Minnesota Gophers On the Rise?

[WorkHorse]

The Golden Gophers haven't won the Big Ten title in 46 years, haven't been to the Rose Bowl in more than half a century. Yet, Minnesota's long suffering faithful believe the program is headed in the right direction mainly because of third year coach Jerry Kill. Kill's records during his first three seasons at Southern Illinois were 1-10, 4-8 and 10-2. Kill has the Gophers on a similar trajectory so far, going 3-9 and 6-7 his first two seasons.

Minnesota was noticeable improved last year, particularly on defense where Kill took an over matched squad and turned them into a competitive one. The offense needs work but has a deep line with two solid running backs. Quarterback Phillip Nelson is a decent passer and elusive runner. One major concern is a group of wide receivers where no returner caught more than 20 passes last year and only four touchdowns among them.

Minnesota is still not ready to challenge the elite teams in the Big Ten but they are improving and worth keeping an eye on this season.

[WorkHorse]

2013 Minnesota Schedule

08/29 UNLV
09/07 @ New Mexico St.
09/14 Western Illinois
09/21 San Jose State
09/28 Iowa
10/05 @ Michigan
10/12 Open Date
10/19 @ Northwestern
10/26 Nebraska
11/02 @ Indiana
11/09 Penn State
11/16 Open Date
11/23 Wisconsin
11/30 @ Michigan

Minny needs to get off to a 4-0 start before starting the Big Ten schedule for any improvement on last season's six wins.

[chunk]

Non-conference schedule will be improving also starting next year. They scheduled TCU and dropped So. Dakota St. I think that AD's and coaches are finally starting to get the message that fans don't want to pay good money to watch scrimmages.

I like Jerry Kill and hope that he has some success in Minny although we know that the stable will never be full there.

[WorkHorse]

Chunk, its been obvious to me and my crowd that you are no novice to college football. Guess my question is are you a Big Ten fan or specifically a Minnesota guy. We are always looking for help out of the Big Ten.

Always enjoy your post my friend..........

[SamDiamond]

Jerry Kill is a great college coach, just not sure the Minnesota faithful support the program that well.

[chunk]

Chunk, its been obvious to me and my crowd that you are no novice to college football. Guess my question is are you a Big Ten fan or specifically a Minnesota guy. We are always looking for help out of the Big Ten.

Always enjoy your post my friend..........

I live in Big Ten country, but follow all teams....hopefully without bias. I've enjoyed capping CFB, NFL, and CBB for years. As I'm sure you know, it is a grind and after march madness, I'm usually pretty burned out and use the summer for review, research, and prep for the next seasons. Oh, and to play a little golf.

Obviously, you're very passionate about college football and keeping others interested. Nice job. BTW, nothing wrong with a good rant now and then....cleanses the soul.

[Gameday]

It's great to see a team like Minnesota join the race in the Big Ten again, they can play some smash mouth football and can really slow a game down when they need to.. Avoiding obvious big ten powerhouse Ohio State in their schedule definitely ups their odds.

I just joined this forum a few weeks ago and I have to say you guy's Knowledge about the game is unreal. I've been a college football fan for years and kind of fell off the past two years (work n what not). So you guys will have to bare with me while I play catch up for a few weeks on all this information. I'm already wishing the summer away because I can't wait to get watchin CFB (obviously we're all excited about it cause its three months out and we're talking about it daily).

But I have to give props to WORKHORSE, you really drive these threads to take place. Good work man! Keep it up.

Just out of curiosity how do you guys think Michigan is going to do this year? With the addition of Derek Green I hope to see a little more pro set offensive out of them. I know expectations are high in ann harbor but do you think the hype is real? Not even ranked in the top 25 coming into the season after going 6-2 in the big ten last year.. They did loose 5 games and got throttled by BAMA in the season opener but head coach Bradley Hoke is coming into his third year. Although Michigan lost, they played South Carolina, Notre Dame, and Ohio State EXTREMELY TOUGH. SO DO YOU GUYS THINK THE 2013 IS LOOKING UP FOR THEM OR DOWN?

[BigdaddyQH]

Minny may cover some spreads and may be a good team to wager on, but with that schedule, they are probably going to have to defeat Iowa at home and Indiana away to get the 6 wins to go bowling again this season. Tough order.

[WorkHorse]

Gameday, I'm with you being ready for the football season to start. It's my favorite time of the sporting year.

Regarding your Michigan question: My view is Michigan, Nebraska, Wisconsin and possibly Penn State will all battle it out to see who comes in second behind Ohio State. The Wolverines will be playing a lot of new starters (3 O-line and 3 D-line) but I like their new quarterback, their coach and this year's schedule. Hoke is 14-0 in Michigan Stadium and will get Notre Dame, Nebraska, and Ohio State on his turf. At Penn State and at Michigan State seem to be the road tough ones. If the Wolverines negotiate those five games successfully...then they should be in pretty good shape at the end of the season.

Quarterback Devin Gardner and the development of three new offensive line starters will determine how the offense fares. Hoke has had two top-20 defenses and must replace some key players to keep that string going. A real positive is the kicking game with placekicker Brendan Gibbons (29 of 35) last year and punter Will Hagerup who was Big Ten Punter of the Year.

Glad to have you posting Gameday.........