Coaches Poll News - MinnesotaSportsFan https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/tag/coaches-poll/ Minnesota sports, but different Wed, 15 Dec 2021 19:09:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 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 Coaches Poll News - MinnesotaSportsFan https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/tag/coaches-poll/ 32 32 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 to #8 in Latest CFP Rankings https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/gophers-move-to-8-in-latest-cfp-rankings/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/gophers-move-to-8-in-latest-cfp-rankings/#respond Wed, 27 Nov 2019 02:13:31 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=19466 [et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.0.6″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.0.6″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.0.6″][et_pb_code _builder_version=”4.0.6″ hover_enabled=”0″]

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The College Football Playoff Rankings just dropped and they get more and more interesting (and important) as the weeks tick by. This week, Minnesota landed at #8, coming in as the 2nd-lowest of all 1-loss teams, who still have a chance to make the playoff (MN | #8, Utah | #6, Alabama | #5, Georgia | #4, Oklahoma | #7, Baylor | #9).

Yeah, the Gophers are probably getting screwed again but, I’ve been on this soap box for weeks now, winning will cure all of that. Obviously, as long as we beat Wisconsin on Saturday, we’re Rose Bowl bound, at the least. Now, if you beat Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship on December 7, then everything gets REAL interesting. IF we win out, beating both Wisconsin and Ohio State over the next two weekends, here’s how the Gophers get into the CFP:

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Recapping Northwestern and previewing GameDay/Wisconsin with Ryan Burns (GopherIllustrated.com)

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Utah still has to play Oregon in the PAC-12 Championship but even if they win, they won’t have 2 straight wins over top-15th teams like the Gophers would, should they win out (Wisconsin, Ohio State). If Utah beats Oregon in the PAC-12 Championship, the committee would have quite the decision on their hands.

Oklahoma plays @ Oklahoma State this weekend, who is ranked in the Top-25. The Big-12 doesn’t have a Conference Championship Game though, so win or lose, I don’t know how they would keep them ahead of the Gophers, after the two big victories they would need to be in this situation.

Georgia and LSU will play each other in the SEC Championship next weekend. As long as LSU wins, Georgia will be out of the conversation. If Georgia wins… well blow up everything.

Alabama will probably be the team that any of these other one-loss schools will be dealing with. They are sitting in the 5-spot right now and, unless another team finds a way to jump them before, they will be the natural team to slide in if Georgia exits.

The College Football Playoff is still very much alive for the Gophers but first, you need to beat Wisconsin on Saturday. As long as you do that and clinch a Rose Bowl birth, everything else is just a bonus.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

PSA: The Gophers also moved up earlier this week in both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll, to #9.

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]]> https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/gophers-move-to-8-in-latest-cfp-rankings/feed/ 0 Thu, 01 Jul 2021 14:26:35 +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 #13 in Both Polls… and Now We Wait. https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/gophers-move-up-to-13-in-both-polls-and-now-we-wait/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/gophers-move-up-to-13-in-both-polls-and-now-we-wait/#respond Sun, 27 Oct 2019 18:55:33 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=19004 It’s Sunday and the Vikings don’t play so we have all sorts of time to over-analyze yesterday’s Gopher victory. The victory was so dominant that we needed some controversy so Nadine Babu of The Gopher Hole started fires over student section attendance yesterday on Twitter and then I threw gas on the flames this morning with a blog.

Meanwhile, Scotty Frost is still upset about how Minnesota football players took the warm-up field vs them, before fans are allowed into the stadium. He’s upset about kids wearing hoodies, I guess? But he is wearing a hoody in that press conference… Idk, he’s a strange fellow. But like I mentioned to many who were discussing this on Twitter, we had a bunch of guys who weren’t wearing shirts at all before that cold and snowy game… so that cancels the guys who Frost was upset about, who had hoodies on, I think.

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But now, we have some new fodder (that also doesn’t really matter). The new Coaches Poll and AP Poll just dropped and the Gophers are moving on up, as expected. The now sit at #13 in each poll. Here are the polls now:

AP Poll:

  1. LSU
  2. ALABAMA
  3. OHIO STATE
  4. CLEMSON
  5. PENN STATE
  6. FLORIDA
  7. OREGON
  8. GEORGIA
  9. UTAH
  10. OKLAHOMA
  11. AUBURN
  12. BAYLOR
  13. MINNESOTA
  14. MICHIGAN
  15. SMU
  16. NOTRE DAME
  17. CINCINNATI
  18. WISCONSIN
  19. IOWA
  20. APPALACHIAN STATE
  21. BOISE STATE
  22. KANSAS STATE
  23. WAKE FOREST
  24. MEMPHIS
  25. SAN DIEGO STATE

Coaches Poll:

  1. ALABAMA
  2. LSU
  3. CLEMSON
  4. OHIO STATE
  5. PENN STATE
  6. FLORIDA
  7. GEORGIA
  8. OREGON
  9. OKLAHOMA
  10. UTAH
  11. BAYLOR
  12. AUBURN
  13. MINNESOTA
  14. SMU
  15. MICHIGAN
  16. NOTRE DAME
  17. WISCONSIN
  18. CINCINNATI
  19. IOWA
  20. APPALACHIAN STATE
  21. BOISE STATE
  22. WAKE FOREST
  23. MEMPHIS
  24. TEXAS
  25. KANSAS STATE

There are a few fun things I take from this. First, we are finally ranked higher than anyone else in the Big Ten West just BARELY. At the same time, we are by far the lowest-ranked 8-0 team in a power five conference. The top-5 have perfect records and so do the Baylor Bears (#11 in Coaches & #12 in AP) but the rest all have at least one loss. Don’t feel slighted though. The “experts” aren’t wrong about who the Gophers have played. The schedule isn’t impressive. That’s fine.

Here’s what they don’t know yet, that I do. It isn’t going to matter. The Gophers are really good, no matter the opponent. The only thing I’m upset about, is that we have to wait two weeks before we get to prove it to the nation. I don’t care if College Gameday is there or not. The Gophers are winning this game vs Penn State. Then, they’ll go to Iowa with a chance to make their own history over the last two games of the regular season.

So, while we all fodder about things that really don’t matter in the long run… everyone is really just waiting, for 13 days from now with a clenched lip, when we can open some eyes for real.

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-13-in-both-polls-and-now-we-wait/feed/ 0 Thu, 01 Jul 2021 14:26:44 +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