BTN's Tom Dienhart: "No doubt" Minnesota is for real

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per his Q&A:

Do you think that Minnesota is for real? I personally think that November will hurt the Gophers greatly with Iowa then Ohio State then Nebraska then Wisconsin. – Jerry

No doubt. I think Minnesota dispatches Illinois this week. Then, things get VERY challenging for the Gophers, as you note. Lots of heavy-lifting in November for Jerry Kill’s crew. I just don’t think they have enough on offense to beat upper-level teams on a regular basis. But if Mitch Leidner keeps passing well to give this offense balance, Minnesota could win a couple of those game.

http://btn.com/2014/10/20/big-ten-mailbag-is-big-ten-west-leader-minnesota-for-real/

Go Gophers!!
 

I don't get the feeling from his answer that he thinks Minnesota is for real.
 

Nate said:
I don't get the feeling from his answer that he thinks Minnesota is for real.
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Agreed, he's not saying "No doubt the Gophers are for real," he's saying "No doubt November will hurt the Gophers."

Sent from my LG-L38C using Tapatalk 2
 

Further down the page, when asked if the Big Ten Championship will be a MSU-Neb rematch, he says he thinks so because "no other West team seems to possess a package of talent on par with the Huskers. But Iowa and Wisconsin have the more favorable schedules." Clearly, being "for real" does not mean the Gophers are a legit West contender in his view.
 

Jike Spingleton said:
Further down the page, when asked if the Big Ten Championship will be a MSU-Neb rematch, he says he thinks so because "no other West team seems to possess a package of talent on par with the Huskers. But Iowa and Wisconsin have the more favorable schedules." Clearly, being "for real" does not mean the Gophers are a legit West contender in his view.
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Kind of surprising considering we might only need to upset Nebraska. A two loss team with the tie breaker over Nebraska will win the west unless Wisconsin wakes up and rattles off 5 wins in 6 games. They won't with games against Iowa, Nebraska, Purdue, Maryland and Rutgers left. There are 2 losses in there somewhere.

Beat Illinois. Beat Iowa. Beat Nebraska. Lose to OSU. Lose to Wisconsin and we're very likely going to Indy.
 


You have to define what "for real" is first.

I think we are for real, just don't think that means we are running the table and going undefeated in the big 10. We've got 2 losses in November that will be real.
 

Nate said:
I don't get the feeling from his answer that he thinks Minnesota is for real.
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Yep, think the headline doesn't really match the actual content of the article. If we win the next 2 people will really start to take us seriously heading into that final 3 game stretch.
 

Agree with Winasota - just what does 'for real' mean? Needs to be defined. And I don't think any of us are clear on what part of the question Dienhart responds to with his 'No doubt' response. Also, what's with Jerry and his string of then's?

As far as 'for real' goes, I suppose that means to me that we have a legitimate shot of winning the division. Which I believe we do, per afurry91's breakdown. But for now, I'm just worried about putting Illinois down, any way we can.
 

afurry91 said:
Kind of surprising considering we might only need to upset Nebraska. A two loss team with the tie breaker over Nebraska will win the west unless Wisconsin wakes up and rattles off 5 wins in 6 games. They won't with games against Iowa, Nebraska, Purdue, Maryland and Rutgers left. There are 2 losses in there somewhere.

Beat Illinois. Beat Iowa. Beat Nebraska. Lose to OSU. Lose to Wisconsin and we're very likely going to Indy.
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Good point. Yeah, our schedule gets harder in November, but so does everybody elses. I think UW plays Nebraska in November too. And either PU or NW is gonna fug up somebody's season. Glad we have both of them in the rear view mirror.

Besides, look at it from the Huskers or Vadgers perspective. They have to play US! They should be concerned
 



No doubt it's going to be tough-sledding the last four games. It'll be interesting to see what the experts think in terms of the point spreads. Will we be favored in any of those games?
 

My take is that Dienhart thinks we're for real but that we'll finish second in the West.
 

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