Dude, you need to take a breath and let it go. I understand were you are coming from and pretty much agree that Minn is a much better team today than they were at the start of the season so much so that I had them number 2 in my rankings.
But attacking everyone that doesn't agree with you is not going to change their minds. It will only alienate you and your opinions. As I said in another thread, the beauty of this whole thing is that Minn as the opportunity over the next 3 weeks to prove themselves. If they win, people on this board will move them up accordingly. Most of the folks here are very even keeled and are very fair in their assessments.
If Minn wins out or even 2 of their next 3 and are still being ranked around 6 or 7, you may have a gripe. But until they play the meat of their schedule, most people are going to be skeptical. It is what it is.
This is pretty much where I am at. Here is Minnesota's resume in order:
First there were four unimpressive wins over bad teams:
- By only a TD at home over an FCS opponent
- By only a FG on the road over a sub .500 MWC opponent
- By only a FG at home over a mediocre Sun Belt team (for comparison, LSU beat this same opponent by more than 50)
- By only a TD on the road over a bad B1G team that is probably not going to make a bowl
Then there were four solid wins against one decent and three bad teams:
- By 23 at home over a (now) pretty good looking B1G team that will bowl this year
- By 27 at home over a sub .500 B1G team that is probably not going to make a bowl
- By 35 on the road over a horrible B1G team that has already clinched bowl ineligibility and lost their other B1G games this year by 52, 41, 35, 30, and 28 points. Ie, beating RU by 35 doesn't impress anyone because everyone does it.
- By 42 at home over a B1G team that has already clinched bowl ineligibility and lost their other B1G games this year by 59, 59, 31, 26, and 6 points. Maryland did beat Rutgers by 41 but that is Rutgers. Ie, beating Maryland by 42 is nice but doesn't really stand out.
Then there was one win over a good or possibly great team:
- By 5 at home over a B1G team that remains in the B1GCG race.
I get that teams can improve over the course of the season. I am even convinced that Minnesota has improved relative to the rest of the league. That said, they had a LONG way to go. Coming off of the Purdue game they looked like about the 10th best team in the league. Even completely ignoring Minnesota's weak OOC and their unimpressive win over Purdue, Minnesota hasn't looked like the best team in the league and they haven't stood out relative to the rest of the teams in the second group (PSU, UW, M, IA).
Looking only at Minnesota's last five games and comparing them to the rest of that second group:
Illinois:
- Minnesota's 23 point win at home is obviously a lot better than Wisconsin's 1 point road loss but it is about equal to Michigan's 17 point road win.
Nebraska:
- Minnesota's 27 point win at home looks good but none of the other second group teams have played UNL yet so there aren't any comparisons.
Rutgers:
- Minnesota's 35 point win on the road is better than Iowa's 30 point win at home but not as good as Michigan's 52 point win at home.
Maryland:
- Minnesota's 42 point win at home is a little better than Michigan's 31 point win on the road but not as good as Penn State's 59 point win on the road.
Penn State:
- Minnesota's 5 point win at home is slightly better than Michigan's and Iowa's 7 point and 5 point road and home losses respectively.
None of this suggests that Minnesota is clearly better than the rest of that second group. The Iowa game will provide not only a H2H against Iowa but also a common opponent with each of the rest of the teams in this second group:
- Penn State beat Iowa by 5 in Iowa City
- Michigan beat Iowa by 7 in Ann Arbor
- Wisconsin beat Iowa by 2 in Madison
Thus, if Minnesota's game against Iowa is decided by one score* it will be about equal to PSU's, M's, and UW's games against Iowa. That is the baseline. If Minnesota does better than that, then I will think that it is time to move them to the top of the second group. If not, then I'll still have them in with PSU/UW/M/IA.
*I would effectively consider a game to be a "one score" game even if a late score makes it 10 or more so long as it was competitive until very late in the game.
