What is your single biggest concern for this season?

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Same as every season, Gopher “fans”.
 

Smooth transition to new WRs.

We already discussed the kicking and defensive secondary.

Gophers must play a mistake-free game.

The Gophers must game-plan well.

The defense must show the anticipated improvements.

In summary, play to win!
 




!. RB is not deep enough after Mo
2. Defense is maybe not capable of stopping high-production or power offenses
3. Fleck is a shade above Frost, but not the long-term answer to success for Goldie
4. Schedule is brutal
5. OL depth. OSU, WI are 10-12 deep on their OL's, are we? No.
 

Artemis Pyle said:
!. RB is not deep enough after Mo
2. Defense is maybe not capable of stopping high-production or power offenses
3. Fleck is a shade above Frost, but not the long-term answer to success for Goldie
4. Schedule is brutal
5. OL depth. OSU, WI are 10-12 deep on their OL's, are we? No.
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Appreciate you sharing, but I've gotta disagree with several of these.

1. RB room is deeper than it's ever been. Most people are pretty stoked about Potts. Wiley got a LOT of run last year. Williams got a lot of run in 2019. Irving and Thomas are drawing rave reviews in camp as freshmen. None of them are Mo's level, but he's a top 5 back in the country. IMO, this is a weird concern.

3. "Shade above Frost". What a trollish comment. This team was top 10 in the country in 2019. Frost hasn't even gone to a bowl game. On what planet are they even close?

5. I can't speak to Iowa and Wisconsin depth this year, but again Minnesota has the deepest OL I can remember. 6 all-conference caliber players who have started a ton of games. A transfer from Utah St who was an all-conference player. 3 more guys who played significant snaps last year and another who started a game the Gophers won (and he looked good). So there's 11 who have proven B1G ability. Again, a very odd comment IMO.

Defense and schedule I agree. Caught IU on the upswing, get Iowa on the road, open with a top 4 team in the country, road game at a P5 school...it'll be tough no doubt.
 

Artemis Pyle said:
!. RB is not deep enough after Mo
2. Defense is maybe not capable of stopping high-production or power offenses
3. Fleck is a shade above Frost, but not the long-term answer to success for Goldie
4. Schedule is brutal
5. OL depth. OSU, WI are 10-12 deep on their OL's, are we? No.
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This is probably the weakest post I've read this week.

1. Our best two running backs on this team might be the #5 and #6 guys. Our worst option is is Bryce Williams ends up becoming our feature back (he's #4) and a very solid RB on his own with proven carries and ability to catch the ball. This is probably the deepest RB group we've ever had in the last 40 years from #1-6.

2. Agree

3. At this point there is nothing similar between Frost and Fleck other than the first letter of their last name. Just look at the records, the teams they've beat. Who has met or exceeded their initial expectations. This seems like a trollish comment.

4. Schedules can always look tough until you start playing games. If you start beating teams, and other teams start losing, suddenly schedules don't look so tough anymore.

5. Compared to the last 5 years, our O-line is deper and stronger than it's been during that time frame. For the last 4 years people on here have complained about our O-line depth and it hasn't really been an issue as long as Fleck has been here. He's made it work and they've been above average / good.

So you got 1 - 1.5 of your 5 points right.
 

DB play / pass rush is my biggest concern. If the line can get the push so the DB's look good, then great. If this is an average defensive line, are the DB's good enough to handle it.
 



Biggest concerns 1, 2, and 3 are kicking, kick coverage, and punt coverage.
 

My biggest concern about this season is getting blown out in two days. Win it, fight them, and all is good.

A blowout takes all the air out of Gopher football. I'm concerned about this because of OSU's talent. We are on stage by ourselves on Thursday with a lot riding on how we play.
 

kg21 said:
My biggest concern about this season is getting blown out in two days. Win it, fight them, and all is good.

A blowout takes all the air out of Gopher football. I'm concerned about this because of OSU's talent. We are on stage by ourselves on Thursday with a lot riding on how we play.
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If they get blown out and then win the next 7 or something no one cares about the 1. Just can’t let it carry over to the future games if they are blown out.
 

This is EASY:

That Sanford is the new Robb Smith.

Left, right, and center. I fear that he's going to do here what he did at Western Kentucky and Utah State.


Hope he figures it out.
 



kg21 said:
My biggest concern about this season is getting blown out in two days. Win it, fight them, and all is good.

A blowout takes all the air out of Gopher football. I'm concerned about this because of OSU's talent. We are on stage by ourselves on Thursday with a lot riding on how we play.
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I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, if we think 2019 represented where we are now at and 2020 was a weird year, then we should expect a team that at least looks like it belongs on the same field as OSU, so a blowout loss would be deflating from that perspective.

On the other hand, a loss is a loss, and however that loss looks, it is just one data point. If we get blown out by OSU, but it is one of 3 or less losses in a season where we go 10-3 or better, I'll be happy about the season and whether or not one of those 3 or fewer losses was a blowout to OSU won't really bother me. If we are a Mason/Kill/Claeys level 7-9 win team (including postseason), I'll be pretty disappointed, and looking back and saying "but at .least we held OSU close" won't do much for me.

Of course, all of this is academic, because we are less than 72 hours away from being 1-0 with a big win against OSU under our belt.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, if we think 2019 represented where we are now at and 2020 was a weird year, then we should expect a team that at least looks like it belongs on the same field as OSU, so a blowout loss would be deflating from that perspective.

On the other hand, a loss is a loss, and however that loss looks, it is just one data point. If we get blown out by OSU, but it is one of 3 or less losses in a season where we go 10-3 or better, I'll be happy about the season and whether or not one of those 3 or fewer losses was a blowout to OSU won't really bother me. If we are a Mason/Kill/Claeys level 7-9 win team (including postseason), I'll be pretty disappointed, and looking back and saying "but at .least we held OSU close" won't do much for me.

Of course, all of this is academic, because we are less than 72 hours away from being 1-0 with a big win against OSU under our belt.
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Loving it!
 

Winning seven games, including Wisconsin - given last year's opening games on defense, the tough road schedule this year (Colorado, then NW, Iowa and Indiana in a row). Plus Illinois will be better, and Gophers open with Ohio State, which played Alabama for the national championship earlier this year.
 

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