A little bulletin-board material, courtesy of NW blog

[Word]

I expect this to be a slow moving, maybe even boring game, we'll be back to running every 1st and 2nd down, doing our best not to turn the ball over, and forcing NW to beat us with their offense. We probably win the game 20 - 10. We'll have a bunch of yards on the ground, and they'll struggle to get much going on offense.

The game is 13-7 at halftime, and the 2nd half is a total snooze fest.

I think you're right it will be low scoring. NW had a really good pass rush against PSU and UW. I don't know if we'll pass it a ton. Our D should keep NW point totals low, barring turnovers.

 

[Gladeskat]

I would be surprised if we didn't rush for over 200 yards this weekend. I'm not real worried about Northwestern despite them winning two straight. Watching them against Wisconsin it was more Wisconsin mistakes and play calling that allowed Northwestern to win that game. Even if our offense struggles I think our defense can create some turnovers and really control their offense that seems to be lacking playmakers.

If you watched that UW game carefully, you would have noticed that almost all of the turnovers were the result of NU rushing and getting to the passer, hitting his throwing arm, forcing a hasty throw, etc. Wisconsin made mistakes because NU was forcing them into making mistakes. The same was true with the NU vs. PSU game.

I think Minnesota may be the best defense we've faced so far, but PSU and Wisconsin also had good defenses. I think this is going to be a really close, low scoring game.

 

[Gladeskat]

Northwestern shouldn't be doing any talking after last year's flop of a season. Absolute joke that they got College Gameday to come to campus.

Northwestern was coming off of a 10-3 season and a Gator Bowl win over Mississippi State. They were 4-0 with double digit wins over Cal and Syracuse, so both OSU and NU were well ranked. The OSU vs NU game was the best game that week in terms of pairing ranked teams. That's why we were on Gameday. The following week, we lost our all-American RB/KR Venric Mark (remember him?), our best DT, and several other RB's to season-ending injuries. Siemian suffered a badly bruised heel that limited his play for the rest of the year. Colter was also knocked out of several games. At one point in the Nebraska game, we were down to our 6th string RB, a walk-on, and yet we still had that game won until a 60-yard Hail Mary pass when time expired. In summary, the team was really hit hard by injury, perhaps more so than any other team in the Big Ten last year.

If you go 10-3 this year and start 4-0 next year with big wins over P5 teams, I doubt you'd consider Gameday coming to Minnesota for a matchup with, say, Michigan State a joke would you?

 

[BarnBoy]

I expect this to be a slow moving, maybe even boring game, we'll be back to running every 1st and 2nd down, doing our best not to turn the ball over, and forcing NW to beat us with their offense. We probably win the game 20 - 10. We'll have a bunch of yards on the ground, and they'll struggle to get much going on offense.

The game is 13-7 at halftime, and the 2nd half is a total snooze fest.

I can't disagree and I am fine with that. Get the W.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

If you watched that UW game carefully, you would have noticed that almost all of the turnovers were the result of NU rushing and getting to the passer, hitting his throwing arm, forcing a hasty throw, etc. Wisconsin made mistakes because NU was forcing them into making mistakes. The same was true with the NU vs. PSU game.

I think Minnesota may be the best defense we've faced so far, but PSU and Wisconsin also had good defenses. I think this is going to be a really close, low scoring game.

I will admit I was in and out of that game as I was watching Ole Miss/Alabama at the same time but some of what I saw was just bad decisions by Wisconsin especially with the weather being a bit of a factor. I thought they should have kept the ball on the ground more. I didn't see all the turnovers but the interception Wisconsin threw when they were inside I believe the 10 was just a bad decision by the QB more than Northwestern causing it and I thought that was the one that really changed the game at the time.

 

[golden boy]

*************************************************
One can very easily replace the Mildcat's for the Gopher's in this statement: "But unfortunately for the Gophers (Mildcat's), they're still, well, the Gopher's (Mildcat's). Not
because they're bound to mediocrity just because of who they are, ........

This game Saturday is basically a game for some early season respect and to determine if either team has the makings to be in contention for the West title come the last weekend in November. I still maintain that the Huskers, Becky and yes, even the Hogeyes, have a better chance to be there than either us or the Mildcats

I kind of rate Iowa in the same class as MN and NW. Show me a reason to care. That's why this game is so important to us and them. Fans on both sides really want our preferred narrative so far to be true, and a loss this Saturday is the quickest way possible to send either side's narrative crashing down to earth. Maybe it's not fair. Maybe we're both crap or maybe we're the best 2 in the west and this game's results will be overblown. I mean, more likely the former, but as far as #takes and narratives go Saturday means more than just 1 of 8 B1G games.

 

[golden boy]

I don't fault NW bloggers for liking their squad anymore than Gopher bloggers for liking ours.

The only weird thing in their #takes is the idea that MN cannot pass at all (fair) which gives them an advantage in this game (silly-their passing is actually worse by almost every measure).

Leidner has a higher passer rating than the NW QB, the exact same TD:INT ratio, and averages 17% more yards per attempt (7 vs 6) with roughly the same sack %.

So, it is certainly fair to criticize our QB who has the 11th B1G passer rating and and 9th in YPA. But it is inaccurate to claim passing attack as an advantage for NW whose QB is 12th in rating and 13th in YPA.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I don't fault NW bloggers for liking their squad anymore than Gopher bloggers for liking ours.

The only weird thing in their #takes is the idea that MN cannot pass at all (fair) which gives them an advantage in this game (silly-their passing is actually worse by almost every measure).

Leidner has a higher passer rating than the NW QB, the exact same TD:INT ratio, and averages 17% more yards per attempt (7 vs 6) with roughly the same sack %.

So, it is certainly fair to criticize our QB who has the 11th B1G passer rating and and 9th in YPA. But it is inaccurate to claim passing attack as an advantage for NW whose QB is 12th in rating and 13th in YPA.

Wait. Their QB is worse than Leidner? This game is in the bag.

 

[e.bigelow]

I will admit I was in and out of that game as I was watching Ole Miss/Alabama at the same time but some of what I saw was just bad decisions by Wisconsin especially with the weather being a bit of a factor. I thought they should have kept the ball on the ground more. I didn't see all the turnovers but the interception Wisconsin threw when they were inside I believe the 10 was just a bad decision by the QB more than Northwestern causing it and I thought that was the one that really changed the game at the time.

This. It was 1st and goal on like the 5 and they ran a play-action pass. I am still in disbelief that NW only won by 6 with a +4 TO margin. You would expect a 10-14 point win at least with a TO margin like that. But, I guess the "W" counts the same wether it is 6 points or 20.

 

[wait!what?]

The UW O line played poorly. Tyler Marz the MN kid who chose UW ...arms straight down while the end ran around him. If yer gonna get yer arms Oline big ya gotta use em.

 

[jaymil]

I don't fault NW bloggers for liking their squad anymore than Gopher bloggers for liking ours.

The only weird thing in their #takes is the idea that MN cannot pass at all (fair) which gives them an advantage in this game (silly-their passing is actually worse by almost every measure).

Leidner has a higher passer rating than the NW QB, the exact same TD:INT ratio, and averages 17% more yards per attempt (7 vs 6) with roughly the same sack %.

So, it is certainly fair to criticize our QB who has the 11th B1G passer rating and and 9th in YPA. But it is inaccurate to claim passing attack as an advantage for NW whose QB is 12th in rating and 13th in YPA.

And Siemian (sp?) struggled against our D last year. I'm not worried about their pass game at all. Their best WR is out for the year, Siemian is a below-average (at best) QB, and our secondary, even without Wells, is very good. The fact that NW had some success running the ball against Wisconsin is my biggest concern. If we can contain their run game and force them to convert 3rd downs through the air, I don't see NW scoring more than 17 points on Saturday as long as we take care of the football.