Big Ten West after Week 1

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Every team in the West has had an Iowa and Wisconsin problem, since the formation of the West.

Except NW a couple times, even though they apparently have a horrible HC ...
 
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cjbfbp said:
If the respectively ranked defensive teams were equally distant from each other, that could be the case but the top two defensive teams in the division, Iowa and Wisconsin, are perennially among the very best in the nation.

Last season, Iowa gave up 16 points per game and Wisconsin gave up 17.4. The third best defensive team in the division, Nebraska, gave up 29.5 per game. In 2019, Iowa gave up 14 points per game and Wisconsin gave up 16.9. The third best defensive team in the division, Minnesota, gave up 22.5 per game; not bad at all but significantly more than the other two.

Obviously, we have a big Iowa and Wisconsin problem, particularly on the defensive end.
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Yeah and I don’t think it is coincidence that 2019 had a really good defense and had more success.
Not a defense like Iowa and Wisconsin have, but a step up from other years.
 

MplsGopher said:
Every team in the West has had a Iowa and Wisconsin problem, since the formation of the West.

Except NW a couple times, even though they apparently have a horrible HC ...
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Yes, but not all others equally. As you mention, Northwestern is an interesting case. Over the past 7 meetings, we're 4-3 against them. Our records over the last 7 years aren't much different (58% overall winning percentage for us and 59% for them) but they are 4-3 against both Wisconsin and Iowa over the last 7 meetings whereas we are 1-6 with both in our last 7 meetings. Being an alumnus of Iowa and having lived in the state for about 10 years and the seventies and eighties, I have a number of long-time friends who are diehard Iowa fans. If you ask them, they would consider Northwestern to be much better than us but the reality is that Minnesota and Northwestern have almost identical overall records over the last 7 years and our record against Northwestern during those last 7 meetings is better than either Iowa or Wisconsin. Northwestern just manages to solve that Iowa and Wisconsin problem more often than we do.

Purdue is another interesting case. We've dominated Purdue in the last seven meetings (6-1). Wisconsin is even better (7-0) but Iowa is only 4-3 over the last seven and has lost 3 of the last 4.
 

I guess teams have certain schemes/identities that they pride themselves on, and sometimes other they just don't match up well.
 

As much has it pains me to write this, Iowa will win the West. They have to good of defense not to. I think (even without Mo) we can compete with them offensively but not defensively. Unless(until) Rossi changes his basic scheme to one involving more blitzing in order to pressure the passer, our secondary will continue to suffer. I can only remember 2 blitzes last Thursday night.
 


cjbfbp said:
Yes, but not all others equally. As you mention, Northwestern is an interesting case. Over the past 7 meetings, we're 4-3 against them. Our records over the last 7 years aren't much different (58% overall winning percentage for us and 59% for them) but they are 4-3 against both Wisconsin and Iowa over the last 7 meetings whereas we are 1-6 with both in our last 7 meetings. Being an alumnus of Iowa and having lived in the state for about 10 years and the seventies and eighties, I have a number of long-time friends who are diehard Iowa fans. If you ask them, they would consider Northwestern to be much better than us but the reality is that Minnesota and Northwestern have almost identical overall records over the last 7 years and our record against Northwestern during those last 7 meetings is better than either Iowa or Wisconsin. Northwestern just manages to solve that Iowa and Wisconsin problem more often than we do.

Purdue is another interesting case. We've dominated Purdue in the last seven meetings (6-1). Wisconsin is even better (7-0) but Iowa is only 4-3 over the last seven and has lost 3 of the last 4.
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In the examples, I think using conference records makes the most sense instead of overall, as we pretty much play the same teams. They're 33-20 while the Gophers are 22-30 (since 2015). I know someone said Fitz isnt a good coach on the board before but without his big 8 loss season in conference in 2019, that could be a helluva record for any coach. I will always take NW seriously.
 

Pete smith said:
As much has it pains me to write this, Iowa will win the West. They have to good of defense not to. I think (even without Mo) we can compete with them offensively but not defensively. Unless(until) Rossi changes his basic scheme to one involving more blitzing in order to pressure the passer, our secondary will continue to suffer. I can only remember 2 blitzes last Thursday night.
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PJ said they didn't blitz more against OSU because Stroud was getting it out very quick and OSU had good play design that would have exposed the blitzes more.

Missed assignments on at least 3-4 of the 6 big plays. He is not concerned as those are all correctable
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Solid recap.

The three worst teams in the B1G may reside in the West (Illinois, Nebraska, jNW…from least bad to worst) with the resurgence of Rutgers and MSU. Time will tell.
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If recruiting rankings mean anything, MD should be top half of the B1G, but injuries and poor coaching tend to produce mediocre results.
 
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I'm A Maroon 2! said:
In the examples, I think using conference records makes the most sense instead of overall, as we pretty much play the same teams. They're 33-20 while the Gophers are 22-30 (since 2015). I know someone said Fitz isnt a good coach on the board before but without his big 8 loss season in conference in 2019, that could be a helluva record for any coach. I will always take NW seriously.
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NW tends to start slow every year and end up solid. I don't know why or how, but that's the trend. Gophers used to start strong and end poorly; I'm not sure that trend has been holding under PJ, where I'm seeing slower starts, but stronger mid-seasons.
 



I'm A Maroon 2! said:
In the examples, I think using conference records makes the most sense instead of overall, as we pretty much play the same teams. They're 33-20 while the Gophers are 22-30 (since 2015). I know someone said Fitz isnt a good coach on the board before but without his big 8 loss season in conference in 2019, that could be a helluva record for any coach. I will always take NW seriously.
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Yes, you are right about the comparison, but we are 4-3 against Northwestern over the last seven meetings and 8-8 over the last 16. Northwestern just isn't one of those teams that we have a hell of a time beating with any regularity. Northwestern does have genuine down years. You mentioned one but they were only 7-6 in 2016 and had back to back 5-7 seasons in 2013 and 2014. When they are good, they are surprisingly good but they aren't good every, or even almost every, year. In contrast, not counting the 2020 pandemic year, you have to go back to 2014 for Iowa and 2008 for Wisconsin to find a year where those programs didn't finish with 8 or more wins. You have to go back to 2012 for Iowa and 2001 for Wisconsin to find a losing season.
 

in a perfect world, you would want to have a strong offense and a strong defense.

But, if I had to choose one, I would take the defense first. If you don't give up any points, you will always be in the game, and then, your offense just has to score 1 more point than the other team.

I think that is Fitzgerald to the core. And - at a school like NW where they are not going to bring in a big haul of 4* or 5* players, defense is - in a sense - easier to achieve. don't get me wrong - you need athletes on defense, but you really need athletes on offense. On defense, if you can get a bunch of smart kids who work hard, you can be a solid defense. and that is NW's blueprint.

I'm not writing off the Gopher defense after 1 game against a really good team, but if the Gophers are going to contend in the West, they cannot have multiple defensive breakdowns.
 

cncmin said:
If recruiting rankings mean anything, MY should be top half of the B1G, but injuries and poor coaching tend to produce mediocre results.
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Who is "MY?"
 




Pete smith said:
As much has it pains me to write this, Iowa will win the West. They have to good of defense not to. I think (even without Mo) we can compete with them offensively but not defensively. Unless(until) Rossi changes his basic scheme to one involving more blitzing in order to pressure the passer, our secondary will continue to suffer. I can only remember 2 blitzes last Thursday night.
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Our guys can’t handle a more complicated scheme: that is why we are simple; and we couldn’t get lined up at times anyways
 

Iowa looked scary good against Indiana. If they bulldoze Iowa State Saturday then they are the West favorite. Wisconsin will improve and the Gophers are still a question mark on defense (gave up at least 5 big plays Thursday) and Mo is out.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
Iowa looked scary good against Indiana. If they bulldoze Iowa State Saturday then they are the West favorite. Wisconsin will improve and the Gophers are still a question mark on defense (gave up at least 5 big plays Thursday) and Mo is out.
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I largely agree with this.

I'm not saying Iowa is a no-brainer for the West after week one, but suddenly, anyone who took the over on 8.5 wins for Iowa should be feeling really good about things.

If it's a 10-7 Iowa/Iowa St game, suddenly the West looks more winnable for someone other than Iowa. If it's 28-7 Iowa, MN will need to go perfect from here through Iowa on the schedule to win the West.
 

Face The Facts said:
I largely agree with this.

I'm not saying Iowa is a no-brainer for the West after week one, but suddenly, anyone who took the over on 8.5 wins for Iowa should be feeling really good about things.

If it's a 10-7 Iowa/Iowa St game, suddenly the West looks more winnable for someone other than Iowa. If it's 28-7 Iowa, MN will need to go perfect from here through Iowa on the schedule to win the West.
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Isn't every Iowa-Iowa state game 10-7 or close to it?
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Iowa looked scary good against Indiana. If they bulldoze Iowa State Saturday then they are the West favorite. Wisconsin will improve and the Gophers are still a question mark on defense (gave up at least 5 big plays Thursday) and Mo is out.
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iowa had like 300 yards against a bad Indiana defense. Slow your roll
 

WriterGoph said:
PJ said they didn't blitz more against OSU because Stroud was getting it out very quick and OSU had good play design that would have exposed the blitzes more.

Missed assignments on at least 3-4 of the 6 big plays. He is not concerned as those are all correctable
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Leslie Frazier said the same thing after every loss
 

howeda7 said:
Isn't every Iowa-Iowa state game 10-7 or close to it?
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Last 20 matchups:

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I dunno, Petras and the wrs for Iowa are still liabilities in my eyes. If the running game, which I think is good not amazing, isn’t clicking this could be a major issue even in games where their defense does well.
 

Week 1 is just not enough to make these kind of conclusions.

IU offense was badly misfiring. Penix gifted them several interceptions. I think I heard the TV guy say at one point they could've had 6 INTs if the Iowa defenders hadn't dropped three of them at that point.


The next five weeks they have:
@ Iowa State
Kent State - former Wisconsin player is HC, could be a MAC front-runner, will be interested to see how they do here, should be a win but by how much?
Colo State - they are not very good
@ Maryland
Penn State


We'll have a much better picture at this point about who Iowa is this year. They then get a week off before going into their Heartland Trophy game in Madison.
 

cncmin said:
ack lol. corrected.
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Ah, Maryland, yes, based on recruiting rankings they should be more successful although they still managed to beat us in 3 of the last 5.
 

cjbfbp said:
Ah, Maryland, yes, based on recruiting rankings they should be more successful although they still managed to beat us in 3 of the last 5.
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Beat West Virginia. Will be interesting to see what they do.

Like pretty much every team still. It's only Week 1, lol
 


MplsGopher said:
Every team in the West has had an Iowa and Wisconsin problem, since the formation of the West.

Except NW a couple times, even though they apparently have a horrible HC ...
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Iowa has a very big Wisconsin, Purdue, & NW problem. Iowa struggles to score against Wisconsin and NW and Purdue is the one West program that seems to have Iowa's D completely figured out. Until those problems are fixed Iowa is still in line for 2nd/3rd in the West.
 

btowngopher said:
I dunno, Petras and the wrs for Iowa are still liabilities in my eyes. If the running game, which I think is good not amazing, isn’t clicking this could be a major issue even in games where their defense does well.
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I agree completely. Thats why I'm not ready to say Iowa is anything or isn't anything. The Gophers held up okay up front against the run but struggled more vs the pass. The Badgers played very well against the run and terrible vs the pass. These are the obvious top 3 teams in the West. Iowa's strength is also the other top 2 teams strengths on defense. Their weakness is the other top 2 teams weaknesses on defense. As MPLS said, its week 1. Long way to go.
 


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