Minnesota -4 vs northwestern

Donate To GopherHole
Over my gambling life, one of the rules I developed is: “Never wager money on a game involving Northwestern.”

They’re the plucky little guy that plays over their head in games they shouldn’t compete in, and they’re never good enough to cash in when they’re the favorite. I’ve been burned multiple times.

Plus, the association of Dennis Lundy always is in the back of my mind….
 

NW plays sound enough defense to hang around longer than Gophers fans would like, but they're too injured and depleted to do enough on offense to win unless Minnesota turns it over 3+ times. Like Michigan, MN will wear them out in the second half on both sides and pull away. I don't like the 7.5 point line just in case MN plays ugly and turns it over a little, but my gut says it's a comfortable win.
 

Good thing I am not a betting man. I thought the negative sign meant Gophers were the underdog. Imagine my outrage. I see it is eight today in the local fish wrap.
 


Nomellini said:
I believe they have natural grass in Evanston, grown long. In bad weather, an inferior team at Ryan has a "puncher's chance".
Click to expand...
They'd be punching up, from a lonnng way down this year.

That said .... every week in the Big Ten ...
 


MGGopher said:
NW plays sound enough defense to hang around longer than Gophers fans would like, but they're too injured and depleted to do enough on offense to win unless Minnesota turns it over 3+ times. Like Michigan, MN will wear them out in the second half on both sides and pull away. I don't like the 7.5 point line just in case MN plays ugly and turns it over a little, but my gut says it's a comfortable win.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately.....this is the typical Gopher trap game type.....where PJ and crew might opt to "turtle" and run the ball on an 80/20 split. That's the exact type of thing that lost us the BG game. I wouldn't put it past them to pull it again.
 

stocker08 said:
Unfortunately.....this is the typical Gopher trap game type.....where PJ and crew might opt to "turtle" and run the ball on an 80/20 split. That's the exact type of thing that lost us the BG game. I wouldn't put it past them to pull it again.
Click to expand...
Easily the most maddening part of PJ Fleck as head coach of the Gophers: forcing the offense to play not to lose, when any even whiff of winning the game is in the air.
 

Guaranteed, NW will be selling their grandchildren, to stop the run. Might even put 9 guys in the box.

Fleck/Sanford are the biggest morons in the world, if they keep trying to run it against that.
 

MplsGopher said:
Easily the most maddening part of PJ Fleck as head coach of the Gophers: forcing the offense to play not to lose, when any even whiff of winning the game is in the air.
Click to expand...

They should come out slinging the rock. Pat Fitz is a smart guy. He'll stack the box and play the run....knowing PJ's tendencies. Gophers have to show a competent passing game right off the bat.....to show that the threat is there. Or else it's going to be a really slow....plodding game of two/three yard gains that the Wildcats are all ready for.

Seems ridiculous.....but Fleck is notorious for letting inferior teams hang around. All is well if you get the win......but by playing with that kind of hesitancy....you get a BG game. Fleck needs to change HIS best.
 



stocker08 said:
Only four points? Should be over a TD and probably even double digits. The national media is simply giving the Gophers no love.
Click to expand...
We traditionally do not play well in Evanston. Witnessed a few blowouts there. Don't take Northwestern lightly.
 

MplsGopher said:
Guaranteed, NW will be selling their grandchildren, to stop the run. Might even put 9 guys in the box.

Fleck/Sanford are the biggest morons in the world, if they keep trying to run it against that.
Click to expand...
Or you know, maybe Northwestern's run defense is just really bad this year. I bet they sold out to stop the run against Michigan, and Michigan still went for almost 300 yards on the ground.

They are dead last in the conference in run defense and in 4 conference games have given up an average of 277 yards a game and 15 rushing TDs.

So umm yeah, I fully expect Fleck/Sanford to employ an extremely run heavy gameplan against them.

We won't repeat the Bowling Game game, people need to stop worrying about that. But it would also be foolish to come out chucking the ball against a horrible run defense when the obvious strength of our offense is our running game and powerful offensive line.
 

MplsGopher said:
Guaranteed, NW will be selling their grandchildren, to stop the run. Might even put 9 guys in the box.

Fleck/Sanford are the biggest morons in the world, if they keep trying to run it against that.
Click to expand...
Maryland walked 9 guys into the box one time Saturday. Morgan threw to CAB, who gained 8 yards. They will throw simple passes against stacked boxes, but if its 7 or 8, they'll run and gain yards. Northwestern's run defense is abysmal.
 

MplsGopher said:
Guaranteed, NW will be selling their grandchildren, to stop the run. Might even put 9 guys in the box.

Fleck/Sanford are the biggest morons in the world, if they keep trying to run it against that.
Click to expand...
Sluggo route and stroke the post.
 



Gilthorp57 said:
We traditionally do not play well in Evanston. Witnessed a few blowouts there. Don't take Northwestern lightly.
Click to expand...

Never said otherwise. Simply stated that the Gophers should win by double digits. NW is a wreck....and the Gophers are solid on both sides of the ball.
 

MplsGopher said:
Any week in the Big Ten, crazy crap can happen.

Illinois over Penn State?? Etc


Thinking we’ll show up and waltz over to the win in either of the next two weeks, is a recipe for disaster.
Click to expand...
That is why I get worried when I see our fans looking at Illinois already. We overlook one opponent and we could be punished for it. That is the importance of one game at a time and take each game as the championship season games we talk about. I don't want us to overlook NW trying to prepare for Illi or for us to overlook Illi while preparing for Iowa... Hopefully the memory of losing to BG keeps them focused on one step at a time but doesn't discourage from the goal either
 

MNVCGUY said:
Or you know, maybe Northwestern's run defense is just really bad this year. I bet they sold out to stop the run against Michigan, and Michigan still went for almost 300 yards on the ground.

They are dead last in the conference in run defense and in 4 conference games have given up an average of 277 yards a game and 15 rushing TDs.

So umm yeah, I fully expect Fleck/Sanford to employ an extremely run heavy gameplan against them.

We won't repeat the Bowling Game game, people need to stop worrying about that. But it would also be foolish to come out chucking the ball against a horrible run defense when the obvious strength of our offense is our running game and powerful offensive line.
Click to expand...
I'm fine with coming in with a run heavy gameplan. Unlike against Bowling Green, I hope we have a Plan B in case they are able to stop the run.
 

GopherJohn said:
That is why I get worried when I see our fans looking at Illinois already. We overlook one opponent and we could be punished for it. That is the importance of one game at a time and take each game as the championship season games we talk about. I don't want us to overlook NW trying to prepare for Illi or for us to overlook Illi while preparing for Iowa... Hopefully the memory of losing to BG keeps them focused on one step at a time but doesn't discourage from the goal either
Click to expand...
This will be a much bigger concern next week than it will be for this week. The temptation will be there to look past Illinois to the Iowa game way more than than looking past Northwestern for the Illinois game.

Fortunately the coaches/players have the Bowling Green game to remind them anytime they start to feel like the focus might be slipping.
 

stocker08 said:
They should come out slinging the rock. Pat Fitz is a smart guy. He'll stack the box and play the run....knowing PJ's tendencies. Gophers have to show a competent passing game right off the bat.....to show that the threat is there. Or else it's going to be a really slow....plodding game of two/three yard gains that the Wildcats are all ready for.

Seems ridiculous.....but Fleck is notorious for letting inferior teams hang around. All is well if you get the win......but by playing with that kind of hesitancy....you get a BG game. Fleck needs to change HIS best.
Click to expand...
Gophers threw 45% of the time in the first half against Maryland I believe... And I bet the numbers weren't far off for Nebraska and Purdue. Minnesota had a history of letting inferior non conference opponents hang around, but they've comfortably beaten a LOT of middling B1G teams the last few years... Including @ NW in 2019. I think they do it again Saturday. Anything can happen of course...
 

GopherJohn said:
That is why I get worried when I see our fans looking at Illinois already. We overlook one opponent and we could be punished for it. That is the importance of one game at a time and take each game as the championship season games we talk about. I don't want us to overlook NW trying to prepare for Illi or for us to overlook Illi while preparing for Iowa... Hopefully the memory of losing to BG keeps them focused on one step at a time but doesn't discourage from the goal either
Click to expand...
THE FANS DO NOT MATTER. ME LOOKING AHEAD DOES NOT MATTER. WE DO NOT IMPACT THE PLAYERS PREPARATION.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom