In a season that started with a promising string of wins, the Gophers currently find themselves in an uphill battle for Big Ten West supremacy. Losses to Purdue, Illinois and Penn State have tempered their expected ultimatum, and rebounding from that deficit won’t be easy.
“As I told our team yesterday, we got five total games left, guaranteed,” head coach P.J. Fleck said Monday. “We can still play our best football ahead.”
The Gophers played Rutgers on Saturday and won. The remaining schedule includes Nebraska, Northwestern, Iowa and Wisconsin. Combined, their opponents’ overall record is 15-21. But don’t be deceived: three of those five bouts are historically close “trophy games,” which are often unpredictable.
For Minnesota to overcome the forecasted unpredictability, improve their record and increase their chances in the West, they must elevate their play to levels comparable to past games and seasons.
Fleck touched on the importance of getting back to their old ways of playing by showing the players many clips of them “playing elite football” at an “incredibly high level.” He also went on to quote Matt Campbell, Iowa State’s head football coach, saying “winners do lose, but losers hide.”
But with a 2-3 conference record, they will have to do a lot of winning to come out from hiding at the bottom of the Big Ten standings.
The losses to Purdue and Illinois make it tough to win the West as the two teams now own the tiebreaker over Minnesota. If Minnesota wins the next five games, they have to depend on Purdue to lose two games and Illinois to lose three to claim the division.
One of the two teams is guaranteed to help Minnesota at least once since Purdue and Illinois are scheduled to face each other in week 11. It is a much-anticipated matchup for Gopher fans who hope to finish first.
Illinois currently holds a better conference record (3-1) than Purdue (3-2) but has a stronger schedule ahead. However, there is a lot of football left to be played before then, so deciding on whom optimistic fans root for should be judged week-by-week.
Another competitor on Minnesota’s radar is their long-despised rival: the Wisconsin Badgers.
Wisconsin’s season has been an opposite experience compared to Minnesota’s. They started slowly with two wins and three losses; as a result, they fired their head coach. Since then, they have won their last three games.
There is a slim possibility that if Wisconsin can win out along with Minnesota, while other exterior factors are also met, the winner of the division could be whoever walks out of Camp Randall victorious on Nov. 26.
Statistically, the Big Ten championship window has not entirely closed on Minnesota, but they won’t be able to make it under their discretion. They will have to play winning football from here on out and have a bit of luck on their side to redeem the previously set expectations of winning the Big Ten West title.
