Gophers have toughest non-conference schedule of any Big Ten team in 2019.

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A_Slab_of_Bacon

A_Slab_of_Bacon

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When the dust settles at the end of 2019 I don't think our schedule will have been the toughest.
 

This is a ridiculous claim


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Minnesota and Michigan face the toughest nonconference schedules in the Big Ten heading into the 2019-20 football season.

1. Minnesota

Aug. 29 South Dakota State; Sept. 7 at Fresno State; Sept. 14 Georgia Southern

Overview: Minnesota has won 14 straight nonconference games with the last loss coming against TCU in the 2015 season opener. This time around the Golden Gophers face a trio of teams that each featured double-digit win seasons in 2018. PJ Fleck’s team opens against a South Dakota State team that made it to the Football Championship Subdivision semifinals last season. Minnesota hits the road looking to remain perfect (10-0) against Mountain West Conference teams with a showdown with Fresno State before a first-ever meeting with Georgia Southern.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/spo...nference-schedules-ranked-20190401-story.html

Go Gophers!!
 


Pin this claim as a counter to what is sure to be a very common theme next year if the Gophers compete for a dividion title: weak schedule.

I don't care if it is true or not. JUST PIN IT. :)
 

Pretty sad if this is even remotely true...
 


I predict we will hear this claim again from inside the program.


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This says more about the rest of the conference and D1 football scheduling in general.

Maybe I'm just a grumpy old f*rt, but I miss the days when some of the biggest games of the year were the non-conference match-ups. In the era with fewer bowl games, that might have been the only time all year you got to see some the top teams play each other. the USC-Notre Dame game every year was huge.

Now, you just don't get those types of games, with the rare exception of the few "made for TV" match-ups that get played early in the season.

As far as the Gophers, some of the most memorable Gopher games I attended were the non-conference games: Gophers vs USC and OJ (hadn't killed anyone yet) Simpson, or Gophers vs Washington and Warren Moon.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
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April fools.....

Got to question the wisdom of calling out a weak ass Non-Con schedule when the PJ Fleck bump is non-existent and you can't get butts in seats, but then again, we are talking about the U admin, which has never been known for anything other than sheer stupidity and bad management.
 
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From an outsiders perspective, this is the way I see it. Nobody really plays a murderers row in OOC - Michigan comes the closest having to play ND and a hot Army. I think Purdue's schedule depends on which TCU team shows up this season. I also think the casual fan would immediately put anyone with a P5 on the schedule ahead of anyone else that doesn't, but honestly Syracuse, Pitt, Stanford (recently), Iowa St, Boston College, and Arizona St. aren't really enough to move the needle to make up for playing really bad G5 or FCS teams. Maryland has a case for a strong two games with Syracuse and @Temple (and to be honest I think they lose both of those), but again it depends which versions of those teams show up.

What is working against you guys is you've got the lose-lose schedule for the ages. You've got 3 games that you will be favored in BUT they are against teams who could be competitive if you're having an off day. So if you win "who cares" and if you lose the joke is on you.

Michigan - Notre Dame, Army, Mid Tenn
Purdue - TCU, Vandy, @Nevada
Minnesota - @Fresno St, Georgia Southern, SDSU
Penn St - Pitt, Buffalo, Idaho
Maryland - Syracuse, @Temple, Howard
Northwestern - @Stanford, UNLV, UMass
Iowa - @Iowa St., Miami (OH), Mid Tenn
Rutgers - Boston College, UMass, Liberty
Michigan St - Arizona St., Tulsa, Western Mich
Ohio St - Cincinnati, FAU, Miami (OH)
Nebraska - @Colorado, NIU, South Alabama
Wisconsin - @USF, C. Mich, Kent St.
Illinois - E. Mich, Akron, @UConn
Indiana - Ball St., UConn, Eastern Illinois
 
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There is no one who wouldn't rather play Fresno with all they lost than: Notre Dame, TCU, Syracuse, Stanford, Iowa St, Colorado, or USF.
 



Section2 said:
There is no one who wouldn't rather play Fresno with all they lost than: Notre Dame, TCU, Syracuse, Stanford, Iowa St, Colorado, or USF.
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Agree - with the exception of Colorado and USF. Colorado is just bad and USF looked like a hot mess the 2nd half of last season and I'm not sure they are going to recover.

All of those teams you listed are also coupled with automatic wins though that make their overal OOC schedule easier.

Your "easiest" OOC game, SDSU (even as an fcs team) would be favored or a toss-up against over half of the other OOC games your conference mates play.
 

ToastyGS said:
From an outsiders perspective, this is the way I see it. Nobody really plays a murderers row in OOC - Michigan comes the closest having to play ND and a hot Army. I think Purdue's schedule depends on which TCU team shows up this season. I also think the casual fan would immediately put anyone with a P5 on the schedule ahead of anyone else that doesn't, but honestly Syracuse, Pitt, Stanford (recently), Iowa St, Boston College, and Arizona St. aren't really enough to move the needle to make up for playing really bad G5 or FCS teams. Maryland has a case for a strong two games with Syracuse and @Temple (and to be honest I think they lose both of those), but again it depends which versions of those teams show up.

What is working against you guys is you've got the lose-lose schedule for the ages. You've got 3 games that you will be favored in BUT they are against teams who could be competitive if you're having an off day. So if you win "who cares" and if you lose the joke is on you.

Michigan - Notre Dame, Army, Mid Tenn
Purdue - TCU, Vandy, @Nevada
Minnesota - @Fresno St, Georgia Southern, SDSU
Penn St - Pitt, Buffalo, Idaho
Maryland - Syracuse, @Temple, Howard
Northwestern - @Stanford, UNLV, UMass
Iowa - @Iowa St., Miami (OH), Mid Tenn
Rutgers - Boston College, UMass, Liberty
Michigan St - Arizona St., Tulsa, Western Mich
Ohio St - Cincinnati, FAU, Miami (OH)
Nebraska - @Colorado, NIU, South Alabama
Wisconsin - @USF, C. Mich, Kent St.
Illinois - E. Mich, Akron, @UConn
Indiana - Ball St., UConn, Eastern Illinois
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As a G5 Team you should count GSU for tough OOC games We start with LSU and then THE MINNESOTA GOPHERS! ;-)
 
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caliGopher said:
April fools.....

Got to question the wisdom of calling out a weak ass Non-Con schedule when the PJ Fleck bump is non-existent and you can't get butts in seats, but then again, we are talking about the U admin, which has never been known for anything other than sheer stupidity and bad management.
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I think you might be taking that tweet a bit to seriously.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I think you might be taking that tweet a bit to seriously.
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No. I get it was a joke.

Just something stupid to make a joke about. We don’t play a power 5 team.

We’re not the only one, but to joke as our it being the toughest schedule in the country smacks of ignorance when we’re in the bottom half of strength of schedule for the Big10.


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caliGopher said:
No. I get it was a joke.

Just something stupid to make a joke about. We don’t play a power 5 team.

We’re not the only one, but to joke as our it being the toughest schedule in the country smacks of ignorance when we’re in the bottom half of strength of schedule for the Big10.


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I think you're still taking it too seriously.

SETTLE-THE-F-DOWN.gif
 

ToastyGS said:
What is working against you guys is you've got the lose-lose schedule for the ages. You've got 3 games that you will be favored in BUT they are against teams who could be competitive if you're having an off day. So if you win "who cares" and if you lose the joke is on you.
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Good take. We would be better off with Oregon State, Colorado, and Kansas than what we've got.
 

fmlizard said:
Good take. We would be better off with Oregon State, Colorado, and Kansas than what we've got.
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I don't think there would be any difference in taking an L to any of our given teams.... vs. an L from Oregon State. Nobody is REALLY measuring the gopher's SoS, so no difference.

The other factor is scheduling bad P5 teams is a roll of the dice and the odds of them biting you in the ass is higher.

The real factor is Ws and Ls, and that's where it starts and ends.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I don't think there would be any difference in taking an L to any of our given teams.... vs. an L from Oregon State. Nobody is REALLY measuring the gopher's SoS, so no difference.

The other factor is scheduling bad P5 teams is a roll of the dice and the odds of them biting you in the ass is higher.

The real factor is Ws and Ls, and that's where it starts and ends.
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I understand the Wins & losses thing if you have no chance at the playoffs, but want a decent bowl.
Still many said that one of UCFs biggest problems last year was strength of schedule yet they still got to play a P5 SEC LSU team even though the AAC is considered a G5 conference at this point.
It was probably as well because last years UCF team was not as good as the year before.
 


GSUsTALON said:
I understand the Wins & losses thing if you have no chance at the playoffs, but want a decent bowl.
Still many said that one of UCFs biggest problems last year was strength of schedule yet they still got to play a P5 SEC LSU team even though the AAC is considered a G5 conference at this point.
It was probably as well because last years UCF team was not as good as the year before.
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If we won as many games as UCF and the B1G SoS wouldn't impact us.


UCFs problem is most their games are cupcakes, Gophers have as many as everyone else so no problem.
 

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