It seems that the National media ---

Rog

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Is having trouble knowing just where to put the Gophers - Yes they are 3 - 0 but:

They are very young -

Remember this is Minnesota -

Weak schedule -

Well, we will see, the next two games will tell much -


If we win the next two games (I said "if"), its going to be interesting to reading national sports pages.
 

I believe Fleck elicits strong feelings both ways. A number find him refreshing and want him (and by extension his teams) to succeed and others find him grating and want him to fail. Both sides will be ready with explanations (excuses) for whatever happens. For the Fleckatarians, if we fail it will be because we are young and if we succeed the non-Flecktarians will say the B1G West is extremely soft this year.
 

The Gophers have been a team on the edge of breaking through so many times... and they don't. I think that while many places don't know what to say about the Gophers... they also don't care, and frankly there's not much reason to because we haven't shown them any consistency.

Win the West, look good in a B1G championship.... then we'll get more attention. Do it a couple times and we'll be there.
 
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It's "prove it" time now. Next two games will show us a lot...come out of those two games at 5-0 and the national media will take notice.

Go Gophers!!
 

The Gophers have been a team on the edge of breaking through so many times... and they don't. I think that while many places don't know what to say about the Gophers... they also don't care, and frankly there's not much reason to because we haven't shown them any consistency.

Win the West, look good in a B1G championship.... then we'll get more attention. Do it a couple times and we'll be there.

Pretty much this. From an outsider perspective, the team looks pretty similar to last year when they would start the conference season 0-3 after looking solid against "subpar" competition in non-conference (whether or not Fresno is subpar is somewhat irrelevant as casual observers don't look into G5 teams all that much beyond the very cream of the crop, aka Boise or UCF). Until the team wins a bunch of conference games (say, at least two thirds of their conference games in a single season which they haven't done since 1967) and pulls some big upsets (haven't beat a top-20 opponent since 2005), the national media will not particularly care.
 
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Substitute “gopher fans” for national media. If we’re being totally honest most of us don’t know how it’s going to go against the tough defense and power run of Iowa. Maryland will give us a clue where we’re at but they’re a different type of team. If Iowa goes down I suspect traffic here will tick up noticeably.
 


It's "prove it" time now. Next two games will show us a lot...come out of those two games at 5-0 and the national media will take notice.

Go Gophers!!

Go into the badger game with only one or two losses and then there's a good chance the national media will notice.
 

If the Gophers go 5-0 maybe the Big Ten Network will take notice as well.
 



If the Gophers go 5-0 maybe the Big Ten Network will take notice as well.

J. Leman has been on the “sleeper” bandwagon from the start. They’ve had a fair amount of coverage and T. Johnson is getting a lot of love as well.
 

If the Gophers go 5-0 maybe the Big Ten Network will take notice as well.

I actually think there will start to be national attention if Gophs start 5-0...it will be sort of a "Fleck is doing it at the next level" kind of attention. Upset OSU the next game and...media
minds will start blowing.
 

Substitute “gopher fans” for national media. If we’re being totally honest most of us don’t know how it’s going to go against the tough defense and power run of Iowa. Maryland will give us a clue where we’re at but they’re a different type of team. If Iowa goes down I suspect traffic here will tick up noticeably.

Totally agree, the first 3 have been encouraging and there are a ton of things that look like they are going to setup really well for the future with this team but how this season will go is still a crap shoot and could end up going a number of different ways. Annexstad hasn't played like a true freshman to this point but he also has not faced a Big Ten defense yet. Excited to see how he does and if he can keep it rolling.
 

Can you blame the national media when there are more compelling stories than a B1G West team that on average finished in 5th place in the division since 2011?

Comparing the results of the 2017 & 2018 nonconference games:

2017:
Buffalo - W 17-7
Oregon St - 48-14
MTSU - 34-3

Points total: MN 99 - Opponents 24

2018:
NMSU W 48-10
Fresno St W 21-14
Miami OH - W 26-3

Points total: MN 95 - Opponents 27

To the casual media sports aficionado there is not a hill of beans difference other than Fresno State was a tough opponent.

BUT - If they beat Maryland, they'll be talking about when the last time MN when 4-0 in their season start.

IF by chance they are able to beat Iowa after a Bye Week, now you are going to see more buzz nationally about beating Iowa a nationally ranked team and about the program. Zack Annexstad will be a national story comparing him to the only other PWO QB who ever started in College D1 football.

Their CHANCES of finishing above expectations will become greater. If they stumble, the media will flock their attention elsewhere.

That's life. You have to show something to be excited about nationally.
 
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Two of our first 3 opponents are in the ESPN Bottom 10.

Beating Wisconsin would be a start.
 

Heard rumblings that gophs are in the running for gameday against Iowa, PROVIDED both teams are 5-0. Apparently, premlinary logistics have been scouted.
If it happens, then we will have all the national media attention we crave so badly...
Gonna feel weird cheering for the hawkeyes on saturday.
 

Heard rumblings that gophs are in the running for gameday against Iowa, PROVIDED both teams are 5-0. Apparently, premlinary logistics have been scouted.
If it happens, then we will have all the national media attention we crave so badly...
Gonna feel weird cheering for the hawkeyes on saturday.

NEVER CHEER FOR IOWA!!!!!
 

Heard rumblings that gophs are in the running for gameday against Iowa, PROVIDED both teams are 5-0. Apparently, premlinary logistics have been scouted.
If it happens, then we will have all the national media attention we crave so badly...
Gonna feel weird cheering for the hawkeyes on saturday.

Well then it won't happen because both teams cannot be 5-0.
 

I think at the national level, the Gophers have had a 'wait and see' perspective for a few years now. 2012 and 2013 teams went undefeated in nonconference while the 2014 and 2015 teams only lost noncon games against good TCU squads. Then 2016 and 2017, the teams went undefeated again. The Big Ten schedules were another story, with a good share of ups and downs. As a result, national and even regional/Big Ten media coverage will wait to see if the Gophers are "legit."
 



Heard rumblings that gophs are in the running for gameday against Iowa, PROVIDED both teams are 5-0. Apparently, premlinary logistics have been scouted.
If it happens, then we will have all the national media attention we crave so badly...
Gonna feel weird cheering for the hawkeyes on saturday.

I have thought about this scenario because there aren't a ton of good games week 6, but it would take a LOT to have it happen.

Week 5 gameday is almost certainly going to be Ohio State @ Penn State. It could be Stanford @ Notre Dame, but it won't be because the show will be holding out for ...

... Notre Dame @ Virginia Tech, which is week 6. If ND loses to Stanford or Virginia Tech loses to Duke in week 5, to avoid doubling up on B1G games, next in line would be Auburn @ Mississippi State, and neither of those teams has a particularly difficult game between now and then (MAYBE Florida beats MSST in week 5 but I have my doubts).

If somehow (Notre Dame OR Virginia Tech) and (Auburn OR Mississippi State) lose in the next two weeks, then we're probably next in line, provided both Iowa and Minnesota win this weekend.

Basically, we're an exceptionally long shot given the circumstances.

To make it simpler, here are the schedules between now and then for the relevant teams; we would need one of the top 2 and one of the next 2 to lose one of their games between now and then, and both Iowa and Minnesota to win on Saturday (both teams have byes week 5)

Notre Dame
@ Wake Forest
vs Stanford

Virginia Tech
@ Old Dominion
@ Duke

------

Auburn
vs Arkansas
vs Southern Mississippi

Mississippi State
@ Kentucky
vs Florida

------

Iowa
vs Wisconsin

Minnesota
@ Maryland
 
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I think at the national level, the Gophers have had a 'wait and see' perspective for a few years now. 2012 and 2013 teams went undefeated in nonconference while the 2014 and 2015 teams only lost noncon games against good TCU squads. Then 2016 and 2017, the teams went undefeated again. The Big Ten schedules were another story, with a good share of ups and downs. As a result, national and even regional/Big Ten media coverage will wait to see if the Gophers are "legit."

When the Gophers had some talent, they didn't have enough depth and injuries killed whatever chances they had. Now, we are seeing a team that is beginning to stock up with better talent.

If PJ Fleck is true to his word about out-recruiting the talent he has on his current team, the Gophers may see the corner for a legit program turn-around. Until then, let's wait and see. One game at a time. One season at a time.
 

Fresno's convincing win last week meant more for people to start considering that this might be a good team than us beating Miami.

People are starting to pay attention now, but the real flood will be if we can somehow win our next two. It is hard to be optimistic as a fan because of Gopher history, but I have a feeling after watching Annexstad that things can be different this time. In the past we seemingly have always hoped our QB could be just good enough or at least not make too many mistakes. Annexstad seems to have a different vibe. I don't maybe it is just hope welling up in me again.
 

The media wants a good story. they don't care who it is or where it is - they just want a good story.

So - what do the Gophers have to do to qualify as a good story? Either win a bunch of games in the B1G - or beat a nationally-ranked team - and beat them solidly - not some fluky squeaked-by game.

By and large, the national media tends to assume that bad teams will remain bad, and good teams will remain good. If a team moves from one category to the other, then that becomes a good story. so again, the question is, what do the Gophers have to do to demonstrate they are a good team, or at least show the potential of becoming a good team. We shall see.
 

One thing I will say, for a different thread (http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/bo...79-Gophers-versus-ranked-opponents-since-1977) I went back and looked at Mason's record vs. ranked teams. As I was looking I noticed that after the team had been ranked a couple times, there were years the Gophers were ranked and had virtually no business being ranked. If this team can turn the corner in the next couple years and keep some consistency, they'll start getting more of the attention and more of the love just like they did then.

Note - I did not start the thread mentioned above - full credit for that goes to Gopher07. I just looked at Mason specifically in response to the thread...
 
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My only concern is beating Maryland. Do that and then we can turn our attention to Iowa.
I like our chances on Saturday.
 




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