Minnesota Football: One Bad Game Does Not a Season Make

Fan bases have personalities. Good and bad characteristics that make fan bases unique. So even though Minnesotans, Iowans and Wisconsinites are relatively similar people; seeing them as fan bases of Gophers, Hawkeys and Badgers...they are all very unique.

I bring this up because after Saturday’s home loss to Maryland, I feel as though the collective fan base has taken one data point and extrapolated that throughout the season as the baseline. This is a trait of our fan base’s personality.

Saturday wasn’t pretty. We lost a game where we played poorly in all three phases and lost. But what makes matters worse is that most Gopher fans were expecting a win. When we expected a win and play poorly, things look much worse than they actually are.

Yes. I am aware that this was at home against a team with their 3rd or 4th string QB (depending on how you look at it). And yes, I am well aware that Vegas had the Gophers as nearly a 2 touchdown favorite. And I am painfully aware that we stunk and lost.

But I’m not yet willing to make any broad assumptions about the rest of the season based on one bad game.

We can see how our lack of depth can affect the team. And through 4 games we should be well aware of what our strengths and weaknesses are. But what I’m unwilling to do is fall into the trap of, “I don’t see how they can win another game on the schedule, except maybe Illinois.”

If they play as poorly as they played in the Maryland game, they may not win another game on the schedule. But give this team the opportunity to correct mistakes and to have a better game.

In my opinion, this is about as bad as they could have played. I’m sure it can be worse, but this was a pretty reasonable floor for this team. Against a better team, they would have experienced an ass-whooping. Maryland is a middle-of-the-pack team and this game was 24-24 with 2 minutes remaining.

This team has some depth issues and some deficiencies in certain areas, but I promise you...they will play better than this. And do not forget the most important thing to never for get this season.

It is about the process, not the results. Progress is not linear, there will be some potholes along the way. It is all about the process, not the results.