Minnesota Football: Breaking down the Gophers’ 2019 schedule

hungan1

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Per Blake Ruane, The Daily Gopher, Feb. 1, 2019

Blake's Overall Thoughts:

"I think the non-conference schedule is challenging enough that the Gophers won’t be able to sleepwalk through it, and they’ll be better for it. Emerging from that scrum 3-0 is well within the realm of possibilities and should be the expectation. Conference play is much harder to predict. The Big Ten West is wide open again. Every team has question marks. The four road trips, with maybe the exception of Rutgers, will all be treacherous, requiring the Gophers to perform well at venues where they’ve historically struggled. If Minnesota can embark on an October revenge tour against Illinois, Nebraska, and Maryland, they’ll have a lot to play for in November."

https://www.thedailygopher.com/2019/2/1/18182570/minnesota-football-breaking-down-gophers-2019-schedule
 

Per Blake Ruane, The Daily Gopher, Feb. 1, 2019

Blake's Overall Thoughts:

"I think the non-conference schedule is challenging enough that the Gophers won’t be able to sleepwalk through it, and they’ll be better for it. Emerging from that scrum 3-0 is well within the realm of possibilities and should be the expectation. Conference play is much harder to predict. The Big Ten West is wide open again. Every team has question marks. The four road trips, with maybe the exception of Rutgers, will all be treacherous, requiring the Gophers to perform well at venues where they’ve historically struggled. If Minnesota can embark on an October revenge tour against Illinois, Nebraska, and Maryland, they’ll have a lot to play for in November."

https://www.thedailygopher.com/2019/2/1/18182570/minnesota-football-breaking-down-gophers-2019-schedule

Finally, someone who properly uses the word "expectation".

Not "prediction", but "expectation".

We are aiming for elite status, after all. That clearly means our coaches, players and fans should have expectations.
 

Finally, someone who properly uses the word "expectation".

Not "prediction", but "expectation".

We are aiming for elite status, after all. That clearly means our coaches, players and fans should have expectations.

Correct. Right now the poll with the article shows 80% expect 8+ wins.
 

For the first time in a long time I am personally happy with the coaching staff and the players we have going into next year. We also have the right culture. 8 wins is minimum wage IMO. I expect 10 wins and a good bowl game. We have always been a sleeping giant. It is time to wake up and be a B1G power. Better than Wisky has been. Doable. No excuses.

Very excited about how we ended the season. Did anyone else perceive a change in Fleck's persona when we started playing like a B1G power? Less HS cheerleader and lot more businesslike?
 
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For the first time in a long time I am personally happy with the coaching staff and the players we have going into next year. We also have the right culture. 8 wins is minimum wage IMO. I expect 10 wins and a good bowl game. We have always been a sleeping giant. It is time to wake up and be a B1G power. Better than Wisky has been. Doable. No excuses.

Very excited about how we ended the season. Did anyone else perceive a change in Fleck's persona when we started playing like a B1G power? Less HS cheerleader and lot more businesslike?

Correct. 7 wins or fewer is not elite.
 


My expectation for this season is that if the axe game is meaningless for B1G Championship contention then we have failed.
 



The Big Ten is a tough league. I have no idea what to expect from this staff and team due to the loss of a few key guys and some new guys entering the starting ranks. Competitors will be getting better, or worse, in various ways. A healthy attitude is hope for best but prepare for the worst. Every longtime MN sports fan understands this.
 



My expectation for this season is that if the axe game is meaningless for B1G Championship contention then we have failed.

Personally, I'd love to have this game be meaningless because we're already in the B1G Championship game. Our back-up QB and back-up back-up back-up RBs and WRs lead Minnesota to a 4 TD win.

The Big Ten is a tough league. I have no idea what to expect from this staff and team due to the loss of a few key guys and some new guys entering the starting ranks. Competitors will be getting better, or worse, in various ways. A healthy attitude is hope for best but prepare for the worst. Every longtime MN sports fan understands this.

That is about as unhealthy attitude as there is. A first-year psychology major would recommend therapy.
 

You’re clearly a) psychologically healthy and b) qualified to give assessments.
 

Personally, I'd love to have this game be meaningless because we're already in the B1G Championship game. Our back-up QB and back-up back-up back-up RBs and WRs lead Minnesota to a 4 TD win.



That is about as unhealthy attitude as there is. A first-year psychology major would recommend therapy.
Hope for things that can actually happen is a good thing. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-good-life/201007/good-hope-and-bad-hope

Also I wouldn't take much advice from 1st year psych majors.

Sent from my RS988 using Tapatalk
 

I think a reasonable hope for next season is to 1) avoid getting the doors blown off as in 2017/2018, 2) defeat Iowa and Wisconsin, 3) defeat someone we shouldn’t , and 4) shoot for 8 regular season wins. Personally I’m not going to hit the bottle if we don’t make it to Indy in 2019. If we choke away a 24 point 4th quarter lead in week 12 and miss out then I rescind that statement.
 



What I would "like" to see in 2019:

For every single game: 3 minutes to go in the 4th qtr. The Gophers have the ball, with a chance to
A. run out the clock and preserve a lead, or
B. score a TD or FG for a come-from behind victory.

That's what I want. Be competitive in every single game. No blow-out losses or embarrassing losses. Give yourself a chance to win in the 4th quarter. If they can do that, I'll be happy. I don't "expect" them to win every game. But at least, put yourself in a position where you have a chance to win every game.
 

I think a reasonable hope for next season is to 1) avoid getting the doors blown off as in 2017/2018, 2) defeat Iowa and Wisconsin, 3) defeat someone we shouldn’t , and 4) shoot for 8 regular season wins. Personally I’m not going to hit the bottle if we don’t make it to Indy in 2019. If we choke away a 24 point 4th quarter lead in week 12 and miss out then I rescind that statement.

Shoot for 8 regular season wins including defeats of Wisconsin, Iowa and a big win over an opponent that is favored over us? If we accomplish your wishes here an 8 win season would be a huge disappointment. You might want to reconsider your expectations for next year.
 

I wonder if anyone if when previewing last year predicted Fresno would be our highest ranked win ... and we'd beat Wisc too ...
 

Shoot for 8 regular season wins including defeats of Wisconsin, Iowa and a big win over an opponent that is favored over us? If we accomplish your wishes here an 8 win season would be a huge disappointment. You might want to reconsider your expectations for next year.

History says we’ll probably drop at least one or two we shouldn’t but I’m hopeful we can defeat one or two or three we shouldn’t: Iowa in Iowa City, Northwestern in Evanston, an improving Nebraska team, and possibly Wisconsin depending on how they reload. Penn State? Purdue?

Sometimes teams underperform and other times they overperform preseason expectations. Right now I have no idea how good PSU will be, or Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern. None of us do. We could be favored or little/big dogs against any of them. Personally I like upsets, as a Gopher fan. Those are fun. So I included it on my list. Fair?
 

If Rossi is what he appeared to be in the final 4 games last year, we could run the table in 2019. Could. One of our young QBs will be on fire. Only question is the OL which should improve again. Absolutely loaded at WR, RB, and LB. Winfield back, etc.
 

If Rossi is what he appeared to be in the final 4 games last year, we could run the table in 2019. Could. One of our young QBs will be on fire. Only question is the OL which should improve again. Absolutely loaded at WR, RB, and LB. Winfield back, etc.

Fingers crossed. I'm a little nervous that our 2019 schedule is setting us up for heartbreak. In the way that it's still going to be a good season, but there may be a high water mark before the backloaded schedule begins to push the Gophs below the waves in November.
 

If Rossi is what he appeared to be in the final 4 games last year, we could run the table in 2019. Could. One of our young QBs will be on fire. Only question is the OL which should improve again. Absolutely loaded at WR, RB, and LB. Winfield back, etc.


Re: the bolded part

Unless the last third of 2018 was some sort of mirage, The Gophers will be a team that plays a lot like Wisconsin does.

We'll pound our opponents to dust with a huge offensive line and strong stable of running backs, and wait for our opponent to make mistakes.

That was definitely the formula the team used so effectively against Purdue, Wisconsin and Georgia Tech — three pretty good adversaries.

I don't think our quarterback(s) will be called upon to put up big numbers or carry the team. That being said, I like our QBs and receivers a lot.
 

November is for contenders, not pretenders. The Gophers have been pretenders for a long time.

My wish has always been for the Gophers to be in a position to win the West on the last weekend of the BIG schedule.

The strong 2018 finish was unexpected and helped mitigate some really bad games; Maryland, Illini, Neb. The question is, can the strong finish carry over into 2019, can Fleck adequately replace the graduated SR's., will the incoming FR's and RSFR be upgrades, and will the injury bug not raise its ugly head as in the past?
 

Wow. Reading the posts here can sometimes be depressing. We Gopher fans have a very strong tendency to obsess with the whole "50 years of futility" mindset. Woe is us.

It's funny, though; I'll bet if you asked any 18-21 year old player on the team, he'd tell you that previous teams' failures have absolutely nothing to do with the present.

Also, it's powerful strange how we always seem to forget the other side of the "poor us, we're prisoners of our past" narrative. After all, our much-regretted past also contains some Gold Glory. If you look at our entire history rather than just the lean years, it includes 7 National Titles. Seven! Very, very few teams can claim a legacy so elite.

It all boils down to whether or not you believe we can regain former greatness... or are perpetually trapped in reliving our former failures.

Faint hearts seldom seize the moment.
 

I have the Nebraska game circled. That one hurt and I would like to see the Gophers avenge that loss.
 





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