fleck must realize this

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Goldteam

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The west division sucks.

You don't exactly have to be great or anything.

Just keep working on getting better. Again, the west is so average I could cry.
 


our non-con schedule may be tougher than our Big Ten West schedule in 2019...would not be surprised to see Fresno and Georgia Southern both in top 25 this week.
 

The way the West is setup it should almost always be winnable which is what makes it so frustrating that we were never able to bust through under Kill. Wisconsin has been very good and teams like Northwestern and Iowa are almost always going to be solid but it isn't like the East where you have the likes of Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and to a lesser degree Michigan State sitting there every year.

The U was given a massive gift when they ditched the Legends/Leaders format and went East/West because of where the power balance ended up. The teams in the West are all teams we should be able to hang with in recruiting under Fleck so then it just comes down to getting it done on the field in the next few seasons.
 

Oh, he knows. If you believe the whole "Minnesota was on our short list" spiel he gave often when hired -- that was a pillar of it.
 


Imagine how Indiana, Rutgers, and Maryland fans feel being in the Big Ten East with PSU, tOSU, MI, and MSU.

The Gophers need to seize the opportunity handed them and move up from the bottom tier. Let's face it. Minnesota Football had been sleeping for a long time like Rip Van Winkle. Now, they have brand new facilities, and the backing of the powers that be. They are running out of excuses.

We hope that Fleck is the guy to turn it all around. But, he will try our patience because it will take time and it won't be easy. Let's hope that he stays put. It is hard to build a program/culture where you don't have coaching stability.

Once they start winning, there will be better recruiting attention. I mean it is already better under PJ Fleck's first two seasons. It has to get better than it currently is because Purdue is already eclipsing MN's recruiting. A lot of this can be attributed to their winning ways.

We hope to see PJ Fleck execute his vision in the next three or four years.
 
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Also, it's kinda like "get good NOW, or else ... " because you have Brohm at Purdue ramping up, and Frost at Nebraska ramping up. In addition to Iowa, Wisc, and NW doing their thing with their coaches. And I bet Illinois fires Lovie and goes for a winning MAC coach this year, we'll see.

PLUS you have Campbell at Iowa St. Not in the Big Ten obviously, but they compete for recruits.
 

Honestly the makeup of the West does make for a potentially really fun competitive division year in and year out. The East is very top heavy but in the West all 7 teams have at least a shot at competing any given year. As Hungan said, in the East Indiana, Maryland, and Rutgers are always looking at a really tough road to winning the division given who they have to get past to do it.
 




bottom line - all you as a coach can do is try and win the games on your schedule. Fleck - or any other coach - cannot control what happens at other schools.

You play your schedule, try to win as many games as you can, and at the end of the year, you look at the standings and see where you stand. If, at the end of the season, the Gophers have won more games than all the other teams in their division, then they get to play for a Conference title.

But you can't make decisions based on the perceived strength or weakness of other teams. You make decisions based on how your team matches up against the next team on the schedule. The Gophers play Illinois this week. that is the only thing the Gopher coaches and players should be thinking about.

It doesn't matter if WI or IA or NW is having an up or a down year. It only matters how many games the Gophers win. If WI stinks, maybe that means the Gophers have a better chance to beat WI.
 

Most fans care about watching competitive entertaining football from the Gophers. They don't want the Gophers serve up every year as an appetizer on the way to the conference title. Of course, we all want the Gophers to reach the pinnacle.
 

4.5 years into the East-West split, the record in crossover games (including the championship games) is 50 wins for the East, 40 for the West.
 

Goldteam said:
The west division sucks.

You don't exactly have to be great or anything.

Just keep working on getting better. Again, the west is so average I could cry.
Click to expand...

haha WI entire reputation is built on the decline of the Big Ten then you combine that with the Big Ten west being middling teams. It similar to the 70s Viking beating on the Bays, Chicago and the Lions. Of course, the 70's Vikings and the Badgers think they are/were totally awesome. The only conference that has been more in decline is the PAC12 coincidentally Stanford rose up...hahahahahaha Stanford.
 



CharchyCharch said:
haha WI entire reputation is built on the decline of the Big Ten then you combine that with the Big Ten west being middling teams. It similar to the 70s Viking beating on the Bays, Chicago and the Lions. Of course, the 70's Vikings and the Badgers think they are/were totally awesome. The only conference that has been more in decline is the PAC12 coincidentally Stanford rose up...hahahahahaha Stanford.
Click to expand...

The Vikings were great though. They beat some great cowboy and ram teams to get to the big one. Their problem was running into dynasties like the steel curtain, miami dolphins, and oakland. These were some of the all time great teams.
 


GopherVotary said:
4.5 years into the East-West split, the record in crossover games (including the championship games) is 50 wins for the East, 40 for the West.
Click to expand...

I would be willing to bet a big portion of those 40 wins for the West have come at the expense of Indiana, Rutgers, and Maryland.
 

It’s not that unbalanced. If Frost can get Nebraska humming, Purdue could be really good, West would be deeper than the East.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Never say never. Paul Chryst still has a solid program in Wisconsin that won three straight bowl games and two division titles. Jeff Brohm is seeming to build something with Purdue. Despite a slow start, Frost still will likely make Nebraska better. And then Fitzgerald and Ferentz both occasionally have really good teams.

The division was always going to have to play catch-up because of the blue bloods in the east, but depending on how Frost, Brohm and Fleck do, it could become very competitive and quite good. These next five years could be very interesting.
 

The good news is the West sucks.
The bad news is that so do we.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Even Alverez had some down years. I don't think wisky's struggles won't last too long I have a feeling.
 


Goldteam said:
The west division sucks.

You don't exactly have to be great or anything.

Just keep working on getting better. Again, the west is so average I could cry.
Click to expand...

You’re right, Ohio St sucks. Losing to a West team by 29?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

CharchyCharch said:
haha WI entire reputation is built on the decline of the Big Ten then you combine that with the Big Ten west being middling teams. It similar to the 70s Viking beating on the Bays, Chicago and the Lions. Of course, the 70's Vikings and the Badgers think they are/were totally awesome. The only conference that has been more in decline is the PAC12 coincidentally Stanford rose up...hahahahahaha Stanford.
Click to expand...

Stanford also may have the best recruiting pitch in the country. Want to win game? Want to have a shot at the NFL? Want to have a degree from the best University in the world? No school can compete with that.
 


dpodoll68 said:
Yeah, "good" teams often play in 4 Super Bowls in 7 years. Great observation.
Click to expand...

Contemplate for a second if it was true that AW11 was the secret to our defense and he stayed healthy and we had the ability to keep potent offenses to 14 points.
Then contemplate Rodney Smith or Shannon Brooks were healthy. (Just one of them).

Would we be in the West mix?
 

dpodoll68 said:
Yeah, "good" teams often play in 4 Super Bowls in 7 years. Great observation.
Click to expand...

Yeh... right. Any team does that, not to mentioned lose to some of the greatest teams ever assembled in the Super Bowl (other than the Chefs of course... Vikes were favored in that game despite not being great).
A lot of good but not great teams are favored in Super Bowls every year.
 

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