Minnesota Vs. Illinois 2021 - Media Predictions

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I mean the Bowling Green references aren't going to stop nor should they. Penn St will get Illinois references for the rest of the year as well and that loss probably isn't as bad as Bowling Green.
 

Athlon Sports is taking the Gophers, 31-14
The Gophers lead this all-time series 40-30-3 and have won five of their last seven games against the Illini. They've outscored Illinois by a margin of 232-171 during that stretch, and the winning team has gone over the 30-point mark in five of those seven games. Minnesota is also 10-5 in its last 15 home games, while Illinois has only won three of its last eight road games. Both teams will run the ball early and often, but with Minnesota having both a better defense and a stronger passing attack, the Gophers pick up another win at home.
 

St. Paul Pioneer Press has Minnesota winning 31-21
Gophers offense vs. Illinois defense: A veteran, deep and big offensive line and tight end group has been creating holes for anyone carrying the ball this season. The U is averaging 222 yards rushing and 148 passing through eight games. Tanner Morgan is 242 passing yards from moving into second all time on the U’s career passing yards list. He is closing in on Bryan Cupito and Mitch Leidner. The Gophers receivers are the healthiest they have been all season. EDGE: Gophers

Gophers defense vs. Illinois offense: Along with the run, Minnesota’s pass defense has also been stingy, coming in 45th in the country with only 210 yards allowed up per game. EDGE: Gophers

Prediction: Minnesota, a 14.5-point favorite, cannot get caught looking ahead to next week’s rivalry game against No. 22 Iowa because Illinois can be a real obstacle. The Illini knocked off Penn State and have had three fourth-quarter leads slip away
 

MNVCGUY said:
Edit: Clicked the link, those picks are based on the point spread of -15. So makes sense, doubt anyone would pick Illinois to win straightup but can totally see picking them to cover the spread.
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We've beaten the spread handily four weeks in a row. The record for the season against the spread is 5-2-1. The 2 losses of course are against the MAC teams; we're 5-0-1 against P5 teams. Sooner or later we're going to fail to beat the spread. This one is by far the largest we've had going our way in a P5 game so it's a fair candidate to break the streak.
 

cjbfbp said:
We've beaten the spread handily four weeks in a row. The record for the season against the spread is 5-2-1. The 2 losses of course are against the MAC teams; we're 5-0-1 against P5 teams. Sooner or later we're going to fail to beat the spread. This one is by far the largest we've had going our way in a P5 game so it's a fair candidate to break the streak.
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Yep, picking Illinois with that spread makes sense because our style of play doesn't always lend itself to winning big. I'm not a gambler so I could care less about what we do against the spread as long as we get the W.
 


Here are the predictions from the Daily Gopher crew (SB Nation)
GoAUpher has Minnesota winning 38-14: Minnesota continues to run the ball successfully while Tanner Morgan continues to execute when called upon. Illinois isn’t good enough to match that. Another game where it is never in doubt, but the big lead gets opened up late when the Gophers finish grinding the Illini into dust.

GopherGuy05 is taking Minnesota 31-17: Why stop making roughly the same prediction now...

GopherNation has Minnesota winning 24-17: This is the one where we struggle a little before the Iowa game.

Hipster Gopher is predicting a 40-23 Minnesota win: On October 9th, 2010, Bielema, then the Wisconsin Badgers coach went for two up 41-16. Since he’s now at Illinois i’d like to see Bielema get beat by the same score as the final from 2010. NOTE: Hipster’s bit is that he picks using scores from previous matchups.

Mowe0018 has the Gophers winning 27-17: Illinois is all over the place this year and it has been a pattern in the past to see underwhelming score lines. The game is much more comfortable for Gopher fans than the score would indicate.

White Speed Receiver is takin Minnesota 42-10: Illinois is worse than Northwestern.

WildCatToo is predicting a 38-14 Minnesota victory: This should be an easy one, but I remember saying that in 2014 too. Sigh.

Zips of Akron has Illinois winning 28-27: This is like Succession where Logan keeps promising Shiv that she’ll be running Waystar soon and she continues to believe him. The whole time I’m yelling at the screen “how can you keep trusting this guy when all he has ever done is let you down!”
 






IceBoxGopher said:
At this point it's gotta be.
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I don't think so. They lay out their reasoning, so if they're working a bit...they should stop, they are not very good at it:

Zips Of Akron has Maryland winning 31-28. Existence is pain and we’re clearly being lured in only to have the rug pulled out from under us. Will it be this week? I’m having a good time, but my eyes are wide [expletive] open.

ZipsOfAkron is picking Northwestern, 31-28. There is this scene in The Mighty Ducks where Charlie Conway gets on a breakaway and Gordon is all excited because he thinks District 5 will finally score a goal.

Karp chimes in and goes, “it’s Spazway, he’ll screw up.”

Right now we’re all Gordon Bombay. ... I know I need help.

ZipsOfAkron: Nebraska, 31-21. The only thing I’m confident in on Saturdays is that I will consume a lot of beer and ultimately be disappointed by the outcome of the football game.

ZipsofAkron has Purdue winning 21-17. Football is life. Life is pain. Therefore, football is pain. This prediction is more me steeling myself for a loss rather than thinking it will happen. It will be painful, regardless.
 

Unregistered User said:
Past 4 games from DoA:
Picked NW 31-21
Picked Purdue 21-17
Picked Nebraska 31-28
Picked Maryland 31-28

King Dink.
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Based on that, I think it is awesome that they picked against us as it seems to be working out well for us when they do. You would think being wrong 4 weeks in a row might change their opinion on us.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Based on that, I think it is awesome that they picked against us as it seems to be working out well for us when they do. You would think being wrong 4 weeks in a row might change their opinion on us.
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And I think ZoA used to be a poster here. At least I remember a poster that went by zipsofakron. And what are the chances that there are two of them out there?

Two Dinks, One Forum? Two Dinks, One Zip?
 




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