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Were you like me? Were you pretty excited when word started hitting the twitters that the 2014 B1G schedule had been released?
Were you also like me in that when you looked over it you felt like you'd been kicked in the seeds?
Here is the full 2014 schedule.
- Eastern Illinois
- Middle Tennessee
- @ TCU
- San Jose State
- @ Michigan
- Bye
- Northwestern
- Purdue
- @ Illinois
- Bye
- Iowa
- Ohio State
- @ Nebraska
- @ Wisconsin
/deep cleansing breath //takes a drink of water
The Good:
The B1G finally took care of that pesky issue where we were hosting or travelling to Iowa & Wisconsin in the same year.
We get back to finishing the season with a TRUE rivalry game.
A bye week a bit later in the season will hopefully mean the Gophs can head into the final 1/3 of the schedule a bit fresher than previous years.
We get Iowa after a bye week and after Northwestern will have crushed their will to live the previous week.
The B1G home schedule, at this point, looks manageable.
The Bad:
Let's just skip to...
The Ugly:
The Gophers will travel to play three teams that could have CFB Playoff aspirations in 2014: @TCU, @Michigan and @Nebraska. (I contemplated bringing the number to 4 and adding the BADgers to this list, but SCREW 'EM!)
The final 3 games of the season are an absolute meat-grinder: home against OSU, then @Nebraska and @Wisconsin.
Like everyone else, we play just two teams that are not from our own division. Somehow the Gophers drew "The Big Two," in Ohio State & Michigan.
Conclusion:
We know a lot can happen between now and the fall of 2014. Heck, we're still months away from the 2013 season even kicking off. But if that's not one of the top 5 toughest schedules in the entire country heading into 2014, I will be shocked.
Sometimes it's nice to get those really difficult games at home. Maybe the home crowd is riled up that day, you catch lightning in a bottle, and you steal a game from someone you maybe shouldn't. But in 2014, with the exception of OSU, we play those games on the road.
The only road game on the slate, at this moment, that looks like a win, is @Illinois (insert Beckman/Zook jokes here).
So have at it TDG Community and Gopher faithful... what are your thoughts on the 2014 schedule? And is Jim Delany out to get us?