Poll! - Worst "acceptable" West finish

What is the worst acceptable finish in your mind


  • Total voters
    116

Dano564

Fleck Superfan
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Messages
10,135
Reaction score
2,906
Points
113
With Big Ten Media picking Minnesota to finish 6th out of 7 teams, this flies in the face of what many of us were thinking (or hoping for). Being a Gopher fan base, we might be more optimistic of coure.
Since I love polls, I figured I'd put this one out there to best analyze where our opinion is.

Please choose the worst finish you would feel is acceptable based on your level of optimism going in right now.
 

For me, it's more about total wins than where we finish in the west.

8 total wins is the least amount of wins that I would consider "acceptable." This includes both regular season and bowl wins, no distinction between the two. 8 total wins is also what I consider the be the most likely scenario and what I am expecting, again including both regular season and bowl wins.

For this poll, I went with 4th in the west because I don't think we could get to 8 wins if we finish lower than 4th. Last year Iowa finished 4th and won 9 games and we finished 6th and went 7-6.

And I would definitely rather finish 4th in the west with 8-9 total wins then second in the west with 5-7 total wins.
 


If we lose to Fleck rivals and limelight stealers Mr. Brohm or Mr. Frost I know some heads that might pop off. Couple that with losses particularly blowout losses to Iowa and Wisconsin and many would find that unacceptable.

I doubt many here know what place we finished last year much less any other year unless it was first or last. It just doesn’t matter.
 

Poll! - Worst "acceptable" West finish

I can’t answer that question before they’ve played a single game. I probably won’t be able to answer until after the season. What if they finish in 4th or 5th place, with wins against Wisconsin and Iowa, and a couple close losses to good teams? I think a lot of people would consider that a success with the 2nd youngest team in America. ;)



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


Don't think it is possible to answer this question without seeing how all the other teams look as well. I think the team has a shot to contend for the title this year but also don't think fans should go into the year expecting to win the division. The West has the look of a super competitive division with a number of good teams and no truly great ones.
 

With last year's drubbing of WI on the road, the impressive bowl win, a years worth of RS freshman entering the fray, solid QB experience and competition and one of the best RB groups in the country, I expect nothing less than winning the West.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


As long as we keep the Axe, return Floyd to Dinkytown, win the Bits of Broken Chair and get possession of the Governor's Victory Bell (does this still exist?) it will be an acceptable season.

Getting the Little Brown Jug and the B1G title would just be icing.
 



If we don’t win 9, I’ll be disappointed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

I went 5th. I'd like to think we'll place ahead of Illinois and at least one other team.
Not sure who that other team is, but in that case it would be acceptable. I'm thinking it would be a 6-6 record which is lower than what I'm hoping for, but still acceptable.
 

I went 5th. I'd like to think we'll place ahead of Illinois and at least one other team.
Not sure who that other team is, but in that case it would be acceptable. I'm thinking it would be a 6-6 record which is lower than what I'm hoping for, but still acceptable.

I wondered if we could have a 6 way tie for first. All 5-4 in the conference. Something like that...

naturally as a gopher fan, I'd assume tie breakers would then put us 6th...
 




I went 5th. I'd like to think we'll place ahead of Illinois and at least one other team.
Not sure who that other team is, but in that case it would be acceptable. I'm thinking it would be a 6-6 record which is lower than what I'm hoping for, but still acceptable.
6-6 is not acceptable.

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk
 

Honestly if you measure success by wins and losses you’re missing the forest through the trees. If we are better tomorrow than we are today it is a successful season.
 

We should be no worse than 5-4 in the Big Ten, given who we get at home and out crossovers. I'll be personally disappointed this year if we're not 6-3 if you factor in the returning production. I guess no worse than 4th in the West if you put a number on it

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 

Honestly if you measure success by wins and losses you’re missing the forest through the trees. If we are better tomorrow than we are today it is a successful season.

Except it is much harder to sell progress to recruits, national and local media, casual fans on the edge of buying/renewing tickets and prospective donors if you don't have a tangible improvement in the record year to year. Some may buy it but many won't find the argument of "Our 7-6 team this year is better than our 7-6 team last year" convincing enough to commit. The total record is ultimately what most people will judge us on.

I would rather win more games while the team did not improve from the previous year and get a boost in recruiting, media exposure and ticket sales then win the same amount of games or less games while the team did actually improve if we don't benefit from a boost in recruiting, media exposure and ticket sales.
 

Don't think it is possible to answer this question without seeing how all the other teams look as well. I think the team has a shot to contend for the title this year but also don't think fans should go into the year expecting to win the division. The West has the look of a super competitive division with a number of good teams and no truly great ones.

Haha. Are you by chance related to short ornery norwegian?
 


8-5 with bowl game win. Finish in the standings depends on the how well the rest of the division improves over last season. Four Big Ten wins.
 

8-5 with bowl game win. Finish in the standings depends on the how well the rest of the division improves over last season. Four Big Ten wins.

A 7-5 season beating some 6-6 or 7-5 team in a bowl game wouldn’t be a failure but I would definitely be less hyped going into 2020
 

Does that include the bowl game?

For me - yes. I’m thinking we do it w/o the bowl but if it takes the bowl to get to 9 I would still consider it a success.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Honestly if you measure success by wins and losses you’re missing the forest through the trees. If we are better tomorrow than we are today it is a successful season.

Sure, trophies for everyone.
I hate this outdated practice of measuring success in sports by wins and losses. Simply not enough recognition.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

We should be no worse than 5-4 in the Big Ten, given who we get at home and out crossovers. I'll be personally disappointed this year if we're not 6-3 if you factor in the returning production. I guess no worse than 4th in the West if you put a number on it

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

Agree. I expect a winning conference record at a minimum.
 

I think you almost have to separate the w-l record from placement in the division.

As I have said, given how balanced the division appears to be, I firmly believe that no team is going to run the table. I think it's more likely that all the teams in the division will beat up on each other, and every team in the division will end the season with at least 2-3 losses.

As a result, the standings could change from week to week, and I would not be shocked if the division wound up with a 2 or 3-team tie for best record. (question - what are the tie-breakers?)

bottom line - if you want to contend for the division title, it will be essential to win your non-conf games; have the best record possible in cross-over games; win your home games; and try to grab a couple of road wins. that's the formula for success. And - avoid the "bad" loss. That could be a key for the Gophers. they always seem to lose one game a year that nobody thinks they should lose. have to avoid that.
 

Sure, trophies for everyone.
I hate this outdated practice of measuring success in sports by wins and losses. Simply not enough recognition.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You don’t get a trophy for winning 8 games. You don’t get a trophy for winning 6 games.
So both are failures.

However, there are scenarios where one could be more encouraged by a 7-5 campaign than an 8-4 campaign. For instance, if Minnesota drops two of their first three but then finishes 7-5...to me that would be better than winning the first 3 but finishing 8-4.
 

Honestly if you measure success by wins and losses you’re missing the forest through the trees. If we are better tomorrow than we are today it is a successful season.

What if every team in the BIG is better than they were yesterday? Now it becomes a measure of how much each team improved. I believe the common tool used for measuring success in college football is only wins and losses. You don't get to a college football playoff by improving, you get there by running the table.
 

Sure, trophies for everyone.
I hate this outdated practice of measuring success in sports by wins and losses. Simply not enough recognition.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Life Champions
 

I think you almost have to separate the w-l record from placement in the division.

As I have said, given how balanced the division appears to be, I firmly believe that no team is going to run the table. I think it's more likely that all the teams in the division will beat up on each other, and every team in the division will end the season with at least 2-3 losses.

As a result, the standings could change from week to week, and I would not be shocked if the division wound up with a 2 or 3-team tie for best record. (question - what are the tie-breakers?)

bottom line - if you want to contend for the division title, it will be essential to win your non-conf games; have the best record possible in cross-over games; win your home games; and try to grab a couple of road wins. that's the formula for success. And - avoid the "bad" loss. That could be a key for the Gophers. they always seem to lose one game a year that nobody thinks they should lose. have to avoid that.

Potential for ties/logjams? If no single team runs the table, the tie breakers may be quite interesting for division title...
 

What if every team in the BIG is better than they were yesterday? Now it becomes a measure of how much each team improved. I believe the common tool used for measuring success in college football is only wins and losses. You don't get to a college football playoff by improving, you get there by running the table.

Or how much each team avoided key injuries.
 




Top Bottom