And the first three games were a mystery. All three of those teams won ten games the year before....but that shouldn't matter too much this year. Especially with lower level teams....where high end talent is more difficult to come by. Those teams have not been great this year. I could say that they pretty much spent the offseason planning for the Gophers game specifically....but that would be a lie. I don't think any are bad teams. Fresno is basically the one recent team to battle with Boise for the MWC. SDSU is one of the best D1-AA teams. And Georgia Southern is the only team to beat App State this year.
The problem with this whole paragraph is that it would be true, if we were talking about whether Minnesota should be #15 or #20 but it simply is NOT true when we are talking about whether Minnesota should be #10 or #5.
As you climb up the ladder you get compared to better and better teams. Earlier this season when I was comparing Minnesota to Nebraska, Maryland, and Northwestern their TD win over Purdue would have been great. Nebraska (lost by 4), Maryland (lost by 26), and Northwestern (lost by 2) all did worse. If you are comparing Minnesota to Iowa then their TD win over Purdue is ok, but not great. Iowa beat Purdue by 6 but Iowa's game was at home while Minnesota's was on the road so Minnesota's is better but not substantially better. If you want Minnesota to be compared to Penn State, their TD win over Purdue isn't good. Penn State beat them by 28.
The same is true of Minnesota's 42 point win over Maryland:
- Looks great compared to RU (lost by 41)
- Looks good compared to PU (won by 26) and Michigan (won by 31)
- Looks bad compared to tOSU and PSU (won by 59 each)
You can say that an opponent is one of the best D1-AA teams when you are talking about being ranked 15th or 20th but that frankly sounds silly when you are talking about a top-10 team. Top-10 teams don't struggle with FCS teams at all. Nobody cares if the FCS team was a "good" FCS team, they are still an FCS team and a top-10 team should mop the floor with them.
Fresno may have battled Boise for the MWC in the past but this year they aren't anywhere close. They are 2-3 in the MWC and also sub .500 overall.
Georgia Southern did upset Appalachian State but they also lost to Louisiana, Troy, and Louisiana State. This is another team that a legitimate top-10 team should mop the floor with. Oh, a legitimate top-10 team named Louisiana State DID mop the floor with them in a 55-3 romp. That is what a top-10 team does to Georgia Southern, not escape with a 35-32 win on a TD in the final seconds of the game after trailing 7-0, 10-7, and 32-28.
You were better off just admitting that Minnesota's early games were not impressive and arguing that Minnesota had improved because trying to justify Minnesota's close wins over crap opposition is not getting you anywhere.