The Gophers’ season hasn’t quite panned out like they would’ve hoped. After a great and dominating 4-0 start to the season, the Gophers have dropped three straight to Purdue (5-3), #17 Illinois (6-1), and #13 Penn State (6-1). Now, Minnesota hasn’t lost to bad teams by any means. It’s just that they’ve failed to beat the only good teams they’ve faced and will face all season. This means that there’s a good chance that Minnesota can win out and finish 9-3. They do have some tough, gritty opponents on their schedule still, but it’s much easier than what they just went through. With that, let’s look at how much hope the Gophers’ season still has.
Remaining Schedule
The Gophers remaining schedule looks to be pretty easy as they currently only face two teams over .500 in Rutgers and Wisconsin. Minnesota’s remaining schedule goes Rutgers (4-3)- home, Nebraska (3-4) – road, Northwestern (1-6) – home, Iowa (3-4) – home, and Wisconsin (2-3) – road. Obviously, games against Iowa and Wisconsin will be hard and Nebraska may prove to be a tough out. Compared to their most recent stretch of Purdue, Illinois, and Penn State it doesn’t seem so bad. Going 5-0 here is very reasonable. They only have two road games and a trio of home games. It is very favorable and it’s hard to see them doing any worse than 3-2.
They Can Still Win The West…With A Lot Of Help
Okay, yes this is very much a long shot at this point, and it doesn’t seem like the worst thing to miss out on getting blown out by Ohio State or Michigan. However, there’s still a chance they can win the west. They do need a lot of help though. Purdue’s recent 35-24 loss to Wisconsin helps and Illinois plays Michigan, but they’ll need both of them to lose more. Both Purdue and Illinois need to lose at least two-to-three games. Can it happen? Let’s take a look at the remaining schedule for Purdue and Illinois to see if it can be done.
Illinois
So, first off, we need Illinois to lose three games. Their remaining schedule is Michigan State (3-4) – home, Purdue (5-2) – home, #4 Michigan (7-0) – road, and Northwestern (1-6) – road. So, let’s get the obvious out the way, Illinois is losing to Michigan. If you think otherwise, you’re crazy. They blew out Penn State at home and they’ll do the same to the Illini. Their next loss is to Purdue, because we need them to beat the Illini. How they do it is by catching them looking ahead at their season defining game against the Wolverines.
Okay, now the Illini are 6-3, so who else are they going to lose to? Are you seriously telling me they’ll lose to the Spartans at home or a terrible Northwestern team? No, I’m not saying that. I don’t see them losing and the Gophers will need a miracle for that to happen for them to end up at 7-4.
Purdue
So, the Boilermakers need to lose twice, not bad right? Let’s look at Purdue’s remaining schedule. They still have to play Iowa (3-4) – home, #17 Illinois (6-1) – road, Northwestern (1-6) – home, and Indiana (3-5) – road. So, not as easy as Illinois. As mentioned above, Purdue needs to beat the Illini and they will do that. So, the next obvious loss I see is Iowa. The Hawkeye defense is very good, and if they do what they do best (which is getting turnovers) they can very much pull out a win.
The other game I’m eyeing is in Indiana. A big rivalry game on the road to end the season with potentially everything on the line. How great would it be for Indiana to have a year of bragging about denying your in-state rival a chance to get to the Big 10 championship game. If Iowa and Indiana can play hero, they can give the Gophers the two needed losses to the Boilermakers.
Is This Even Possible
Not really; now it can still happen, but it’s extemely unlikely to happen. Purdue will need to suffer losses against Iowa and Indiana and Illinois will need to lose to Purdue, Michigan, and either Northwestern or Michigan State. Not winning the west seems to be a foregone conclusion, not without a lot of luck anyway. It doesn’t seem likely, even with an easy final five games in the Gophers’ season.
In the end, the Gophers should have a shot at, at least second in the west at 9-3 and getting into a decent bowl game. Will this be disappointing, yes, especially after having such a great start. This team was built to be successful and 9-3 or 10-3 will still be good. In fact, it’ll be close to what they did in 2019. It just won’t be enough. Nor does it feel as special as 2019.