What would Gophers' 2018 conference record be if under Rossi all year?

What would the Gophers' 2018 B1G conference record be if Joe Rossi started before fall camp?

Excluding the 3 games he was actually in charge (with 2-1 record), here are the options:

2-7
3-6 (actual finish)
4-5
5-4
6-3
7-2
8-1

(You could make the case that these last 3 games would have played out differently if he was in charge all year, so including an "other" option in poll).

My pick:

6-3

The Ohio State game is an automatic loss, and the other 5 losses were up for grabs IMO. I think Rossi wins 3 out of these 5 toss-ups leading to a 6-3 B1G record:

@Maryland (L)
Iowa (W)
@Nebraska (W)
Illinois (W)
Northwestern (L)

I think bare minimum they would have finished over .500 at 5-4.

They probably beat Illinois, but hard to say on the rest. One can dream.

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Don't think the record would have changed too much only because we are a young football team. If Rossi turns out to be a good DC, the bar goes higher next year with an older team. Fun future ahead, people!

Hard to say. I think they beat Illinois. Maryland, Nebraska, and Iowa would have been up for grabs as well. Maybe they win 1 of the 3. Northwestern and OSU would probably still be losses

Iowa and and Illinois could have been wins. So 5-4.

Illinois for sure. One win from Maryland, Nebraska and Iowa.

5-4 or better.

Really can't comprehend how bad Smith must have been at his job. But very happy with what Rossi has shown.

JTG

I say 4-5, with a W over Illinois. As impressive as our turnaround has been with Rossi in charge, he did not have to go against a team with a super mobile QB like Illinois or Nebraska that gave us fits. I think we'd have fared better against those teams with him in charge than with Smith - it's just hard to say how much better without yet seeing him scheme against a team like that. That said, pretty much every kind of offense gave us fits with Smith in charge.

I am certainly not downplaying what Rossi has done. Purdue has a prolific pass offense and Wisconsin has a great rushing offense and Rossi was able to shut both offenses down. He absolutely deserves the DC job and I'm happy to see Fleck announce it to the team immediately after the game. Fleck has a knack for announcing good news in really cool ways - like the way he's awarded scholarships to some players in the past.

Given our defensive turnaround and what our players have proven capable of - how badly do you think Rossi's (and the other D coaches) skin would crawl when watching Smith put together game plans and call plays? Rossi made quite a few changes when he took over and a lot of them were basic, common sense things that analysts had been calling for us to do all season, that Smith refused to even try. The D assistants must have been going bat sh*t crazy watching Smith do the same damn things every week with the same results.

It's fair to argue Fleck should have made the change sooner. However, I don't entirely blame him for waiting as long as he did. He wanted to give Smith every chance to succeed; having your DC fail less than 2 years in to your tenure as coach is not a good look in the eyes of players, fans and recruits. Luckily Rossi proved more than competent to take over and the turnaround has been staggering. And Fleck did make the change in time to get to 6 wins and a bowl game, with a win over the Badgers. I think at the beginning of the year most fans would have considered that a successful 2nd year under Fleck. Who the heck would have thought after that Illinois game that we'd be taking home the freaking axe??

Illini.

So...75% of GHers mostly secretly agreed with me that there were at least 8 regular season wins to be had in 2018...

Illinois for sure, possibly Nebraska. Iowa was too early in the season, and players weren't "mature" yet.

magpie said:

Illinois for sure, possibly Nebraska. Iowa was too early in the season, and players weren't "mature" yet.

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I would add MD as well. Ends up they were not that good, and that was the first game where it was clear there was something wrong on defense.

It's hard to say.

Maybe one more win but several closer games.

OJ Smith had a lot to do with the improved defense yesterday.

John Galt said:

OJ Smith had a lot to do with the improved defense yesterday.

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Yep, as did TOP.

I think we win the Illinois game with a competent d-coordinator, and probably one of Maryland/Nebraska. Those were all bad opponents that I'm sure the team would like a second crack at.

I wanted to say 9-0 but then I remembered that he ran the defense for the NW game so 8-1.

Seriously though, 6-3 is my pick.

bleedsmaroonandgold said:

I think we win the Illinois game with a competent d-coordinator, and probably one of Maryland/Nebraska. Those were all bad opponents that I'm sure the team would like a second crack at.

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That is very similar to what I feel as well. I think Illinois is the one we for sure would have won without the defensive meltdown. Outside of that I think we get 1 of the other 4 for sure and maybe more.

I think everyone, including those inside the program, is shocked by just how massive the defensive turnaround was after the coordinator change. Can understand why it took Fleck so long to get rid of him but so glad he pulled the trigger in season as opposed to waiting until the end of the season.

And giving Rossi the gig now is smart from a recruiting standpoint because they can let the D recruits know what to expect for next year.

MNVCGUY said:

That is very similar to what I feel as well. I think Illinois is the one we for sure would have won without the defensive meltdown. Outside of that I think we get 1 of the other 4 for sure and maybe more.

I think everyone, including those inside the program, is shocked by just how massive the defensive turnaround was after the coordinator change. Can understand why it took Fleck so long to get rid of him but so glad he pulled the trigger in season as opposed to waiting until the end of the season.

And giving Rossi the gig now is smart from a recruiting standpoint because they can let the D recruits know what to expect for next year.

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Thank goodness. After that Illinois game to now is like night and day. Still can't believe the change.

Don't know as Rossi didn't play any teams like Maryland, Illinois, Nebraska (spread teams with mobile QB's) in the final 3. We don't know how they would've fared against that style of team.

Obviously what Rossi did made a huge improvement mid-season, but don't discount the increased level of intensity that we have played with.

These are college kids, and when all 11 are extremely motivated, good things can happen. Seeing your assistant fired or going through a scandal like we did in 2016 can bring the team together and get guys playing at a higher-level.