Rank the following teams

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In my opinion these are the 7 best teams of the last 20 years of gopher football.
Rank these teams in terms of who you think were the best teams. Not in terms of what team had the best seasons. If you want to drop a team from the list and add a different year to replace it with another year in the last 20, feel free.

I will abstain from listing my order until a few people have responded. For now they are chronological.

1999 Minnesota 8-4
2002 Minnesota 8-5
2003 Minnesota 10-3
2004 Minnesota 7-5
2005 Minnesota 7-5
2014 Minnesota 8-5
2016 Minnesota 9-4
 

I can't tell. It's all about Big Ten wins, I am told.
 

I think 2005 was the best team. Bad mojo.

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Probably safe to say top 7, but that 2003 team probably had the easiest schedule in Gopher history. 4 non con creampuffs and lost to every ranked team they played.

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In my opinion these are the 7 best teams of the last 20 years of gopher football.
Rank these teams in terms of who you think were the best teams. Not in terms of what team had the best seasons. If you want to drop a team from the list and add a different year to replace it with another year in the last 20, feel free.

I will abstain from listing my order until a few people have responded. For now they are chronological.

1999 Minnesota 8-4
2002 Minnesota 8-5
2003 Minnesota 10-3
2004 Minnesota 7-5
2005 Minnesota 7-5
2014 Minnesota 8-5
2016 Minnesota 9-4


IMHO
1999 IMHO best all around team. Very good defense. Best of all the teams?
2003 -Second best though heavy lean to the offense. Good balanced offense. If it weren't for a hangover loss to MSU and a crapped there pants loss at Iowa (Long drive back home, and yes I know Iowa had something to do with that loss, but still...) this would have been the best team.
2000 Even though they tanked at the end (I know not part of the poll)
2014-Michigan win sealed it.
2016 (was torn on this one) Second best defense?
2005-Michigan win sealed it.
2004 Another tough call. Many close losses
 


In my opinion these are the 7 best teams of the last 20 years of gopher football.
Rank these teams in terms of who you think were the best teams. Not in terms of what team had the best seasons. If you want to drop a team from the list and add a different year to replace it with another year in the last 20, feel free.

I will abstain from listing my order until a few people have responded. For now they are chronological.

1999 Minnesota 8-4
2002 Minnesota 8-5
2003 Minnesota 10-3
2004 Minnesota 7-5
2005 Minnesota 7-5
2014 Minnesota 8-5
2016 Minnesota 9-4

1) 1999
2) 2003
3) 2014
4) 2016
5) 2013
6) 2002
7) 2004
8) 2005, the jug is a great memory, but the following week was just as even more painful than that moment was great. Those two weeks are modern day gopher football in a nutshell

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When’s the last time we beat &@$)66)(ing Wisconsin??? That’s our last best year.
 

IMHO
1999 IMHO best all around team. Very good defense. Best of all the teams?
2003 -Second best though heavy lean to the offense. Good balanced team. If it weren't for a hangover loss to MSU and a crapped there pants loss at Iowa (Long drive back home, and yes I know Iowa had something to do with that loss, but still...) this would have been the best team.
2000 Even though they tanked at the end (I know not part of the poll)
2014-Michigan win sealed it.
2016 (was torn on this one) Second best defense?
2005-Michigan win sealed it.
2004 Another tough call. Many close losses

Keep in mind the 2003 season, we beat a 3-9 Penn State team and a 7-6 Wisconsin team. Our other Big Ten wins were against 6-7 Northwestern, 1-11 Illinois, and 2-10 Indiana. If we could have pulled out the Michigan game that would have been big, but even the Michigan State team that beat us was only 8-5. Our non-con was Tulsa, Troy State, Ohio, and LA-Lafayette.
 

I think 2005 was the best team. Bad mojo.

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Good call. I IIRC losing Brandon Owens was the first and maybe biggest? of several setbacks.
 



Good call. I IIRC losing Brandon Owens was the first and maybe biggest? of several setbacks.

Wow, Brandon Owens! That was one rough situation, does anyone know if he has use of his arm now and what he is doing?

For my money, the 2003 team was the best and the 1999 team was a very close second. The 2014 team is #3, and I'll give the 2016 TC team some credit at #4

After that it does not really matter as all these other teams were somewhat disappointing as things ended on a bad or very underwhelming note, other than the 2002 team that we had no expectations for, but managed to beat Arkansas convincingly in 2002. I was there and had no idea things would go the way they did.

The 2004 team (and the 2005 Team) was especially troubling to me, as we had high expectations after 2003 with Barber and Maroney returning, but as was often the case the defense was not ready. These types of years were why I was so excited by the TC defenses of the recent years, our team could win without great offense and could hang with tough offensive, elite teams like OSU because we had athletes in the DB and DL and took chances. If only Mason had a Tracy Claeys type guy that could find diamonds in the rough and develop them. We had some players at times on defense, but the coaching turnover on defense was a problem, as was depth. The lack of any competent backups at LB was a big factor in the 2003 Michigan debacle.

Those 2004/2005 teams could have been great if things had gone a different direction for one key play, or in some cases a miserable effort out nowhere.. (2005, UW blocked punt 2004 Penn St. PI call 2004, Iowa 2004 missed FG,, 2004 lost 4Q lead at MIchigan, 2005 Maroney hamstring injury, 2004 horrible loss at Indiana, 2004 miserable 17-51 loss at MSU in the rain (I was there), piss poor effort in 2nd half vs Virginia in 2005 Music City bowl, plus Maroney shell of himself post hamstring injury
 

Keep in mind the 2003 season, we beat a 3-9 Penn State team and a 7-6 Wisconsin team. Our other Big Ten wins were against 6-7 Northwestern, 1-11 Illinois, and 2-10 Indiana. If we could have pulled out the Michigan game that would have been big, but even the Michigan State team that beat us was only 8-5. Our non-con was Tulsa, Troy State, Ohio, and LA-Lafayette.

Valid points, but when that team was clicking, they were great. I still can't believe Mason and staff couldn't figure out a way to survive the fourth quarter... I know "if ifs and buts were candy and..."
 

Wow, Brandon Owens! That was one rough situation, does anyone know if he has use of his arm now and what he is doing?

For my money, the 2003 team was the best and the 1999 team was a very close second. The 2014 team is #3, and I'll give the 2016 TC team some credit at #4

After that it does not really matter as all these other teams were somewhat disappointing as things ended on a bad our underwhelming note, other than the 2002 team that we had no expectations for, but managed to beat Arkansas convincingly in 2002. I was there and had no idea things would go the way they did.

The 2004 team (and the 2005 Team) was especially troubling to me, as we had high expectations after 2003 with Barber and Maroney returning, but as was often the case the defense was not ready. These types of years were why I was so excited by the TC defenses of the recent years, our team could win without great offense and could hang with tough offensive, elite teams like OSU because we had athletes in the DB and DL and took chances. If only Mason had a Tracy Claeys type guy that could find diamonds in the rough and develop them. We had some players at times on defense, but the coaching turnover on defense was a problem, as was depth. The lack of any competent backups at LB was a big factor in the 2003 Michigan debacle.

He kind of did with Gibbs. That 99' defense was very good. Well maybe Gibbs was more like Sawvel?

Anyway, I do agree with what you are saying. Now that the "U" is willing to pay and play with the big boys, we may more balanced teams in the future.
 

He kind of did with Gibbs. That 99' defense was very good. Well maybe Gibbs was more like Sawvel?

Anyway, I do agree with what you are saying. Now that the "U" is willing to pay and play with the big boys, we may more balanced teams in the future.

Yes, good point on Gibbs, since we all knew how bad the Wacker teams were on defense, yet Mason's best defensive team was in '99 with many of the Wacker recruits playing key roles. Someone knew how to get those leftovers to a high level and Mason never had another defense that great.

I had some hope in 2003- 2005 that the defense was getting better, but that all ended when Brandon Owens went down. Mason had some things moving in the right direction with those 3rd tier Ohio recruits like Eli Ward, Jason Isom, Montgomery, and few other guys, but they never had any depth.
 



Wow, Brandon Owens! That was one rough situation, does anyone know if he has use of his arm now and what he is doing?

For my money, the 2003 team was the best and the 1999 team was a very close second. The 2014 team is #3, and I'll give the 2016 TC team some credit at #4

After that it does not really matter as all these other teams were somewhat disappointing as things ended on a bad or very underwhelming note, other than the 2002 team that we had no expectations for, but managed to beat Arkansas convincingly in 2002. I was there and had no idea things would go the way they did.

The 2004 team (and the 2005 Team) was especially troubling to me, as we had high expectations after 2003 with Barber and Maroney returning, but as was often the case the defense was not ready. These types of years were why I was so excited by the TC defenses of the recent years, our team could win without great offense and could hang with tough offensive, elite teams like OSU because we had athletes in the DB and DL and took chances. If only Mason had a Tracy Claeys type guy that could find diamonds in the rough and develop them. We had some players at times on defense, but the coaching turnover on defense was a problem, as was depth. The lack of any competent backups at LB was a big factor in the 2003 Michigan debacle.

Those 2004/2005 teams could have been great if things had gone a different direction for one key play, or in some cases a miserable effort out nowhere.. (2005, UW blocked punt 2004 Penn St. PI call 2004, Iowa 2004 missed FG,, 2004 lost 4Q lead at MIchigan, 2005 Maroney hamstring injury, 2004 horrible loss at Indiana, 2004 miserable 17-51 loss at MSU in the rain (I was there), piss poor effort in 2nd half vs Virginia in 2005 Music City bowl, plus Maroney shell of himself post hamstring injury

I never felt like developing defensive players was the issue per se, it was that it seemed like Mason much more heavily recruited offensive players and if a player had any talent and could play on either side of the ball he would put them on offense. Had Mason stuck around and JJ Watt kept his commitment to MN, I'm convinced he would have stayed a TE or been pushed to OL if he couldn't catch (I'm assuming he'd be fine, just saying). Mason would have never considered moving him to the other side of the ball. I get that a Claeys may have been able to improve some of those defensive guys, but there was a distinct lack of talent after the (and within the) 11 starters most years. I'm not sure anyone could have gotten some of those guys to the level they needed to be at.
 

Good call. I IIRC losing Brandon Owens was the first and maybe biggest? of several setbacks.

Thought we would be great had he not gotten hurt. He was a beast. 99 was special as well. That was the year of the penn state win correct?


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Interesting debate....

For me:
1-1999 Minnesota 8-4 (PSU win & OT loss to Wisconsin which was a top 5 team at the end of the season)
2-2003 Minnesota 10-3 (Took advantage of not having to play OSU or Purdue that year)
3-2014 Minnesota 8-5 (Slight nod over '05 because of a few better wins & better bowl game)
4-2005 Minnesota 7-5 (4 losses before the bowl game loss: PSU, who won the Orange Bowl, OSU, who won the Fiesta Bowl, Wisconsin, who won the Citrus Bowl, & Iowa, who lost a 1 possession game to Florida, who won national title the next year. This team probably is thought of higher had they held on to beat Wisconsin.)
5-2004 Minnesota 7-5 (The total hit or miss team of past 20 years. Close loss @ Michigan & then got doors blown off at MSU. Bowl win over an SEC team & had a chance to beat Iowa, but embarrassing losses at Wisconsin & Indiana.
6-2016 Minnesota 9-4 (Tough one to rank this low since they have the best bowl win, but they really didn't have a win that turned heads when it comes to rankings like this)
7-2002 Minnesota 8-5 (Another hard one to rank, considering if you look who they lost to: National champ OSU, top 10 Iowa, Outback Bowl champ Michigan, Alamo Bowl champ Wisconsin, Sun Bowl champ Purdue, along with a win over SEC West champ Arkansas. I just think head to head, this team loses versus the ones above).
 


#1 = 2003 2-2 in Trophy games, but 0-3 vs top 25.
#2 = 1999. 1-3 vs Top 25. 2-1 Trophy games.

drop off

#3 = 2005. 2-2 vs Top 25, but only 1-3 in trophy games
#4 = 2014. 2-1 trophy games, 1-3 vs Top 25.

drop off

#5 = 2004. 0-3 vs top 25. 1-3 in trophy games. 3-5 in conference. Wins vs PSU, ILL, and NW.


big drop off

#6 = 2016 (and I might rank lower) 0-2 vs top 25. 0-4 in trophy games. Only season out of all we didn't win a single trophy game out of the four. Not an impressive win on the whole schedule.
 

#1 = 2003 2-2 in Trophy games, but 0-3 vs top 25.
#2 = 1999. 1-3 vs Top 25. 2-1 Trophy games.

drop off

#3 = 2005. 2-2 vs Top 25, but only 1-3 in trophy games
#4 = 2014. 2-1 trophy games, 1-3 vs Top 25.

drop off

#5 = 2004. 0-3 vs top 25. 1-3 in trophy games.


big drop off

#6 = 2016 (and I might rank lower) 0-2 vs top 25. 0-4 in trophy games. Only season out of all we didn't win a single trophy game out of the four. Not an impressive win on the whole schedule.

I'm shocked (shocked, I tell you) that you have the Claeys year last and with the phrase "big drop off". Gotta keep up the schtick.
 

I'm shocked (shocked, I tell you) that you have the Claeys year last and with the phrase "big drop off". Gotta keep up the schtick.

Well, you tell me which of this wins was impressive. I think you have to go with the Northwestern win at home...

Opponent
Oregon State*
Indiana State*
Colorado State*
at Maryland
Rutgers
at Illinois
Purdue
Northwestern
vs. Washington State
 

Well, you tell me which of this wins was impressive. I think you have to go with the Northwestern win at home...

Opponent
Oregon State*
Indiana State*
Colorado State*
at Maryland
Rutgers
at Illinois
Purdue
Northwestern
vs. Washington State

For me, win>loss. You keep using the phrase "impressive win" because it allows you to keep up your anti-Claeys schtick. I'd rather have 9 wins than 7 wins any day (regardless of how "impressive" they are), particularly in college football where the regular season matters more than in pretty much any other sport.

And since "impressive wins" are so important to you, I'll also point out that 2016 was one of 4 among the years listed (along with 1999, 2003, and 2014) during which the Gophers were above .500 in conference play. Again, I'll take 5 conference wins over 3 or 4 conference wins any day.
 

For me, win>loss. You keep using the phrase "impressive win" because it allows you to keep up your anti-Claeys schtick. I'd rather have 9 wins than 7 wins any day (regardless of how "impressive" they are), particularly in college football where the regular season matters more than in pretty much any other sport.

Then you should be a big fan of NDSU.
 

For me, win>loss. You keep using the phrase "impressive win" because it allows you to keep up your anti-Claeys schtick. I'd rather have 9 wins than 7 wins any day (regardless of how "impressive" they are), particularly in college football where the regular season matters more than in pretty much any other sport.

And since "impressive wins" are so important to you, I'll also point out that 2016 was one of 4 among the years listed (along with 1999, 2003, and 2014) during which the Gophers were above .500 in conference play. Again, I'll take 5 conference wins over 3 or 4 conference wins any day.
Washington State was impressive. Ranked opponent high power offense missing the entire secondary and ten dudes in the two deeps

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Then you should be a big fan of NDSU.

That doesn't make any sense. I'm a fan of the Gophers, not NDSU. I don't base my fandom on the quantity of wins. There are a lot of other teams I'd be cheering for instead of the Gophers if wins were all I cared about.

Poor attempt.
 

Well, I actually value if a team beats someone good.

The 2016 team didn't win a game that mattered the whole year.

Highlights from other seasons at least had:

1999 team beat #2 PSU and beat Iowa
2003 team beat Wisconsin and beat Oregon in bowl game and won at Penn St and at Northwestern.
2004 team beat PSU and NW again.
2005 team beat Michigan (enough said) and Purdue who was ranked 11.
2014 team beat Michigan and a ranked Nebraska team and Northwestern. Bad loss at Illinois but played OSU tough. Other loss was TCU which was top 5 that year at TCU.

One of those years we beat Alabama in a bowl game, but you're trying to get me excited about Washington St.

I appreciate you taking this as an anti-Claeys thing as there were numerous reasons to not be a fan of his, but if you just look at the facts, you can see the wins from 2016 don't hold a candle to any of these other seasons.
 

Well, I actually value if a team beats someone good.

I value if a team wins rather than if it loses.

The 2016 team didn't win a game that mattered the whole year.

I value every Gophers football win. I think they all matter.

One of those years we beat Alabama in a bowl game, but you're trying to get me excited about Washington St.

You're lecturing me about "impressive" wins, and you cite beating 2004 Alabama? Wow. Alabama in 2004 was extremely mediocre (and that's being generous). They went 3-5 in the SEC and weren't ranked all year, even though they're Alabama and they usually are ranked at the beginning of the year just for showing up and taking the field. Washington St. went 7-2 in the Pac-12 and were ranked the entire month of November. The 2016 Washington St. squad was vastly superior to the 2004 Alabama squad and it wasn't close. You shout "Alabama!" because it's a name brand and you don't know any better.

I appreciate you taking this as an anti-Claeys thing as there were numerous reasons to not be a fan of his, but if you just look at the facts, you can see the wins from 2016 don't hold a candle to any of these other seasons.

It is most definitely an "anti-Claeys thing," as are many of your posts. Your interpretation of the "impressiveness" of the wins is not a fact, no matter how much you want it to be.
 

Washington State was impressive. Ranked opponent high power offense missing the entire secondary and ten dudes in the two deeps

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Except they weren't ranked. And we still had two NFL players in the secondary.
 

I value if a team wins rather than if it loses.



I value every Gophers football win. I think they all matter.



You're lecturing me about "impressive" wins, and you cite beating 2004 Alabama? Wow. Alabama in 2004 was extremely mediocre (and that's being generous). They went 3-5 in the SEC and weren't ranked all year, even though they're Alabama and they usually are ranked at the beginning of the year just for showing up and taking the field. Washington St. went 7-2 in the Pac-12 and were ranked the entire month of November. The 2016 Washington St. squad was vastly superior to the 2004 Alabama squad and it wasn't close. You shout "Alabama!" because it's a name brand and you don't know any better.



It is most definitely an "anti-Claeys thing," as are many of your posts. Your interpretation of the "impressiveness" of the wins is not a fact, no matter how much you want it to be.

Quality of wins absolutely matters. Some are way more important. And It’s ok to be openly anti-Claeys. The team won some games that year but watching them it was clear they weren’t a good squad. Pair that with a coach that had the charisma of a pie crust and yeah time for a change.

Can’t tell if that change will be positive yet but we had a Kill-Claeys-Leidner malignancy here that had to be removed. Anti-Claeys all the way.
 

The 8-5 2002 team would have been a great team if the season ended in October and then they played their Bowl Game. It didn't. They went 0-4 in November and were outscored by an average of 22 points a game.

The 2004 team went 3-5 in the Big Ten. They played 3 ranked teams and lost to all of them. They lost 5 out of their last 6 Big Ten games. They beat ALA in the Music City Bowl but dpodoll was right. The Tide ended-up being a 6-6 team but yeah it felt so good at the time. :eek: The Holiday Bowl Trophy win against WSU was a bigger win to anybody who was actually paying attention.

The 2005 team? 4-4 Conference team but did have the wins against #11 Purdue and #21 Michigan. If they had held on to that lead against the Badgers or Mason had told his punter what to do with a muffed punt in the end zone against WI it might be worth a "best of" list. But he didn't and it was the week after the big win at Michigan making it even worse. They proceeded to lose 4 of their last 6 games.

The 2013 team beat #21 Nebraska at HOME, were 4-2 in the Big Ten, then lost their last 3, including a crushing loss to Wisconsin and a "should have won" loss against Syracuse in Texas.

The 2016 team went 9-4 and they were within 7 points on 3 of their 4 losses. The went 5-3 in the Big Ten. They WON 6 out of their last 8 games. Something that Gopher teams regardless of schedule just haven't done. It was the off field troubles that made the season feel so bad. Nothing wrong with saying that. It's true, but pretending that it wasn't a good team or a good record is sophistry at it's most transparent.

This is how I'd rank them.

1999 team
2003 team
2014 team
2016 team
2013 team

That's the only really decent teams in 20 years. No make that 45 years!!!!!

That's just god awful.
 




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