CFN: Minnesota College Football Preview, Best Players, Season Prediction, Win Total 2024

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Per Pete:

Minnesota Key Game​

Iowa, Sept. 21
You did It once, Minnesota, now do it again.

Iowa held the Floyd of Rosedale trophy - it’s a bronze pig - since 2014, and last year the Gophers finally broke through. It might have taken a let’s-just-say questionable penalty to survive the 12-10 struggle, but it was a break in the gloom.

This year it’s the Big Ten opener, and with at Michigan, USC, and at UCLA to follow, Minnesota has to make it two in a row for the first time since 2010-2011.

Minnesota 10 Best Players​

1. Aireontae Ersery, OT Sr.
2. Max Brosmer, QB Sr.
3. Cody Lindenberg, LB Sr.
4. Jah Joyner, DE Sr.
5. Justin Walley, CB Sr.
6. Dragen Kesich, PK Sr.
7. Quinn Carroll, OG Sr.
8. Darius Taylor, RB Soph.
9. Danny Striggow, DE Sr.
10. Mark Crawford, P Sr.

Minnesota 2023 Fun Stats​

- 3rd Down Conversions: Opponents 80-174 (46%), Minnesota 62-176 (35%)

- Fumbles: Opponents 13 (lost 7), Minnesota 9 (lost 6)

- Penalties: Opponents 69 for 643 yards, Minnesota 39 for 352 yards

Minnesota 2024 Season Prediction, Win Total, What Will Happen​

The schedule has a slew of nasty teams on it, but if Minnesota is good, this is manageable.

In the new and brutally tough Big Ten, Minnesota doesn’t have to play Ohio State, Oregon, or Washington - that’s massive. It doesn’t hurt to miss Nebraska or Northwestern, and missing Michigan State might be a positive this year, too.

It’s also a plus that several of the big games are in the Bank. North Carolina, Iowa, USC, Maryland, and Penn State all come to Minneapolis, and going to Illinois and Rutgers isn’t totally horrible when it comes to Big Ten road dates.

At Michigan, at Wisconsin, and a long trip to UCLA after dealing with the Wolverines and USC - that’s the big problem.

The first four games are at home. Beat North Carolina and Iowa before the tough part kicks in, and the potential is there for a big season.

With all the improvements on both sides of the ball, the better lines, great special teams, and renewed energy, Minnesota will come up with a winning season again.

Set The Minnesota Win Total At … 6.5

Likely Wins: Nevada, Rhode Island

50/50 Games: at Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, North Carolina, Penn State, at Rutgers, UCLA, USC, at wisconsin

Likely Losses: at Michigan


Go Gophers!!
 

I don't hate this prediction, it seems pretty objective. I agree in the belief that we can take anyone on this schedule but Michigan in Ann Arbor.
 


I would be impressed if PJ can beat a 6.5 over. Gophers have a lot of question marks coming into the season. If things break right and Max is really good, DT stays healthy, and the defense matures I could see 8 wins. I think they could be anywhere from 4-8 to 8-4 depending on how things break and how good the QB is. Its a fairly tough schedule, but there are only really three games against powerhouses...
 

gopherbadgerman said:
I would be impressed if PJ can beat a 6.5 over. Gophers have a lot of question marks coming into the season. If things break right and Max is really good, DT stays healthy, and the defense matures I could see 8 wins. I think they could be anywhere from 4-8 to 8-4 depending on how things break and how good the QB is. Its a fairly tough schedule, but there are only really three games against powerhouses...
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I would say 9-3 is possible, but remote. I do like the 8-4 prediction. Am certainly hoping we keep them Iowegians down....
 



short ornery norwegian said:
"great special teams"

ok, now we know the author has never seen MN play a game. Kesich is a good kicker, but otherwise, MN's special teams are not special.

and talk about going out on a limb - the author lists 9 of the season's 12 games as 50/50.
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Our punting and kicking have been good. Our return game nonexistent.
 

Penn State is a 50/50 game? We are very unlikely to win that game. They are athletically at least a tier above us and will annually be in the 12-team college football playoff mix. We have a better chance against Michigan because of how many good players they lost and they have a new coaching staff. All the rest is pretty good.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
"great special teams"

ok, now we know the author has never seen MN play a game. Kesich is a good kicker, but otherwise, MN's special teams are not special.

and talk about going out on a limb - the author lists 9 of the season's 12 games as 50/50.
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do you not? I'd probably have 8 or so in that category unless you want to get into the 5 part scale with "likely favored" and "likely dog" in there

there are games we'll be favored in and dogs in amongst that grouping, but i'd say if you're setting spreads on them right now, they'll all be within 7 aside from @ wisconsin, which they'd probably put us at a +7.5 or so, and vs PSU which will probably be close to +9.5 given it's at home. if anything, they should've been more pessimistic
 



short ornery norwegian said:
"great special teams"


and talk about going out on a limb - the author lists 9 of the season's 12 games as 50/50.
Click to expand...

Calling the Penn State game 50/50 is about as generous as we're going to get in preseason from someone who isn't a Gopher fan so I'd say that the author did take at least one chance.
 

restovich said:
I would say 9-3 is possible, but remote. I do like the 8-4 prediction. Am certainly hoping we keep them Iowegians down....
Click to expand...

In the last 10 full regular seasons, the Gophers had an 8-4 record in half of them so that has been our modal season finish excluding postseason. Also, the last 6-7 full season finish prior to last year was followed by an 8-4 regular season.

Oddly, we never had a 7-win regular season in that time period. Wonder if we're about due for that.
 





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