Most important game?

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Last year about this time I felt if we beat Penn State, we have a shot at the division title for several reasons, the confidence and early season reputation. We all know what happened and when I went to the BIG championship, the Penn State folks said the same thing. This year, our season depends on the Michigan State game. It is a must win for the same reasons as last year.
 

Beat wisconsin, otherwise nobody in this town outside of us diehards will care about the season.
 


Beat wisconsin, it's time. It was time a decade ago.

Go Gophers!!
 



As a fan, Wisconsin. No season is a success at this point without a victory over the Badgers.

In terms of full-season narrative, however, I'll say Oregon State. Momentum can be had with our schedule and fanbase but a 1-1 record crushes it right away. And it's totally possible, Oregon State might be our toughest game between now and midseason.

But, start 2-0, fans start trickling in for MTSU. Go 3-0, even more for the conference opener against Maryland. Win against them and Purdue, you set up a meaningful game between MSU and the Gophers, at TCF. The "casuals" might even take notice. That would be good for the program.
 

I believe you are talking about conference games but from a different perspective, beating Oregon State is our most important game. That could be very difficult to do for a bunch of reasons...first road game, night game and our body clocks, hostile crowd especially depending how we start out, across different time zones, documented west coast travel handicap, opponents prolific passing quarterback, first time we potentially face adversity, on and on. If we lose, we lose lots of momentum from casual fans tuning out. Players wonder if all the whoa is me PJ keeps tossing out is true...we have too many issues to overcome...doubt creeps in. Win and we are still talking about 7 and 0. Ridin' High! Rowin' together.
 

Gopher07 said:
As a fan, Wisconsin. No season is a success at this point without a victory over the Badgers.

In terms of full-season narrative, however, I'll say Oregon State. Momentum can be had with our schedule and fanbase but a 1-1 record crushes it right away. And it's totally possible, Oregon State might be our toughest game between now and midseason.

But, start 2-0, fans start trickling in for MTSU. Go 3-0, even more for the conference opener against Maryland. Win against them and Purdue, you set up a meaningful game between MSU and the Gophers, at TCF. The "casuals" might even take notice. That would be good for the program.
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Ha... you beat me to it.:cool:
 




I'm going to go off the board here and say the Maryland game. The Oregon State game will be big at the moment it happens, but likely won't affect the season too much in the end. Let the non-conference play out as it may, but if we start the conference season with a dominant victory of Maryland I will be filled with optimism. If we start 3-0, it will be a continuation of said optimism. If we are 2-1, it will still show that maybe we are hitting our stride.
 

El Amin Fan said:
Beat wisconsin, otherwise nobody in this town outside of us diehards will care about the season.
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Why on earth do you care whether anyone in this town outside of us diehards care? So many Gopher fans are so hell bent on trying to get everyone to love the Gophers. I know, ticket demand, sellouts, yada yada yada. I just don't care if we are the State's darlings or not.


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Spoofin said:
Why on earth do you care whether anyone in this town outside of us diehards care? So many Gopher fans are so hell bent on trying to get everyone to love the Gophers. I know, ticket demand, sellouts, yada yada yada. I just don't care if we are the State's darlings or not.


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I do, My wife does, my kids do. I want to get to the point where every "Do Drop Inn" you walk in too the first word that comes out is: " How about them Gophers"
 

ruppertflywheel said:
I do, My wife does, my kids do. I want to get to the point where every "Do Drop Inn" you walk in too the first word that comes out is: " How about them Gophers"
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Meh, I don't really care if others like what I like.


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the most important game is the next one. given all the uncertainty about this team, I just think it's not advisable to look too far into the future. I don't have a clue what the offense or defense is going to look like in the season opener. We don't know who is going to start at QB - but apparently at least 2 QB's will play in the game. There are questions at OL, WR, DB and DE.

I just think everyone needs to dial it back. This is a one-game-at-a-time season. Don't get me wrong - I think this team still has the potential to have a good season. But, I also must acknowledge the question marks.

I just want the Gophers to win the 1st game of the season. after that, I'll worry about the 2nd game of the season - but not until the 1st game is over. etc, etc. etc.
 

El Amin Fan said:
Beat wisconsin, otherwise nobody in this town outside of us diehards will care about the season.
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Someone may have to return the Detleff stein, but that is the game that matters to me the most.
 

Gopher07 said:
As a fan, Wisconsin. No season is a success at this point without a victory over the Badgers.

In terms of full-season narrative, however, I'll say Oregon State. Momentum can be had with our schedule and fanbase but a 1-1 record crushes it right away. And it's totally possible, Oregon State might be our toughest game between now and midseason.

But, start 2-0, fans start trickling in for MTSU. Go 3-0, even more for the conference opener against Maryland. Win against them and Purdue, you set up a meaningful game between MSU and the Gophers, at TCF. The "casuals" might even take notice. That would be good for the program.
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Agree. Well said.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
the most important game is the next one. given all the uncertainty about this team, I just think it's not advisable to look too far into the future. I don't have a clue what the offense or defense is going to look like in the season opener. We don't know who is going to start at QB - but apparently at least 2 QB's will play in the game. There are questions at OL, WR, DB and DE.

I just think everyone needs to dial it back. This is a one-game-at-a-time season. Don't get me wrong - I think this team still has the potential to have a good season. But, I also must acknowledge the question marks.

I just want the Gophers to win the 1st game of the season. after that, I'll worry about the 2nd game of the season - but not until the 1st game is over. etc, etc. etc.
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Exactly! Let's worry about Buffalo. Right now, that's the most important game.
 


Looking ahead in the schedule is like playing golf and working about the seventh hole before you have even teed off. Only the first hole matters.....Only Buffalo matters
 

short ornery norwegian said:
the most important game is the next one. given all the uncertainty about this team, I just think it's not advisable to look too far into the future. I don't have a clue what the offense or defense is going to look like in the season opener. We don't know who is going to start at QB - but apparently at least 2 QB's will play in the game. There are questions at OL, WR, DB and DE.

I just think everyone needs to dial it back. This is a one-game-at-a-time season. Don't get me wrong - I think this team still has the potential to have a good season. But, I also must acknowledge the question marks.

I just want the Gophers to win the 1st game of the season. after that, I'll worry about the 2nd game of the season - but not until the 1st game is over. etc, etc. etc.
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This is such a tired take. You're not a player. You're not a coach. You can look ahead. I can look at our crossover schedule for 2018 if I want. That is how fanhood works.

That being said, I think Oregon State is huge to push for a 3-0 start. Let the chips fall where they may after that but a 5/6/7-0 start seems possible if they beat the Beavers
 

If they drop at OSU all the air goes out of the balloon. It's a must-win in terms of confidence and momentum for the team, the QBs, the fans. There won't be a real chance to regain momentum until Iowa, maybe MSU, unless we win out and look good doing it vs the dregs in the early slate.
 

Normally I could be more sympathetic about the idea that the Wisconsin game is the most important game every season, but being sympathetic with others feeling that way and agreeing with them are not the same. Every season there are, imho, different games that I feel are the most important games of the year, but this year, with a new coach and no idea who the quarterback will be, a part of me thinks that there are just too many questions and maybe the idea that the Buffalo game, for now, is the most important is a legitimate idea. But going 3-0 to start and then 2-2 isn't better than going 2-1 to start and then 3-1. Too many times during the Mason years the team would go 3-0 or 4-0 to start, and no one seemed to care or take notice, the only games that really matter in the long run, to locals, are the conference games. If we can beat Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin, those games will get people's interest and attention and more than make up for losing to an Oregon St. Same if we beat Mich St and especially Michigan. But even the Maryland, Purdue and Illinois games are not givens. Nothing is a given this season, at least not at this point.

I could lay out a whole bunch of IFs, like IF we beat Buffalo, then the Oreg St game is the most important, or IF we go undefeated in the ooc, then the Maryland game, is the most important, or if we go 5-0 to start, then the MSU game is the most important, or if we go 7-0 to start, then the Iowa game would be the most important, and so on and so on, but how many times I've seen us win some big games, only to let one of the supposed easy games be lost, are so many, that I'm going back to just saying the most important game ALL season, will be the NEXT game.

Looking at that schedule, the only thing I can differentiate at this point, is that the conference games are more important than the non-conference games.

Should be a very interesting season.
 

Oregon St., then Michigan St., then Iowa. Win those 3 and it should be a good season. OSU to build momentum, MSU to keep it going (and have fans take notice), and Iowa to have something to play for down the stretch. If I have to pick one, it's MSU.


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Some Day...Maybe said:
Oregon St., then Michigan St., then Iowa. Win those 3 and it should be a good season. OSU to build momentum, MSU to keep it going (and have fans take notice), and Iowa to have something to play for down the stretch. If I have to pick one, it's MSU.

Disagree with OSU being the most important. No way the 2nd game of the year can be the most important. Way too many games left. This team will build and get better under this staff, and certainly won't quit or lose confidence under Fleck.

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1) To those saying "only the next game matters"... news flash: we are 26-point favorites vs. Buffalo. Both us as fans and the team are allowed to look ahead as four-touchdown favorites.

2) For me Big Ten play takes precedence over the non-conf schedule, so for that reason the answer is without question Michigan State. No matter whether we are 5-0, 4-1 or even 3-2 that game is essential if we want to push towards 7 or 8 wins and compete for the West division title.


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short ornery norwegian said:
the most important game is the next one. given all the uncertainty about this team, I just think it's not advisable to look too far into the future. I don't have a clue what the offense or defense is going to look like in the season opener. We don't know who is going to start at QB - but apparently at least 2 QB's will play in the game. There are questions at OL, WR, DB and DE.

I just think everyone needs to dial it back. This is a one-game-at-a-time season. Don't get me wrong - I think this team still has the potential to have a good season. But, I also must acknowledge the question marks.

I just want the Gophers to win the 1st game of the season. after that, I'll worry about the 2nd game of the season - but not until the 1st game is over. etc, etc. etc.
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Normally, I'd agree it's one game at a time but we aren't coaching or playing. If we lose to Buffalo, the number of people paying attention to the Gophers won't even fill a bus with free tickets to the next game.
 

Hollinsanity said:
1) To those saying "only the next game matters"... news flash: we are 26-point favorites vs. Buffalo. Both us as fans and the team are allowed to look ahead as four-touchdown favorites.
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Newsflash: 26 points isn't four touchdowns
 


And 26 point favorites have LOST in the ooc part of the season before, almost on an annual basis. My guess is that embarrassing loss of Michigan's was probably a game that they were heavy favorites to win. The SEC the last 2-3 years seems to have at least one big favorite come out with a loss to a schmuck of a team.
 


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