49th.

If everything goes well, this team in 2019 should probably hit top 25 rankings during the season. I think they could contend for the Big Ten West.
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Didn't you post that you'd "go out on a limb" and expect 7 wins in 2019?
 



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