Austin Ward, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Why Minnesota will -- or won't -- win the West Division

When media days arrive you know that college football season is almost upon us. To get us through the last few days before the good stuff arrives, we're setting a bar for each team in the conference and weighing in on why they might or might not reach it during the 2015 season.

The next debate centers around Minnesota, which has taken impressive strides under Jerry Kill over the past couple years and was a contender all the way down to the wire a year ago in a heated division race. Can the Gophers get over the hump this season and claim a crown for themselves and play for the conference title?

Why Minnesota will win the West in 2015

Shutdown secondary: The individual pieces might sometimes get overlooked nationally for reasons that are difficult to comprehend, but that’s really nothing new for the underdog Gophers. Either way, Kill and his defensive staff wouldn’t trade the collective talent in the defensive backfield for anybody, and that unit will go into the season as one of the stoutest anywhere to anchor a defense that can make life miserable even for the highest-scoring attacks. Both TCU and Ohio State found out last season how opportunistic and hard-nosed the Gophers can be, and if Eric Murray and Briean Boddy-Calhoun can continue to shut down the airways this fall, the program could find itself with some new hardware in the trophy case.

More creativity on offense: Kill might be an old-school, throwback coach, but he’s clearly not opposed to learning some new tricks on offense. The Gophers spent spring practice diving into a more up-tempo, no-huddle approach -- both in an effort to keep up with the latest trends in the game and to provide more flexibility with the playbook. Minnesota is still going to prominently feature a power rushing attack, and it has no shortage of tailbacks who can rack up yardage and move a pile of defenders. But Mitch Leidner will now also have more bubble screens and quick-hitting passes at his disposal as the Gophers try to catch a few teams flat-footed this season. If the offense can boost its production just a bit to support its dangerous defense, the results figure to be promising for Kill.

Why Minnesota won’t win the West in 2015

Another brutal schedule: Opening the season against highly ranked TCU won’t have any tangible impact in the standings on Minnesota’s ability to win the West, but a loss to kick off the season could potentially be deflating ahead of what will again by a challenging slate within the Big Ten. A simple comparison of the crossover opponents for the Gophers and preseason favorite Wisconsin helps determine which program has the inside track this fall, and if the rivals could swap maybe the projected order of finish would be different. Instead, Minnesota is stuck with top-ranked Ohio State and Michigan while the Badgers get Maryland and Rutgers from the East Division. Of course, at some point Minnesota is just going to have to take matters into its own hands and claim Paul Bunyan’s Axe from the Badgers, something it hasn’t done since 2003.

Uncertainty about the passing attack: The Gophers have no lack of confidence in KJ Maye to lead the receiving corps, and it continues to have full faith in Leidner’s ability to operate the offense. But Maye doesn’t have all that much experienced support around him at the skill positions to help shoulder the load, and for all of Leidner’s toughness and intelligence, he’s yet to shine as an accurate passer. The Gophers are going to need more targets to step up and for their quarterback to take another step forward putting the ball on the money before the attack can truly become balanced enough to cause problems for defenses in the Big Ten. Though there is no reason to doubt the ability of Kill and his staff to unlock the team’s potential, there is certainly work left to be done in training camp.

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