No Team Gets Fired Up to Play the Gophers?

This has been mentioned here and elsewhere. That no team gets up to play the Gophers. That the Gophers don't get their best shot from an opponent.

This might seem counter intuitive, but that's just wrong.

The thought is that teams only get ready to play "great" teams or rivalry games but not playing bad or beatable Big Ten teams. That may be a little shortsighted.

Coaches of teams that should beat the Gophers and have beaten them many times before, Michigan, tOSU, Wisconsin etc., may have trouble convincing their players they will have a lot to handle beating the Gophers. Non-Conference opponents and Big Ten teams having bad years will always be up and fighting to play Minnesota.

Why? Because for a Non-Conference opponent it's a good chance to beat a Big Ten team. For the Big Ten Teams having bad years, they gotta see playing the Gophers as a chance to notch a Conference win.

Maybe a better question would be why the Gophers, for a number of years now, can come out flat so often.

Just an opinion of course.

I feel like a lot of the misc problems / observations just sort of resolve themselves if we win more often.... attendance, rivalries, noise etc.

Not sure where this notion is coming from and I find it very hard to believe. I'd bet coaches and players "get up" to play football on gameday, period, regardless of who the opponent is. The opponent factors into how the team prepares for the game. The big teams you mention (Michigan, tOSU, WI) send many players to the NFL each year, and each game is a player's chance to prove their value on the field.

Also, if this were the case, this team should be undefeated, right?

Sounds like we will just waltz right into Lincoln, Madison, finish this thing off in Indy and on to Pasedena

bemidjigopher said:

Sounds like we will just waltz right into Lincoln, Madison, finish this thing off in Indy and on to Pasedena

Click to expand...

Okay, there may have been some confusion between the 8th and 10th sentences. Though how the post was thought to point to an undefeated or easy trip to Pasadena? Yeah, that may have been a reading problem.

Looking at it from the wrong side

Iceland12 said:

This has been mentioned here and elsewhere. That no team gets up to play the Gophers. That the Gophers don't get their best shot from an opponent.

This might seem counter intuitive, but that's just wrong.

The thought is that teams only get ready to play "great" teams or rivalry games but not playing bad or beatable Big Ten teams. That may be a little shortsighted.

Coaches of teams that should beat the Gophers and have beaten them many times before, Michigan, tOSU, Wisconsin etc., may have trouble convincing their players they will have a lot to handle beating the Gophers. Non-Conference opponents and Big Ten teams having bad years will always be up and fighting to play Minnesota.

Why? Because for a Non-Conference opponent it's a good chance to beat a Big Ten team. For the Big Ten Teams having bad years, they gotta see playing the Gophers as a chance to notch a Conference win.

Maybe a better question would be why the Gophers, for a number of years now, can come out flat so often.

Just an opinion of course.

Click to expand...

The problem in coaching is determining where the collective head of your own team is at. Players are delusional. You pump them up telling them they can beat anybody. "Best team since I've been here" So, the team sees Rutgers and says: "They suck, we're good." Worse, you get ahead 21 to 0 and now all focus is completely gone because "we are awesome and they suck" and you hang on for dear life to close it out. It's the "trick" each week in preparing a team...where's their head at?
Take the Vikings...spent 5 days off individually listening to common folk telling them how awesome they are. Super Bowl bound at 5 and 0. They travel to Philadelphia and get their dicks blown off. One of the hardest parts of coaching...determining the mindset of your team...it's not like you can just ask them.

Iowa cares about the pig. Believe me, I live here.

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