BTN's Tom Dienhart: Biggest Disappointment (Minn); Stock Down (Minn); Minn Grade (C-)

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Dienhart:

Biggest disappointment: Minnesota. The 6-2 Golden Gophers were rolling, winners of four in a row and off to a 3-0 start in the Big Ten with dreams of the West Division title. But Minnesota blew a flat at Illinois, losing 28-24. And the toughest part of the Gophers’ schedule is coming up: Iowa; Ohio State; at Nebraska; at Wisconsin. Could this team end up 6-6?

STOCK DOWN

Minnesota. The Gophers committed three turnovers, missed a field goal and saw Illinois score a defensive touchdown to win the game. All of that torpedoed Minnesota in a 28-24 loss in Champaign. That ended a four-game winning skein for the Gophers, who are 6-2 and face four daunting games to end the season. A win would have made Minnesota 4-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 1967.

WEEK 9 GRADES

Illinois: B+
Maryland: F
Michigan: D
Michigan State: A-
Minnesota: C-
Nebraska: A-
Ohio State: B
Penn State: B-
Rutgers: D
Wisconsin: A

http://btn.com/2014/10/26/toms-take-week-9-big-ten-grades-honors-numbers-stock-watch/

Go Gophers!!
 

Get ready to rip me for being a Gopher apologist, but here is an observation. It seems funny to me that the power rankings from week to week take teams from being a 4 to an 8 after one loss and similar after a win. How come nobody is talking about OSU needing 2 OTs to beat PSU? Did we forget about the VT loss? How come after yesterday WIS and NEB are the two superior West teams, when before WIS was declining? Did WIS not lose to NW and barely scrape by what was supposed to be an easy non-conference schedule? Did we forget NEB barely beat a FCS team in the last minute? I suppose if Iowa wins next week, they will be a contender even though they lost to a Maryland team that got destroyed. The loss to IL is inexcusable and should not happen, but there is something to the any given Saturday phrase. Historically didn't a bad Gopher team beat WIS in the 93 Rose Bowl year? I'm not throwing in the towel yet.
 

patrick08 said:
Get ready to rip me for being a Gopher apologist, but here is an observation. It seems funny to me that the power rankings from week to week take teams from being a 4 to an 8 after one loss and similar after a win. How come nobody is talking about OSU needing 2 OTs to beat PSU? Did we forget about the VT loss? How come after yesterday WIS and NEB are the two superior West teams, when before WIS was declining? Did WIS not lose to NW and barely scrape by what was supposed to be an easy non-conference schedule? Did we forget NEB barely beat a FCS team in the last minute? I suppose if Iowa wins next week, they will be a contender even though they lost to a Maryland team that got destroyed. The loss to IL is inexcusable and should not happen, but there is something to the any given Saturday phrase. Historically didn't a bad Gopher team beat WIS in the 93 Rose Bowl year? I'm not throwing in the towel yet.
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The one week sports news cycle is always like this. Just enormous overreactions. The funny part about all of this to me is that it seems nobody had noticed the next 4 games on the schedule until this week. It's almost like Dienhart is saying that the Gophers are worse than they were last week because of the next 4 games.

FWIW, Wisconsin outscored its non-conf opponents 150-58; not really 'barely scraping by.'
 

BleedGopher said:
per Dienhart:


WEEK 9 GRADES

Illinois: B+
Maryland: F
Michigan: D
Michigan State: A-
Minnesota: C-
Nebraska: A-
Ohio State: B
Penn State: B-
Rutgers: D
Wisconsin: A

http://btn.com/2014/10/26/toms-take-week-9-big-ten-grades-honors-numbers-stock-watch/

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

I do think this puts the loss in somewhat better perspective. We did lose a game we were expected to win, but we didn't lay the biggest dump in the conference. I'm pretty sure I would feel worse as a Maryland fan.
 

BleedGopher said:
per Dienhart:

Biggest disappointment: Minnesota. The 6-2 Golden Gophers were rolling, winners of four in a row and off to a 3-0 start in the Big Ten with dreams of the West Division title. But Minnesota blew a flat at Illinois, losing 28-24. And the toughest part of the Gophers’ schedule is coming up: Iowa; Ohio State; at Nebraska; at Wisconsin. Could this team end up 6-6?

STOCK DOWN

Minnesota. The Gophers committed three turnovers, missed a field goal and saw Illinois score a defensive touchdown to win the game. All of that torpedoed Minnesota in a 28-24 loss in Champaign. That ended a four-game winning skein for the Gophers, who are 6-2 and face four daunting games to end the season. A win would have made Minnesota 4-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 1967.

WEEK 9 GRADES

Illinois: B+
Maryland: F
Michigan: D
Michigan State: A-
Minnesota: C-
Nebraska: A-
Ohio State: B
Penn State: B-
Rutgers: D
Wisconsin: A

http://btn.com/2014/10/26/toms-take-week-9-big-ten-grades-honors-numbers-stock-watch/

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

That all seems reasonable.
 


How do the gophers get a better grade for losing to Illinois than Rutgers does for losing in Lincoln?
 



Some guy said:
An 18 point loss to a team favored by 20 is not a worse loss than any loss to a team that was 1-24 in its previous 25 big ten games.
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Wow is that a reach! A loss where you were ahead with 6;33 to go is a better effort than getting a TD with 5:11 to cut the margin to a 3-touchdown loss. Unless you base everything on gambling or how a loss "hurts".
 



Iceland12 said:
Wow is that a reach! A loss where you were ahead with 6;33 to go is a better effort than getting a TD with 5:11 to cut the margin to a 3-touchdown loss. Unless you base everything on gambling or how a loss "hurts".
Click to expand...
So you think all losses are created equal regardless of opponent?

So a close lose to an FCS team would be better than getting blown out by a top 15 team?

Agree to disagree I guess.


That was Illinois' first win over a big ten team that didnt finish 0-8 in conference play since 2011.
 

Some guy said:
So you think all losses are created equal regardless of opponent?

So a close lose to an FCS team would be better than getting blown out by a top 15 team?

Agree to disagree I guess.


That was Illinois' first win over a big ten team that didnt finish 0-8 in conference play since 2011.[/QUOTE

:horse:
Click to expand...
 

Some guy said:
So you think all losses are created equal regardless of opponent?


That was Illinois' first win over a big ten team that didnt finish 0-8 in conference play since 2011.
Click to expand...

Well then I would say that they were about due to break out of that slump.

I think some posters on here must be extreme Calvinists in their thinking. You are either predestined to be worthy or worthless and nothing you can do changes that. "It is written" as the arab tribesmen said in Lawrence of Arabia.
 

Do you actually disagree with me though?

Do you think Rutgers had a worse loss than the gophers?

All I said was a loss to a bad team is almost always worse than a loss on the road to a good team. Do you agree or disagree?
 



Gotta go with Some guy on this one. Losing to a bad team like the Illini is way worse than getting beat by Nebraska by 18. Waaaaaaay worse.
Good news? Season aint over yet.

Get the Pig!
 

Dienhart and his ilk are masters of exaggeration. Overstating any team's situation, positive or negative, almost assures great follow-up material when reality sets in. It's a lot easier than digging deeper than wins and losses and making an accurate analysis. Even better, exaggeration provides what is often the toughest thing to come by: Grist for the writers mill.
 

Per Dienhart's Q&A:

So, do you really think the Gophers could finish 6 -6? Yes, the loss to Illinois wasn’t good, and the Gophers have their flaws. But none of their remaining opponents, in my opinion, are the traditional powers they used to be. Minnesota’s defense is still strong, and their offense can do enough to win games. I know the Gophers aren’t used to success, but 6-6 seems a little extreme. – Paul

Minnesota is 6-2 right now. And it has games left vs. Iowa, vs. Ohio State, at Nebraska, at Wisconsin. The Gophers seemingly would have a good shot to beat Iowa; in fact, Iowa is 1-2 in its last three junkets to Minneapolis. But the Hawkeyes sat on the Gophers last year. The other three games look very daunting. And as for Minnesota’s “still strong” defense, the unit has been hit pretty hard the last two times out vs. Purdue (38 points) and Illinois (28).

http://btn.com/2014/10/27/big-ten-mailbag-why-is-everybody-counting-out-nebraska/

Go Gophers!!
 

I agree that I do not think the gophers finish 6-6. They should win at least one more.


I think the gophers have to get to 8 to make this season another step forward (including the bowl).
 

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