Ask a Gopher Fan (and receive legit responses)

[Oleboy41]

Add Dwight Freeney to your list. He will be in the Hall of Fame someday.

forgot about him

 

[Trueblue25]

Kieth Bullock, Will Allen, Chandler Jones, Mike Williams, Arthur Jones and Donovan Darius!! Just to name a few more.

 

[Oleboy41]

In 2003 MN had their first 10 win season since 1903...Understand we have not been very good since 2003 (not 1903) (Dwight Freeney) and the mid 90's (McNabb, Harrison, Kevin Johnson, Konrad, etc.) But you have to know about John Mackey, Jim Brown, Art Monk, Ernie Davis, Floyd Little, Joe Morris, Larry Csonka, Moose Johnston, Gary Anderson, Rob Moore, Quadry Ismael, Don McPherson, Marvin Graves?

The move to the ACC will help us return to a top 25 program in time, the Big East killed us for years (good luck with Rutgers and Maryland). Everything is cyclical look how long Bama was down as was Miami as is Nebraska, etc...

Bunch of great players there

 

[Trueblue25]

Its mediocre honestly. Once we're inside the 2 our coaches love the QB sneak which is why we have so many rushing TDs with our QBs. We don't have a real redzone target WR right now and none that can get open consistently right now and our best receiving threat is our RS frosh TE. So we generally try to pound it in when we get in the redzone with mixed results. Cobb has a tendency to dance a little bit in the hole as he's a patient, find the hole type of back but on the goal line that's led to some negative plays. If we played well in the RZ we'd have beaten MSU but it's been a struggle.

The more and more I converse with rational Minnesota fans...the more and more our teams seem similar.

 

[Goldy]

Just so we're up front about it: We played Penn State and NW out of conference, while you played UNLV and SJSU. Now, I realize you guys beat those B1G teams - but I think we can agree that if you added two BCS level schools in place of those two - there'd be a chance you'd end up with two more losses. 6-6.

UNLV and SJSU are better than NCState and Wake Forest. I'd be comfortable in saying if we swapped those games, we'd have the same record as we do now.

And just to clarify, I think MN-Syracuse are extremely even. I just don't like diminishing their record.

 

[jkm54]

Well yes of course if we played better teams there'd be a better chance that we'd lose those games. There's also a chance that we'd win those games especially if they were of the same quality of teams as PSU and NW. Who knows. Also for as much as some have tried to call MN 'self inflated' it seems that some (not all) Cuse fans are really getting offended by a fan saying they were hoping to play a tougher team. That's not disrespect to Cuse, its a mere reflection on the record and wishing our favorite team would get an opponent that would bring more national attention as well as getting a chance to 'play up' a level to earn respect. I don't think any rational fan thinks this game is a push over as Cuse is a bowl eligible team from a major conference and that's never easy. Not to mention that we've played 2 tough games with you in the last 5 years already. That's part of the reason for the 'meh' as we've already played you twice and wanted someone different which is part of the fun of bowl games. Shoot the same could be said for you guys. If MN fans got the bowl they wanted and you guys got matched with Iowa, Nebraska or Michigan I doubt many of you would be upset you didn't get to play MN. Shoot I'd bet most of you would take those matchups in a heartbeat over us. Why? Because those are higher profile programs that would give you more of a 'boost' by beating. If you beat MN you'll feel good but who will care nationally? Who will say 'man we better look out for Cuse since they beat MN'? Probably nobody. Same for us. It would've been more of a 'boost' for us to play and beat an SEC team or a BC team with a Heisman candidate and that's all folks are saying. Don't take it so personal.

The more I think about it, I get the disappointment. For one, we've played recently, and Minnesota won both. For you guys, it's been there, done that. Secondly, if Minnesota loses, Minnesota loses to a 6-6 team and takes a little wind out of the sails of an 8 win season. It has the potential to be a deflating loss, if it goes that way.

For us, we're thrilled we ended up in a bowl, period. Second, we're thrilled we're playing a BCS opponent. Third, we're a bit fueled by the fact that you guys have won the last 2 against us in what we feel were disgusting efforts by our squad. So we're looking at this as a chance at redemption. We'll see how it goes.

 

[TheCusian]

Well yes of course if we played better teams there'd be a better chance that we'd lose those games. There's also a chance that we'd win those games especially if they were of the same quality of teams as PSU and NW. Who knows. Also for as much as some have tried to call MN 'self inflated' it seems that some (not all) Cuse fans are really getting offended by a fan saying they were hoping to play a tougher team. That's not disrespect to Cuse, its a mere reflection on the record and wishing our favorite team would get an opponent that would bring more national attention as well as getting a chance to 'play up' a level to earn respect. I don't think any rational fan thinks this game is a push over as Cuse is a bowl eligible team from a major conference and that's never easy. Not to mention that we've played 2 tough games with you in the last 5 years already. That's part of the reason for the 'meh' as we've already played you twice and wanted someone different which is part of the fun of bowl games. Shoot the same could be said for you guys. If MN fans got the bowl they wanted and you guys got matched with Iowa, Nebraska or Michigan I doubt many of you would be upset you didn't get to play MN. Shoot I'd bet most of you would take those matchups in a heartbeat over us. Why? Because those are higher profile programs that would give you more of a 'boost' by beating. If you beat MN you'll feel good but who will care nationally? Who will say 'man we better look out for Cuse since they beat MN'? Probably nobody. Same for us. It would've been more of a 'boost' for us to play and beat an SEC team or a BC team with a Heisman candidate and that's all folks are saying. Don't take it so personal.

I'll give you that argument, I guess. Given our record we were pretty pleased to see anyone from a BCS level conference. The crazy thing is had we won the 1 point loss to Pitt - we'd be in an ACC affiliated bowl and it would all be a moot point.

I will say any bowl win against a BCS school is a good win for the program - and if you guys take us lightly, or play like we're that much worse than you - watch out. We'd much rather take the small accolades found in beating a middle of the road B1G team over losing any day. I'd imagine you want the same for your guys over a middle of the road ACC school.

 

[Oleboy41]

I'll give you that argument, I guess. Given our record we were pretty pleased to see anyone from a BCS level conference. The crazy thing is had we won the 1 point loss to Pitt - we'd be in an ACC affiliated bowl and it would all be a moot point.

I will say any bowl win against a BCS school is a good win for the program - and if you guys take us lightly, or play like we're that much worse than you - watch out. We'd much rather take the small accolades found in beating a middle of the road B1G team over losing any day. I'd imagine you want the same for your guys over a middle of the road ACC school.

I doubt our coaches and players will take Cuse lightly. Most of the guys playing played a tough game at home against you guys last year for one so its almost like playing a conference opponent (and don't think for a second the coaches aren't bringing that up). Second the staff has been preaching the importance of getting that 9th win which is unfortunately a rarity for our program. Also while this team is much improved we're not a team that's been blowing folks out or has any reason to think they can just walk in and beat anyone by showing up. The NW game was close. The Nebraska game was competitive and they mounted a bit of a comeback late. We were killing Indiana 35-13 and they came all the way back to take a 38-35 lead on us. We've competed well with really good teams like WI and MSU but we haven't done anything this year for our team to have any sort of overconfidence. We're not FSU vs NIU last year. Plus we've lost 2 in a row, 2 games they thought they could win but just didn't execute offensively against 2 very good, senior laden defenses so they'll have plenty of motivation. Lastly they went to this bowl last year and lost so you know they're preaching the 'take the next step' message

 

[TheCusian]

UNLV and SJSU are better than NCState and Wake Forest. I'd be comfortable in saying if we swapped those games, we'd have the same record as we do now.

And just to clarify, I think MN-Syracuse are extremely even. I just don't like diminishing their record.

How about not cherry picking our worst ACC teams and going with Penn State/NW equivalents?

How about and Maryland and BC? (Penn State was odd this year, no? And no BCS rankings for them due to NCAA) ... But I don't think either BC or MD are rollovers.

 

[TheCusian]

I doubt our coaches and players will take Cuse lightly. Most of the guys playing played a tough game at home against you guys last year for one so its almost like playing a conference opponent (and don't think for a second the coaches aren't bringing that up). Second the staff has been preaching the importance of getting that 9th win which is unfortunately a rarity for our program. Also while this team is much improved we're not a team that's been blowing folks out or has any reason to think they can just walk in and beat anyone by showing up. The NW game was close. The Nebraska game was competitive and they mounted a bit of a comeback late. We were killing Indiana 35-13 and they came all the way back to take a 38-35 lead on us. We've competed well with really good teams like WI and MSU but we haven't done anything this year for our team to have any sort of overconfidence. We're not FSU vs NIU last year. Plus we've lost 2 in a row, 2 games they thought they could win but just didn't execute offensively against 2 very good, senior laden defenses so they'll have plenty of motivation. Lastly they went to this bowl last year and lost so you know they're preaching the 'take the next step' message

I hope so. Neither team is good enough to take the opponent lightly.

I get why fans might be miffed with us as an opponent - but the initial disrespect was a tough pill to swallow. We have fought really hard to get up after a tough start, some blow outs, a new coach/QB/OC, and some injuries to quality guys. As fans - it's been a crazy season - we'd love to finish 7-6 over a decent opponent in our 1st year in the ACC.

 

[tbonezone]

Ask a Gopher Fan (and receive legit responses)

so if a gopher sees his shadow on new years day…what does that portend ?

 

[Oleboy41]

Ask a Gopher Fan (and receive legit responses)

so if a gopher sees his shadow on new years day…what does that portend ?

He's going to get eaten by a hawk soon

 

[Trueblue25]

How tough is your go to QB (whoever creates the drives).

If Syracuse is consistent with anything it is chasing down and hitting QBs. My favorite hit all year was the one Spruill put on Boyd.

 

[Goldy]

How about not cherry picking our worst ACC teams and going with Penn State/NW equivalents?

How about and Maryland and BC? (Penn State was odd this year, no? And no BCS rankings for them due to NCAA) ... But I don't think either BC or MD are rollovers.

I was just trying to make the point that you can hardly call your conference schedule free of cupcake wins. I see our wins against San Jose State and UNLV easily interchangeable with your wins against those two teams. Minnesota did not have the luxury of playing a team like Wake Forest or NC State to pad their conference record. (Sagarin Rankings in Parenthesis).

Gopher Wins
Nebraska(49)
Penn State(54)
Indiana(57)
Northwestern(65)

San Jose State (84)
UNLV (91)
Western Illinois (158)
New Mexico State (192)


Syracuse Wins
Boston College (58)
Maryland (71)
Wake Forest (81)
NC State (107)

Tulane (83)
Wagner (236)

Can you tell I can't wait for this game? Should be a great one.

 

[Goldy]

Now the losses. Realistically, Syracuse had 3 more shots at winnable games in Penn State, Pittsburgh and Northwestern to match the Gopher's 8 wins.

Gophers (51)
Michigan State (7)
Wisconsin (10)
Iowa (29)
Michigan (38)

Syracuse (68)
Florida State (1)
Clemson (16)
Georgia Tech (33)

Penn State (54)
Pittsburgh (59)
Northwestern (65)

 

[Trueblue25]

Now the losses. Realistically, Syracuse had 3 more shots at winnable games in Penn State, Pittsburgh and Northwestern to match the Gopher's 8 wins.

Gophers (51)
Michigan State (7)
Wisconsin (10)
Iowa (29)
Michigan (38)

Syracuse (68)
Florida State (1)
Clemson (16)
Georgia Tech (33)

Penn State (54)
Pittsburgh (59)
Northwestern (65)

Unfortunately we faced the pre OSU Northwestern team, who was much better and healthier than they were after the OSU game.

We should have beaten PSU, I'm still pissed about that. Maybe if we went with TH we may have won, oh well in the past .

Pittsburgh's a rival, you win some you lose some.

 

[Goldy]

Unfortunately we faced the pre OSU Northwestern team, who was much better and healthier than they were after the OSU game. We should have beaten PSU, I'm still pissed about that. Maybe if we went with TH we may have won, oh well in the past . Pittsburgh's a rival, you win some you lose some.

I know all about losing to our rivals! It just makes the wins sweeter.

But my point stands, we've got the same amount of cupcake wins.

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

Same here. And the BTN announcers can suck but nobody's worse than the Pam Ward/Joey Galloway grouping

Actually, it's Syracuse native Beth Mowins who did the ESPN2 nooner this season. But no one is holding it against you for not being able to tell the difference.

 

[SU2NASA]

Gopher fan here. I've skimmed your board and also seen convos on our respective SBN sites and figured I'd offer a MN perspective and give real, accurate responses to some of your questions about the team other than just pointing out stats and the like. Thanks for allowing me on your board and I promise I'm not a troll nor a delusional homer (seriously, I pinky swear). A few brief points regarding some common themes:
- IGNORE PANTHERHAWK. Seriously the guy is an anti MN troll that spams the boards of all of our non big ten opponents (he's been banned from most B1G sites) and is seriously chemically imbalanced or something. He'll post newspaper articles about any crime within 30 minutes of campus and generally try to get folks riled up for no reason. google pantherhawk and enjoy the pictures of him and his lightsaber.
- Regarding fan apathy for the Texas Bowl and Cuse: Seriously its nothing personal. We played in this bowl last year at 6-6 and TT fans said the same things about us ('seriously our reward is a boring 6-6 MN team?'). This year we were a much better team than last year and so fans hoped for a better bowl and a 'better' (ie higher profile or better record) opponent. So its really a combination of fans being disappointed at being jumped in the fake bowl pecking order by teams like Michigan as well as playing in the same bowl and then playing a 6-6 team which as well all know is the bare minimum record for a bowl game. As a MN fan we've had plenty of years where we've been that 6-6 team so its definitely not a shot, just that fans wanted to play someone new and someone even more challenging. This isn't to say that Cuse won't be a difficult game but the average Rube was hoping for a fringe top 25 type of opponent. Also add in the fact that we've played Cuse twice in the last few years and its like playing a bowl game against NW, a team we play occasionally anyway without a huge national profile.
- Ignore all MN media articles from The Star Tribune and most from the Pioneer Press. If you see the names Reusse or Souhan or any of our local radio hosts just ignore. MPLS is a Vikings/Twins/Wild/Wolves town and the local media hacks generally give MN football only fringe attention and they usually have no idea what they're talking about and they're overly synical and negative. Our local Gopher beat guys and blogs are really good along with the Rivals and 247 sites. ESPN1500 does a decent job as well. So if you see any of those guys dissing Cuse just ignore it because all they're doing is setting up a snarky negative column if we lose or don't dominate. They do it every year. They'll say 'if the Gophers want us to care then go beat MSU' and then diss the team for losing or 'if the Gophers want us to care they'll beat NW by 3 touchdowns' then diss the team if they win by 2 TDs OR they'll proclaim them great if they meet expectations and then say they should go undefeated the rest of the way. Basically set unrealistic expectations so they always have something to criticize

Does Minnesota even bother having a trophy case that would hold the Brown Jug, or do they just not even get delusions of winning it?

 

[Oleboy41]

Actually, it's Syracuse native Beth Mowins who did the ESPN2 nooner this season. But no one is holding it against you for not being able to tell the difference.

Oh I knew she was there this year and she did a fine job. My point was specifically that Pam Ward is terrible

 

[Oleboy41]

Does Minnesota even bother having a trophy case that would hold the Brown Jug, or do they just not even get delusions of winning it?

Thanks for your contributions to the thread

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

Oh I knew she was there this year and she did a fine job. My point was specifically that Pam Ward is terrible

Amen.

 

[SU2NASA]

Thanks for your contributions to the thread

I'm genuinely interested to know why Minnesota fans would have a superiority complex in any respect when they have been a speed bump for the Big Ten for decades.

As a Syracuse and Michigan man, I'm amazed. This is the same Minnesota program that has lost to North Dakota State and South Dakota in its the last few years.

 

[TheCusian]

I know all about losing to our rivals! It just makes the wins sweeter. But my point stands, we've got the same amount of cupcake wins.

So you guys scheduled down OOC and then complain that your bowl opponent isn't a "name brand" that you can lift your profile?

Wait! It's coming to me... Schedule those teams OOC!

 

[ImperialOrange]

Now the losses. Realistically, Syracuse had 3 more shots at winnable games in Penn State, Pittsburgh and Northwestern to match the Gopher's 8 wins.

Gophers (51)
Michigan State (7)
Wisconsin (10)
Iowa (29)
Michigan (38)

Syracuse (68)
Florida State (1)
Clemson (16)
Georgia Tech (33)

Penn State (54)
Pittsburgh (59)
Northwestern (65)

We royally ****ed up against Pitt and we should've beaten Penn State for a multitude of reasons. Curious if Minne and Cuse would be 51 and 52 in the Sagarin ratings had we not lost those. Kudos to you for winning all the games you "should win" though. Something to be said for consistancy as it pertains to taking the next step.

That being said, what is your way too early projection for the Gophers next season? Step back, another 8 win regular season, or do you feel you'll step up to the 9/10 win realm?