Syracuse fans reacting to Minnesota fans reacting to playing Syracuse

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The thought that the gopher football season was anything but mediocre this year is quite funny.

Purdue was a mediocre football team and won the west.
 

RememberMurray said:
No, not correct. Mediocre is average or slightly below average. Just outside the top third in P5 qualifies as above average, clearly.

Again, 4 major computer-based (objective) rankings services ranked the Gophers as follows among all 131 FBS teams...

ESPN Football Power Index: #19 of 131
Sagarin: #23 of 131
Massey Composite: #31 of 131
College Football at Sports Reference Simple Rating System: #32 of 131

These computer-based, objective rankings indicate we are definitely well above mediocre.
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Comparing to all FBS is desperate. Be real. Yes, we could dominate in the Sun Belt. oh boy! I used the P5 #s because I wanted to have a real conversation.

I guess if you consider everything over the middle to not be mediocre then you have a point. That seems a pretty loose measure to me. I think of mediocre as moderate, in the middle, ordinary, so-so, meh. That’s what we were this year. You seem very impressed by wins over teams with losing records. I’m not.
 

WAGopher said:
Mediocre is below average. You are interpreting the definition incorrectly.

Let’s take the definition you posted from the Cambridge Dictionary:
just acceptable but not good; not good enough:
ordinary and not very good:

1st part: just acceptable but not good;
Just in this case means barely (As noted in the both the Merriam-Webster and Oxford dictionaries (I don’t have the Cambridge to reference).

So replace just with barely and the definition may be clearer: barely acceptable but not good

Also the definition also contains:
Not good
Not good enough
Not very good
All of which are below average definitions.

Merriam’s definition for Kids may be the clearest:
Mediocre is: Not very good

No matter the definition, an 8-4 season is not mediocre.
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Spot on.
 


hungan1 said:
Let it all simmer down, and let's play football!
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I think that is just what the doctor ordered here.

Let's not forget, this was a very good defense this year. It would have been even better if we had put more pressure on the opposing QB's but statistically, this was one of our best years in modern, non leather-helmet wearing memory.

It was also good seeing a top RB like Ibrahim play this year and the emergence of QB AK who gives hope for next year and beyond. This could have been one of the best years ever and I think this is what has Gopher fans so disappointed. Losses to Purdue (where Ibrahim didn't play and a series of blunders happened) and a game vs. Iowa where we got outcoached really stick in a lot of people's craws. Those losses should not have happened and had we won those games we would be looking pretty good right now. Losses to Illinois and Penn St. where we simply got beat and lost to the better team did not help, either.

I don't think we have a mediocre team, but we have mediocre results and that's all that matters. We shall see in the bowl game if the team I think we have shows up or if a mediocre team plays a blah game and loses to Syracuse. If that's the case, then we played in the bowl game we should have or maybe even played in one better than we deserved.
 


WAGopher said:
Mediocre is below average. You are interpreting the definition incorrectly.

Let’s take the definition you posted from the Cambridge Dictionary:
just acceptable but not good; not good enough:
ordinary and not very good:

1st part: just acceptable but not good;
Just in this case means barely (As noted in the both the Merriam-Webster and Oxford dictionaries (I don’t have the Cambridge to reference).

So replace just with barely and the definition may be clearer: barely acceptable but not good

Also the definition also contains:
Not good
Not good enough
Not very good
All of which are below average definitions.

Merriam’s definition for Kids may be the clearest:
Mediocre is: Not very good

No matter the definition, an 8-4 season is not mediocre.
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I think we should strictly use the dictionary for kids here.
 






Spoofin said:
Comparing to all FBS is desperate. Be real. Yes, we could dominate in the Sun Belt. oh boy! I used the P5 #s because I wanted to have a real conversation.

I guess if you consider everything over the middle to not be mediocre then you have a point. That seems a pretty loose measure to me. I think of mediocre as moderate, in the middle, ordinary, so-so, meh. That’s what we were this year. You seem very impressed by wins over teams with losing records. I’m not.
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I disagree with your take on Brohm vs PJ but glad you're back posting on the football board.
 

MinnGopher said:
Spoof is back baby!! C'mon Murray-he wants to have a real conversation!
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Nebraska is in the top half of FBS teams according to Sagarin. They are also better than mediocre? That is not a real conversation. Then again, they did beat a team with a winning record 🤷‍♂️
 

Spoofin said:
Nebraska is in the top half of FBS teams according to Sagarin. They are also better than mediocre? That is not a real conversation. Then again, they did beat a team with a winning record 🤷‍♂️
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Finally, something we can agree upon:

This is not a real conversation.

Way too many straw men.
 




GophersInIowa said:
Can we just agree that this thread is mediocre?
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Ha!

It is pretty silly to argue whether the 2022 Gophers were mediocre when we can't agree on the definition of the word.

I seem to recall Spoof has said he's fine with me thinking they were somewhat better than mediocre, and he's certainly entitled to think they were mediocre. So... not much more to say.
 


I have nothing against Syracuse. I'd probably have the same reaction if we were playing North Carolina, knowing that they're on the schedule the next few seasons.

But counting this bowl game, since 2012, the Gophers will have played Syracuse the same number of times as they've played Indiana......

I'd have to imagine in the past 30 years, there's no Power-5 non-conference team the Gophers have played more than Syracuse.
 

FireDaveLee said:
I have nothing against Syracuse. I'd probably have the same reaction if we were playing North Carolina, knowing that they're on the schedule the next few seasons.

But counting this bowl game, since 2012, the Gophers will have played Syracuse the same number of times as they've played Indiana......

I'd have to imagine in the past 30 years, there's no Power-5 non-conference team the Gophers have played more than Syracuse.
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Interesting. We need a rivalry trophy for this opponent!
 

Spoofin said:
Interesting. We need a rivalry trophy for this opponent!
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Brilliant!!!! We already have the jug, the pig, the ax and the bell. Lots of clever ideas I am sure but maybe borrowing from the Stonecutters on the Simpsons we could have the Rock of Triumph for the winner!! (The loser could get the Rock of Shame.)
 

VisitingCuseFan said:
This x100… was personally banned from that forum because I pointed out the clear political bias and flagging/censorship of any opposing views. Also remember Syracuse is not anywhere close on a map to NYC even though we tell our recruits we are New Yorks college team. So Bob L, you are correct. Those who run syracusefan and spend every minute of every day on there are sheltered and do not have to deal with the scary realities that currently plague NYC. But please don’t group all of New York State in with them or with New York City. There is much more to our beautiful state than the armpit, and we carried the House of Representatives as well this year. Safe travels to anyone going to the game, thank you for allowing debate of ideas on this forum, and skol vikes!
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Holy crap dude, we were banned for the same reason! Orange79 is particularly bad in this regard, though they all suck. I wonder how many political conservatives were purged from that forum for the crime of expressing their opinion.
 

VisitingCuseFan said:
This x100… was personally banned from that forum because I pointed out the clear political bias and flagging/censorship of any opposing views. Also remember Syracuse is not anywhere close on a map to NYC even though we tell our recruits we are New Yorks college team. So Bob L, you are correct. Those who run syracusefan and spend every minute of every day on there are sheltered and do not have to deal with the scary realities that currently plague NYC. But please don’t group all of New York State in with them or with New York City. There is much more to our beautiful state than the armpit, and we carried the House of Representatives as well this year. Safe travels to anyone going to the game, thank you for allowing debate of ideas on this forum, and skol vikes!
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NYC should be its own state. Being serious.

Will never happen, of course, any more than DC being its own state will ever happen.
 

Spoofin said:
Great point. So in your opinion, who was the best team we beat this year? Wisconsin? Are they not mediocre? What is our baseline here? 😂
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This is an inconvenient truth of this season. Our wins are: NM State, Western ILL, Colorado, Mich State, Rutgers, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Wisconsin.

Can easily argue that this year Mich State and Wisconsin were well down, and Neb and NW were historically bad. Rutgers last place in the East.


Mich State and Wisc are our best wins "on paper". We lost to everyone good in the West, got crushed at Penn State, and avoided the three other "good" teams from the East altogether.


Three cupcakes non-conf.


Almost unbelievable how "easy" the schedule was this year. We'll never get that again.
 


And Iowa was well down too, of course we still found a way to lose to them.


That's 9 opponents out of 12, that are either outright "easy" or significantly "easier" than they have been.

You're right that we shouldn't say never, but damn.


Purdue and Illinois had nice seasons, and so did Penn State.
 

Gophers_4life said:
This is an inconvenient truth of this season. Our wins are: NM State, Western ILL, Colorado, Mich State, Rutgers, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Wisconsin.

Can easily argue that this year Mich State and Wisconsin were well down, and Neb and NW were historically bad. Rutgers last place in the East.


Mich State and Wisc are our best wins "on paper". We lost to everyone good in the West, got crushed at Penn State, and avoided the three other "good" teams from the East altogether.


Three cupcakes non-conf.


Almost unbelievable how "easy" the schedule was this year. We'll never get that again.
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It'd be hard to argue that Minnesota had a "great" season, but that "historically bad" Nebraska team beat Iowa a couple weeks after losing to Minnesota. That "well down" Wisconsin team beat Purdue and Maryland. MSU beat Illinois while short several starters. There are zero gimmies in the B1G, and while I'm as disappointed as anyone that MN puked away chances to beat Purdue and Iowa, beating the teams they did should NOT be taken for granted, IMO...regardless of final record.
 

Gophers_4life said:
This is an inconvenient truth of this season. Our wins are: NM State, Western ILL, Colorado, Mich State, Rutgers, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Wisconsin.

Can easily argue that this year Mich State and Wisconsin were well down, and Neb and NW were historically bad. Rutgers last place in the East.


Mich State and Wisc are our best wins "on paper". We lost to everyone good in the West, got crushed at Penn State, and avoided the three other "good" teams from the East altogether.


Three cupcakes non-conf.


Almost unbelievable how "easy" the schedule was this year. We'll never get that again.
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That's exactly where I struggle with this year. Was it a disaster? No. But to me it is the season of lost opportunity - especially with a single-division B1G on the horizon.
 

Spoofin said:
That's exactly where I struggle with this year. Was it a disaster? No. But to me it is the season of lost opportunity - especially with a single-division B1G on the horizon.
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I don't think the single division thing matters. It will just mean fewer 2+ loss West teams getting shit kicked out of them in the championship game by OSU or MI.
 

Panthadad2 said:
I don't think the single division thing matters. It will just mean fewer 2+ loss West teams getting shit kicked out of them in the championship game by OSU or MI.
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A chip and a chair.....
 

Spoofin said:
That's exactly where I struggle with this year. Was it a disaster? No. But to me it is the season of lost opportunity - especially with a single-division B1G on the horizon.
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This is reasonable. Absolutely a lost opportunity. At the same time, I don't think it's fair to downplay what the team DID accomplish this year. They replaced 4 starters on the OL, played without QB1 for half the conference games and WR1 for the entire conference season, again landed in the top 10 nationally in total D. Trust me, I was quite upset at the losses to PU and Iowa especially, but on the whole I'm very upbeat about this program and more proud to be a fan now than during my 43 years on this earth. Winning B1G games ain't easy -- regardless of opponent.
 

MGGopher said:
This is reasonable. Absolutely a lost opportunity. At the same time, I don't think it's fair to downplay what the team DID accomplish this year. They replaced 4 starters on the OL, played without QB1 for half the conference games and WR1 for the entire conference season, again landed in the top 10 nationally in total D. Trust me, I was quite upset at the losses to PU and Iowa especially, but on the whole I'm very upbeat about this program and more proud to be a fan now than during my 43 years on this earth. Winning B1G games ain't easy -- regardless of opponent.
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I get what you are saying, but I'm less impressed with this year than you are. To me that 8-4 record is mostly smoke and mirrors. 🤷‍♂️ Then again, winning in Madison is always a big deal.....
 


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