Kosko: Big Ten football 2022: Predicting every team's final record (Minnesota: 9-3 (6-3))

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Kosko:

Big Ten West
2. Minnesota

Final record: 9-3 (6-3)

The biggest question residing in Minnesota in 2022 is if P.J. Fleck and the Gophers can recapture the 2019 magic. They’ll certainly get close but a season ending loss to Wisconsin will end the Big Ten title aspirations. It’ll be a successful year for a veteran-ladened team, but ultimately, 10 wins in the regular season won’t happen. A good bowl game to end the year? Sure. But not a conference championship for the first time under Fleck. The boats can only be rowed so far.

247sports.com

Big Ten football 2022: Predicting every team's final record

...
247sports.com 247sports.com

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
per Kosko:

Big Ten West
2. Minnesota

Final record: 9-3 (6-3)

The biggest question residing in Minnesota in 2022 is if P.J. Fleck and the Gophers can recapture the 2019 magic. They’ll certainly get close but a season ending loss to Wisconsin will end the Big Ten title aspirations. It’ll be a successful year for a veteran-ladened team, but ultimately, 10 wins in the regular season won’t happen. A good bowl game to end the year? Sure. But not a conference championship for the first time under Fleck. The boats can only be rowed so far.

247sports.com

Big Ten football 2022: Predicting every team's final record

...
247sports.com 247sports.com

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...
Imagine just a few years ago being somewhat disappointed in a 9-3 prediction because it means MN didn't win the West. Man, this program has come a long way. Excited for the season!
 
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MGGopher said:
Imagine just a few years ago being somewhat disappointed in a 9-3 prediction because it means MN didn't win the West. Man, this program has come a long way. Excited for the season!
Click to expand...
Yeah, most preseason predictions seem to peg us as contenders these days where in the past we were typically in the also ran crowd when these projections came out.

I do think it is kind of amusing that the writer says in the Wisconsin writeup that they will lose to Iowa and in the Iowa writeup says they will lose to Wisconsin.

Badgers schedule is no cake walk....they have to go to OSU, MSU, Iowa, and Neb.
 

MGGopher said:
Imagine just a few years ago being somewhat disappointed in a 9-3 prediction because it means MN didn't win the West. Man, this program has come a long way. Excited for the season!
Click to expand...
That's what I keep saying - not long ago we would do backflips over the occasional 8 win season. Last year we won 9 and a lot of us were disappointed.
 

I would take that but be disappointed at the same time.

It would make this our best 4 year stretch since the 60s
 


Gophers are the best team in the division. My only issue is do the have the "playmakers" to make it a special season. You need that one or two players who show up every game and make the plays you need to win the games when coaching, inconsistent play, turnovers, etc. don't show up. We have a few contenders but will need them to step up to make this year special (Morgan, Ibrahim, CAB, Wright, Rush, etc.) Otherwise we will end up a game or two shy. I think if one or two players step up and have special seasons we will win the West and be nationally relevant.
 

Going 9-3 means we won at least 3 of @WI, Iowa, @PSU, @MSU, Purdue, and @Nebraska. Would not be a bad season at all IMO.
 

Gophers1992 said:
Going 9-3 means we won at least 3 of @WI, Iowa, @PSU, @MSU, Purdue, and @Nebraska. Would not be a bad season at all IMO.
Click to expand...
Agree. But would be disappointing not to win the west.
As I think we have a better shot in 22 than 23 to win the division. And the divisions are likely going away in 24
 

Why doesn't Wisconsin have division II football?
 




MGGopher said:
Imagine just a few years ago being somewhat disappointed in a 9-3 prediction because it means MN didn't win the West. Man, this program has come a long way. Excited for the season!
Click to expand...
Totally agree. I’d be totally fine with 9-3 if one of the wins is Iowa, but that would probably leave a lot of people saying “what if”…
 


Ryan Burns laid out his Gopher season predictions, which summarized perfectly why we should have an edge against Iowa and WI:

"The Gophers miss both Ohio State and Michigan. Wisconsin gets a road game against the Buckeyes, and Iowa has Michigan (home) and Ohio State (away). Say what you will about Penn State and Michigan State, but I have Michigan and Ohio State within their own tier in the Big Ten. Minnesota missing both is huge."

His comparisons between Tanner Morgan, Spencer Petras, and Graham Mertz were eye-opening in terms of EPA (expected points added) where Morgan bested them by 62 pts and 60 pts respectively.

"But with no Ohio State and Michigan, plus two coordinators who have proven to be legitimate in Ciarrocca and Rossi. It's a Gopher Football team with as much depth as I've ever seen. So I'll say it again for the people in the back...I believe it's enough for the Gophers to punch their first ticket to Indianapolis."

247sports.com

Minnesota Gopher Football 2022 season prediction and preview

Minnesota Gopher Football 2022 season prediction and preview
247sports.com 247sports.com
 



I'm really hoping for a trip to Indy, but if this scenario happened, I wonder what bowl game the Gophers would land in. In 2014, the Gophers made it to New Years Day with an 8-4 record.

Has Minnesota reached a level now where if the Gophers don't reach 10 wins in the regular season they can make a bigger bowl? I looked back over the last few years on what teams were included in larger bowl games with less than 10 wins. Here's what I found. Teams with less than 10 wins in bold.

2015 Outback Bowl - Tennessee (8-4) Vs. Northwestern (10-2)
2015 Citrus Bowl - Michigan (9-3) Vs. Florida (10-3)
2015 Sugar Bowl - Ole Miss (9-3) Vs. Oklahoma State (10-2)
2016 Citrus Bowl - LSU (8-4) Vs. Louisville (9-3)
2016 Outback Bowl - Florida (8-4) Vs. Iowa (8-4)
2016 Orange Bowl - Florida State (9-3) Vs. Michigan (10-2)
2017 Outback Bowl - South Carolina (8-4) Vs. Michigan (8-4)
2017 Citrus Bowl - Notre Dame (9-3) Vs. LSU (9-3)
2018 Outback Bowl - Iowa (8-4) Vs. Mississippi State (8-4)
2018 Citrus Bowl - Kentucky (9-3) Vs. Penn State (9-3)
2018 Peach Bowl - Florida (9-3) Vs. Michigan (10-2)
2019 Orange Bowl - Florida (10-2) Vs. Virginia (9-4)
2019 Citrus Bowl - Alabama (10-2) Vs. Michigan (9-3)
2019 Outback Bowl - Minnesota (10-2) Vs. Auburn (9-3)
2021 Outback Bowl - Arkansas (8-4) Vs. Penn State (7-5)
2021 Citrus Bowl - Iowa (10-3) Vs. Kentucky (9-3)
 

Given the BIG WEST schedules, MN having their two best running backs functional, and a proven OC back it should be deeply disappointing for MN not to win the West, for the stars are rarely so aligned.
 

Plato said:
Given the BIG WEST schedules, MN having their two best running backs functional, and a proven OC back it should be deeply disappointing for MN not to win the West, for the stars are rarely so aligned.
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Purdue is one to keep an eye on schedule wise. Their toughest crossover is in game one at home against Penn State.
 

gophernut1 said:
Gophers are the best team in the division. My only issue is do the have the "playmakers" to make it a special season. You need that one or two players who show up every game and make the plays you need to win the games when coaching, inconsistent play, turnovers, etc. don't show up. We have a few contenders but will need them to step up to make this year special (Morgan, Ibrahim, CAB, Wright, Rush, etc.) Otherwise we will end up a game or two shy. I think if one or two players step up and have special seasons we will win the West and be nationally relevant.
Click to expand...
Ibrahim has to step up? There is not much he has left to prove.
 

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