How do you feel about the NC game?

How do you feel about this game?

  • A must win for Gophers

    Votes: 55 64.0%

  • I’m good if Gophers lose

    Votes: 26 30.2%

  • I don’t care about this game

    Votes: 5 5.8%
  • Total voters
    86
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It's not a must win, and I feel better about the game than the ESPN predictor feels about it. UNC feels a bit fraudulant much like MSU early season last year.
 



I think the perception around this team would change drastically with a win. Likely leads to a 5-0 Gophers hosting Michigan on 10/7. Penn State 2019 vibes. Gophers would likely be top 25.

So not a must win but would be a huge win.
 

Said a "must" but really a "needed" win.

Given the gauntlet to come having this one in the W column could go far for the "poise" needed to get that elusive 8th, 9th, or heaven forbid 10th win by the end of November.

As long as they show up will feel good.
 
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You should have at least included a "none of the above" in your poll.

Yes, I care about the game, but it's not a must-win and I'm not "okay" about losing. It's a big opportunity for the Gophers as if they win we'll most likely be ranked and we'll move up in those rankings as we win our next two games. We're hosting Michigan on October 7th, which potentially could make us a College Game Day site again - two undefeated ranked teams with Michigan being 1 or 2 in the standings. The only other big matchup that week is Oklahoma at Texas.
 




Weird poll choices, can't imagine there are fans that don't care about the game and few would be "good" with a loss.

Game isn't a must win game, and I could be ok with a competitive loss, so I guess the second one is closest to how I feel about the game but good is not a good word choice to describe it.

Won't be the end of the world or destroy the season if we lose this weekend. If we win however it will get people's attention and might even be enough to get us into the top 25. Great opportunity for the team this weekend to go on the road and score a big victory.
 

Illinois just went down to a different basketball school, Kansas, and lost on the road 23-34.

If we keep the game competitive but the result is similar … that is just fine. Not at all reason to panic or be pissed off. Season far from over.

If we win, outstanding.

Don’t make it into something more than it is.
 
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It’s a big opportunity game. Don’t really lose much of anything with a loss, but a win gets you a lot.
 

I don't see why it is a must win, but all wins are important towards a special season. Gophers are more than capable of winning this game. Expecting the Gophers win but not going to get down on season if they don't.
 
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I think it's a massive opportunity to get a big road win against a ranked opponent, gain some national exposure, and likely earn a Top 25 ranking with a "W" (and probably climb the polls with two bad opponents after this game).

Winning this game and taking care of business the following two (NW and Louisiana) sets up a Michigan matchup that assuredly would have Penn State vibes of 2019.

Realistically, a loss isn't catastrophic as the main 2023 goal is still 100% intact - Win The Big Ten West.

Losing to Nebraska at home would have been 100X worse than losing to UNC on the road.

Regardless of the final result, it should be a good barometer of this team's upside.
 
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I guess I define “must” different than most on this thread. UNC is the 3rd or 4th best team on the ACC, they are ranked and should be vulnerable after last weeks marathon game against App St. If the Gophers want some national credibility, than this is a must win game. Winning at Chapel Hill is a must jig we want to be taken seriously on the national stage. I hope they can get it done! Go Gophers!
 


We are playing one of the premier college QB’s in the country. The last two games we have played against less than capable throwing QB’s that missed open receivers all over the field, especially guys that had blown by our secondary and luckily the balls weren’t caught. I dont think we will have that luxury this week. UNC is going to put up more points on our defense than we are used to seeing, I only hope our offense is up for the task.
 

MplsGopher said:
Illinois just went down to a different basketball school, Kansas, and lost on the road 23-34.

If we keep the game competitive but the result is similar … that is just fine. Not at all reason to panic or be pissed off. Season far from over.

If we win, outstanding.

Don’t make it into something more than it is.
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But Illinois will be mopping up the bottom of the conference this year and Kansas is a terrible program.
UNC is tough, but this will be a good game. Gopher win 24-21.
 



I didn’t create too many winning vote options because “need to win”, “must win”, “likely to win”, “hopefully we win” are all pretty much saying that we all like us to win.

Interestingly, most posts supported that no big deal that we lose.

I basically wanted to see how y’all felt about this game whether win or lose or don’t care.

I’m getting that we like us to win but if we lose, no big deal.
 

Yes and that’s how it should be for a non-conf game.

I admit that if we could be 5-0 going into likely 5-0 Mich, then yes that would be a 2019 Penn St esque atmosphere.

It could help make the season special, but it won’t break the season.
 


UNC’s coach seems concerned about Fleck’s Tressel-ball approach which is interesting. If Fleck can impose his style of play then it should be a good game. If we try to run the Nebraska game plan against this team then I’ll be pretty bummed.
 

I think we're still figuring out what kind of machine can be built out of the pieces.

Last week the goals were: (1) figure out if you have a rushing attack that can function as the engine of the offense; (2) put nothing that you wouldn't already know about the Gophers on tape; and (3) win.

When looking at Darius Taylor's carries in the first two games, here is what comes out:
(1) 1/3 of his carries go for 2 yards or less (with the mode being 2 yards);
(2) 1/3 of his carries go for 3-5 yards (with the median being 4 yards);
(3) 1/3 of his carries go for 6+ yards; and
(4) he has had no carries for negative yards.

So, if in any succession of 3 straight carries, you expect one carry in each of the above-mentioned categories, you get something like an expectation of 2 yards + 4 yards + 6 yards. Which is a first down with some room for error. That is an early indication that you can use the rushing attack (with Taylor) as an engine for the offense.

Is that what PJ wants to do? Or does he want to install Tyler for his home run capability, and use short passes as the engine? I suspect he'll choose Taylor, but we'll see.

There's been hair-pulling about: (1) the lack of downfield passes; and (2) the red zone offensive play calling. Keep in mind, our initial goal early on is to figure out the engine. What moves the sticks? That'll be either rushing or short passes. (In reality, it's not 100% one or the other, but it'll be 70% one or the other.) So downfield passing has really been extraneous at this point. We don't know what our engine will be. That comes first. Moreover, last week, we were never going to do anything halfway revealing in the passing game, because we wanted to put nothing on tape. So hold your horses.

I think based on what we've seen, we really don't know enough to form a reasonable expectation.
 

Didn’t Fleck bench Tyler last week? Seems unlikely that he would consider featuring him after he put the ball on the ground multiple times.
 


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