As a program they're not all that different from Michigan: a long history of championships and a big time talent magnet that's been on a dry spell for the last 15 years or so despite making consistent deep runs in the NCAA tournament. They also have the added indignity of watching a few in-state or very close rivals win titles recently (Duluth, NoDak).
The Big 10 title game in Minneapolis last year was so dang fun. A rowdy and packed house of Gopher fans 100% expected that to be a coronation, and it was, just not for the team they thought. Let's do it again!
Personally, I'm going to miss the Big 10 West. It was bad football, but every year it gave us results like Northwestern or Purdue in the B1G championship game (three times!), Citrus Bowl Champion Minnesota, Worst Offense/Best Defense Iowa, Can't Win a 1-Score Game Nebraska, Luke Fickell Wisconsin, etc.
Strange is increasingly difficult to find in college football, and the Big 10 West was its last consistent source.
Turnovers, and interceptions in particular, are kind of what the Iowa defense is set up to do, and they do it very well. With their cover-2 scheme, I don't think you're going to see JJ's throws buzzing by defenders helmets with their backs turned.
That was another factor, the running game was down to starting a walk-on RB4 (Jordan Nubin, Tyler's brother). He did ok, but the running game was never really much of a threat after Darius Taylor went down.
He's got the physical tools to be really good, but his accuracy was inconsistent, he loved throwing into tight coverage, and the Gophers only had one real receiving threat in Daniel Jackson (the guy who caught the TD against Michigan), who he would get locked on to regularly.
Kind of surprising decision considering he was only a redshirt sophomore, although the Gophers were openly shopping for transfers the second the season ended. Hope he finds a good landing spot.
Nubin does not belong on the first team. He went hunting for picks instead of playing sound defense at times, which got him an impressive number of picks, but he was also directly responsible for the insane busts that cost the Gophers the Northwestern and Illinois games.
"The replay official in Iowa-Minnesota takes a Cooper DeJean punt return TD off the board for a ticky-tack invalid fair catch signal."
As a longtime Minnesota sports fan, let me crow about that win for a minute:
Iowa thought they had ripped out our heart and presented it to us, only to slowly discover, throughout the course of that interminable review and the subsequent doomed drive, that what they were actually holding in front of our impassive faces was a slimy, black bag of sand that could never have sustained life. Losing that game would have meant nothing to Minnesota fans. We have witnessed every possible way to lose a game, and experience new ones regularly. Schadenfreude is all we have, and all we will ever have. Seeing Iowa, a team so used to improbable wins, get a taste of our experience, at our own hands, in front of their own fans, will power us for centuries and beyond.
This is easily the most satisfying win of Fleck's tenure, extend his contract for life I say.
It created an ecosystem of unwatchable defensive football that you can't find anywhere else in the country right now. It completely screws up the fancystats, (Iowa is absolutely not the #1 defense in America, SP+), and it puts its extremely average winner one fluke win away from a hilarious P5 conference title, year in, year out.
The Big 10 west has existed for 9 years by my count. It has been won by Northwestern or Purdue a full third of those years, the rest by Iowa or Wisconsin, and has exactly zero overall Big 10 titles. The introduction of the west coast teams is going to provide some comedy, (I'm imagining USC losing in Minneapolis in November), but games like Saturday's horrific Iowa-Wisconsin matchup are no longer likely to have any implications for the Big 10 title race.
I doubt it, late night service has been not great lately for everything but the Beyonce and Taylor Swift shows, and I don't think this rises to that level. Even so, 30 minutes is less than you'd wait to get out of one of those ramps.
I'll be there with SRO tickets, so probably standing somewhere along the top of the stadium or sitting with the students.
If I was from out of town I wouldn't attempt to tailgate, I don't think it's allowed anywhere near the stadium and it's not really a thing here.
My recommendation would be to find a bar near Target Field to watch the Twins-Astros game (first pitch 3:45 central time), then hop on the light rail, which will drop you off right next to to Huntington Bank stadium. I would not attempt to drive if you can avoid it, the game is sold out (not a given for the Gophers) so traffic will be bad before and after the game, and ramp parking is very expensive. Ubers work fine, but be prepared to walk a few blocks for both dropoff and pickup.
I've been in the stadium for all three Gopher home games so far, and this offense is just brutal to watch. The Nebraska game seemed so hopeless when they went down 10-3 in the 4th quarter that we left early so we could get a spot at the Buffalo Wild Wings across the street (and subsequently nearly got in a fight with some distraught Nebraska fans after the comeback). The Eastern Michigan game was 10-6 at the half. The Gophers actually trailed Louisiana-Lafayette at the half 17-14.
The only sources of hope are the running game, which showed some life even without Taylor last week, and that there's maybe a functional Kaliakmanus in there somewhere. Last year he did pilot them to road wins in Lincoln and Madison, and a very close home loss to Iowa. Probably not going to matter this week, but the Gophers need an upset somewhere in Big 10 play if they're going to make a bowl.
I really like the theory that the off coverage was to nerf the Ciarrocca stuff. He was the guy that engineered the 2019 Minnesota "All RPOs, All the Time" offense, with QB Tanner Morgan usually handing off to Rodney Smith or Mo Ibrahim until it was time to throw a slant to Tyler Johnson or bomb it down the field to Rashod Bateman. Rutgers doesn't have have those guys, so it makes sense that if you can eliminate that last bit you can let them dink and dunk until they make a mistake.
Ciarrocca's had a weird career, made his name as the WR coach and OC for the good Schiano Rutgers teams, got canned a few years later by Kyle Flood, reappeared as the OC for the good PJ Fleck Western teams, followed him to Minnesota, left for Penn State in 2020, got canned there after a year, went back to Minnesota for another year, then left again to re-join Schiano at Rutgers. Circle of life.
Their defensive coordinator is Mike Tressell, who I had never heard of until Fickell hired him at Cincinatti. I'll bet you can guess who Mike's brother is. [EDIT: Uncle. Misread his Wikipedia page]
Fickell bringing him along forced out longtime (and excellent) Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, who landed at Illinois.
This is why I think Wisconsin ranked in the top 20 is ludicrous, this kind of transition almost always starts out bumpy, as we know from the RichRod years. And it's not just the offensive philosophy and coaching they're turning over, it's the entire defensive staff too.
Maybe they'll be good by the end of the year, but no way they're a top-25 squad until they prove it with a few good wins.
If you just go by who they did and didn't beat last year there are already five losses in that schedule, three of which will be on the road this year (WSU, Illinois, Minnesota. Iowa and OSU come to Madison). You have to assume they somehow got better to rank them this year, and I just don't see it.
Agree that Wisconsin is getting way too much hype, but they did actually play in the Guaranteed Rate bowl last year after finishing the season 6-6. They beat a pretty good Oklahoma State team 24-17, but this year's Wisconsin is going to look very different.
What on earth are people seeing in Wisconsin? They were 7-6 last year, 4-5 in the Big 10. They fired their head coach, are installing a whole new offense, and replaced top-notch DC Jim Leonhard with an anonymous Tressel-son. How does this make them better??
Fleck has only two losing seasons at Minnesota: 2017, his first year, and the 2020 COVID year. He's beaten Wisconsin three times, including the last two in a row, is 4-0 in bowl games, and finished 2019 ranked in the top 10.
He's missed a couple opportunities to win the West, has a tendency towards conservative playcalling in big games, can't beat Iowa, and is generally a weirdo, but he's easily the best coach the Gophers have had since Glen Mason, and maybe further than that. It's going to take at least two consecutive losing seasons before Fleck's seat warms up, probably more.
I have also been to to tons of college football games where they sell beer, and it's great! Watching football and drinking beer at the same time is a ton of fun! If you don't like lines, or don't want to miss the game, or don't want to pay stadium prices, or just don't want a beer, you actually don't have to buy one!
Feels like the Iowa offense is maybe getting slept on a bit. Yes they were awful last year, yes Brian Ferentz is a nepo-dunce, but they have a real QB (McNamara), a real running back (Kaleb Johnson), a real receiving threat (All), and their entire offensive line returning. If there's a decent wide receiver in there and the defense doesn't take a big step back they might actually be the front-runners for the West.
I read somewhere that if 32.5 holds, it will be the lowest recorded O/U line for an FBS game for as far back as there are records. Both teams have good or great defenses, both have putrid offenses, the forecast high in Minneapolis on Saturday is 20 degrees (which will likely occur long before the 3:00 kickoff), and it has been snowing all week.
I'll be there to witness this atrocity, Ski-u-mah motherfuckers!
Yeah, people need to look at Kirk's passing stats once in a while, because he was genuinely good this year, despite a tragic offensive line and a regularly injured star running back. He's not going to set a secondary on fire like a Mahomes or Rodgers, but he's a second tier starting QB, and his salary is about at that level now that the superstar contracts have mostly surpassed his.
The Vikings weren't exactly horrendous this year, all but one of their losses were by one score, and while the cap situation is bad for 2022, it gets much, much better in 2023. They're a pretty attractive job, in in the spectrum of teams that fired their coaches this year.
For as dismissive as everyone has been of Minnesota, they’re currently undefeated with two true road wins over P5 opponents. We’ll find out a lot more about them tomorrow night vs. MSU, but they’ve looked like a real team so far.
Yeah, corner and maybe safety are the positions that don’t feel like they’re a little experience from being good. At least Gray and Green probably aren’t going anywhere, so there will be established incumbents if nothing else.
It felt like this during the preseason position reviews and it feels even more like it now: this team has all the pieces to very good... next year. Most position groups seem like they're filled with athletes that are just about online, but need a bit more experience before they're ready to play at an all-conference level.
Unfortunately the schedule starting Saturday is murderous. Here's hoping Harbaugh can scrape enough wins together this year to see that potential through.
This incoming class and the state of the roster give me the feeling that Michigan has all the ingredients to be really, really good... in like two years. If Jim can win enough games to keep himself employed long enough to see some of these guys reach their potential as upperclassmen, the sky's the limit.
The Gophers theoretically have some potential. Minnesota produces a surprising amount of talent. Just off the top of my head from the last few years: current #1 overall recruit Chet Holmgren, current Michigan commit Will Tschetter, current Gonzaga star Jalen Suggs, Duke's Matthew Hurt, Trae Jones, and Tyus Jones, Wisconsin's Nate Reuvers and Brad Davison, probably a lot more.
Williams arena is tons of fun when it's rocking, but doesn't look like much without crowds.
The fans are fickle after being beaten down so badly by our local sports teams at all levels, but we love a bandwagon and throw big parties for the few bright spots (see: vs. Penn State football 2019).
Despite recruiting pretty well nationally and bringing in some good transfers, Richard Pitino never seemed to be able to pull in the top tier local kids, or put a coherent coaching strategy in place, (which may be connected). After seven years following his Gophers teams I couldn't tell you what he was trying to accomplish on either end of the floor. With his win-loss record in the Big 10 it's amazing he lasted as long as he did.
It was a little more complicated. St. Thomas is a large, urban, well-funded university with an enrollment about twice as large as the next biggest school in the MIAC. Most of the other schools are small, outstate liberal arts colleges in small towns that have recruiting and resource disadvantages due to where they're located and how much they have to spend on sports.
So it was definitely a competitive thing, but over the years St. Thomas also evolved into a culturally awkward fit in the MIAC.
To be fair, the $5 Bits of Broken Chair isn't an official trophy and never was. Nebraska players carried it off the field after a win a couple years ago, it got lost, then both athletic departments disavowed it.
The trophy was remade about two years ago, but is now awarded to the winner of charity drive between Nebraska and Minnesota instead of the football teams.
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Trente Jones: 6.21 (6th)
Karsen Barnhart 5.64 (17th)
I know this all worked out, but what were we doing here man.
As a program they're not all that different from Michigan: a long history of championships and a big time talent magnet that's been on a dry spell for the last 15 years or so despite making consistent deep runs in the NCAA tournament. They also have the added indignity of watching a few in-state or very close rivals win titles recently (Duluth, NoDak).
The Big 10 title game in Minneapolis last year was so dang fun. A rowdy and packed house of Gopher fans 100% expected that to be a coronation, and it was, just not for the team they thought. Let's do it again!
Punters aren't people, don't give this dork a click.
Surprised me too. Looks like he was hurt a lot during his rookie contract, then bounced around practice squads for a few years.
The ways coaching transitions usually go, in terms of player transfers:
Some exceptions of course, but I've mostly stopped believing there's going to be a mass player exodus in all but the most extreme coaching changes.
Personally, I'm going to miss the Big 10 West. It was bad football, but every year it gave us results like Northwestern or Purdue in the B1G championship game (three times!), Citrus Bowl Champion Minnesota, Worst Offense/Best Defense Iowa, Can't Win a 1-Score Game Nebraska, Luke Fickell Wisconsin, etc.
Strange is increasingly difficult to find in college football, and the Big 10 West was its last consistent source.
Turnovers, and interceptions in particular, are kind of what the Iowa defense is set up to do, and they do it very well. With their cover-2 scheme, I don't think you're going to see JJ's throws buzzing by defenders helmets with their backs turned.
That was another factor, the running game was down to starting a walk-on RB4 (Jordan Nubin, Tyler's brother). He did ok, but the running game was never really much of a threat after Darius Taylor went down.
He's got the physical tools to be really good, but his accuracy was inconsistent, he loved throwing into tight coverage, and the Gophers only had one real receiving threat in Daniel Jackson (the guy who caught the TD against Michigan), who he would get locked on to regularly.
Kind of surprising decision considering he was only a redshirt sophomore, although the Gophers were openly shopping for transfers the second the season ended. Hope he finds a good landing spot.
Nubin does not belong on the first team. He went hunting for picks instead of playing sound defense at times, which got him an impressive number of picks, but he was also directly responsible for the insane busts that cost the Gophers the Northwestern and Illinois games.
Deleted.
"The replay official in Iowa-Minnesota takes a Cooper DeJean punt return TD off the board for a ticky-tack invalid fair catch signal."
As a longtime Minnesota sports fan, let me crow about that win for a minute:
Iowa thought they had ripped out our heart and presented it to us, only to slowly discover, throughout the course of that interminable review and the subsequent doomed drive, that what they were actually holding in front of our impassive faces was a slimy, black bag of sand that could never have sustained life. Losing that game would have meant nothing to Minnesota fans. We have witnessed every possible way to lose a game, and experience new ones regularly. Schadenfreude is all we have, and all we will ever have. Seeing Iowa, a team so used to improbable wins, get a taste of our experience, at our own hands, in front of their own fans, will power us for centuries and beyond.
This is easily the most satisfying win of Fleck's tenure, extend his contract for life I say.
I'm going to miss the Big 10 West so, so much.
It created an ecosystem of unwatchable defensive football that you can't find anywhere else in the country right now. It completely screws up the fancystats, (Iowa is absolutely not the #1 defense in America, SP+), and it puts its extremely average winner one fluke win away from a hilarious P5 conference title, year in, year out.
The Big 10 west has existed for 9 years by my count. It has been won by Northwestern or Purdue a full third of those years, the rest by Iowa or Wisconsin, and has exactly zero overall Big 10 titles. The introduction of the west coast teams is going to provide some comedy, (I'm imagining USC losing in Minneapolis in November), but games like Saturday's horrific Iowa-Wisconsin matchup are no longer likely to have any implications for the Big 10 title race.
I doubt it, late night service has been not great lately for everything but the Beyonce and Taylor Swift shows, and I don't think this rises to that level. Even so, 30 minutes is less than you'd wait to get out of one of those ramps.
I'll be there with SRO tickets, so probably standing somewhere along the top of the stadium or sitting with the students.
If I was from out of town I wouldn't attempt to tailgate, I don't think it's allowed anywhere near the stadium and it's not really a thing here.
My recommendation would be to find a bar near Target Field to watch the Twins-Astros game (first pitch 3:45 central time), then hop on the light rail, which will drop you off right next to to Huntington Bank stadium. I would not attempt to drive if you can avoid it, the game is sold out (not a given for the Gophers) so traffic will be bad before and after the game, and ramp parking is very expensive. Ubers work fine, but be prepared to walk a few blocks for both dropoff and pickup.
I've been in the stadium for all three Gopher home games so far, and this offense is just brutal to watch. The Nebraska game seemed so hopeless when they went down 10-3 in the 4th quarter that we left early so we could get a spot at the Buffalo Wild Wings across the street (and subsequently nearly got in a fight with some distraught Nebraska fans after the comeback). The Eastern Michigan game was 10-6 at the half. The Gophers actually trailed Louisiana-Lafayette at the half 17-14.
The only sources of hope are the running game, which showed some life even without Taylor last week, and that there's maybe a functional Kaliakmanus in there somewhere. Last year he did pilot them to road wins in Lincoln and Madison, and a very close home loss to Iowa. Probably not going to matter this week, but the Gophers need an upset somewhere in Big 10 play if they're going to make a bowl.
I really like the theory that the off coverage was to nerf the Ciarrocca stuff. He was the guy that engineered the 2019 Minnesota "All RPOs, All the Time" offense, with QB Tanner Morgan usually handing off to Rodney Smith or Mo Ibrahim until it was time to throw a slant to Tyler Johnson or bomb it down the field to Rashod Bateman. Rutgers doesn't have have those guys, so it makes sense that if you can eliminate that last bit you can let them dink and dunk until they make a mistake.
Ciarrocca's had a weird career, made his name as the WR coach and OC for the good Schiano Rutgers teams, got canned a few years later by Kyle Flood, reappeared as the OC for the good PJ Fleck Western teams, followed him to Minnesota, left for Penn State in 2020, got canned there after a year, went back to Minnesota for another year, then left again to re-join Schiano at Rutgers. Circle of life.
At this point there is nothing notable Harbaugh can do, good or bad, that isn't going to lead to more NFL speculation.
I guess I don't keep track of MSU's position coaches.
Their defensive coordinator is Mike Tressell, who I had never heard of until Fickell hired him at Cincinatti. I'll bet you can guess who Mike's brother is. [EDIT: Uncle. Misread his Wikipedia page]
Fickell bringing him along forced out longtime (and excellent) Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, who landed at Illinois.
This coaching change has a lot of red flags, IMO.
This is why I think Wisconsin ranked in the top 20 is ludicrous, this kind of transition almost always starts out bumpy, as we know from the RichRod years. And it's not just the offensive philosophy and coaching they're turning over, it's the entire defensive staff too.
Maybe they'll be good by the end of the year, but no way they're a top-25 squad until they prove it with a few good wins.
If you just go by who they did and didn't beat last year there are already five losses in that schedule, three of which will be on the road this year (WSU, Illinois, Minnesota. Iowa and OSU come to Madison). You have to assume they somehow got better to rank them this year, and I just don't see it.
Michigan tried this path with RichRod! It didn't go well!
Agree that Wisconsin is getting way too much hype, but they did actually play in the Guaranteed Rate bowl last year after finishing the season 6-6. They beat a pretty good Oklahoma State team 24-17, but this year's Wisconsin is going to look very different.
What on earth are people seeing in Wisconsin? They were 7-6 last year, 4-5 in the Big 10. They fired their head coach, are installing a whole new offense, and replaced top-notch DC Jim Leonhard with an anonymous Tressel-son. How does this make them better??
Fleck has only two losing seasons at Minnesota: 2017, his first year, and the 2020 COVID year. He's beaten Wisconsin three times, including the last two in a row, is 4-0 in bowl games, and finished 2019 ranked in the top 10.
He's missed a couple opportunities to win the West, has a tendency towards conservative playcalling in big games, can't beat Iowa, and is generally a weirdo, but he's easily the best coach the Gophers have had since Glen Mason, and maybe further than that. It's going to take at least two consecutive losing seasons before Fleck's seat warms up, probably more.
Thanks! I hope you enjoy the game too!
I have also been to to tons of college football games where they sell beer, and it's great! Watching football and drinking beer at the same time is a ton of fun! If you don't like lines, or don't want to miss the game, or don't want to pay stadium prices, or just don't want a beer, you actually don't have to buy one!
Feels like the Iowa offense is maybe getting slept on a bit. Yes they were awful last year, yes Brian Ferentz is a nepo-dunce, but they have a real QB (McNamara), a real running back (Kaleb Johnson), a real receiving threat (All), and their entire offensive line returning. If there's a decent wide receiver in there and the defense doesn't take a big step back they might actually be the front-runners for the West.
Mankato might be 100 miles north of Madison, it’s in southern Minnesota.
The field is turf and those poor pigs would freeze in the cold, so somehow a football game is a better idea. Not good, but better.
I read somewhere that if 32.5 holds, it will be the lowest recorded O/U line for an FBS game for as far back as there are records. Both teams have good or great defenses, both have putrid offenses, the forecast high in Minneapolis on Saturday is 20 degrees (which will likely occur long before the 3:00 kickoff), and it has been snowing all week.
I'll be there to witness this atrocity, Ski-u-mah motherfuckers!
Yeah, people need to look at Kirk's passing stats once in a while, because he was genuinely good this year, despite a tragic offensive line and a regularly injured star running back. He's not going to set a secondary on fire like a Mahomes or Rodgers, but he's a second tier starting QB, and his salary is about at that level now that the superstar contracts have mostly surpassed his.
The Vikings weren't exactly horrendous this year, all but one of their losses were by one score, and while the cap situation is bad for 2022, it gets much, much better in 2023. They're a pretty attractive job, in in the spectrum of teams that fired their coaches this year.
Yeesh. The opponent-independent win by five, lose by five splits are becoming a pattern in the Mel era.
This dude works for Chat Sports, and I can't find any evidence of the ESPN article he's talking about. Probably safe to ignore.
For as dismissive as everyone has been of Minnesota, they’re currently undefeated with two true road wins over P5 opponents. We’ll find out a lot more about them tomorrow night vs. MSU, but they’ve looked like a real team so far.
Yeah, corner and maybe safety are the positions that don’t feel like they’re a little experience from being good. At least Gray and Green probably aren’t going anywhere, so there will be established incumbents if nothing else.
It felt like this during the preseason position reviews and it feels even more like it now: this team has all the pieces to very good... next year. Most position groups seem like they're filled with athletes that are just about online, but need a bit more experience before they're ready to play at an all-conference level.
Unfortunately the schedule starting Saturday is murderous. Here's hoping Harbaugh can scrape enough wins together this year to see that potential through.
This incoming class and the state of the roster give me the feeling that Michigan has all the ingredients to be really, really good... in like two years. If Jim can win enough games to keep himself employed long enough to see some of these guys reach their potential as upperclassmen, the sky's the limit.
The Gophers theoretically have some potential. Minnesota produces a surprising amount of talent. Just off the top of my head from the last few years: current #1 overall recruit Chet Holmgren, current Michigan commit Will Tschetter, current Gonzaga star Jalen Suggs, Duke's Matthew Hurt, Trae Jones, and Tyus Jones, Wisconsin's Nate Reuvers and Brad Davison, probably a lot more.
Williams arena is tons of fun when it's rocking, but doesn't look like much without crowds.
The fans are fickle after being beaten down so badly by our local sports teams at all levels, but we love a bandwagon and throw big parties for the few bright spots (see: vs. Penn State football 2019).
Despite recruiting pretty well nationally and bringing in some good transfers, Richard Pitino never seemed to be able to pull in the top tier local kids, or put a coherent coaching strategy in place, (which may be connected). After seven years following his Gophers teams I couldn't tell you what he was trying to accomplish on either end of the floor. With his win-loss record in the Big 10 it's amazing he lasted as long as he did.
Fresca and Vodka with ice. We call it a Man on the Rocks.
What an awesome game. Two favorite things:
This defense is a wet piece of single ply toilet paper.
Is it time to dial back expectations after four losses in five games and twelve goals allowed in the last two?
I think you're underestimating Autman-Bell, 28 catches and 5 touchdowns is a lot for a player competing for targets with two NFL receivers.
Also don't sleep on the Gopher run game, Ibrahim is a solid back and the offensive line is legitimately good.
It was a little more complicated. St. Thomas is a large, urban, well-funded university with an enrollment about twice as large as the next biggest school in the MIAC. Most of the other schools are small, outstate liberal arts colleges in small towns that have recruiting and resource disadvantages due to where they're located and how much they have to spend on sports.
So it was definitely a competitive thing, but over the years St. Thomas also evolved into a culturally awkward fit in the MIAC.
Minnesota has three other D-1 hockey schools besides UM Twin Cities: Duluth, Mankato, and Bemidji, not to mention UND just across the border.
To be fair, the $5 Bits of Broken Chair isn't an official trophy and never was. Nebraska players carried it off the field after a win a couple years ago, it got lost, then both athletic departments disavowed it.
The trophy was remade about two years ago, but is now awarded to the winner of charity drive between Nebraska and Minnesota instead of the football teams.
This all sucks, because that thing is awesome.
Nobody thought the revolution would start in Minneapolis.
Except Prince.