ESPN's Bennett: Minnesota "likely a team that will have to scrap for a bowl bid."

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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ESPN's Bennett: Minnesota "likely a team that will have to scrap for a bowl bid."

per Bennett's ESPN Q&A:

@FLBuckeye14: @BennettESPN @ESPN_BigTen Which team will likely improve the most from last to this year? Which will digress the most?

Brian Bennett: Good question, if a bit early. We should have a better sense of these teams once they get through spring ball. But allow me to make a couple of way-too-early calls, which are subject to change.

Most improved? I think you have to go with Michigan State. Even though the offseason has had its share of difficulties for the Spartans, it's simply too hard for me to imagine this program going 3-9 again. Mark Dantonio's team probably still won't be good enough to seriously contend in the East Division, but 7-to-8 wins is totally in reach.

As for digressing (good word choice by you), I'll go with Minnesota. The schedule is still manageable early on for new head coach P.J. Fleck. But given the personnel losses, the uncertainty at quarterback, the turmoil around the program and the transition to a new staff, I find it unreasonable to expect another nine-win campaign out of the Golden Gophers. This is more likely a team that will have to scrap for a bowl bid.

http://www.espn.com/blog/bigten/pos...t-will-improvedigress-alex-hornibrooks-future

Go Gophers!!
 

Boy, is Bennett in trouble with MennoSota and PMWinSTP.
 


How is digress a good word choice? What does it even mean in this context? That Minnesota is the team most likely to start playing basketball during a game?

The word you were both looking for, Brian, is "regress." Regress. A professional journalist should know what the word digress means, not reinforce its incorrect usage in his response.

Aside from that, I love how he thinks that Minnesota will "digress," while MSU will bounce back, yet offers no rationale for the latter.
 

BleedGopher said:
per Bennett's ESPN Q&A:

@FLBuckeye14: @BennettESPN @ESPN_BigTen Which team will likely improve the most from last to this year? Which will digress the most?

Brian Bennett: Good question, if a bit early. We should have a better sense of these teams once they get through spring ball. But allow me to make a couple of way-too-early calls, which are subject to change.

Most improved? I think you have to go with Michigan State. Even though the offseason has had its share of difficulties for the Spartans, it's simply too hard for me to imagine this program going 3-9 again. Mark Dantonio's team probably still won't be good enough to seriously contend in the East Division, but 7-to-8 wins is totally in reach.

As for digressing (good word choice by you), I'll go with Minnesota. The schedule is still manageable early on for new head coach P.J. Fleck. But given the personnel losses, the uncertainty at quarterback, the turmoil around the program and the transition to a new staff, I find it unreasonable to expect another nine-win campaign out of the Golden Gophers. This is more likely a team that will have to scrap for a bowl bid.

http://www.espn.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/141588/b1g-mailbag-teams-that-will-improvedigress-alex-hornibrooks-future

Go Gophers!!
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What a dink.
 


It's true that Michigan State couldn't get much worse.
 

dpodoll68 said:
How is digress a good word choice? What does it even mean in this context? That Minnesota is the team most likely to start playing basketball during a game?

The word you were both looking for, Brian, is "regress." Regress. A professional journalist should know what the word digress means, not reinforce its incorrect usage in his response.

Aside from that, I love how he thinks that Minnesota will "digress," while MSU will bounce back, yet offers no rationale for the latter.
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You really should have gone with "But I digress."

I want to live in a world where Bennett's compliment was meant as sarcasm to shame the person for being an idiot.
 

Brian Bennett is a huge dink. I've always felt this way, no matter what a search of this forum might tell you.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Brian Bennett is a huge dink. I've always felt this way, no matter what a search of this forum might tell you.
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Brian Bennett. Dink. YUGE DINK. SAD! I will write better columns and make Wisconsin pay for them. I alone can fix. :cool:
 



For Bennett and the rest of the ESPN writers, the Golden Gophers are an afterthought. Even BTN shortchanges us compared to the almighty helmet schools.
 

I think the guy is accurate.

We lose Mitch so starting with a first year QB is tough and the program was in turmoil with a lot of people thinking many players would be transferring out.

If we win 7 games, I'll be extremely happy with PJ Fleck's first year. More important than the wins or lossses is the culture change.
 

So many unknowns, I don't blame anyone picking lower expectations based on history.
 

Tough to disagree with what he says for the most part. Lots of question marks, new completely unknown quantity at QB, new staff, new system, a whopping 6 healthy O-linemen available for spring ball.

That being said, 8-9 wins wouldn't surprise me one bit, I just don't know how much I would expect it. Fine line between winning and losing; a few things go their way this season, they can really surprise; a few things go against them (injuries, player regression, no QB stepping up) and yes, they will really have to scrap to get bowl eligible.
 



37score said:
I think the guy is accurate.

We lose Mitch so starting with a first year QB is tough and the program was in turmoil with a lot of people thinking many players would be transferring out.

If we win 7 games, I'll be extremely happy with PJ Fleck's first year. More important than the wins or lossses is the culture change.
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Translation: "Lower expectations, lower expectations, lower expectations..."

Yes, some believe that all Fleck can do is recruit and public relations work. But you know, he was a good coach at Western Michigan too. You are selling him way to short.
 

He's not wrong. No QB experience, no WRs that have shown anything, new staff, etc. Hard to predict more than 7 wins without coming off as a homer.
 

oleboy41 said:
He's not wrong. No QB experience, no WRs that have shown anything, new staff, etc. Hard to predict more than 7 wins without coming off as a homer.
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And really as a media member you could bet against the Gophers doing well in most cases for say 50 years and ... you'd be right.

Gophers have had some up years but until they win divisions at least I don't think anyone cares much.
 


37score said:
I think the guy is accurate.

We lose Mitch so starting with a first year QB is tough and the program was in turmoil with a lot of people thinking many players would be transferring out.

If we win 7 games, I'll be extremely happy with PJ Fleck's first year. More important than the wins or lossses is the culture change.
Click to expand...

When you say culture change, do you mean a change in the culture? Or do you mean bringing people together?

Riley giving Spring opening presser today...he says expect a starting QB to be named later rather than sooner. Armstrong and Fyfe both gone. Beathard gone at Iowa. Lunt gone at Illinois. O'Connor gone at MSU. Houston gone at Wisconsin; Hornibrook returns. Maryland and Oregon State both have said the race for QB is wide open. Zebrowski hired to whisper to Buffalo quarterback. Stockstill, the MTSU QB, underwent surgery yesterday to "clean up some things" in his throwing shoulder. He is coming off broken clavicle surgery in November.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Tough to disagree with what he says for the most part. Lots of question marks, new completely unknown quantity at QB, new staff, new system, a whopping 6 healthy O-linemen available for spring ball.

That being said, 8-9 wins wouldn't surprise me one bit, I just don't know how much I would expect it. Fine line between winning and losing; a few things go their way this season, they can really surprise; a few things go against them (injuries, player digression, no QB stepping up) and yes, they will really have to scrap to get bowl eligible.
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FIFY
 

GoldyMoose said:
For Bennett and the rest of the ESPN writers, the Golden Gophers are an afterthought. Even BTN shortchanges us compared to the almighty helmet schools.
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Say that all you want, but it's not like he said MN will just lose because. He actually has good analysis to support his opinion. You're welcome to disagree with his opinions, but at least in this case he actually spent the time to analyze why MN would lose more games in 2017 than 2016 (in his opinion).

Whereas his rationale that MSU will win just because means he put next to zero effort into figuring out where that program is. In this instance it certainly appears he put more effort into MN than MSU.

Of course, part of the latter is I think a lot of people haven't figured out what happened at MSU. There isn't a great explanation of why they fell so hard, so it's hard to say what they need to do to fix it...
 

Well said. There is no reason for the Gophers not too easily qualify for a bowl, and win a few more. Also, not sure where he sees MSU for sure getting to 7-8 wins.
 

Ozzy&Ray said:
Well said. There is no reason for the Gophers not too easily qualify for a bowl, and win a few more. Also, not sure where he sees MSU for sure getting to 7-8 wins.
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Michigan St still has the most talented roster outside of Ohio St, Michigan, and Penn St, plus Dantonio has proven himself to be a great coach. They are far more likely to win 7-8+ games than to only win 3 games again.
 

These rags typically hedge towards "tradition"..... we are looking to continue our break from 50 + years of tradition.
I frankly don't anticipate much backslide if any...

I'm not a big Kool-aid drinker either... we couldn't afford it growing up.... The breakaway brand was "Funny Face"...
 

37score said:
I think the guy is accurate.

We lose Mitch so starting with a first year QB is tough and the program was in turmoil with a lot of people thinking many players would be transferring out.

If we win 7 games, I'll be extremely happy with PJ Fleck's first year. More important than the wins or lossses is the culture change.
Click to expand...

I still don't understand this term "culture change." What specifically will you be pointing at when you can declare that the culture has now changed?
 

Ozzy&Ray said:
Well said. There is no reason for the Gophers not too easily qualify for a bowl, and win a few more. Also, not sure where he sees MSU for sure getting to 7-8 wins.
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Outside last year's mess... MSU has been the far better team... maybe that?
 

Anybody who uses losing Mitch as QB as the main reason for regression must not have seen him play last season. The "good Mitch" showed-up for maybe 8 quarters in the entire season. Remember the Gophers also beat Maryland, who came in with a 4-2 record, 31-10 with Connor Rhoda, who had a QB rating of 38.3 for the game!

That said, hard to believe anybody can think that 7 wins would be a big achievement. Unless they're just haters, or just trying to set expectations around 3-4 wins.

Or both.
 

Iceland12 said:
Translation: "Lower expectations, lower expectations, lower expectations..."

Yes, some believe that all Fleck can do is recruit and public relations work. But you know, he was a good coach at Western Michigan too. You are selling him way to short.
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Nick Saban was a good coach at LSU, but won just 7 games in his first year at Alabama....what a failure
 

joshvanklomp said:
Nick Saban was a good coach at LSU, but won just 7 games in his first year at Alabama....what a failure
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7-5 record was officially 2-6. 5 wins were vacated because of sanctions

He replaced Mike Shula who went 4-9, 6-6, 10-2 and finally 6-7 in 2003. Well, officially 0-13 because of sanctions.

No comparison to the situation at Minnesota at all.


"Anybody who uses losing Mitch as QB as the main reason for regression must not have seen him play last season. The "good Mitch" showed-up for maybe 8 quarters in the entire season. Remember the Gophers also beat Maryland, who came in with a 4-2 record, 31-10 with Connor Rhoda, who had a QB rating of 38.3 for the game!

That said, hard to believe anybody can think that 7 wins would be a big achievement. Unless they're just haters, or just trying to set expectations around 3-4 wins.

Or both."
 

oleboy41 said:
He's not wrong. No QB experience, no WRs that have shown anything, new staff, etc. Hard to predict more than 7 wins without coming off as a homer.
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Exactly. Most teams take a slight step back first year of a coaching change especially when they lose a senior QB no matter how bad that QB was. Look at Georgia this year. They have had top 20 recruiting classes every year forever and they struggle with the change from Richt to Kirby Smart and one of the main reasons for that was having an inexperienced QB and new defensive system.
 

37score said:
I think the guy is accurate.

We lose Mitch so starting with a first year QB is tough and the program was in turmoil with a lot of people thinking many players would be transferring out.

If we win 7 games, I'll be extremely happy with PJ Fleck's first year. More important than the wins or lossses is the culture change.
Click to expand...
Lol Culture change, there's no excuse for not winning seven games with the talent we have coming back, seven is the floor, you don't fire a coach after one year and a nine win campaign for any situation and comeback satisfied with not making a bowl, the only culture change we need is to get rid of Kaler, what a ****in joke
 

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