It's a long article and it's behind a paywall. However here is one Q&A that is pertinent here.
Fair answer IMHO too
P.J. Fleck has Minnesota coming off an 11-win season and is in a very winnable division again this year. Yet in early preseason rankings, they’re consistently ranked behind teams like Texas, Notre Dame, and Michigan. What does a school like Minnesota (or another non-powerhouse P5 school) have to accomplish to break the glass ceiling and enter the upper tier? — Bradley S., Minneapolis
In college football, as in life, we’re all conditioned to a certain degree of brand bias. For example, I’ve been drinking Coke my entire life. If someone comes out tomorrow with a brand of cola that is indisputably better than Coke, I would probably try it. But it would probably take more than one experience with Potentially Better Cola before I stop reflexively ordering Coke at restaurants.
Minnesota right now is Potentially Better Cola, and the others are Coke (if Coke’s quality had tailed off a bit lately). The Gophers had a great year, no question, and it may well be the beginning of a long, sustained run of success. But I’m not surprised some people would want to see them do it more than once before completely buying in. Notre Dame is particularly understandable given the Irish have been pretty good for several years and finished last season with the same 11-2 record as Minnesota. Michigan has been a frequent tormentor of Minnesota for more than a half-century. I don’t really have a good explanation for Texas (who I at least had one spot below the Gophers).
Minnesota finished last season No. 10 in the country, but because it did not win its division, and because the Auburn team it beat in the Outback Bowl was good but not great (finishing 9-4), the Gophers are going to have to prove they can string together back-to-back great seasons before getting the kind of default benefit of the doubt you might see for, say, Wisconsin, which has been doing this for decades. I do believe Minnesota could be as good or better than it was last season … but I’ll also probably pick Wisconsin to win the Big Ten West again this season. Wisconsin is Coke.
https://theathletic.com/1635785/202...ball-powers-nebraska-usc-miami-florida-state/
Fair answer IMHO too
P.J. Fleck has Minnesota coming off an 11-win season and is in a very winnable division again this year. Yet in early preseason rankings, they’re consistently ranked behind teams like Texas, Notre Dame, and Michigan. What does a school like Minnesota (or another non-powerhouse P5 school) have to accomplish to break the glass ceiling and enter the upper tier? — Bradley S., Minneapolis
In college football, as in life, we’re all conditioned to a certain degree of brand bias. For example, I’ve been drinking Coke my entire life. If someone comes out tomorrow with a brand of cola that is indisputably better than Coke, I would probably try it. But it would probably take more than one experience with Potentially Better Cola before I stop reflexively ordering Coke at restaurants.
Minnesota right now is Potentially Better Cola, and the others are Coke (if Coke’s quality had tailed off a bit lately). The Gophers had a great year, no question, and it may well be the beginning of a long, sustained run of success. But I’m not surprised some people would want to see them do it more than once before completely buying in. Notre Dame is particularly understandable given the Irish have been pretty good for several years and finished last season with the same 11-2 record as Minnesota. Michigan has been a frequent tormentor of Minnesota for more than a half-century. I don’t really have a good explanation for Texas (who I at least had one spot below the Gophers).
Minnesota finished last season No. 10 in the country, but because it did not win its division, and because the Auburn team it beat in the Outback Bowl was good but not great (finishing 9-4), the Gophers are going to have to prove they can string together back-to-back great seasons before getting the kind of default benefit of the doubt you might see for, say, Wisconsin, which has been doing this for decades. I do believe Minnesota could be as good or better than it was last season … but I’ll also probably pick Wisconsin to win the Big Ten West again this season. Wisconsin is Coke.
https://theathletic.com/1635785/202...ball-powers-nebraska-usc-miami-florida-state/
