Would a win at USC be more damaging to the Gophers than beneficial?

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Fuzzy Rumpton

Fuzzy Rumpton

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I was wondering about this and came up with a few thoughts on why this may not be as helpful as a close loss.

*Casual fans may jump on the bandwagon and then off if they hit a tough stretch during the B1G schedule. An upset at the end would be more beneficial for momentum into the following season, like the Iowa game.

*Teams will not overlook the Gophers. Meaning better prepared teams and possibly worse outcomes for the remainder of the season.

Now this is a pessimistic take and I know any upset win is huge, but I think USC is overhyped as always. That is just my take on the scenario. Just wondering what thoughts there are on I would love someone to counter, in fun of course, to the benefits a win would bring. Cheers!
 

You're kidding right? Yeah, a W vs. USC does more harm than good. Cmon dude, get real.
 

I was only trying to take a negative stand to see what others thought. Sorry for putting a thought on the message board.
 

No.

Winning at USC would be huge and would do wonders for building Kill's persona in Minnesota. A win at USC would be a huge statement for Kill's tenure.

PS New Mexico State and Miami (Ohio) will not overlook us if we lose to USC.
 

No loss is ever better than a win for any reason whatsoever. Hope this helps.
 


Agree dp just figured I'd throw something out there and see any other thoughts.
 

How can we go undefeated this season if we lose to USC?
 

dpodoll68 said:
No loss is ever better than a win for any reason whatsoever. Hope this helps.
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I agree, but when they win at USC all the "Let's see what he does with his own recruits" trolls will come out of the woodwork.
 

I have let myself daydream about a win over USC. I certainly wouldn't bet on it. But, if anyone has experience bringing his team into an underdog situation and playing well (even well enough to win) at supposed better, deeper, stronger opponents with much larger stadiums... it is Jerry Kill.
 



This is the type of thread that only seems to show up on a Gopher board. WTF are you thinking?
 

Fuzzy Rumpton said:
I was only trying to take a negative stand to see what others thought. Sorry for putting a thought on the message board.
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Understand that other people are going to put their thoughts on the message board too. Wins are what we play for. Yes, if we beat USC, teams are less likely to take us seriously. But that's not a problem, even if it prevented us from stealing a win from a napping team later, that's at worst a wash: we would have the USC win in our pocket. And having fans jump on the bandwagon is good. We want the stadium packed with people. A win against USC would get the players believing in themselves, which is important, and I'm sure that Kill would keep the players from getting too full of themselves.
 

RodentRampage said:
Understand that other people are going to put their thoughts on the message board too. Wins are what we play for. Yes, if we beat USC, teams are less likely to take us seriously. But that's not a problem, even if it prevented us from stealing a win from a napping team later, that's at worst a wash: we would have the USC win in our pocket. And having fans jump on the bandwagon is good. We want the stadium packed with people. A win against USC would get the players believing in themselves, which is important, and I'm sure that Kill would keep the players from getting too full of themselves.
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Very good post. I was only throwing this thread out there as a 'what if?'.
 

Okay, I'll bite.

Obviously, a win at USC would be gigantic for the program in all sorts of ways. However, I think it would be just as lovely if we held serve and went 3-1 in non-conf, and had Kill's true coming-out party in Ann Arbor.

Even though winning in LA is symbolic in that it is Kill's first game and we have no business beating them, I would rather take the Jug back in Kill's first B10 contest, and first trophy game.

Also, for a team with so many questions and adjustments, even if we pull out a W from LA, we could still easily lose any of the next three games. We really wouldn't want the biggest win in recent Gopher history followed up by a loss in any of the other non-conf games. That would be a big let-down.

Again, obviously we want to beat the Trojans, for all sorts of reasons.
 



In todays world of 24 hour news cycle and instant gratification a coach has 3-4 years max to win or He is out. See Rich Rod. at Michigan. A coach is lucky if he even sees his first recruiting class as seniors. You win NOW, and OFTEN or You are kicked to the curb. Kill knows this. There are no moral victories. Kill wants a minimum of 6 wins, and a bowl game this year. The extra practices and tv hype are gold. SC is a 5 loss team this year. Both lines are a dumpster fire. They are very beatable.
 

The Exception That Proves The Rule

dpodoll68 said:
No loss is ever better than a win for any reason whatsoever. Hope this helps.
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The last game Brewster coached was a loss but it was a great loss for the program. From that loss we ended up with Jerry Kill. If there ever was a beautiful loss this was the best!
 

If the Gophers are ever going to get to where we all, as fans, hope that they get, they're going to have to eventually beat someone that will cause someone to not "overlook" them, whether it be USC this year, or Wisconsin, Ohio State or Nebraska either this year or in the future......
 


popeyoung5 said:
In todays world of 24 hour news cycle and instant gratification a coach has 3-4 years max to win or He is out. See Rich Rod. at Michigan. A coach is lucky if he even sees his first recruiting class as seniors. You win NOW, and OFTEN or You are kicked to the curb. Kill knows this. There are no moral victories. Kill wants a minimum of 6 wins, and a bowl game this year. The extra practices and tv hype are gold. SC is a 5 loss team this year. Both lines are a dumpster fire. They are very beatable.
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I'm sure that Kill would love to have 6 wins this season, but you make it seem like he expects this. He's not on the hot seat. Brewster's seat wasn't even all that warm coming into the season.
 

Yes, it would do more harm than good if the Gophers won at USC. Also, Wisconsin winning the national title and going undefeated would be good for the Gophers.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Yes, it would do more harm than good if the Gophers won at USC. Also, Wisconsin winning the national title and going undefeated would be good for the Gophers.
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I would hate for it to happen but it would make the B1G look stronger and could draw more recruits lol. Buck the Fadgers
 

Fuzzy Rumpton said:
I would hate for it to happen but it would make the B1G look stronger and could draw more recruits lol. Buck the Fadgers
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Okay, I played along, but now you've gone too far with this. This is not something to joke about, either.

I would rather everyone in the country think that the B10 is the worst conference in the nation than have the skunks win even one national title.
 

How has this dumb@$$ thread gotten to 2 pages?
 


MrGopher said:
Okay, I played along, but now you've gone too far with this. This is not something to joke about, either.

I would rather everyone in the country think that the B10 is the worst conference in the nation than have the skunks win even one national title.
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My apologies.
 

This thread has gotten to two pages for two reasons: One, It has spawned a discussion (yay, the purpose of message boards); and two, there is never a lack of jerks willing to take time out of their day to pound their chests and belittle someone else on GH.
 

Fuzzy your name's right because it describes your thinking. You might have a better argument if USC wasn't the opening game but it is. The annals of football history are replete with good teams suffering inexplicable opening day losses, add in the fact that with the new coaching staff, USC doesn't have much to prepare with. A win over USC will likely be chalked up as a fluke until we face Michigan.
 



wait!what? said:
Is this Jerry Kill's 1st go against the Pac10?
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I think I can say safely that it is first go against the Pac12 :p

But in all seriousness, he's never coached against a Pac12/10/8 opponent before. Unless you count former member Idaho back in 2009.
 


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