Well, what can you say for a team that finished 1-11 and 0-8 in the conference? Well, not a whole heckuvalot other than “It has to get better!” And Gopher fans—it will. With a great recruiting class coming in under the lead of second-year coach Tim Brewster, there’s no reason to believe that the Golden Gophers are not unlike Illinois, who came back from the depths under Ron Zook and now are near the upper echelon of the league. Maybe they are about 2-3 years off, but there is indeed hope up north.

Adam Weber led the team in passing and rushing last year, and he will be the biggest offensive weapon they have this year. Minnesoata has been known in the past for their running backs, but that will be a subject of concern this year as well with no clear-cut standout to take the “next” superstar role just yet. On defense, the Gophers finished dead last in the country, and while they will be much better this year, their secondary is pretty much atrocious and they will struggle, although not as much as last year.

The schedule does them no favors, as after four nonconference games against lower D-I and D-II teams, the conference schedule has the Golden Gophers on the road at Ohio State, Illinois, Purdue, and Wisconsin. Ouch. Still—this will be a good year for a rebuilding program in terms of the up and comers learning more about the system and getting experience, but to expect the Gophers to finish with more than 3-4 wins is not going to happen.