Baltimore Sun on U: 10-win season and run at the BT West title are well within reach

BleedGopher

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per the Baltimore Sun:

It’s time to get serious about Minnesota, SMU, Baylor, Memphis and Wake Forest.

Verdict: Not an overreaction.

What do all five teams have in common? A big ol’ goose egg in the loss column.

Minnesota: Let’s start with the Golden Gophers, who handled Purdue on the road to move to 4-0, their best start since 2013. Quarterback Tanner Morgan was nearly perfect, completing 21 of 22 passes for 396 yards and four touchdowns as Minnesota averaged nearly 9 yards per play, with 12 plays going for 16 yards or more. If Morgan and the Gophers can keep that up, a 10-win season and a run at the Big Ten West title are well within reason.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports...0190930-q4zkej6ha5dtxg3uswoqv4rnx4-story.html

Go Gophers!!
 

per the Baltimore Sun:

It’s time to get serious about Minnesota, SMU, Baylor, Memphis and Wake Forest.

Verdict: Not an overreaction.

What do all five teams have in common? A big ol’ goose egg in the loss column.

Minnesota: Let’s start with the Golden Gophers, who handled Purdue on the road to move to 4-0, their best start since 2013. Quarterback Tanner Morgan was nearly perfect, completing 21 of 22 passes for 396 yards and four touchdowns as Minnesota averaged nearly 9 yards per play, with 12 plays going for 16 yards or more. If Morgan and the Gophers can keep that up, a 10-win season and a run at the Big Ten West title are well within reason.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports...0190930-q4zkej6ha5dtxg3uswoqv4rnx4-story.html

Go Gophers!!

I like the bolded part. I've heard many mentions of "another one-possession game". And that is literally a true statement.

But I think this person must actually have seen the game; the Gophers really did handle Purdue. The game wasn't as close as the final score would indicate. And it was a Big Ten road win, as well.
 

I don't know about 10 wins but 9 is definitely attainable with how Rutgers, Illinois, Nebraska, Maryland and Northwestern have played. Penn State, Iowa and Wisconsin will be tough.

My brain is telling me we'll beat Rutgers and Illinois, lose to Iowa, PSU and Wisconsin and go 2-1 against Nebraska, Maryland and Northwestern for a total of 8-4. My heart is telling me we'll go 3-0 against Nebraska, Maryland and Northwestern with the other 5 games being the same for a total of 9-3.

I suppose we'll likely get a bowl game which would give us a 50% chance at another win.
 

I don't know about 10 wins but 9 is definitely attainable with how Rutgers, Illinois, Nebraska, Maryland and Northwestern have played. Penn State, Iowa and Wisconsin will be tough.

My brain is telling me we'll beat Rutgers and Illinois, lose to Iowa, PSU and Wisconsin and go 2-1 against Nebraska, Maryland and Northwestern for a total of 8-4. My heart is telling me we'll go 3-0 against Nebraska, Maryland and Northwestern with the other 5 games being the same for a total of 9-3.

I suppose we'll likely get a bowl game which would give us a 50% chance at another win.

Gophers are sitting around a 30% chance to win 10+ games based on win probabilities so I think 10 has become the new "attainable" for now.

I'm expecting 9 wins as well, but I wouldn't be shocked with anything between 8 and 10.

If the Gophers want to win the West then they are gong to need to step up big time against a couple of the ranked teams on their schedule because I'm not sure that Wisconsin is going to lose more than one game this year.
 
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I don't know about 10 wins but 9 is definitely attainable with how Rutgers, Illinois, Nebraska, Maryland and Northwestern have played. Penn State, Iowa and Wisconsin will be tough.

My brain is telling me we'll beat Rutgers and Illinois, lose to Iowa, PSU and Wisconsin and go 2-1 against Nebraska, Maryland and Northwestern for a total of 8-4. My heart is telling me we'll go 3-0 against Nebraska, Maryland and Northwestern with the other 5 games being the same for a total of 9-3.

I suppose we'll likely get a bowl game which would give us a 50% chance at another win.

I was thinking about this today and I feel like IF we get to 8-0, then the chances are pretty good that we can go 2-2 in the last 4. Obviously you would hope we can take NW and then I like our chances at home to get 1 of 2 against PSU and Wiscy. My thought is that if we do make it to 8-0, we should be playing with a lot of confidence going into that final stretch. But let's just make sure we take care of Illinois first!
 


I was thinking about this today and I feel like IF we get to 8-0, then the chances are pretty good that we can go 2-2 in the last 4. Obviously you would hope we can take NW and then I like our chances at home to get 1 of 2 against PSU and Wiscy. My thought is that if we do make it to 8-0, we should be playing with a lot of confidence going into that final stretch. But let's just make sure we take care of Illinois first!

If we make it to 8-0 (a big if, I realize) I think all bets would be off, in some ways.

We would be in uncharted territory. How would the fan base react? How would the players react?

We don't know. It would be really fun to find out.

We simply have to beat Illinois.
 

Why do we have to go all the way to Baltimore to find a newspaper talking up the Gophers like this?
 

I like the bolded part. I've heard many mentions of "another one-possession game". And that is literally a true statement.

But I think this person must actually have seen the game; the Gophers really did handle Purdue. The game wasn't as close as the final score would indicate. And it was a Big Ten road win, as well.

It is a win. It was one possession with 4 minutes left. Morgan had an out of this world performance. in the end, it was a close game.
 

The way the season has played out, I find it impossible to even think past the Illini game. 10-0???? How can anyone get serious about that at this point.

Of course the boys are 4-0 but are also a play away from possibly being 1-3 or even 0-4.
 




The way the season has played out, I find it impossible to even think past the Illini game. 10-0???? How can anyone get serious about that at this point.

Of course the boys are 4-0 but are also a play away from possibly being 1-3 or even 0-4.

We were more than a play away from losing to Purdue. Even if Rodney were to have fumbled and Purdue returned it for a score, that would have only tied the game and we would have gotten the ball back. And in the more likely scenario that our drive stalled, we would still have punted the ball and force Purdue to drive the length of the field just to get a 50-50 shot in OT.
 

But I think this person must actually have seen the game; the Gophers really did handle Purdue. The game wasn't as close as the final score would indicate. And it was a Big Ten road win, as well.

Well, the game wasn't so close for most of the game but, once again, it was close in the final minutes. I wouldn't say our defense "handled" Purdue very easily. What we can say about our defense is that they were better than Purdue's defense.
 

Excuse the local media for being a bit gun-shy about proclaiming a great Gopher season. We've gone through some of this before.
 



Penn State, Iowa, and Wisconsin are the only tough games. If the Gophers are 8-0 going into the last 4 they will have momentum and those games will probably look easier. I think winning one of those three is within grasp.

The biggest thing standing in the way of 10 wins is the other 5 games. None are tough and we are favored in all but none of them are easy. If the Gophers don't show up to play they could lose any or all of them.

I don't think the headline is wrong. The Gophers have to win the games they should win and steal one of the 3 they shouldn't. That won't be easy but I'd say it's well within reach.
 

There is no reason this out of the question. Of course they could tank at the drop of a hat too. I don't see that happening with the team and self-belief. The team needs to get better every week and they are. If they can come out and show they can slow down Illinois-the team that obliterated the Gopher D and got Smith fired, then confidence will grow. The offense was good against Ill, Neb, Maryland, but the D was atrocious. Holding those 3 teams to 28 or less will give the Gophers a good to great shot in all of them.
Time will tell obviously, but at least there isn't as much of an impending doom situation like I felt last year. Thinking 10 wins is a possibility, but prognasticating 9 including a bowl win.
 

The constant with Gopher fans is the always predictable ability to over react. After being 3-0 this board went crazy because e we didn't win by a big enough margin in any of those games. Now, after beating Purdue some posters are talking about 8-0. Can we please just focus on this weeks opponent, that, by the way, beat the crap out of us last year?

Let's get to 5-0 and enjoy this for a little while. Let the horse lead the cart instead of the other way around for a change. Go Gophers!
 

Excuse the local media for being a bit gun-shy about proclaiming a great Gopher season. We've gone through some of this before.
Yep. We are a pretender until we actually go out and win the B1G.
I think that is the point Fleck was making when he posted the Purdue comments for the team. UMN deserves no respect until it goes out and wins games it normally has lost.
 

I mean, we would all feel a lot more confident about 10-2 if we were beating all first 4 opponents by 30 only allowing 10 points per game.

Fact is, our defense and special teams isn't quite there yet. They might grow to get there, but we look like a team trying to grow into a 12-0 or 10-2 team, not one that already was a 10-2 team trying to grow to become a 12-0 team.

Can it all happen this year if the defense improves? Hell if I know, but it will be an awesome ride if it can.
 

Yep. We are a pretender until we actually go out and win the B1G.
I think that is the point Fleck was making when he posted the Purdue comments for the team. UMN deserves no respect until it goes out and wins games it normally has lost.

Yeh, I think Fleck's point is you need to establish your own pedigree to make people believe. It might mean beating a team 5 straight times or 8 out of 10. One game of 41-10 doesn't do it.

Key thing to keep in mind is that the late believers will miss half the fun. Those who are on-board early will experience the joy of the longer ride.
 

Yeh, I think Fleck's point is you need to establish your own pedigree to make people believe. It might mean beating a team 5 straight times or 8 out of 10. One game of 41-10 doesn't do it.

Key thing to keep in mind is that the late believers will miss half the fun. Those who are on-board early will experience the joy of the longer ride.
The Gopher rollercoaster may be one of the craziest rides you could ever ride.
 


Can we please just focus on this weeks opponent, that, by the way, beat the crap out of us last year?

Let's get to 5-0 and enjoy this for a little while. Let the horse lead the cart instead of the other way around for a change. Go Gophers!

This type of post always amuses me. We aren't in the locker room, nor will we be taking the field anytime soon. Fans on a message board "looking past" an opponent has zero effect on the actual results.
 

We were more than a play away from losing to Purdue. Even if Rodney were to have fumbled and Purdue returned it for a score, that would have only tied the game and we would have gotten the ball back. And in the more likely scenario that our drive stalled, we would still have punted the ball and force Purdue to drive the length of the field just to get a 50-50 shot in OT.

Thank you!

If the ball doesn't take a hop and hit Seth in the facemark, we wouldn't be talking about a "close" game. Yes, Purdue kept battling, much to their credit, but the Gophers were clearly the better team. Clearly.
 

The constant with Gopher fans is the always predictable ability to over react. After being 3-0 this board went crazy because e we didn't win by a big enough margin in any of those games. Now, after beating Purdue some posters are talking about 8-0. Can we please just focus on this weeks opponent, that, by the way, beat the crap out of us last year?

Let's get to 5-0 and enjoy this for a little while. Let the horse lead the cart instead of the other way around for a change. Go Gophers!

The team should absolutely focus on Illinois. The players have to think one game at a time, no question.

But we're all just fans here. For us, it's a lot of fun to speculate... and maybe even get a little pumped up, for a change.

I know it's very un-Minnesotan, but it's fun. Enjoy the ride, I say.
 

The way the season has played out, I find it impossible to even think past the Illini game. 10-0???? How can anyone get serious about that at this point.

Of course the boys are 4-0 but are also a play away from possibly being 1-3 or even 0-4.
+1

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