Minnesota #1? Why not?!

[fredsdeadfriend]

Minnesota was ranked as the #1 defense after last weekends games.

they were ranked #1 in these categories

Red Zone Defense, Scoring Defense, Total Defense, Time of Possession & Red Zone Offense.

they were also ranked #2 in First Downs Defense, #4 in Team Passing Efficiency Defense & #10 in Rushing Defense.

That's all pretty impressive and this weekend's game may have them still in 1st in Total Defense, TOP, close to 1st in First Downs Defense and much better than 10th in Rushing Defense, all while improving drastically on the offensive side of the ball, as it seems they have moved into FIRST in Total Offense!!! And only one team has a larger average winning margin than Minnesota by just 3 points.




How can a team be #1 in total offense and #1 in total defense and not even be ranked in the Top 25?

They rank #2 in running the ball, #2 in stopping the run & #2 in stopping the pass!!! And they might rank Top Ten in avg yards per completion & Top 50 in total yards passing.

And our kicker is 3 for 3 on fgs and 13 for 13 on extra points.


Minnesota could be the most balanced team in the nation? lol

 

[Stakesarehigh]

New Mexico state
Western Illinois

 

[DetroitDevil]

Opie Krakhed

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

New Mexico state
Western Illinois

Doesn't change the fact that UMn's possibly the most balanced team in the nation, and likely the best in the B1G West.

Lot of teams played 2 crappy teams so far but none of them have done what Minnesota has done. #1 in total offense and #1 or #2 in total defense. Kicker hasn't missed a kick. #2 in rushing the ball, #2 in stopping the rush & #2 in stopping the pass. This week's passing performance would have ranked #12 in the country had it occurred last weekend. That's a very balanced team.


Minnesota barely beat 2 of it's ooc opponents in 2019 and went on to win 11 games, and they lost to Bowling Green last year and still won 9 games. Not only have they outscored their opponents this season so far 100-10, they did that with ease, with starters starting to come out after just one series in the 2nd half in both games. NINE different players ran the ball in this game, all 9 gaining positive yards and 5 averaging over 5 yards per carry, even Georgia can't make that claim against the crappy team they played.


Of course UMn won't be truly tested until they play MSU and later PSU, Purdue, Iowa and UW, but what I saw of UW in last year's game and now this week's loss to WSU, that should be an easy win for UMn, same after seeing how pathetic Iowa's offense has been both games this year, another easy win. Those other 3 will be challenging but I can see the Gophers winning at least one of those if not all 3. Then Michigan or OSU will be a very tough challenge and a game the Gophers probably won't be able to win, but you never know?

 

[Stakesarehigh]

Doesn't change the fact that UMn's possibly the most balanced team in the nation, and likely the best in the B1G West.

Lot of teams played 2 crappy teams so far but none of them have done what Minnesota has done. #1 in total offense and #1 or #2 in total defense. Kicker hasn't missed a kick. #2 in rushing the ball, #2 in stopping the rush & #2 in stopping the pass. This week's passing performance would have ranked #12 in the country had it occurred last weekend. That's a very balanced team.


Minnesota barely beat 2 of it's ooc opponents in 2019 and went on to win 11 games, and they lost to Bowling Green last year and still won 9 games. Not only have they outscored their opponents this season so far 100-10, they did that with ease, with starters starting to come out after just one series in the 2nd half in both games. NINE different players ran the ball in this game, all 9 gaining positive yards and 5 averaging over 5 yards per carry, even Georgia can't make that claim against the crappy team they played.


Of course UMn won't be truly tested until they play MSU and later PSU, Purdue, Iowa and UW, but what I saw of UW in last year's game and now this week's loss to WSU, that should be an easy win for UMn, same after seeing how pathetic Iowa's offense has been both games this year, another easy win. Those other 3 will be challenging but I can see the Gophers winning at least one of those if not all 3. Then Michigan or OSU will be a very tough challenge and a game the Gophers probably won't be able to win, but you never know?

New Mexico state
Western Illinois

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

It's official, CBSSports has Minnesota listed as ranked #1 in total offense and #1 in total defense.

 

[PnkPanther]

Who cares. Theyll be ranked by season end.

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

Minnesota's now ranked...

#1 in Total Offense
#1 in Total Defense
#1 in Time of Possession
#1 in 1st Down Offense, they are listed #6, but all 5 teams ahead of them are only ahead of them because of playing 5 games.
#1 in 1st Down Defense
#1 in 4th Down Conversion %, that's how they list them but I'd rank them 11th
#1 in 4th Down Conversion % Defense, that's how they list them but I'd rank them 5th
#1 in Red Zone Offense, they're listed as tied with 33 other tms, but all but Vandy have fewer than UMn's & Vandy's 13 of 13 attempts.
#1 in Red Zone Defense if you consider they are the only team to only allow an opponent into the Red Zone only once. And they only got into the red zone because of a bs ticky tack roughing the passer call when the Gopher was trying to sack the q/b on 3rd down which would have put them out of fg range.

#2 in 3rd Down Conversion %
#2 in 3rd Down Conversion % Defense
#2 in Rushing Offense
#2 in Scoring Defense
#2 in Fewest Penalties
#3 in Rushing Defense
#5 in Passing Yards Allowed
#5 in Passing Yards Per Completion
#7 in Scoring Offense
#8 in Team Passing Efficiency Defense

#16 in Team Passing Efficiency
#20 in Completion %

#38 in Passing Offense

And our kicker is ranked #1 in fg percentage, tied with 41 others, he's gone 3 for 3, only 10 players have not missed while kicking more fgs. He's also ranked #1 in extra point attempts, going 13 for 13 in extra point attempts, and he might have the most extra points in the country right now as well.

 

[fknhippie]

How can a team be #1 in total offense and #1 in total defense and not even be ranked in the Top 25?

They're a Minnesota sports team...nuff said.

 

[thunderc]

My God

 

[All-Star Benchwarmer]

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

Who cares. Theyll be ranked by season end.

Lots of people care, because getting underrated hurts come bowl season.

It's bad enough that now both Wisc and Iowa will be unranked when we beat them, most likely. Only team that might be ranked in the west other than us is Purdue or Illinois maybe, and they might drop out of the rankings as soon as we beat them if they do somehow get ranked before we play them?

So our eos ranking could depend heavily upon how we do against MSU, PSU and if we get there, the East Div rep in the Conf Title game.

Because beating Col, Iowa, Wisc, Purdue, Ill, NW, Rutgers & Nebraska alone probably won't get us ranked. Beating Colorado like we did last year might get us a few more votes, but if we lose to MSU, we'll likely not receive any votes, unless we keep it really close. Then if we lose to PSU, we'll lose any votes we may have gotten before the game, because 5-2 with no quality wins won't impress anyone. Then, even rattling off 3 straight wins going into the Iowa game won't get us ranked, even at 8-2. If Iowa sucks as bad as they looked in weeks 1 and 2, beating them will only be significant to Gopher fans, and then beating Wisc to finish 10-2 might finally get us ranked, just because they won't want to put too many 4 loss teams ahead of us.


So we should care, or we'll get paired with another 6-6 team in some schmuck bowl as not one single non-Gopher fan will respect us if we go 0-3 vs the B1G East heavyweights and 95% of Gopher fans won't either. You may argue it shouldn't matter, because going 0-3 vs those teams will mean we don't deserve a better bowl opponent, but I have to disagree. Mich/OSU are both ranked Top 4 right now, MSU is only Top 15, but could easily move up into the Top 10, by the time we play them and PSU could move up into the Top 15 as well if they beat Auburn and at least keep it close vs Michigan, or if they pull off an upset of Michigan, all 4 teams could end up in the Top 10 by the time we play PSU. So losing to 3 Top Ten teams shouldn't relegate us to irrelevancy just because the rest of the West Div decided to suck this year, so the Gophers need all the help they can get from the pollsters in case the above scenario comes to pass.

Granted, I personally believe we'll beat one, if not both PSU and MSU and I hope at least one other West Div team creeps up into the rankings by the time we play them. But even a win over PSU might not help a ton as Auburn isn't even getting votes I don't think? So PSU might not get ranked unless they beat us? So little things like how we are perceived before playing the MSU could matter a lot?

 

[PnkPanther]

Lots of people care, because getting underrated hurts come bowl season.

It's bad enough that now both Wisc and Iowa will be unranked when we beat them, most likely. Only team that might be ranked in the west other than us is Purdue or Illinois maybe, and they might drop out of the rankings as soon as we beat them if they do somehow get ranked before we play them?

So our eos ranking could depend heavily upon how we do against MSU, PSU and if we get there, the East Div rep in the Conf Title game.

Because beating Col, Iowa, Wisc, Purdue, Ill, NW, Rutgers & Nebraska alone probably won't get us ranked. Beating Colorado like we did last year might get us a few more votes, but if we lose to MSU, we'll likely not receive any votes, unless we keep it really close. Then if we lose to PSU, we'll lose any votes we may have gotten before the game, because 5-2 with no quality wins won't impress anyone. Then, even rattling off 3 straight wins going into the Iowa game won't get us ranked, even at 8-2. If Iowa sucks as bad as they looked in weeks 1 and 2, beating them will only be significant to Gopher fans, and then beating Wisc to finish 10-2 might finally get us ranked, just because they won't want to put too many 4 loss teams ahead of us.


So we should care, or we'll get paired with another 6-6 team in some schmuck bowl as not one single non-Gopher fan will respect us if we go 0-3 vs the B1G East heavyweights and 95% of Gopher fans won't either. You may argue it shouldn't matter, because going 0-3 vs those teams will mean we don't deserve a better bowl opponent, but I have to disagree. Mich/OSU are both ranked Top 4 right now, MSU is only Top 15, but could easily move up into the Top 10, by the time we play them and PSU could move up into the Top 15 as well if they beat Auburn and at least keep it close vs Michigan, or if they pull off an upset of Michigan, all 4 teams could end up in the Top 10 by the time we play PSU. So losing to 3 Top Ten teams shouldn't relegate us to irrelevancy just because the rest of the West Div decided to suck this year, so the Gophers need all the help they can get from the pollsters in case the above scenario comes to pass.

Granted, I personally believe we'll beat one, if not both PSU and MSU and I hope at least one other West Div team creeps up into the rankings by the time we play them. But even a win over PSU might not help a ton as Auburn isn't even getting votes I don't think? So PSU might not get ranked unless they beat us? So little things like how we are perceived before playing the MSU could matter a lot?

I'm not reading all of that. Win the West and we'll be ranked.

Not worried about week 2 ranking

 

[PnkPanther]

They're a Minnesota sports team...nuff said.

That's part of it, we don't get benefit of doubt by destroying two bad teams.

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

My God

Well, all your team played was UTEP and Kent St, if OU was so good, why aren't they #1 in all kinds of categories?

 

[thunderc]

Well, all your team played was UTEP and Kent St, if OU was so good, why aren't they #1 in all kinds of categories?

Ok man, just keep doing whatever it is you are doing. In the end we know Minnesota will play at least a week before New Year’s Day.

 

[PnkPanther]

Ok man, just keep doing whatever it is you are doing. In the end we know Minnesota will play at least a week before New Year’s Day.

I think MN wins west and gets a decent bowl.

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

Ok man, just keep doing whatever it is you are doing. In the end we know Minnesota will play at least a week before New Year’s Day.

We don't know that. A win over MSU in week 4 rockets them up into the Top 15, a win over PSU then moves them into the Top Ten, 5 straight wins to follow moves them into the Top 5, with only the Conf title game keeping them out of the cfp.

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

People may have laughed at the idea of Clemson ever making it into the cfp, too, in Dabo's first, hell, his first 5 years, he never accomplished anything in his first 5 years that Fleck hasn't accomplished, his best record was 11-2, #11 ap poll ranking, didn't Fleck go 11-2 with a #10 ap poll ranking in 2019? Now he's got his OC from that 2019 team back, and all the young guys on that 2019 roster are now all 6th year seniors leading the nation in many ways.

Now one significant difference between Fleck's situation at UMn and Dabo's at Clemson was Dabo had a weak ass ACC he could dominate, allowing him to basically get a free pass into the cfp by just beating up on B1G West Division level competition, whereas Minnesota has to beat the likes of OSU and Michigan just to get to the cfp in the first place. The coming playoff expansion couldn't come at a better time for teams like Minnesota.

 

[Boglodyte]

You left out their SOS…

Come back in Dec. and if you still lead in those categories I will apologize, but for now you played 2 above average high school teams.