Gophers versus ranked opponents since 1977

Gopher07

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I was curious about the history of the Gophers against ranked opponents and the home/road splits so I started searching - here's the last time Minnesota won against ranked opponents at home and on the road, and the overall record since 1977 (basically the past 40 years). I think this is accurate but might have missed a game somewhere.

Last time the Gophers won against a top-25 opponent...

...at home: 2013 vs #21 Nebraska
...on the road: 2014 vs #21 Nebraska

Overall record against top-25 opponents since 1977: 17-113 (.131)

Last time the Gophers won against a top-20 opponent...

...at home: 2005 vs #11 Purdue
...on the road: 2000 vs #6 Ohio State

Overall record against top-20 opponents since 1977: 11-99 (.100)

Last time the Gophers won against a top-15 opponent...

...at home: 2005 vs #11 Purdue
...on the road: 2000 vs #6 Ohio State

Overall record against top-15 opponents since 1977: 8-70 (.103)

Last time the Gophers won against a top-10 opponent...

...at home: 1977 vs #1 Michigan
...on the road: 2000 vs #6 Ohio State

Overall record against top-10 opponents since 1977: 5-46 (.098)

Last time the Gophers won against a top-5 opponent...

...at home: 1977 vs #1 Michigan
...on the road: 1999 vs #2 Penn State

Overall record against top-5 opponents since 1977: 3-24 (.111)

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No commentary, was just curious and figured I'd take a stab at figuring it out. This year, we'll almost certainly have at least one chance to win on the road against a ranked opponent (Ohio State) and might have a chance at home (Iowa).
 


I went back and looked at the road games I've attended (54, not counting bowls). We played ranked opponents 20 times, and the only win I saw was at Nebraska in 2014.

Yeah, not good.
 





Thanks for the research! I remember someone else did a similar analysis a while ago, but just back to Mason.

For how successful Mason was, he was 0-4, 0-4, 1-3 (Penn State), 2-2 (Illinois and tOSU), 0-2, 1-3 (Arkansas), 0-3 (2003 10 win season), 0-3, 2-2 (Purdue, Michigan), 0-4. Assuming I counted right and didn't miss anyone that's 6-30 (.166). I remember when I saw that before I was very surprised. I would have thought it was much better than that (maybe 25%?). I never would have guessed 6 of his 10 years were 0-fers.
 

Mason was not "successful" here. He was .400 in big-ten play. Clayes was better in B1G games. Mase just keeps getting better the further he gets from his horrible losses and the more time he spends in the booth and on the radio. Can't wait for him to retire for good but he's too proud of himself to do that.
 

Another good metric would be when the Goohers beat teams that ended the season in each of these categories. When is the last time MN beat a team that ended the year in the top 25?
 



I did a similar post 2 years ago and compared the gophers against all the Big Ten teams...it was shockingly bad.
 

Mason was not "successful" here. He was .400 in big-ten play. Clayes was better in B1G games. Mase just keeps getting better the further he gets from his horrible losses and the more time he spends in the booth and on the radio. Can't wait for him to retire for good but he's too proud of himself to do that.

Claeys was only the head coach for a year and a half and the full year featured one of the Gophers' easiest conference schedules in recent years (Rutgers, Illinois, 3-9 Purdue, 6-6 Northwestern, and 6-6 Maryland). We won all of those games but couldn't beat Iowa, Nebraska, PSU, and, of course, Wisconsin. We had the PSU game but couldn't close it, Nebraska wasn't as good as their record, and Iowa was good but certainly beatable.

If Claeys had the same amount of time as Mason, he may have had no better of a conference record.
 

I was curious about the history of the Gophers against ranked opponents and the home/road splits so I started searching - here's the last time Minnesota won against ranked opponents at home and on the road, and the overall record since 1977 (basically the past 40 years). I think this is accurate but might have missed a game somewhere.

Last time the Gophers won against a top-25 opponent...

...at home: 2013 vs #21 Nebraska
...on the road: 2014 vs #21 Nebraska

Overall record against top-25 opponents since 1977: 17-113 (.131)

Last time the Gophers won against a top-20 opponent...

...at home: 2005 vs #11 Purdue
...on the road: 2000 vs #6 Ohio State

Overall record against top-20 opponents since 1977: 11-99 (.100)

Last time the Gophers won against a top-15 opponent...

...at home: 2005 vs #11 Purdue
...on the road: 2000 vs #6 Ohio State

Overall record against top-15 opponents since 1977: 8-70 (.103)

Last time the Gophers won against a top-10 opponent...

...at home: 1977 vs #1 Michigan
...on the road: 2000 vs #6 Ohio State

Overall record against top-10 opponents since 1977: 5-46 (.098)

Last time the Gophers won against a top-5 opponent...

...at home: 1977 vs #1 Michigan
...on the road: 1999 vs #2 Penn State

Overall record against top-5 opponents since 1977: 3-24 (.111)

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No commentary, was just curious and figured I'd take a stab at figuring it out. This year, we'll almost certainly have at least one chance to win on the road against a ranked opponent (Ohio State) and might have a chance at home (Iowa).

Well, I'm glad then that we don't have too many likely ranked teams on our schedule - probably only 3 - and maybe only 2 if Iowa drops out.
 

Another good metric would be when the Goohers beat teams that ended the season in each of these categories. When is the last time MN beat a team that ended the year in the top 25?

Tried looking for unranked teams we might have beaten that became ranked after we beat them. I figured I'd check that 2014 Nebraska team. They were ranked most of the season, dropped out of the top 25 after losing to us, and were going into the final game of the regular season against Iowa, which they won. They were #25 going into their bowl game against #24 USC, which they lost. So they were ranked at the end of the regular season, but unranked (#28) after bowl games. I only looked at the AP poll for this.

I checked on Northwestern to see if we had maybe beaten them in one of those years where they win 9 or 10 games. 2016 Northwestern went 7-6 with non-conference losses to FCS Illinois State and P.J. Fleck's Western Michigan, eventually ending their season with a bowl win over a ranked Pittsburgh team, but not enough to get into the top 25.

2016 Michigan would have counted if we could have just gotten the ball in the endzone on one of those last 3 plays. Likewise with Penn State and Wisconsin. I believe we had 4th quarter leads in all 3 games.

2016 Washington State was #29 before we played them and #41 after.

2010 Iowa had been ranked the entire season until losing to us. They ended up at #27 in the AP after beating a ranked Missouri in their bowl game.
 






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