** 2021 Opponent Previews : @ Minnesota (Game 8) **

Undone said:
This must be a meme that I've missed.
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one of these threads has links about former gopher players who got injured while playing for fleck. one of the players says he cannot say the word "elite" because of him. if you are asked "how are you?" the response is "elite". so to go with "row the boat", elite is another of fleck's catch phrases. 

 
Undone said:
But what's a "down year" to a Gopher fan though? I ask in earnest. Their expectations are pretty low by default.
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Most would be happy with Northwestern's status.  Sucks some years, but then go to a BTT game.  Then be mediocre, then peak again.

Or similar to Iowa.

Some just want to beat IA and WI since we haven't done that a lot.

Others are really happy with beating the teams we should beat 90% of the time.

 
Undone said:
...like the 'skers.
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Being 3-0 against Nebraska,  since PJ fired Robb Smith was fired in 2018 makes most happy.

Few will think Minnesota has turned it around until they win a west title.

And then it will be a fluke.

Then they'll either have to win a Big Ten Title game, or win the Big Ten west again.

Fan sentiment often trails life.

 
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Dano564 said:
Few will think Minnesota has turned it around until they win a west title.

And then it will be a fluke.

Then they'll either have to win a Big Ten Title game, or win the Big Ten west again.

Fan sentiment often trails life.
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That said, the West is significantly weaker than the East - especially this season.

Preface to this next statement: We're a dumpster fire program who is miles away from winning the West, just to get ahead of that bit...but winning this division isn't even really all that much of an accomplishment, given Wisconsin being down a bit and Iowa being a paper tiger.

 
Undone said:
That said, the West is significantly weaker than the East - especially this season.

Preface to this next statement: We're a dumpster fire program who is miles away from winning the West, just to get ahead of that bit...but winning this division isn't even really all that much of an accomplishment, given Wisconsin being down a bit and Iowa being a paper tiger.
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West vs East:

MN lost to Ohio St / beat MD, has Indiana : 1:1

WI lost to PSU and MI, has Rutgers.  Currently 1:1

Purdue has MSU, OSU, and Indiana.  Currently 0:0

Iowa beat Indiana, PSU, and MD.  3:0

Illinois beat PSU, lost to Rutgers and MD.  1:2

Northwestern lost to MSU and Michigan, beat Rutgers.  1:2

Nebraska lost to MSU and Michigan, has OSU.  0:2

Overall West vs East Crossover is at 7 wins and 8 losses: 7:8

West could still win the crossover battle.  

Then the thought probably is that the East is more top heavy and the West has more good teams that aren't horrible.  But winning a division of 7 with teams that aren't horrible isn't the worst thing in the world.

 
Dano564 said:
But winning a division of 7 with teams that aren't horrible isn't the worst thing in the world.
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Yeah, totally agree.

Just mainly was trying to make the (completely subjective) point that winning the West when Wisconsin is down is probably slightly "less of a thing." Just my own opinion there, based on how dominant they've been over the past 15ish years.

 
Dano564 said:
West vs East:

MN lost to Ohio St / beat MD, has Indiana : 1:1

WI lost to PSU and MI, has Rutgers.  Currently 1:1

Purdue has MSU, OSU, and Indiana.  Currently 0:0

Iowa beat Indiana, PSU, and MD.  3:0

Illinois beat PSU, lost to Rutgers and MD.  1:2

Northwestern lost to MSU and Michigan, beat Rutgers.  1:2

Nebraska lost to MSU and Michigan, has OSU.  0:2

Overall West vs East Crossover is at 7 wins and 8 losses: 7:8

West could still win the crossover battle.  

Then the thought probably is that the East is more top heavy and the West has more good teams that aren't horrible.  But winning a division of 7 with teams that aren't horrible isn't the worst thing in the world.
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Which makes me just roll my eyes when people claim the Big Ten west is “the worst division in college football”. 
 

No question, we should be going better in this division, but it’s nowhere close to the worst. 

 
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Undone said:
Yeah, totally agree.

Just mainly was trying to make the (completely subjective) point that winning the West when Wisconsin is down is probably slightly "less of a thing." Just my own opinion there, based on how dominant they've been over the past 15ish years.
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Continuing to use logic, however. WI, like many teams have teams that traditionally do well against them.

One of those IS NOT Minnesota.  So in any season where Minnesota does beat WI, the conference will look weak.

Same thing for Iowa.  MN hasn't gotten over the hump on Iowa, but Purdue beats them.  

With those type of bad-beats for specific teams, I can't envision a first year where Minnesota would win the west, where people would say "Oh, wow.  Minnesota won the west and the West was SO GOOD this year."

If you have Minnesota taking first, Purdue taking 2nd, and Wisconsin or Iowa third the thought is "Oh, Wisconsin had a bad year, that's why it was a down year".

Very seldom is there a chance MN, IA, and WI all go 6-0 in their non-Big Ten West games so they all finish with zero or one loss.

If you trade Ohio State to the West for any team.  Purdue, Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern, etc.  The talk would be "Oh wow.  The West is tough.  OSU, and WI, and IA, and Nebraska, etc."  

But if you look at the records, they're about the same.  PSU has a high rating until they lose to Iowa, then Illinois, and they almost lost to WI.  But PSU is always considered really good until they aren't.

 
Dano564 said:
Continuing to use logic, however. WI, like many teams have teams that traditionally do well against them.

One of those IS NOT Minnesota.  So in any season where Minnesota does beat WI, the conference will look weak.

Same thing for Iowa.  MN hasn't gotten over the hump on Iowa, but Purdue beats them.  

With those type of bad-beats for specific teams, I can't envision a first year where Minnesota would win the west, where people would say "Oh, wow.  Minnesota won the west and the West was SO GOOD this year."

If you have Minnesota taking first, Purdue taking 2nd, and Wisconsin or Iowa third the thought is "Oh, Wisconsin had a bad year, that's why it was a down year".

Very seldom is there a chance MN, IA, and WI all go 6-0 in their non-Big Ten West games so they all finish with zero or one loss.

If you trade Ohio State to the West for any team.  Purdue, Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern, etc.  The talk would be "Oh wow.  The West is tough.  OSU, and WI, and IA, and Nebraska, etc."  

But if you look at the records, they're about the same.  PSU has a high rating until they lose to Iowa, then Illinois, and they almost lost to WI.  But PSU is always considered really good until they aren't.
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I don't really GAF. You should probably perform your mental gymnastics about whether or not Minnesota is a good team somewhere else.

I didn't realize this site had become Gopherboard. 

 
Dano564 said:
West vs East:

MN lost to Ohio St / beat MD, has Indiana : 1:1

WI lost to PSU and MI, has Rutgers.  Currently 1:1

Purdue has MSU, OSU, and Indiana.  Currently 0:0

Iowa beat Indiana, PSU, and MD.  3:0

Illinois beat PSU, lost to Rutgers and MD.  1:2

Northwestern lost to MSU and Michigan, beat Rutgers.  1:2

Nebraska lost to MSU and Michigan, has OSU.  0:2

Overall West vs East Crossover is at 7 wins and 8 losses: 7:8

West could still win the crossover battle.  

Then the thought probably is that the East is more top heavy and the West has more good teams that aren't horrible.  But winning a division of 7 with teams that aren't horrible isn't the worst thing in the world.
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Your gopher math is bad... 6 wins and 9 losses.   You have WI at 1:1 with losses to PSU and MI.

 
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