North Dakota State plays Illinois State for the FCS national title on Saturday and Ohio State faces Oregon for the College Football Playoff National Championship next Monday but otherwise the 2014-2015 college season, including for the Gophers, is history. Here are one man’s random observations about the Big Ten and Minnesota.
Big Ten Power Poll ranking teams? Let’s go six-deep: Ohio State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska and Penn State. Power polls of teams are common but here’s a ranking in order of the conference’s best half-dozen coaches:
1. Urban Meyer, Ohio State. In three years in Columbus he is a preposterous 37-3, including 24-0 for Big Ten regular season games. Many college football authorities will argue he’s the best coach in the land. Need more be said?
2. Mark Dantonio, Michigan State. The Spartans’ stunning fourth quarter rally to defeat point-a-minute Baylor in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day is just a snapshot of Dantonio’s success at MSU, a program that historically has underachieved. The Spartans are 75-31 under Dantonio and MSU has become more than a basketball school.
3. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan. He announced years ago at then-lowly Stanford that his program will bow to no one. The Cardinal became a national power and is still feeling his impact. Imagine now what he can do at Michigan, college football’s winningest program.
4. Jerry Kill, Minnesota. In four years at Minnesota Kill has become a poster boy for program turnarounds. The Gophers have won nine Big Ten games during the last two years, the best run like that since 1999-2000.
5. James Franklin, Penn State. Check the Rivals.com recruiting lists since last January when Franklin took over in Happy Valley to get one measure of his impact at this scandal torn program. Now look at his impressive 24-15 record at Vanderbilt—where nobody wins—to understand why Franklin is placing the roar back in the Nittany Lions.
6. Kyle Flood, Rutgers. Bet you never would have guessed the Scarlet Knights head coach gets the No. 6 spot. He is the lowest paid head coach in the Big Ten but far from the worst. In three seasons in Piscataway he is 23-16 including a win in the recent Quick Lane Bowl. He does more with less including hiring quality staff like former Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen as offensive coordinator. Other assistants include Mitch Browning who coached for the Gophers and Norries Wilson who played for Minnesota.
Among those who didn’t make the super six list are Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, Nebraska’s Mike Riley and Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst. The Iowa program has grown stale under Ferentz and that’s not a good thing when you earn about $4 million per year. Riley is a solid coach who proved his worth over and over at Oregon State—Oregon’s poor sister. Don’t expect him to be Tom Osborne, though. And another new head coach in the Big Ten, Chryst, will operate in the large shadow of Badgers athletic director Barry Alvarez. Badgers fans will expect a lot more than Chryst delivered as head coach at Pittsburgh where he was 19-19 in three years.
The Big Ten can thump its chest (for a change) about its bowl results. League teams are 5-5 in bowl games this season and the Buckeyes can give the Big Ten a winning postseason record if they win the national title. The Big Ten was 10-21 the previous four years in bowls. No team from the conference has won the national championship since Ohio State in 2002.
Rich Exner, writing on Monday for Cleveland.com, pointed out the Big Ten has more bowl wins in 2014-15 against ranked opponents than any other conference. The Pac-12 has the best bowl record at 6-2 while the SEC is 7-5.
It’s unique that Ohio State has three quarterbacks as talented as sophomore Cardale Jones (now the starter), freshman J.T. Barrett (No. 1 most of the season) and senior Braxton Miller (injured all year but a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate). Can’t think of another college team that ever had the collective skill set of the Jones, Barrett and Miller trio.
After the January 1 Citrus Bowl loss to Missouri, the Gophers are now winless in their last seven bowls, including 0-3 under Kill. Ball State and Minnesota have the longest bowl losing streak in the country at 0-7.
That’s something Kill and his staff will fix. The Gophers have been 8-5 the last two seasons and Kill expects to have his best team in 2015. Recruiting and coaching are paying off with more talent and production. The defense has been rebuilt and the special teams are usually solid if not exceptional. The way Missouri caught Minnesota unprepared at the Citrus Bowl on a fake punt and onside kick was unusual for the Gophers and not the norm.
The offense is still a project in Kill’s brick-by-brick rebuilding of the rubble he inherited in 2010. Against top 20 teams like Missouri, having an offense that produces 17 points isn’t going to generate a “w” very often. The staff still has to solve personnel challenges at quarterback, receiver and perhaps in the line.
Even if Mitch Leidner has arrived at being the program’s first consistent quarterback in awhile, a reliable backup who can pass is needed. Quality and depth at wide receiver has been an ongoing issue and that needs to be solved in 2015. Line play has been inconsistent during the Kill regime but improved last fall. That maturation should continue this spring and beyond.
Leidner’s 21 of 31 passing for 258 yards in the bowl game was impressive. The Gophers are 2-25 under Kill when trailing at halftime but a better passing game led by Leidner, a junior in 2015, will help change that stat. (Kill’s record when leading at halftime is 20-1).
Leidner, Gophers teammates and fans will obviously miss tight end Maxx Williams who is leaving for the NFL Draft with two seasons of eligibility remaining. The All-American simply was the best big play tight end in school history. His spectacular 54-yard touchdown against Missouri, after catching a Leidner pass, will be archived in the school’s football highlights vault for decades.
During spring practices eyes will be on the running back spot to see who can replace school-record setter David Cobb. Promising freshmen Jeff Jones and Rodney Smith will get plenty of stares but don’t be surprised if senior Rodrick Williams uses his experience, power and straight ahead speed to win the job. What about sophomore speed-man Berkley Edwards? Edwards must show he can avoid injuries and have an all-around game.
Defensively the Gophers’ best unit could again be the secondary. Senior cornerbacks Eric Murray and Briean Boddy-Calhoun will be All-Big Ten candidates, and there’s plenty of other help on defense too in the secondary, and among the linebackers and linemen. It will be interesting to watch several defensive players in the spring including linebacker junior college transfer Cody Poock who looked like a starter before tearing an ACL and also fireplug sophomore defensive tackle Steven Richardson who impressed so much as a freshman.
Special teams players include junior Jalen Myrick who finished second in the Big Ten on kickoff returns by averaging 28.2 yards. Senior punter Peter Mortell was second in conference punting average at 45.1 yards and junior placekicker Ryan Santos excelled in kickoffs, field goals and extra points. The three returnees help form the nucleus of outstanding special teams.
Offensive, defensive and special teams players all benefit learning from a staff that has remarkable longevity with Kill. Seven assistants have been with him 14 years or more. Leading the list are strength coach Eric Klein, 21 years, and defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys, 20.
The biggest offseason Gophers’ story seems likely to be the announcement of a new football complex expected to cost $25 million or more. Ground breaking and construction on the much talked about and coveted new facility is anticipated this year.
Season ticket holders and other Gophers fans will have a home nonconference game in 2015 to get excited about. The September 3 opening game at TCF Bank Stadium is against TCU, a team that looks like a cinch to be ranked somewhere between No. 1 and No. 5 nationally in the preseason polls. Every seat will be sold and hopefully occupied for that game because a Gophers upset could set the pace for a special season.
The season closes with two of the later fall home games in program history—November 21 with Illinois and November 28 against Wisconsin. Bundle up!