247 predicts Gophers will go 1-8 and finish 17th in Big Ten

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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That's based on last year's QB. That projection is FALSE.

Gophers have a new veteran QB, a big get.

Gophers have the running backs and offensive line.

Defense is unclear to me.

Gophers have a brutal schedule, true. But so do other Big Ten teams. Almost everyone has it bad.

Gophers are competitive with UCLA, Maryland, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Rutgers. In the toughest games against elites, Gophers have a shot too, you never know.


Gophers have a decent shot at beating North Carolina this season too.

gophersports.com

2024 Football Schedule - University of Minnesota Athletics

The official 2024 Football schedule for the University of Minnesota Gophers
gophersports.com gophersports.com
 


I surely hope Minnesota's predicted record of 4-8 is wrong. My goal is to make
one home game this year. Good Luck to the Gophers in 2024.
 

BleedGopher said:
Per Crawford:

Minnesota Golden Gophers

Pre-spring final record projection: 4-8

Conference finish: 1-8 (17th)

Why: This is not going to be an easy go of things for veteran Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck in 2024. Projected losses for the Golden Gophers include Iowa, Michigan, USC, UCLA, Illinois, Rutgers, Penn State and Wisconsin.

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

Ridiculous for anyone to make confident predictions including well-known oddsmakers, much less Crawford. With the portal it’s a new paradigm.

Illinois, Rutgers, Wisconsin are on the road. UCLA, don’t know much about them. Iowa at Mpls but let’s face it, that will be a tough match. The others are going to have more raw talent. But, never say never and that’s why they play the games.
 


Illinois heads into the final month of the season with a chance at bowl eligibility with a strong finish, but that may not happen with matchups coming against Rutgers and Northwestern — two teams projected for bowl games — away from East Lansing.
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This genius thinks Illinois is in East Lansing 😆
 

Curious which position groups will be involved in the passing game. (will the RBs see more targets) Gopher success will depend on how the passing game helps the running attack & defense.
 

CentralGopher said:
Keep the receipts
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giphy.gif
 

SHGopher said:
That's based on last year's QB. That projection is FALSE.

Gophers have a new veteran QB, a big get.

Gophers have the running backs and offensive line.

Defense is unclear to me.

Gophers have a brutal schedule, true. But so do other Big Ten teams. Almost everyone has it bad.

Gophers are competitive with UCLA, Maryland, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Rutgers. In the toughest games against elites, Gophers have a shot too, you never know.


Gophers have a decent shot at beating North Carolina this season too.

gophersports.com

2024 Football Schedule - University of Minnesota Athletics

The official 2024 Football schedule for the University of Minnesota Gophers
gophersports.com gophersports.com
Click to expand...
"Gophers have a new veteran QB, a big get." Veteran who did well against the CAA teams, BIG will be a different story with speed and talent on the other side of the ball. Already anointed the starter with zero pressure to perform. The projection is a bit strong but it is an expectation we should be prepared to accept. People cannot be surprised with a 3 or 4 win season.
 





Predictions this early are based on past performance (unless the writer is extremely diligent and knows each team with granular detail). Last year we had terrible QB/WR performance, which limited our offense greatly. But we still had a good running game. If Brosmer is good (not great, just good) and our competent WR play can extend beyond Daniel Jackson--and we can construct a passing game with more versatility, assuming competent TE and RB participation--our offense will be more balanced, much harder to defend, and meaningfully better. We have got some talent.

But that is only half the story of why our past performance looks so bad. In 2023 we had a crisis at LB. We lost MSM to graduation, but also lost two athletic and very experienced LBs, Braelon Oliver and Donald Willis, to the portal. We gained only Ryan Selig in the portal (and he was injured a lot and, frankly, only so-so when healthy). But at least we had Cody Lindenburg--except that he missed almost the whole season, as well, with an injury. So we had to deploy a very young and inexperienced guys at LB. Some really good athletes among them, but susceptible to wrong reads because of inexperience. Those young guys got some great experience, however, and should be much more ready mentally this year. And Lindenburg, one hopes, can play a full season. This alone should improve our defense a lot, perhaps dramatically.

So, I recognize how tough the Gopher schedule is, and concede that if the 2023 version of the Gophers (with AK at QB and the Kiddie Corps at LB) had to play this year's schedule, we could well go 1-8 in the B1G. But I really want to believe that 2023 was the "bottom," and that with a new, experienced QB plus a healthy Cody and Maverick at LB (with help from Henderson), the 2024 version of the Gophers will be a fairly interesting "bounce back". I still wish PJ could pick up one experienced, B1G-ready LB in the portal, but not sure we have any NIL left for that to happen.
 

BleedGopher said:
Per Crawford:

Minnesota Golden Gophers

Pre-spring final record projection: 4-8

Conference finish: 1-8 (17th)

Why: This is not going to be an easy go of things for veteran Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck in 2024. Projected losses for the Golden Gophers include Iowa, Michigan, USC, UCLA, Illinois, Rutgers, Penn State and Wisconsin.

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...
Brad Crawford is an A.I. character.

 



1983 said:
"Gophers have a new veteran QB, a big get." Veteran who did well against the CAA teams, BIG will be a different story with speed and talent on the other side of the ball. Already anointed the starter with zero pressure to perform. The projection is a bit strong but it is an expectation we should be prepared to accept. People cannot be surprised with a 3 or 4 win season.
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Nice hard work, troll.
 



Worst case scenario - yeah, I could see this team going 4-8.

injuries; bad bounces; officials who don't know the invalid fair catch signal rule; lots of things can influence the outcome of a game.

if absolutely nothing goes the Gophers' way, 4-8 is possible. Possible, yes. Likely - I don't think so.

as of today, put me down for 7-5. after I see Brosmer work against a B1G defense, and after I see what the defense looks like with a new DC, I may change my mind.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
Worst case scenario - yeah, I could see this team going 4-8.

injuries; bad bounces; officials who don't know the invalid fair catch signal rule; lots of things can influence the outcome of a game.

if absolutely nothing goes the Gophers' way, 4-8 is possible. Possible, yes. Likely - I don't think so.
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The OP was suggesting a 1-8 finish in Big Ten games.

Based on your 4-8 worst case, does that mean you have us beating UNC guaranteed or winning 2 Big Ten games guaranteed?
 

MplsGopher said:
The OP was suggesting a 1-8 finish in Big Ten games.

Based on your 4-8 worst case, does that mean you have us beating UNC guaranteed or winning 2 Big Ten games guaranteed?
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the 4-8 was the prediction in the OP article.

4-8 overall -- 1-8 conference.

so I guess that guy has the Gophers going 3-0 in non-conference. take it up with him.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
the 4-8 was the prediction in the OP article.
Click to expand...
Worst case scenario - yeah, I could see this team going 4-8.

This means in your worst case thinking, you don’t think a 1-8 and loss UNC are possible. (Everyone assumes we will beat Nevada and Rhode Island, not worth considering losing those.)
 


I'm more interested in results. Predictions are not worth the paper they are written on.
 

Will be a tough season - being in a conference with 18 teams and no divisions is a poor incentive for fans, maybe even for the team. None of the West Coast teams should be in the B10 - they should have worked out a separate conference relationship in which the Pac-12 was B10#2 and each team played a certain number of "non-conference" games with us, the B10 being the organizing and financial umbrella over both conferences. Instead we get slaughter and chaos and an unwieldly number of teams in "our" conference. NIL is out of control as is the transfer rule.
 

1983 said:
"Gophers have a new veteran QB, a big get." Veteran who did well against the CAA teams, BIG will be a different story with speed and talent on the other side of the ball. Already anointed the starter with zero pressure to perform. The projection is a bit strong but it is an expectation we should be prepared to accept. People cannot be surprised with a 3 or 4 win season.
Click to expand...

Yes. And another way to say the same thing...

Will the new quarterback be:

1. A little better

2. Medium better

3. Much better.

All three choices are good ones. We don't know.


Players step up all the time.


The Wipe Out Card

The Gophers are going to run the ball, boom. Top running back Darius Taylor, solid RB stable, a good offensive line with two Big Ten honors guys and more o-line talent. Right there the Gophers are not a door mat. Really. Last place? They're nuts.

And then a veteran QB who will be better. We don't know for sure how much.


The Mystery

Is the defense. How can anyone say how good the line will be? A great defensive line is like crown jewels. How do you get that? The secondary had catastrophic break-downs last season. Is is fixed? I have no idea.
 



Yikes! As I approach the three week deadline to renew season tickets, lol. But honestly, the thing holding me back from auto-renewing is simply the sheer number of warm weather games that will likely start at 3 pm. I want more cold weather, and more 11 am starts so I don't lose my whole saturday.
 

Nobody knows as they could possibly go 1-8 after seeing last seasons struggles. But Bosmer could be the answer at QB, Taylor stays healthy, Jackson gets help from new WR core, and defense gets more depth. As those were all the major issues I saw from last year. Alot of "ifs" but seems like they addressed these issues so let's play some football and prove them wrong!

Lastly, these writers are sloppy today and don't really research anything for the 247, CBS, SI and others. Only one I like is ESPN and Adam Rittenberg as he does his work and loves Big Ten football.
 


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