AP: Minnesota, Maryland exceeding expectations as contenders in their divisions

per the AP:

Minnesota is 3-0 in Big Ten play for the first time since 1990. Big Ten newcomer Maryland has won two of three conference games and is within striking distance of Michigan State and Ohio State in the East.

Not bad for a couple teams picked to finish fifth in their divisions.

The West Division-leading Gophers are on track to finish with a record better than the previous season for the fourth straight year under Jerry Kill. At 6-1, they're off to their best start since Tim Brewster's 2008 team won seven of its first eight. A victory at Illinois this week would make Minnesota 4-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 1967.

Kill said last week's 39-38 win over Purdue revealed some pluck that the Gophers hadn't shown before. They won for the first time in 23 games after trailing at halftime. Kill said he issued a challenge in the locker room when they were down 31-20.

"You've got to go out and prove that we're a good football team, and the only way to do that is come back. So they did," Kill said Tuesday. "They showed some character and didn't panic, and showed some maturity, which we haven't had. It was a huge win for a lot of reasons, but certainly being able to come back is something we haven't done a whole lot of."

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2014/...land-exceeding-expectations-as-contenders-in/

Go Gophers!!

Stay healthy in mind and spirit my young Gophers

Maryland is coming off its most satisfying Big Ten win, rallying from 14 points down in the fourth quarter to beat Iowa 38-31

Click to expand...

Maryland was down 14 points in the 4th quarter to Iowa? Wow, according to the AP, I must have been following a different game than the highlights they put up at TCF on Saturday. In actuality what a chokejob by the hawks - I'm surprised more people aren't talking about captain kirk's colossal meltdown.

josh087 said:

Maryland was down 14 points in the 4th quarter to Iowa? Wow, according to the AP, I must have been following a different game than the highlights they put up at TCF on Saturday. In actuality what a chokejob by the hawks - I'm surprised more people aren't talking about captain kirk's colossal meltdown.

Click to expand...

Correct. Maryland was never down 14 in the 4th and was actually up 17 at one point before Iowa scored the last 10 to make it look closer than it was.

Sparlimb said:

Correct. Maryland was never down 14 in the 4th and was actually up 17 at one point before Iowa scored the last 10 to make it look closer than it was.

Click to expand...

Yep, Iowa drove down and kicked a field goal with about 4 minutes left then used an onside kick they recovered and drove for 7. They tried the onside again, but no luck Maryland ran out the clock. From what I saw Ruddock has happy feat. He can throw accurately on the out, slant, and curl at about 10-15 yards. But he telegraphs his throws and the pick six sealed the victory early in second half.

Also surprised that writers keep talking about how "formidable" Minnesota's final four games are. Iowa? "Formidable"? The Hawkeyes can beat them, that's for sure, but it's also very possible that the Gophers could even be the favorite that week.

Iceland12 said:

Also surprised that writers keep talking about how "formidable" Minnesota's final four games are. Iowa? "Formidable"? The Hawkeyes can beat them, that's for sure, but it's also very possible that the Gophers could even be the favorite that week.

Click to expand...

Assuming we take care of business @ Illinois, we will be favored against Iowa (-3.5ish), then be double-digit underdogs in each of the last three. But we won 4 straight games as double-digit underdogs last year, and we can win 3 again this year.

But we won 4 straight games as double-digit underdogs last year, ....

Wouldn't that be something to behold!

dpodoll68 said:

Assuming we take care of business @ Illinois, we will be favored against Iowa (-3.5ish), then be double-digit underdogs in each of the last three. But we won 4 straight games as double-digit underdogs last year, and we can win 3 again this year.

Click to expand...

I don't think we would be double digit underdogs at Wisconsin if we were somehow 10-1 and coming off back to back wins over tO$U / Nebraska

dpodoll68 said:

Assuming we take care of business @ Illinois, we will be favored against Iowa (-3.5ish), then be double-digit underdogs in each of the last three. But we won 4 straight games as double-digit underdogs last year, and we can win 3 again this year.

Click to expand...

Gopher07 just posted a computer model that has us currently ~60% favorites against Wisconsin. Obviously, other models disagree. However, I don't think we would have to win 3 straight games as double-digit dogs, if we get the first two, there is no way Wisconsin would be that heavily favored over a 10-1, top 10 Gopher team.

bleedsmaroonandgold said:

Gopher07 just posted a computer model that has us currently ~60% favorites against Wisconsin. Obviously, other models disagree. However, I don't think we would have to win 3 straight games as double-digit dogs, if we get the first two, there is no way Wisconsin would be that heavily favored over a 10-1, top 10 Gopher team.

Click to expand...

A. Gophers wouldn't be top 10 at 10-1. Too much ground to make up. We're not even AP ranked at 6-1.

B. Using Sagarin ratings (a method that generally ends up pretty close to Vegas lines), we'd be 9.5 point dogs @ Wisconsin this weekend, and we're already a game up on them. You bring up Minnesota at 10-1, but who's to say Becky won't be 9-2? I very much doubt that either of those things happen, but if they did, Wisconsin would likely still be a double-digit favorite or close to it, simply by virtue of it being a road game. Again, according to Sagarin, Becky has had a much weaker schedule this far, and we're still close to a double-digit road dog.

dpodoll68 said:

A. Gophers wouldn't be top 10 at 10-1. Too much ground to make up. We're not even AP ranked at 6-1.

B. Using Sagarin ratings (a method that generally ends up pretty close to Vegas lines), we'd be 9.5 point dogs @ Wisconsin this weekend, and we're already a game up on them. You bring up Minnesota at 10-1, but who's to say Becky won't be 9-2? I very much doubt that either of those things happen, but if they did, Wisconsin would likely still be a double-digit favorite or close to it, simply by virtue of it being a road game. Again, according to Sagarin, Becky has had a much weaker schedule this far, and we're still close to a double-digit road dog.

Click to expand...

I know we are a ways out now, but I have trouble seeing a hypothetical 10-1 Big Ten team with wins against OSU and @ Nebraska with their only loss coming to a highly ranked team not being in the top 10. Either way, nothing would make me happier than getting to 10-1, even if that proves you right and me wrong.

bleedsmaroonandgold said:

I know we are a ways out now, but I have trouble seeing a hypothetical 10-1 Big Ten team with wins against OSU and @ Nebraska with their only loss coming to a highly ranked team not being in the top 10. Either way, nothing would make me happier than getting to 10-1, even if that proves you right and me wrong.

Click to expand...

I just look at it this way: we beat Illinois, we (maybe) break in at 24 or 25. Even if we jump an average of 4 spots per week after a win (a pretty big average), we'd be at 20/21 after Iowa, 16/17 after OSU, and 12/13 after Nebraska. And I think even that is leaning towards optimism.

But you're right - where we're ranked at 10-1 would be an excellent problem to have!