BleedGopher
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per the Brainerd Dispatch:
Claeys, who enters his first full season as a head coach, said despite the absence of Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State on the schedule this season won't be a cakewalk.
"We don't have the brand names on there, but still the (Big Ten) conference goes to nine games and we play five of those on the road," he said. "It doesn't matter, when you play games on the road, it's hard to win in the conference. We'll pick up the advantage a year from now and we'll get the five conference games at home. I'm not a fan of the five and four.
"I think that will have a play in who actually does well in the conference, but I just think if you look at the teams who have five home games, they'll probably have the advantage each year because of how it is. But obviously we don't have the big names on our schedule this year. There is no question it's more manageable, but I don't know about easier."
Claeys often referred to his former boss and former Gopher head coach Jerry Kill. He realizes despite this being his first year as a head coach, this isn't a new team. He can't call it a rebuilding time because he was helping Kill build the program brick-by-brick for the last six seasons. He's not worried though.
"We're far enough in the process that we feel really good about the football team that we have back," he said. "It never happens soon enough for anybody. I do think that we're to the point, and the best way to put it is, each year when we get toward the end of November, we should be in the talk of going to Indianapolis and playing for the Big Ten Championship. We get to those last two or three weeks of the season and we're not in that position we're going to be disappointed. We have our best group of kids and continually we've got a pretty good group of kids. We've got to jump up and take advantage of that, too."
http://www.brainerddispatch.com/spo...tics-coyle-claeys-highlight-gopher-fundraiser
Go Gophers!!
Claeys, who enters his first full season as a head coach, said despite the absence of Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State on the schedule this season won't be a cakewalk.
"We don't have the brand names on there, but still the (Big Ten) conference goes to nine games and we play five of those on the road," he said. "It doesn't matter, when you play games on the road, it's hard to win in the conference. We'll pick up the advantage a year from now and we'll get the five conference games at home. I'm not a fan of the five and four.
"I think that will have a play in who actually does well in the conference, but I just think if you look at the teams who have five home games, they'll probably have the advantage each year because of how it is. But obviously we don't have the big names on our schedule this year. There is no question it's more manageable, but I don't know about easier."
Claeys often referred to his former boss and former Gopher head coach Jerry Kill. He realizes despite this being his first year as a head coach, this isn't a new team. He can't call it a rebuilding time because he was helping Kill build the program brick-by-brick for the last six seasons. He's not worried though.
"We're far enough in the process that we feel really good about the football team that we have back," he said. "It never happens soon enough for anybody. I do think that we're to the point, and the best way to put it is, each year when we get toward the end of November, we should be in the talk of going to Indianapolis and playing for the Big Ten Championship. We get to those last two or three weeks of the season and we're not in that position we're going to be disappointed. We have our best group of kids and continually we've got a pretty good group of kids. We've got to jump up and take advantage of that, too."
http://www.brainerddispatch.com/spo...tics-coyle-claeys-highlight-gopher-fundraiser
Go Gophers!!