Gophers ranked No. 7 in the latest AP Poll

DanielHouse

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Following Saturday’s upset win over Penn State, the Gophers are ranked No. 7 in the latest AP poll. This is Minnesota’s highest rating in the poll since 1962. Fifty-seven years ago, the program finished the season 6-2 and reached No. 5 in the AP rankings. The Gophers are also ranked No. 7 in the USA Today Coaches poll.

After Saturday’s 31-26 win, Minnesota is 9-0 for the first time since 1904. They have scored 28 or more points in 11 consecutive games for the first time in school history. Quarterback Tanner Morgan also became just the second quarterback in college football history to complete more than 90 percent of his passes in two regular season games, according to ESPN. Dating to last year, the program has won 11 consecutive games, which is the longest streak since 1939-42 (18 games).

The College Football Playoff Committee will release its rankings on Tuesday. Last week, Minnesota sat at No. 17 in the playoff top-25. Penn State was in the top-four, so fans can expect the Gophers to surge up the board. ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit slotted Minnesota at No. 6 in his rankings, but we’ll soon see if the committee is willing to move the Gophers nearly ten spots. There is no doubt they should place Minnesota in the No. 6-9 range this week.


Here's the complete poll: https://apnews.com/APTop25CollegeFootballPoll
 
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The Gophers are ranked No. 7 in the latest AP poll after Saturday’s upset win over Penn State. This is Minnesota’s highest rating in the poll since 1962. The program finished the season 6-2 and reached No. 5 in the AP rankings.

After Saturday’s 31-26 win, Minnesota is 9-0 for the first time since 1904. They have scored 28 or more points in 11 consecutive games for the first time in school history. Quarterback Tanner Morgan also became just the second quarterback in college football history to complete more than 90 percent of his passes in two regular season games, according to ESPN. Dating to last year, the program has won 11 consecutive games, which is the longest streak since 1939-42 (18 games)

The College Football Playoff Committee will release its rankings on Tuesday. Last week, Minnesota was slotted at No. 17. Penn State was in the top-four, so fans can expect the Gophers to surge up the board. ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit slotted Minnesota at No. 6 in his rankings, but we’ll soon see if the committee is willing to move the Gophers nearly ten spots. There is no doubt they should place Minnesota in the No. 6-9 range this week.

Awesome news!!! The Gopher players and coaches certainly deserve this!
 

Per U of MN:

Gophers Surge Into Top 10 After Win

Minnesota moved up to No. 7 in the latest AP Top 25 poll released today after its 31-26 home win against Penn State on Saturday. The Gophers are also ranked No. 7 in the Coaches Poll, which was also released today.

Minnesota's No. 7 ranking in the AP Poll is the highest it has been since it was No. 5 on Nov. 19, 1962.

Dating back to last season, Minnesota has won 11 straight games, which is tied for the third longest winning streak in the nation. Clemson has the longest winning streak at 24 games and is followed by Ohio State (15). Minnesota is tied with Baylor at 11 wins.

The Gophers are one of five undefeated teams in college football and are 9-0 for the first time since 1904. Minnesota is 6-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 1961 and is 13-2 in its last 15 games.

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Pretty clear both polls were in wait and see mode on the Gophers. They saw what they needed to see so we made the huge jump in ranking. I would expect a similar thing to happen with the CFP.

Pressure ratchets up another level now with that top 10 designation.....but with the way this team is playing and preparing that doesn't really worry me. These guys seem to have bought into Fleck's approach 100% and if they stick to that they won't overlook anyone or come out flat the way a lot of teams do.
 

And in a conference where half the teams are in the top 25
 


Nice to see Indiana getting a little recognition - wonder when the last time they made the top 25 in mid-November.
 

And in a conference where half the teams are in the top 25

And the Gophers have only played one of the other 6 ranked conference foes. It was understandable that people doubted us a little.

On to IOWA!!!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Theo Lawson still has Penn St in front of Minnesota. No idea how these people make a living at this.
 





Still don't know what the argument is for Alabama and Oregon being ahead of the gophers, they gave beaten no one and their only real tests, they lost
 

Still don't know what the argument is for Alabama and Oregon being ahead of the gophers, they gave beaten no one and their only real tests, they lost

Because they look better than the Gophers, and it's noticeable. If the Gophers want to be in that playoff discussion for real then they need to win out and beat tOSU.
Unless they blow out @Iowa, @Northwestern, and vWisconsin, they will not and should not crack the top 4 without beating tOSU.
They aren't going to blow out Iowa or Wisconsin unless they 'change their best', in a very significant way before next week.

I honestly believe the Gophers are a little overrated at 7. They got a lot of help from PSU's QB, and they probably won't get that type of help from another QB on their schedule.
 

I will just try to enjoy this...glory is fleeting, i know. But, this feels so nice.
 




Congrats to the Gophs and their long-suffering fans. When "Row the boat" took over I had a lot of doubts concerning his ability to get the program back to where it was the Mason had some good years. Well, I'm not a doubter anymore. I think you've got a pretty clear path to the B10 Championship game. Even if the Badgers beat the Gophs, you'll still get in--I don't see Minny losing the other two games that they have left on the schedule and right now I think a UW win over the Gophers would be an upset.

Look, I hate losing to Minnesota more than to any other team in the B10. But the Gophs and other teams in the west are catching up to UW; just look at what the Illini did to MSU and what Purdue has done using a third string qb. And perhaps, a year or two down the road the Huskers will become more competitive, while every other year or so Northwestern plays some good. This all makes for a much more interesting conference as well as games that are a lot more fun to watch.
 

Congrats to the Gophs and their long-suffering fans. When "Row the boat" took over I had a lot of doubts concerning his ability to get the program back to where it was the Mason had some good years. Well, I'm not a doubter anymore. I think you've got a pretty clear path to the B10 Championship game. Even if the Badgers beat the Gophs, you'll still get in--I don't see Minny losing the other two games that they have left on the schedule and right now I think a UW win over the Gophers would be an upset.

Look, I hate losing to Minnesota more than to any other team in the B10. But the Gophs and other teams in the west are catching up to UW; just look at what the Illini did to MSU and what Purdue has done using a third string qb. And perhaps, a year or two down the road the Huskers will become more competitive, while every other year or so Northwestern plays some good. This all makes for a much more interesting conference as well as games that are a lot more fun to watch.

Thanks for the post. Still most worried about the Wisconsin game this year. You really dominated the Illinois game and choked it away. It was clear who the better team was and who should have won. Sometimes you outplay teams and still lose. I wouldn't consider ourselves catching up yet until we can have 9+ win seasons consistently like you do. And that will take some time. That said, I think we will do well this week in Iowa City and it doesn't look like Northwestern has much left to play for. It seems to be our magical year and I wouldn't be surprised if we ran the table and gave OSU a game. I'm not sure we can beat them, but I think we'll still play them tough. Anyway, good luck the next couple weeks and we'd be fine if you want to blow another game...
 

Nice to read a post from a reasonable Badger fan. I hope we get to your level of consistency. I was telling a casual fan that WI. had a model of building their FB program that I hope we now have in place. Starts with a president n AD who hire great coaches and raise the expectations for winning.
 

Because they look better than the Gophers, and it's noticeable. If the Gophers want to be in that playoff discussion for real then they need to win out and beat tOSU.
Unless they blow out @Iowa, @Northwestern, and vWisconsin, they will not and should not crack the top 4 without beating tOSU.
They aren't going to blow out Iowa or Wisconsin unless they 'change their best', in a very significant way before next week.

I honestly believe the Gophers are a little overrated at 7. They got a lot of help from PSU's QB, and they probably won't get that type of help from another QB on their schedule.

I argue Gophs should be ahead of Oregon in both these polls and will be Tuesday. Oregon's best win is what, over a 6-4 USC? Has lost its only big game.
 

Because they look better than the Gophers, and it's noticeable. If the Gophers want to be in that playoff discussion for real then they need to win out and beat tOSU.
Unless they blow out @Iowa, @Northwestern, and vWisconsin, they will not and should not crack the top 4 without beating tOSU.
They aren't going to blow out Iowa or Wisconsin unless they 'change their best', in a very significant way before next week.

I honestly believe the Gophers are a little overrated at 7. They got a lot of help from PSU's QB, and they probably won't get that type of help from another QB on their schedule.

Thanks Jon Wilner.
 

I think 7 is a bit high but it really doesn't matter - we have 3 winnable games and I think we are ahead of everyone's expectation from just 5 weeks back. If we beat Iowa, WI, and NW - we will have 3 ranked wins on our resume but the shine will start to come off those wins as Iowa dropping another puts them outside the top 25 and WI would be in the 20's with a loss as well - and PSU will very likely lose to OSU. So, it all would come down to OSU - win and you are in regardless. I may be the odd man out hear but I am opposed to taking 2 teams from the same conference for a 4 team play-off. The purpose of the conference championship and conference schedule is to select your best team in the conference - if you don't even win your division (like Alabama is likely to do this year), you should not be eligible for consideration - especially if the loss was late in the year. The loss late rationale is why I would argue the team losing their conference championship game should not be considered as well.
 

I think 7 is a bit high but it really doesn't matter - we have 3 winnable games and I think we are ahead of everyone's expectation from just 5 weeks back. If we beat Iowa, WI, and NW - we will have 3 ranked wins on our resume but the shine will start to come off those wins as Iowa dropping another puts them outside the top 25 and WI would be in the 20's with a loss as well - and PSU will very likely lose to OSU. So, it all would come down to OSU - win and you are in regardless. I may be the odd man out hear but I am opposed to taking 2 teams from the same conference for a 4 team play-off. The purpose of the conference championship and conference schedule is to select your best team in the conference - if you don't even win your division (like Alabama is likely to do this year), you should not be eligible for consideration - especially if the loss was late in the year. The loss late rationale is why I would argue the team losing their conference championship game should not be considered as well.

If you actually dig into the other teams around them, it's not. Of the 8-1 teams, only GA and Bama have arguments to be ranked higher than Gophs. Only reason Oregon is above Gophs is the polls want to reward a PAC 12 team. I expect Gophs to be #6 on Tuesday.
 

If you actually dig into the other teams around them, it's not. Of the 8-1 teams, only GA and Bama have arguments to be ranked higher than Gophs. Only reason Oregon is above Gophs is the polls want to reward a PAC 12 team. I expect Gophs to be #6 on Tuesday.

I am separating the polls from where I think they actually rate as a team. I think we should be ranked above BAMA based solely on the on field performance. BAMA had 1 high ranked opponent and lost. Oregon has not looked that good in my opinion with the exception of the USC game and even that was Oregon only putting together 1 solid half of football against an underpeforming and injury riddled team. That said, I don't think we would fair very well vs. a lot of the top 10 on a neutral field. Penn State was a big test and the Gophers passed - but I think Iowa and Wisconsin will be just as tough as that game. Given our corner/safety play, I think we can sell out to stop the run so I like our WI and Iowa match-ups, but OSU (assuming we get there) scares the hell out of me.
 

I am separating the polls from where I think they actually rate as a team. I think we should be ranked above BAMA based solely on the on field performance. BAMA had 1 high ranked opponent and lost. Oregon has not looked that good in my opinion with the exception of the USC game and even that was Oregon only putting together 1 solid half of football against an underpeforming and injury riddled team. That said, I don't think we would fair very well vs. a lot of the top 10 on a neutral field. Penn State was a big test and the Gophers passed - but I think Iowa and Wisconsin will be just as tough as that game. Given our corner/safety play, I think we can sell out to stop the run so I like our WI and Iowa match-ups, but OSU (assuming we get there) scares the hell out of me.

Well, 7 is not high.
 

Because they look better than the Gophers, and it's noticeable. If the Gophers want to be in that playoff discussion for real then they need to win out and beat tOSU.
Unless they blow out @Iowa, @Northwestern, and vWisconsin, they will not and should not crack the top 4 without beating tOSU.
They aren't going to blow out Iowa or Wisconsin unless they 'change their best', in a very significant way before next week.

I honestly believe the Gophers are a little overrated at 7. They got a lot of help from PSU's QB, and they probably won't get that type of help from another QB on their schedule.

Winning is more important than looking good. Since the BCS started they've always given the trophy to the team that wins the championship game. Not once have they passed on that team and given it to a different team that looked better and beat up more on the bad teams on their schedule.

If the Gophers keep up with the current trend for another 6 games they will be national champions no matter how ugly those 6 wins are.
 

Because they look better than the Gophers, and it's noticeable. If the Gophers want to be in that playoff discussion for real then they need to win out and beat tOSU.
Unless they blow out @Iowa, @Northwestern, and vWisconsin, they will not and should not crack the top 4 without beating tOSU.
They aren't going to blow out Iowa or Wisconsin unless they 'change their best', in a very significant way before next week.

I honestly believe the Gophers are a little overrated at 7. They got a lot of help from PSU's QB, and they probably won't get that type of help from another QB on their schedule.

Um, the Gophs have been "getting a lot of help' from the other teams' QBs all season. The are 2nd in the nation in interceptions.
 




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