Minnesota @ Iowa 2021 - Media Predictions

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IceBoxGopher

IceBoxGopher

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OK, here we go for Hate Week.

Sporting News has Iowa winning 24-17
Minnesota is down to its third-string tailback (lol no) and struggled on offense in a loss to Illinois. Iowa has won the last six meetings in the series, but the last three at Kinnick Stadium have been one-score games. We like the Hawkeyes' defense at home.

Iowa wins and COVERS the spread.

Bleacher Report is taking the Hawkeyes 14-10
Both defenses have been good, ranking top-10 in the nation in total yards allowed per game. And both offenses have been bad, entering the week fresh off a six-point showing against Illinois (by Minnesota) and a 17-point game against Northwestern (by Iowa).

Prior to last week, Minnesota was running the ball well. But the Golden Gophers are also down to third- and fourth-string running backs as an injury bug has ravaged the position group. And Iowa's defense has been particularly good against the run, holding opponents below 2.9 yards per carry.

At least Minnesota had good offense at one point. All year long, Iowa's best offense has been its defense, and Minnesota has not been turnover-prone (10 giveaways in nine games).

I'm going with Iowa at home and looking forward to watching any other game in this time slot.

Unsurprisingly, Hawkeye Nation is taking Iowa, 17-13
I remember sitting in the old pink visiting locker room in the southeast corner of Kinnick Stadium interviewing former Gopher coach Glen Mason after his team's victory back in '99. Little did I know at the time Minnesota wouldn't win here in more than two decades.

I just don't see the streak ending this year.

The Associated Press is predicting a 20-17 Iowa victory
Hawkeyes have won six straight in the battle for Floyd of Rosedale.
 

I do expect the Gophers to play better than they did last week and respond with a hard fought game. If they do they can make it interesting but if they show up with that same offensive game plan they did vs. the Illini and Bowling Green they have zero chance.
 

Gold Rush said:
I do expect the Gophers to play better than they did last week and respond with a hard fought game. If they do they can make it interesting but if they show up with that same offensive game plan they did vs. the Illini and Bowling Green they have zero chance.
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Seems like Fleck has been decent at not letting things spiral after a let down. I’m expecting a good showing.
 


btowngopher said:
Seems like Fleck has been decent at not letting things spiral after a let down. I’m expecting a good showing.
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I'm also really glad this one is on the road. I know this is Kinnick but Fleck's teams play well on the road, and coming off a loss like last week, getting out of town, away from the local negativity can't be a bad thing.

Initial media predictions look about like I thought they would. Most will pick Iowa but most will also have a low scoring game with a small victory margin. Makes total sense.
 



College Football News has the Gophers winning (!) 23-17
Why Minnesota Will Win... Minnesota is weird.

It has a Spinal Tap drummer thing happening at running back, but until last week against Illinois the ground game kept on working just fine.

Meanwhile, the defense has been fantastic, holding everyone but Nebraska – a 30-23 Gopher win – to 14 points or fewer over six of the last seven games.

Run, dominate the time of possession battle, and keep being good at not turning the ball over. Minnesota can do that.

Why Iowa Will Win... Iowa’s defense is still strong through the issues, and it got back to taking the ball away in bunches with three picks against Northwestern.

The Hawkeyes have been outstanding against the run... This should be a grind that comes down to field position, penalties, and one key big play at some point. At home, Iowa isn’t necessarily going to buckle, but …

Minnesota is strangely awesome on the road this season.

It destroyed Colorado, had no issues with Northwestern, and was terrific against Purdue. Now it gets an Iowa team that can’t throw enough to matter and isn’t getting enough out of the ground game to pick up the slack.

Don’t expect anything fun outside of the Gopher celebration when it holds up the Floyd of Rosedale trophy after an ugly, ugly game with a wee bit more scoring than you might think.
 

IceBoxGopher said:
College Football News has the Gophers winning (!) 23-17
Why Minnesota Will Win... Minnesota is weird.

It has a Spinal Tap drummer thing happening at running back, but until last week against Illinois the ground game kept on working just fine.

Meanwhile, the defense has been fantastic, holding everyone but Nebraska – a 30-23 Gopher win – to 14 points or fewer over six of the last seven games.

Run, dominate the time of possession battle, and keep being good at not turning the ball over. Minnesota can do that.

Why Iowa Will Win... Iowa’s defense is still strong through the issues, and it got back to taking the ball away in bunches with three picks against Northwestern.

The Hawkeyes have been outstanding against the run... This should be a grind that comes down to field position, penalties, and one key big play at some point. At home, Iowa isn’t necessarily going to buckle, but …

Minnesota is strangely awesome on the road this season.

It destroyed Colorado, had no issues with Northwestern, and was terrific against Purdue. Now it gets an Iowa team that can’t throw enough to matter and isn’t getting enough out of the ground game to pick up the slack.

Don’t expect anything fun outside of the Gopher celebration when it holds up the Floyd of Rosedale trophy after an ugly, ugly game with a wee bit more scoring than you might think.
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Not big enough dinks!
 




Baffling. Depends which Gopher team shows up - the Bowling Green/Illinois team or the Colorado/Northwestern/Ohio State team. With Mo, the Gophers win this game and would be 9-1 for the season so far. Without Mo...
 


Why am I not surprised that the media will swoop down into Dinkytown to pronounce the Gophers losers against the Hawkeyes?
 

hungan1 said:
Why am I not surprised that the media will swoop down into Dinkytown to pronounce the Gophers losers against the Hawkeyes?
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That makes perfect sense. These guys care about their relative wins and losses too. If the substantial majority of the media are expected to take Iowa to win, then it makes sense to go with the substantial majority. If Iowa wins, they don't fall behind the others. If Iowa loses they don't fall behind the substantial majority either.
 



IceBoxGopher said:
College Football News has the Gophers winning (!) 23-17
Why Minnesota Will Win... Minnesota is weird.

It has a Spinal Tap drummer thing happening at running back, but until last week against Illinois the ground game kept on working just fine.

Meanwhile, the defense has been fantastic, holding everyone but Nebraska – a 30-23 Gopher win – to 14 points or fewer over six of the last seven games.

Run, dominate the time of possession battle, and keep being good at not turning the ball over. Minnesota can do that.

Why Iowa Will Win... Iowa’s defense is still strong through the issues, and it got back to taking the ball away in bunches with three picks against Northwestern.

The Hawkeyes have been outstanding against the run... This should be a grind that comes down to field position, penalties, and one key big play at some point. At home, Iowa isn’t necessarily going to buckle, but …

Minnesota is strangely awesome on the road this season.

It destroyed Colorado, had no issues with Northwestern, and was terrific against Purdue. Now it gets an Iowa team that can’t throw enough to matter and isn’t getting enough out of the ground game to pick up the slack.

Don’t expect anything fun outside of the Gopher celebration when it holds up the Floyd of Rosedale trophy after an ugly, ugly game with a wee bit more scoring than you might think.
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The Spinal Tap drummer analogy is funny and sad at the same time. I hope that phenomena is finished for the season. This is a good writer and pretty observant. There's nothing to disagree with here. We have the opportunity and the personnel to break a losing streak just like we did against Wisconsin three years ago. There's just always that nagging suspicion that we'll conform to failure in these two rivalries.
 




We have played well in games in which we were underdogs. We have sh@t the bed in games in which we were big favorites. I’m OK with where the media is picking this game.
 


Idk here guys. We have bounced back incredibly well every game after a terrible one. P.J. Fleck is made for these games. The guys will be motivated and ready to go, and P.J. Will make sure we leave Iowa city with the Floyd and no timeouts.
 

Dragon21 said:
I am not sensing a lot of love for the Gophers vs iowa.
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When have you seen a lot of love for the Gophers vs Iowa? Since they have beaten us the substantial majority of time this century, the safe prediction is to take Iowa all of the time. But, streaks don't last forever, especially when the teams aren't that far apart.
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
I have a bad feeling this is going to be ugly.
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I think the game might be ugly in terms of low scoring without a ton of action. Guessing that wasn't the ugly you were going for.

I just can't see Iowa being able to put up a ton of points on our defense with the way their offense and our defense have been playing this year.

As long as our offense doesn't help Iowa it will be a close game and anything can happen.
 

cjbfbp said:
When have you seen a lot of love for the Gophers vs Iowa? Since they have beaten us the substantial majority of time this century, the safe prediction is to take Iowa all of the time. But, streaks don't last forever, especially when the teams aren't that far apart.
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This is my first year to be associated with Gopher football so I don't know the history of Minnesota vs Iowa. I made that statement because I don't think the sports writers or very many other people think Minnesota has a chance to win. Being from Texas the only game I've seen Minnesota play is the bowl game vs Auburn. Hopefully they get the win Saturday.
 


PeterMac05 said:
Idk here guys. We have bounced back incredibly well every game after a terrible one. P.J. Fleck is made for these games. The guys will be motivated and ready to go, and P.J. Will make sure we leave Iowa city with the Floyd and no timeouts.
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I posted a thread about this after the Bowling Green loss, too. Here's an updated version of that.

2017:
  • After losing to Maryland, the Gophers lost to Purdue, 17-31
  • After losing to Purdue, the Gophers lost to No. 21 Michigan State, 27-30.
  • After losing to Michigan State, the Gophers WON Vs. Illinois, 24-17
  • After losing to Iowa, the Gophers lost at Michigan, 10-33.
  • After losing to Northwestern, the Gophers lost to No. 5 Wisconsin, 0-31.
2018:
  • After losing to Maryland, the Gophers lost to Iowa, 31-48
  • After losing to Iowa, the Gophers lost at No. 3 Ohio State, 14-30
  • After losing to Ohio State, the Gophers lost to Nebraska, 28-53
  • After losing to Nebraska, the Gophers WON Vs. Indiana, 38-31.
  • After losing to Illinois, the Gophers WON Vs. Purdue, 41-10.
  • After losing to Northwestern, the Gophers WON at Wisconsin, 37-15.
2019
  • After losing to No. 20 Iowa, the Gophers WON at Northwestern, 38-22.
  • After losing to No. 12 Wisconsin, the Gophers WON Vs. No. 12 Auburn, 31-24.
2020
  • After losing to Michigan, the Gophers lost to Maryland, 44-45 in OT
  • After Losing to Maryland, the Gophers WON at Illinois, 41-14.
  • After losing to Iowa, the Gophers WON Vs. Purdue, 34-31.
2021
  • After losing to No. 4 Ohio State, the Gophers WON Vs. Miami OH, 31-26
  • After losing to Bowling Green, the Gophers WON at Purdue, 20-13
 

Pioneer Press has the Gophers winning 17-16
Gophers offense vs. Iowa defense: Freshmen RBs Mar’Keise Irving and Ky Thomas will have to break tackles against a Hawkeyes rush defense that allows 99 yards per game (eighth in nation). DE Lukas Van Ness led Iowa with five sacks, and LB Jack Campbell is third in Big Ten with 9.2 tackles per game. Iowa leads the nation with 19 interceptions this season, and Gophers QB Tanner Morgan threw two INTs vs. Illinois, and one led to seven vital Illini points. EDGE: Iowa

Gophers defense vs. Iowa offense: The Hawkeyes are 108th in nation in passing yards and 110th in rushing this season, while Minnesota is 28th against the pass and 14th against the run. The U hasn’t allowed more than 23 points in the past seven games. EDGE: Gophers

Prediction: Every point might be precious with both programs’ defenses carrying their offenses to the top of the standings. The over-under is 37 total points, and Minnesota is a 5.5-point underdog, but the Gophers’ QB has been in big games before, while Iowa’s is a newbie.
 


I really hope the game doesn't come down to a game deciding field goal by Trickett.
 

Athlon Sports is predicting a 20-13 Iowa victory
Minnesota's depth at running back has been put to the test this season with injury after injury to running backs. At some point, that has to catch up to the Gophers, and it may have done just that last week against Illinois. For the first time this season, Minnesota was held to fewer than 125 rushing yards in a game (89 yards on 35 carries), and that bodes well for Iowa's defense. Iowa is second in the Big Ten against the run.

If Minnesota can't run the football, then the pressure will be on Gophers quarterback Tanner Morgan to lead the way, but he has had a rough season as well with seven interceptions to six touchdowns. Iowa's defense was picking everything off for a while this season (FBS-leading 19 INTs) and could quickly rack up a few more turnovers through the air again in this one.

[Alex] Padilla led the Iowa offense to three scoring drives in what was a low-scoring contest against the Wildcats. He may not have to do a bunch in this game if Iowa's defense takes care of things.

Padilla may have to make some plays, however. Iowa's rushing offense hasn't been grinding out the production it is accustomed to this season, and the Minnesota rushing defense is having one of the better statistical seasons in the Big Ten.

Don't expect a shootout in this Big Ten West contest. This is a matchup of teams that aren't going to light up the scoreboard and defenses that will grind out some momentum. But this will be Iowa's game to lose, and the Hawkeyes just don't lose to the Gophers in these types of situations. Advantage, Iowa.

All three writers at Buckeyes Wire are taking Iowa
 

cjbfbp said:
That makes perfect sense. These guys care about their relative wins and losses too. If the substantial majority of the media are expected to take Iowa to win, then it makes sense to go with the substantial majority. If Iowa wins, they don't fall behind the others. If Iowa loses they don't fall behind the substantial majority either.
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Dinks in Dinkytown!
RogueGopher said:
Scooby Dinkson
Dink Evans
Pual Dinkberg
Erick Dink
Eddie Dinkmanus
Heather Dinker
Dan Dinken
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As I suspected, Dinks in Dinkytown! I rest my case.
 

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