Northwestern is going to win. The Wildcats are 41 point favorites and are an underachieving team having a bad season. They are not historically bad like that UMass team which is giving up 53 points per game to the opposition. It ties into the Gophers because we go there the week after and instead of facing a totally demoralized and disinterested Wildcats team, we're going to face them after what should be a big win when they have some spring back in their step.
Remember our 2010 season. We started by struggling to win at Middle Tennessee and then lost 9 games in a row with Tim Brewster getting fired along the way. In the second to last game we upset a bowl bound Illinois in Champaign. With some confidence back and finally having fun, we got our first home win of the season in the finale by beating #24 Iowa in a game the Hawkeyes were favored to win by 15.5. This doesn't mean that a Gopher loss in Evanston is likely, but it's certainly possible. Nothing about the Northwestern game should be taken for granted.