What is successful season benchmark in 2017-18?

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For me it is any of these scenarios:

9 Wins including bowl game

OR

8 wins: win vs Iowa (including bowl game)

OR

We beat Wisconsin and are bowl eligible
 

West Fargo Gopher Fan said:
For me it is any of these scenarios:

9 Wins including bowl game

OR

8 wins: win vs Iowa (including bowl game)

OR

We beat Wisconsin and are bowl eligible
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Right on West Fargo. I think most Gopher fans would be happy with all three scenarios. If you throw in beating Michigan with with Iowa and Wisconsin there would be euphoria on this board.
 

For me, it will be the following: the first 7 games are winnable, that being, they are games that we should either be favored to win or less than 5 point dogs. If we come out of those 7 games with a record of 7 - 0 or 6 - 1, that is the first big key to a successful season. The last half of the season being much more difficult is where a fast start may pay dividends. A key win against either Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, or Wisconsin, coupled with a win at Northwestern (this will also be a tough task), should equate to an 8, 9 or 10 win season ,any of which would be an excellent first season for Fleck and Company.
Best case scenario: win the first 7, beat Nebraska and Wisconsin at home and NW on the road winning 10 games headed for a January Bowl
Worst case scenario: win 5 of the first 7 and lose the rest as well, winning only 5 games
Best guess scenario: probably right in the middle someplace - having a 7 or 8 game winning season, winning 6 of the first 7 and 1 or 2 of the remaining games
 

10 wins with the bowl. Nothing less is success. If you can't win just 1 more than TC?
 




Anyone looking at this as the same team Claeys had is looking at it wrong.

Claeys had a stable QB situation (for better or worse) and their was continuity in the program. If the Gophers win 8 games I'll be very happy. Things will be better in year 2, 3, 4 of Fleck. This is the lowest expectations I have for him because no one knows who the quarterback is.
 


I don't know if this makes me prudent - or chicken - but I don't like to set out specific goals or requirements for a successful season. With me, it's like the Supreme Court justice said about pornography - I can't define it, but I know it when I see it.

The thing is - if I say "The Gophers Must Beat WI" for this to be a successful season - and they don't beat WI - then I've backed myself into a corner. What if the Gophs win 9 games - but lose to WI? how can anyone say 9 wins is not a successful season. At the end of the year, I look back at the entire season - weight the plusses and the minuses, and I decide if it was a successful season - from my point of view. Which is to say - I may judge 2017 to be a successful season, but another poster may decide it was not successful from their point of view. And that's fine. to each his own.
 



short ornery norwegian said:
I don't know if this makes me prudent - or chicken - but I don't like to set out specific goals or requirements for a successful season. With me, it's like the Supreme Court justice said about pornography - I can't define it, but I know it when I see it.

The thing is - if I say "The Gophers Must Beat WI" for this to be a successful season - and they don't beat WI - then I've backed myself into a corner. What if the Gophs win 9 games - but lose to WI? how can anyone say 9 wins is not a successful season. At the end of the year, I look back at the entire season - weight the plusses and the minuses, and I decide if it was a successful season - from my point of view. Which is to say - I may judge 2017 to be a successful season, but another poster may decide it was not successful from their point of view. And that's fine. to each his own.
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I agree. That's why I hedged my bets in the original post. Just some offseason filler banter talk. Aug 31 can't come soon enough for me. :)
 


I'm expecting a 7 win season.
I would be more than happy with anything better than a 7 win season.
There aren't a lot of ways that we can win 8 games and not have a couple signature victories.
I think that anything less than 6 wins can safely be considered a failure this year.
 

hello-world said:
I'm expecting a 7 win season.
I would be more than happy with anything better than a 7 win season.
There aren't a lot of ways that we can win 8 games and not have a couple signature victories.
I think that anything less than 6 wins can safely be considered a failure this year.
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ESPN has Gophs game by game projections at 6 wins, with a loss to Ore St, and with Neb being basically a toss up. Given recent history, not sure I consider Neb a signature victory. They just need to win the ones they should on paper + Neb, and get one they shouldn't.

http://www.espn.com/college-football/team/fpi/_/id/135/minnesota-golden-gophers
 



PMWinSTP said:
ESPN has Gophs game by game projections at 6 wins, with a loss to Ore St, and with Neb being basically a toss up. Given recent history, not sure I consider Neb a signature victory. They just need to win the ones they should on paper + Neb, and get one they shouldn't.

http://www.espn.com/college-football/team/fpi/_/id/135/minnesota-golden-gophers
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So because the Gophers are 2-4 (1-2 at home) against Nebraska since they joined the B1G, and have lost the last 2 vs them, that means they should beat them this year? Makes a lot of sense....:rolleyes:
 

I don't even know who the QB is.
Considering we don't have a starting QB, it's hard for me to say more than 4 wins should be expected in any coach's first year.

Anything above 4 wins on a team without a starting QB is really asking too much.
 

Face The Facts said:
I don't even know who the QB is.
Considering we don't have a starting QB, it's hard for me to say more than 4 wins should be expected in any coach's first year.

Anything above 4 wins on a team without a starting QB is really asking too much.
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for this team to have a 4-win season, they would either have to have catastrophic injuries - or the worst QB play in the history of the sport.

Look, I don't expect brilliant QB play. I will gladly take average QB play. Now, I was a Leidner supporter, but his inconsistency was his biggest problem. Out of the candidates Fleck has, I have to believe he can find one person who can execute the offense in at least average fashion. Croft has some talent. Rhoda seems to have a good head for the game. Morgan seems to be at least a promising talent.

They're going to find one QB out of that bunch who can run the offense. If they can't, then the new coaching staff is not as good as they've been made out to be.
 

We don't have a proven QB. We don't have a proven receiver outside of Lingen (see 2015 season). Successful to me means: seven wins between regular season and bowl game. Get to seven.


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Completely new regime usually means a year of building and adjusting, so I have low expectations: 6 wins regular season (including either Iowa or Wisconsin) plus a bowl win.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
Completely new regime usually means a year of building and adjusting, so I have low expectations: 6 wins regular season (including either Iowa or Wisconsin) plus a bowl win.
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Data has already been supplied on here showing it is not uncommon at all for a first year coach to match or improve on the previous year's win total. The "adjustment" card is misplayed as the real reason first year coaches generally don't win a lot of games is they generally take over a struggling team. That is not the case here.

Look no further than the 2016 Gophers to support my claim. If you don't like that example then go 4-hours east and look at either the 2006 or 2013 Badgers.

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If we went 1-11 and that lone win was against Wisconsin, I'd take it.
 

Spoofin said:
Data has already been supplied on here showing it is not uncommon at all for a first year coach to match or improve on the previous year's win total. The "adjustment" card is misplayed as the real reason first year coaches generally don't win a lot of games is they generally take over a struggling team. That is not the case here.

Look no further than the 2016 Gophers to support my claim. If you don't like that example then go 4-hours east and look at either the 2006 or 2013 Badgers.

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And those comparisons are always apples vs oranges. The current Gophers program is still nowhere near where the Badgers have been for 20 years.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
And those comparisons are always apples vs oranges. The current Gophers program is still nowhere near where the Badgers have been for 20 years.
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I simply picked 3 examples based on geography and familiarity. I'm sure we both know I could find other examples, but we also both know Flecksters will label them as "outliers" or "bad comparisons" and in the end decide the very idea must come from my desire to have PJF fail.


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Spoofin said:
I simply picked 3 examples based on geography and familiarity. I'm sure we both know I could find other examples, but we also both know Flecksters will label them as "outliers" or "bad comparisons" and in the end decide the very idea must come from my desire to have PJF fail.


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No, it's just fact that all of those examples were better programs with more talent than what the Gophers currently have.

As many of the predictive analytics have shown, the Gophers are most likely to finish somewhere between 5-8 wins. With 5 being about as likely as 8 and the most likely scenario is 6-7. 9+ is unlikely with unknowns at QB, WR, and a thin OL, DL, and DB.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
No, it's just fact that all of those examples were better programs with more talent than what the Gophers currently have.

As many of the predictive analytics have shown, the Gophers are most likely to finish somewhere between 5-8 wins. With 5 being about as likely as 8 and the most likely scenario is 6-7. 9+ is unlikely with unknowns at QB, WR, and a thin OL, DL, and DB.
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All that is fine and good. Go ahead and re-read my post that you objected to. I was challenging the statement that teams typically need a year to "adjust" to a new coach. Not sure why you are now pulling in QB, WR, OL, DL (where we aren't thin), and DB. Let's try to stay on topic - OK GWG?


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Spoofin said:
All that is fine and good. Go ahead and re-read my post that you objected to. I was challenging the statement that teams typically need a year to "adjust" to a new coach. Not sure why you are now pulling in QB, WR, OL, DL (where we aren't thin), and DB. Let's try to stay on topic - OK GWG?


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Every team does need time to adjust to a new coaching staff. More talent and depth helps some of those teams adjust much faster.

I'm sorry I got so off topic about discussing win totals for the upcoming season in a thread titled 'What is successful season benchmark in 2017-18?'
 

Face The Facts said:
I don't even know who the QB is.
Considering we don't have a starting QB, it's hard for me to say more than 4 wins should be expected in any coach's first year.

Anything above 4 wins on a team without a starting QB is really asking too much.
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I would think you could at least assume QB will be at least as good as Connor Rhoda was last year when he played. It's not like it's a complete mystery, he and Croft have been in the program a long time, worst case one of those two is QB and plays about like they did when they played before, best case they are better or someone else is better. I think that's good enough to expect to see 6 wins minimum, it's not like they are going to line up against Oregon State and hike the ball into empty space and then go "We don't have a quarterback!! Somebody get in there!"
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Every team does need time to adjust to a new coaching staff. More talent and depth helps some of those teams adjust much faster.

I'm sorry I got so off topic about discussing win totals for the upcoming season in a thread titled 'What is successful season benchmark in 2017-18?'
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Tough to keep up with you and your moving targets. For future reference, If you are going to object to someone's point then it might be best to know what their point is. Telling me we are thin at certain positions and won't win many games because of it doesn't really fit when you are objecting to me saying not all teams struggle in their first year under a new coach for "adjustment" reasons as was claimed. If you can't see that being off topic or a pivot or whatever you want to call it then I likely couldn't convince you of it.


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Spoofin said:
Tough to keep up with you and your moving targets. For future reference, If you are going to object to someone's point then it might be best to know what their point is. Telling me we are thin at certain positions and won't win many games because of it doesn't really fit when you are objecting to me saying not all teams struggle in their first year under a new coach for "adjustment" reasons as was claimed. If you can't see that being off topic or a pivot or whatever you want to call it then I likely couldn't convince you of it.


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I mentioned your point and added my own. It's Friday, maybe you should try and lighten up a little.
 


Pig, Jug, and Axe in the trophy case for the first time since 1967.

That would be a good start for the Fleck Era of Golden Gophers Football.
 

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