The 2016 Gophers football season will be a success if...(fill in the blank)


If they do not win the west this season I would consider it a failure.
 

If they do not win the west this season I would consider it a failure.

Unfortunately I agree with this. Senior QB, easiest schedule in years (even with the 9 conference games), a defense by all accounts should be at least on par with previous years all should equal competing for the West title.

#1 though is still beat wisconsin...
#2 Win the west
 

I think if the bolded happens, I would be a little disappointed with an 8-4 record.

Two things specifically for me:
1. Go into the last game of the regular season with a chance to win the west
2. Beat Wisconsin

What many fail to remember is most teams on our schedule tend to chalk 'MINNESOTA' up as a win too. There are things to like about our first line on offense and our D should be solid again, but our margin for error is thin.
 

If they do not win the west this season I would consider it a failure.

If we are 9-3 with a win against Becky I'll call it a success even if we get edged out by Iowa or someone for big ten west.

The flip side of Claeys coming out and saying this is the best team he has had since he arrived is that he probably foresees next year as a drop off. Then add in going back to a regular schedule. Need to accomplish something this year to maintain momentum through some potential lean years ahead.
 


What many fail to remember is most teams on our schedule tend to chalk 'MINNESOTA' up as a win too. There are things to like about our first line on offense and our D should be solid again, but our margin for error is thin.

Just curious. Name the teams on this year's schedule that are assuming they will beat the Gophers.
 

I think think the Gophers have a good shot at winning the West honestly. Obviously I want my hawks to, but much like Iowa had last year, not too bad of a path to get there. I just hope both of our teams have a healthy competitive year! (And that we both beat the Badgers, F those guys)

So yeah, successful Gophers season = Winning the West
 

Just curious. Name the teams on this year's schedule that are assuming they will beat the Gophers.

Here's a stab:
CSU - they'll think they can compete based on last year's OT loss
PSU - for everything going on in Happy Valley, they still recruit good athletes
Iowa - zero reason they wouldn't look at it as a winnable game
Illinois - hard to say we dominated them last year - they'll think they can compete
Nebraska - they pushed us around last year
Northwestern - 27-0?
Wisconsin - I believe there has been a post or two about our extended troubles with Bucky going back to the Clinton administration

In the spirit of competition I'd hope all the teams/athletes think they can beat the Gophers. We are a mediocre P5 program in search of taking the next step. I like our squad at the top of the depth chart, but a lot of question marks too. Maybe I'm simply simply too jaded to be optimistic.
 

8 wins, this can include a bowl game. For example, 7-5 regular season plus bowl win.


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Beat wisconsin I can't remember the last time the U beat the badgers and I want that to change so badly.
 

1. Leidner stays healthy.
2. Win trophy games. In order of priority: Buck Bucky, Turn Miss Piggy into bacon, Cornh@le the De-Tasselers. Prefer to win all three.
 

Couple of things:

1) To everyone saying win the west or it's a failed season: We are currently about 10-1 to win the west and projected by most to win either 6 or 7 games. Temper your expectations a bit.

2) To everyone saying beat Wisconsin or it's a failed season: While I agree it is an important step for this program and a huge game, would you not consider a 9-3 season with two wins out of Iowa, Nebraska, and Penn State a success? That'd make us 9-2 going in to the last game and if that's not successful in your eyes, once again, temper your expectations.

Personally, I'll call this season a success if we can go 8-4, contend for the West into late November, and beat either Wisconsin or Nebraska on the road.


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Here's a stab:
CSU - they'll think they can compete based on last year's OT loss
PSU - for everything going on in Happy Valley, they still recruit good athletes
Iowa - zero reason they wouldn't look at it as a winnable game
Illinois - hard to say we dominated them last year - they'll think they can compete
Nebraska - they pushed us around last year
Northwestern - 27-0?
Wisconsin - I believe there has been a post or two about our extended troubles with Bucky going back to the Clinton administration

In the spirit of competition I'd hope all the teams/athletes think they can beat the Gophers. We are a mediocre P5 program in search of taking the next step. I like our squad at the top of the depth chart, but a lot of question marks too. Maybe I'm simply simply too jaded to be optimistic.

You mention 7 teams. Of which you walked back "think they can compete" or "winnable" for 3 of them, which is a far cry from "chalking up as a win"

And yeah...pedophile U recruits a lot of good athletes. Of their 85 scholarship players, 49 are freshmen. Do you think they've chalked this up as a win?

We've pushed Nebraska around recently as well.

And the wisconsin thing ends this year. Quote me on that.
 



Just curious. Name the teams on this year's schedule that are assuming they will beat the Gophers.

The same teams on the schedule GHolers are assuming the Gophers will beat.


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Stay healthy and be in a position to win every game. Last year was pretty remarkable considering all the top players on the sideline.
 


1. Leidner stays healthy.
2. Win trophy games. In order of priority: Buck Bucky, Turn Miss Piggy into bacon, Cornh@le the De-Tasselers. Prefer to win all three.

Penn St is a trophy game...
 





For me, beyond some nebulous win total I'll feel good if:

1) we can plug in new players at corner and play man well, ie does the future look bright with the young guys. So important for the defense.
2) same story at safety-do we have future playmakers (Ithink we do)
3) Johnson breathes life into the offense
4) beat iowa and Wesconsin (where is this place)

If you pin me down 9 wins would help with recruiting and the next step.
 


Look - the Gophers are coming off a 5-7 regular season last year, and barely beat a MAC team in a low-tier bowl game. Nobody is shaking in their boots and saying, "oh no, we have to play the Gophers. We're screwed - we have no chance to win!" I think it's more likely that anyone on the Gophers' schedule is saying "we can beat these guys if we play well and take advantage of opportunities."

I think the Gophers can have a good season - but there are no guarantees and no gimmes. They can potentially win any game on the schedule - but they can also potentially lose any game on the schedule. right now, everyone is 0-0. after the first week of the season, one team will be 1-0, and the other team will be 0-1. by 11:30pm or so on September 1st, we'll know which is which.
 

Nine wins will make for a successful season which, barring a rash of injuries, should be doable given our schedule. Winning all three of our trophy games against the skunks, hog-eyes and Cornhuskers will make for a wildly successful season.
 

You mention 7 teams. Of which you walked back "think they can compete" or "winnable" for 3 of them, which is a far cry from "chalking up as a win"

And yeah...pedophile U recruits a lot of good athletes. Of their 85 scholarship players, 49 are freshmen. Do you think they've chalked this up as a win?

We've pushed Nebraska around recently as well.

And the wisconsin thing ends this year. Quote me on that.

Penn State has every right to expect a win if they play well. They were 7-6 (4-4) last year, we were 6-7 (2-6).

You can't say "we've pushed Nebraska around recently as well" without mentioning we needed a 51 yard Santoso field goal and beautiful Cedric Thompson INT to beat a terrible Purdue team at home as well as laying an egg at Illinois in the same season we "pushed Nebraksa around". I'm just being realistic with how the world looks in at our Gophers. We're not consistently a top 1/3 tier Big Ten team yet. What I do like is we're coming off a season where we beat the teams we should have, and our 7 losses were to teams a combined 70-20 (+/- a few wins/losses - heard this on BTN Live Gopher coverage).
 







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