AP Poll News - MinnesotaSportsFan https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/tag/ap-poll/ Minnesota sports, but different Sun, 25 Sep 2022 18:46:25 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=32,height=32,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cropped-cropped-MSF-favicon-1.jpg AP Poll News - MinnesotaSportsFan https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/tag/ap-poll/ 32 32 Gophers Crack AP Top-25 Poll https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-vikings/minnesota-gophers-crack-ap-top-25-poll/ Sun, 25 Sep 2022 18:46:22 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=40499 After a dominating 34-7 victory over the Michigan State Spartans on Saturday afternoon, the Minnesota Gophers have finally convinced the college football media world that they deserve a spot in the Associated Press top-25 poll, debuting Sunday at #21.

  1. Georgia
  2. Alabama
  3. Ohio State
  4. Michigan
  5. Clemson
  6. USC
  7. Kentucky
  8. Tennessee
  9. Oklahoma State
  10. North Carolina State
  11. Penn State
  12. Utah
  13. Oregon
  14. Ole Miss
  15. Washington
  16. Baylor
  17. Texas A&M
  18. Oklahoma
  19. BYU
  20. Arkansas
  21. Minnesota
  22. Wake Forest
  23. Florida State
  24. Pittsburgh
  25. Kansas State

It’s the first time the Gophers have been ranked in the AP Top-25 since the 2020 season. Next Saturday, Minnesota will welcome Purdue to Huntington Bank Stadium, when they’ll have a chance to climb even higher.

The USA Today Coaches Poll also released on Sunday. There, the Minnesota Gophers debuted at #23 in the country.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

]]> Sun, 25 Sep 2022 13:46:25 +0000 Minnesota Vikings Gophers Receive Votes, Go Unranked in Preseason AP Poll https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-twins/minnesota-gophers-receive-votes-go-unranked-in-preseason-ap-poll/ Mon, 15 Aug 2022 16:51:11 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=40044 The Minnesota Gophers have gained some steam recently, as we charge toward the start of the 2022 college football season. PJ Fleck’s latest squad has its record-breaking offensive coordinator back, along with many of his key skill position players (Tanner Morgan, Mohamed Ibrahim, Chris-Autman Bell) from that 2019 season.

Defense, under coordinator Joe Rossi (The Guru), has become the Gophers’ calling card. Transfer portal additions in the secondary could make the difference in success and failure in 2022. Minnesota’s schedule, one of the most favorable in the conference, should help.

On Monday, the Associated Press released their annual preseason top-25 poll. PJ Fleck’s newest iteration of football Gophers weren’t able to sneak into the official rankings, but they did receive plenty of votes. 31 votes, to be exact; good for 32nd most in the country. Six Big Ten teams ranked higher than the Minnesota Gophers. Nine teams received votes. USC (#14) received 711 votes and UCLA received 2 votes. Both teams will leave the PAC-12 and join the Big Ten in 2024.

  • (2) Ohio State – 1,506 votes
  • (8) Michigan – 1,203 votes
  • (15) Michigan State – 631 votes
  • (18) Wisconsin – 365 votes
  • (28) Iowa – 163 votes
  • (29) Penn State – 160 votes
  • (32) Minnesota – 31 votes
  • (34) Purdue – 17 votes
  • (47) Nebraska – 1 vote

Wide Open West

The top of the Big Ten lives in the East Division, at least for now. We’ll see what the conference does with the additions of USC and UCLA, possibly others, over the next few years. And it’s still ruled by Ohio State, who’s likely to represent the Big Ten in the 2022-23 College Football Playoff.

What does the AP Poll tell us about the Gophers’ chances in 2022? That the West Division is, again, wide open. Yes, the Wisconsin Badgers are heavy favorites, deservedly, but that’s been the case for the last two seasons. And in both 2020 and 2021, the Badgers sat home on Championship Weekend. Something they aren’t used to.

Since splitting into two divisions in 2011, Wisconsin had never missed out on two straight Big Ten Championship games, until Northwestern took the title in 2020 and Iowa beat out the Gophers in 2021. Now, Bucky is in danger of sitting home for three-straight years.

This year’s Rose Bowl is expected to be the last to feature a power PAC-12 vs Big Ten matchup, given the PAC 12 may not even exist after the 2022 season. If that’s really the case, a return of the once dominant Minnesota Gophers, who haven’t been in the Rose Bowl parade since 1962, almost feels too romantic for reality…

Coaches Poll

Until the College Football Playoff Rankings released during the season, the AP Poll is the most trusted. But the USA Today Coaches Poll is also referenced early and often, throughout the year. Those preseason rankings released over the weekend. The Minnesota Gophers received 6 votes, good for 44th in the nation.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

]]> Mon, 15 Aug 2022 13:06:28 +0000 Minnesota Twins No Respect in Polls/Rankings for Gophers MBB https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-basketball/no-respect-in-polls-rankings-for-minnesota-gophers-mbb/ Wed, 15 Dec 2021 18:06:56 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=37478 The early Big Ten season was supposed to be a measuring stick for the new Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s basketball team. Two games vs conference powers like Michigan State and Michigan was supposed to be a big prove-it type stretch for rookie head coach Ben Johnson and a turned over Gophers team that had looked much better than expected to start 2021-22.

So when they hung with #19 Michigan State last week at The Barn, ultimately losing 67-75, then followed that up on Saturday with a 75-65 victory over Michigan in Ann Arbor, many fans (myself included) thought the 9-1 Gophers had passed a pretty significant test.

But then the AP and USA Today top-25 polls came out on Monday and, outside of a few votes, Minnesota was nowhere to be found. Michigan State, on the other hand, jumped up seven spots in the AP and eight spots in the USA Today. Sparty now ranks #12 in both polls thanks to wins over the Gophers and 5-5 (0-2) Penn State.

The Minnesota Gophers went from 0 AP Poll votes last week, to 3 votes on Monday. Michigan, the 6-4 Big Ten team that Minnesota defeated last week, got 8 votes. You need north of 150 votes to have any chance of cracking the top-25. The Gophers were already getting a little love last week (Dec. 6) in the USA Today Coaches Poll, receiving 7 votes. The problem? They got the same exact amount this week, as if those games vs the Spartans and Wolverines meant nothing.

Hurt by Victory

So the AP and Coaches Polls only come out once per week. Other ranking systems and polls that the college basketball world trusts update daily. Ben Johnson’s Gophers are seeing more of the same disrespect with those. In fact, all of the daily updated polls people care about actually dropped Minnesota down following their win on Tuesday night over Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

The 9-1 Islanders came to The Barn and the Gophers jumped on them right from the tip, taking a 20-point lead into halftime. It looked like a route in the making, even midway through the second half. But Minnesota committed 28 total turnovers, many of which came in the second half, allowing TAMU-CC to cut the lead to single digits at the finish line.

The maroon and gold had been one of the best offenses in the country in the turnover department, averaging just 7.8 per game through nine games. But coughing up the basketball was the obvious reason they couldn’t put the Islanders away last night. Still, the final score of 79-71 projected a game that was much closer than what actually unfolded in reality, which was a matchup that Minnesota mostly dominated.

A win is (not just) a win

So let’s get back to the daily updated polls and rankings mentioned above. They hated Tuesday’s win. The NET Rankings, the system recently created by the NCAA to help the Tournament Committee make their March selections, dropped Minnesota from #35 to #36 after the victory. If you feel slighted by that, the rest of this blog won’t make you any happier.

All three of the other most-widely used polls and ranking systems also dropped the Gophers after their win over Texas A&M-CC yesterday. The Massey rankings dropped them from at #30 to #33. KenPom and ESPN BPI must have forgotten that Minnesota has a basketball team, ranking them #69 and #66 respectively before the win and dropping them down to #74 and #70 after.

I know that other teams have played more difficult schedules than what the Gophers have, but this is no longer an untested team. The four games they played before Tuesday were against ACC, SEC and Big Ten competition. Three of them, Michigan St., Michigan and Mississippi St. are NCAA Tournament caliber. They beat two of them, both of which rank ahead of the Gophers in some of the polls above.

It won’t matter.

At the end of the year, where the Minnesota Gophers ranked in the middle of December won’t matter. This team plays in the deepest conference in the nation. When Big Ten play resumes at the beginning of the new year, there will be plenty of good competition to go around.

If Ben Johnson and his new squad can win most of their games at Williams Arena and beat struggling teams on the road, they’ll set themselves up to dance when it’s all over. And dancing in March is something NOBODY would’ve tried selling you a month ago.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

]]> Wed, 15 Dec 2021 13:09:07 +0000 Minnesota Gophers Basketball Gophers Climb to #21 in New AP Poll; Michigan Up to #18 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/gophers-climb-to-21-in-new-ap-poll-michigan-up-to-18/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/gophers-climb-to-21-in-new-ap-poll-michigan-up-to-18/#respond Sun, 18 Oct 2020 18:21:37 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=30622

The Minnesota Gophers still haven’t played any football games yet this season, but they continue to climb up the college football ranking systems. Today in the AP Poll, they are up three spots from last week, to #21 in the nation.

After debuting in the preseason AP Poll at #19, before falling out after the first week of games. They reappeared on October 6, at #25, moved up one spot last weekend, before arriving where they sit now.

The USA Today Coaches Poll has released for week 7 too. Minnesota has ranked in the same slot for both polls the last two weeks. Last weekend, they debuted at #24 and have now moved up to #21 this week. Michigan moves up to #17 in the Coaches Poll

Minnesota will open 2020 play vs Michigan at TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday at 6:30 PM. The game will be broadcast on ABC and College Gameday will do their weekly pregame inside the Gopher stadium that morning.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

]]> https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/gophers-climb-to-21-in-new-ap-poll-michigan-up-to-18/feed/ 0 Thu, 01 Jul 2021 14:24:05 +0000 Minnesota Gophers Football Minnesota Climbs Back Up Both College Football Polls https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/minnesota-climbs-back-up-both-college-football-polls/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/minnesota-climbs-back-up-both-college-football-polls/#respond Sun, 11 Oct 2020 20:29:56 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=30415

The Minnesota Gophers haven’t played any games yet this college football season and that won’t change for another 13 days. Don’t tell that to the media members or coaches who vote in the Associated Press or USA Today Top-25 polls, though.

After another weekend of (non-Big Ten) football games, the Associated Press and USA Today released their latest versions of the two long-standing CFB ranking systems. In the latest versions (released today), Minnesota jumped back into the Coaches poll for the first time since September 20 and moved up one spot (from 25 to 24) in the AP.

There’s a lot to sort through here, and while none of it really matters until the Minnesota Gophers start playing football games next weekend, there were still a couple of things that hit me immediately.

Death, Taxes and USC football being overrated to start a season

I laugh everytime I see USC in an early-season top-25. If it weren’t the “football school” of Southern California then I’m not sure they’d ever bust through the top-25. The poll voters are trying to resurrect the 2000’s USC dynasty, back when Pete Carroll won double-digit games for seven-straight seasons (’02-’08), including FOUR Rose Bowls and a National Championship in 2004.

Unfortunately for West Coast football fans, those days are long gone… The Trojans have only hit 10+ wins four times since 2008 (Carroll’s last season) and they haven’t put two digits in the win column, more recently, since 2017.

Michigan ranks just ahead of Minnesota

Minnesota’s week 1 opponent, the Michigan Wolverines, are ranked #19 in both the AP and Coaches poll. Since neither team will play before they kickoff at TCF Bank Stadium in two weeks, one can assume Michigan will remain about 5 spots ahead of the Gophers, entering that matchup.

Much like USC, early poll rankings rarely reflect how good of a team Michigan has. They have lost a lot of their weapons on both sides of the field and this is a very gettable game for PJ Fleck and Co, if they can come ready to play from the drop of the first coin at midfield.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

]]> https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/minnesota-climbs-back-up-both-college-football-polls/feed/ 0 Thu, 01 Jul 2021 14:24:08 +0000 Minnesota Gophers Football Gophers Move Up to #7 in Both The Coaches and AP Polls https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/gophers-move-up-to-7-in-both-the-coaches-and-ap-polls/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/gophers-move-up-to-7-in-both-the-coaches-and-ap-polls/#respond Sun, 10 Nov 2019 20:13:51 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=19208 If you’re a Gopher Football fan and respect is what you are looking for, following yesterday’s historic victory over Penn State and a 9-0 start to the 2019 season, you’re starting to feel vindicated.

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Yes, you are seeing that properly. The Minnesota Gophers are inside of the top-7 in both the College Football Associated Press AND Coaches Poll. When you take a second to think about it, you almost want to pinch yourself. I feel really happy for those who have sunk so much of their lives into this Gopher Football program through all of the bad times. There were a lot of “is this really happening” looks being exchanged throughout TCF Bank Stadium yesterday afternoon.

But, as Carter Coughlin reiterated many times yesterday, the work is only getting started and today, the team will change their best, look to Iowa, and then have their season’s best week of practice, before heading to Kinnick Stadium for a 3PM kickoff in Iowa City, on national TV.

The only college football poll that matters now though, is the “College Football Playoff” Rankings and those update Tuesday nights at 6 PM. Until then, we’ll bask in our #7 glory. At the end of the day, none of it really matters. With Iowa and Wisconsin still on the schedule + a growing chance at representing the West in the Big Ten Championship Game… the ceiling is as high as the this team can reach.

In other words, rankings create fodder and clicks, but we don’t have to worry about not being ranked high enough to play in the bowl game we feel we deserve OR to make the College Football Playoff Final 4. With the teams remaining on the Gophers’ schedule, they’ll be in that playoff if they win out. I can’t see them beating Ohio State but this team is staring to make me believe anything is possible… So, just take it one game at a time and watch the wins instead of the rankings and polls.

Speaking of “strength of schedule”… after beating Penn State, schedule strength arguments are completely falling apart… no matter what angle you take.

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Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]]]> https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/gophers-move-up-to-7-in-both-the-coaches-and-ap-polls/feed/ 0 Thu, 01 Jul 2021 14:26:40 +0000 Minnesota Gophers Football Gophers Move Up to #17 in AP Poll; #16 in Coaches Poll for Week 9 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/gophers-move-up-to-17-in-ap-poll-16-in-coaches-poll-for-week-9/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/gophers-move-up-to-17-in-ap-poll-16-in-coaches-poll-for-week-9/#respond Sun, 20 Oct 2019 18:10:49 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=18887 The Gophers stomped on Rutgers yesterday afternoon just like any respectable high school, or better, football team would. Meanwhile, the rest of the Big Ten West leaders were either losing to Illinois or barely sneaking past other weaker opponents… giving Gopher fans confidence they haven’t had in their football team for many generations. So much confidence, in fact, that they had to start worrying about losing their football coach instead of losing games. Good problems to have???? Don’t worry, I have your remedy. PJ isn’t going anywhere.

With another win and more positive energy surrounding the program, the Gophers are climbing up both the AP and Coaches Top-25 Polls:

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I’m not upset or ecstatic about where the Gophers landed for Week 9. I love the fact that they are in the rankings and I love the fact that they continue to move up the list. These are very important for recruiting. I don’t really care whether they are overrated or underrated on either list, though. The Gophers are still undefeated and they will have 3 major tests before playing any postseason football.

The 2020 season is almost undoubtedly a success already, unless something catastrophic happens between now and game 12. How big time the season ends up being and where the Gophers finish in the both Top-25 Polls, will be dictated by the final 3 of 4 weeks vs Penn State, Iowa, and Wisconsin. None of that matters right now, though. We saw how quickly your season can turn on its head when Illinois upset Wisconsin this weekend.

Right now, it’s Maryland season. We’ll wait until that season is over, before we start worrying about who comes to town after, where we end up in the rankings, or what bowl game we will play in.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]]]> https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/gophers-move-up-to-17-in-ap-poll-16-in-coaches-poll-for-week-9/feed/ 0 Thu, 01 Jul 2021 14:26:47 +0000 Minnesota Gophers Football