The Gazette: Minnesota magnitude: This is a very different Floyd week for Iowa

per The Gazette:

The Minnesota Golden Gophers are 9-0. The Gophers are ranked No. 8 in the country. The Gophers have one of the most balanced and vibrant offenses in the Big Ten.

The Gophers have loquacious head coach P.J. Fleck, who’s trending toward Big Ten coach of the year. ESPN’s Holly Rowe talked with Fleck on the TCF Bank field last Saturday after Minnesota (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) beat then-No. 4 Penn State. The Gophers have last Saturday's win over Penn State.

The Gophers have an efficient and explosive passing game, two wide receivers in the Big Ten’s top five statistically. The Gophers have three running backs who’ve done good to great running back things in the Big Ten. The Gophers have the No. 6 defense in the Big Ten. That sounds average, maybe, but consider the Big Ten has seven defenses in the nation’s top 20 and that Minnesota is No. 15 (309.8 yards allowed per game) in the nation.

“They’re doing a great job at turning that around,” Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley said. “They’re playing with a lot of confidence. We have to do everything we can to make it hard for them.”

https://www.thegazette.com/subject/...-different-pig-week-for-the-hawkeyes-20191112

Go Gophers!!

BleedGopher said:

per The Gazette:

The Minnesota Golden Gophers are 9-0. The Gophers are ranked No. 8 in the country. The Gophers have one of the most balanced and vibrant offenses in the Big Ten.

The Gophers have loquacious head coach P.J. Fleck, who’s trending toward Big Ten coach of the year. ESPN’s Holly Rowe talked with Fleck on the TCF Bank field last Saturday after Minnesota (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) beat then-No. 4 Penn State. The Gophers have last Saturday's win over Penn State.

The Gophers have an efficient and explosive passing game, two wide receivers in the Big Ten’s top five statistically. The Gophers have three running backs who’ve done good to great running back things in the Big Ten. The Gophers have the No. 6 defense in the Big Ten. That sounds average, maybe, but consider the Big Ten has seven defenses in the nation’s top 20 and that Minnesota is No. 15 (309.8 yards allowed per game) in the nation.

“They’re doing a great job at turning that around,” Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley said. “They’re playing with a lot of confidence. We have to do everything we can to make it hard for them.”

https://www.thegazette.com/subject/...-different-pig-week-for-the-hawkeyes-20191112

Go Gophers!!

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I had no idea Minnesota's defense was that high in the national rankings. Other conferences must not play defense. Either that or a lot of Big Ten offenses just suck - only one Big Ten team is in the top 25 in total offense nationally in Ohio State with Minnesota and PSU being the only other top 50.

Panthadad2 said:

I had no idea Minnesota's defense was that high in the national rankings. Other conferences must not play defense. Either that or a lot of Big Ten offenses just suck - only one Big Ten team is in the top 25 in total offense nationally in Ohio State with Minnesota and PSU being the only other top 50.

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Probably the inverse of this in the Big 12! All offense and no defense.

Panthadad2 said:

I had no idea Minnesota's defense was that high in the national rankings. Other conferences must not play defense. Either that or a lot of Big Ten offenses just suck - only one Big Ten team is in the top 25 in total offense nationally in Ohio State with Minnesota and PSU being the only other top 50.

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Playing styles definitely matters here.

If you go by CFP past results, that doesn't matter how good the big10 representing team is on defense, they let up a **** load of points to that juggernaut out of the ACC or SEC when they meet them in the semifinals.

I don't have the time or desire to go through bowl results historically, but considering Big 10 was 5-4 last year it's pretty hit and miss.

But over the course of conference play I think it's reasonable to attribute larger offensive numbers outside the B1G 10 to not necessarily mean bad defense.

A top 15 defense (yards) and we haven't played northwestern's high octane offense. Amazing.

Panthadad2 said:

I had no idea Minnesota's defense was that high in the national rankings. Other conferences must not play defense. Either that or a lot of Big Ten offenses just suck - only one Big Ten team is in the top 25 in total offense nationally in Ohio State with Minnesota and PSU being the only other top 50.

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Big Ten definitely has a higher then normal group of offensively challenged teams with Northwestern and Rutgers being historically bad on offense. I would be a little skeptical of any teams defensive numbers if they haven't faced Ohio State, Penn State and us. Even Michigan has been super inconsistent on offense so far this season.

Winasota Gopher said:

Playing styles definitely matters here.

If you go by CFP past results, that doesn't matter how good the big10 representing team is on defense, they let up a **** load of points to that juggernaut out of the ACC or SEC when they meet them in the semifinals.

I don't have the time or desire to go through bowl results historically, but considering Big 10 was 5-4 last year it's pretty hit and miss.

But over the course of conference play I think it's reasonable to attribute larger offensive numbers outside the B1G 10 to not necessarily mean bad defense.

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Don't make much of that sort of number every year. Bowls are clearly set up so, for example, the number five team in the BT plays the number three team from the whatever conference. Generally, the bowl's marketing is set up so as to have the near local guys can beat the darn guys from "up north". The "up north" folk are happy to come down for a break from the weather, the local fans are happy to go to a local game where they have a good (set up) chance.

Panthadad2 said:

I had no idea Minnesota's defense was that high in the national rankings. Other conferences must not play defense. Either that or a lot of Big Ten offenses just suck - only one Big Ten team is in the top 25 in total offense nationally in Ohio State with Minnesota and PSU being the only other top 50.

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If you use an opponent adjusted metric like SP+, the Big Ten is actually very good offensively, at least at the top.

Ohio State - 4
Minnesota - 7
Penn State - 11
Indiana - 15
Wisconsin - 28
Michigan - 43
Nebraska - 52
Purdue - 59
Maryland - 65
Iowa - 68
Illinois - 71
Michigan State - 84
Rutgers - 109
Northwestern - 126

Interesting that PJ isn't just changing our culture. Iowa and Wisconsin haven't looked at the prospect of beating Minnesota as a season defining victory in a long time. Sure they love the trophies but it's become an expectation that they will beat Minnesota. We've installed doubt in their culture

LakerFan said:

Interesting that PJ isn't just changing our culture. Iowa and Wisconsin haven't looked at the prospect of beating Minnesota as a season defining victory in a long time. Sure they love the trophies but it's become an expectation that they will beat Minnesota. We've installed doubt in their culture

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Spot on. And add Nebraska to that list.