I thought it would be interesting to start looking beyond the "eye test" and start looking at what the numbers say about the Gophers season. I went back and looked at Bill Connelly's Decade of S&P+ Ratings. "The S&P+ Ratings are a college football rating system derived from both play-by-play and drive data from all 800+ of a season's FBS college football games (and 140,000+ plays)." I think Bill produces some fantastic data and I've always enjoyed tracking the Gophers overall progress with his metrics.
It's interesting to see the trends, Jerry Kill, and staff has shifted the Gophers from a perennially terrible football team, into one that sits just outside the big kid's table. Claeys through 7 games has maintained the ship, which for a 1st-year coach is okay. The team is still on track to do what the data suggested it do at the beginning of the season -- Win 7 games. The data suggests that Gophers fans should be optimistic, Rutgers was the worst game of the season hands down, but there were also some great performances against Indiana State, Colorado State, and Maryland.
I think we're asking a ton from Claeys and he's paid enough that we should. But, I also think as a 1st-year head coach should we expect a Top 25 team? Sure, it'd be nice but he still deserves the opportunity to make it his team. I'd be interested in what data other folks have that tell their side of the story.
Year S&P+ Record
2016: 39 (5-2)
2015: 37 (6-7)
2014: 36 (8-5)
2013: 80 (8-5)
2012: 71 (6-7)
2011: 85 (3-9)
2010: 75 (3-9)
2009: 63 (6-7)
2008: 55 (7-6)
2007: 78 (1-11)
2006: 38 (6-7)
2005: 16 (7-5)
It's interesting to see the trends, Jerry Kill, and staff has shifted the Gophers from a perennially terrible football team, into one that sits just outside the big kid's table. Claeys through 7 games has maintained the ship, which for a 1st-year coach is okay. The team is still on track to do what the data suggested it do at the beginning of the season -- Win 7 games. The data suggests that Gophers fans should be optimistic, Rutgers was the worst game of the season hands down, but there were also some great performances against Indiana State, Colorado State, and Maryland.
I think we're asking a ton from Claeys and he's paid enough that we should. But, I also think as a 1st-year head coach should we expect a Top 25 team? Sure, it'd be nice but he still deserves the opportunity to make it his team. I'd be interested in what data other folks have that tell their side of the story.
Year S&P+ Record
2016: 39 (5-2)
2015: 37 (6-7)
2014: 36 (8-5)
2013: 80 (8-5)
2012: 71 (6-7)
2011: 85 (3-9)
2010: 75 (3-9)
2009: 63 (6-7)
2008: 55 (7-6)
2007: 78 (1-11)
2006: 38 (6-7)
2005: 16 (7-5)