Quick Lane Bowl Media Predictions Thread: Minnesota vs Central Michigan

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Rittenberg is first out of the gate:

Quick Lane Bowl: Central Michigan vs. Minnesota
(Dec. 28, 5 p.m., ESPN2)
The Chippewas should have a sizable crowd edge as they aim for their eighth win, and they'll get it as talented quarterback Cooper Rush (3,703 pass yards, 25 touchdowns) takes aim at a banged-up Gophers secondary. Central Michigan 34, Minnesota 27

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/14306141/forty-games-forty-one-predictions

Go Gophers!!
 

He also predicts every single bowl will be within 7 points and (nearly) every team scoring 24+.
 

BleedGopher said:
Rittenberg is first out of the gate:

Quick Lane Bowl: Central Michigan vs. Minnesota
(Dec. 28, 5 p.m., ESPN2)
The Chippewas should have a sizable crowd edge as they aim for their eighth win, and they'll get it as talented quarterback Cooper Rush (3,703 pass yards, 25 touchdowns) takes aim at a banged-up Gophers secondary. Central Michigan 34, Minnesota 27

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/14306141/forty-games-forty-one-predictions

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

we should have 4 of our top 5 dbs in this game, don't think that's banged up.
 

I was surprised Rittenberg didn't pick his beloved jNW over Tennessee.
 



BleedGopher said:
4 out of 5 reporters from Athlon predict a Gopher win:

http://athlonsports.com/college-football/predictions-every-college-football-2015-2016-bowl-game

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

The one guy who picked CM to win also picked Wisconsin to win over USC.

How accurate have these guys been with picks over the season? I'm wondering if when they got this low, on bowl games, they just went with name>looking up information. A couple of those guys had us above average to win, which I'm not buying.

Plus, a guy on ESPN a couple years ago said MN was his most confident bowl pick to win over Syracuse. Look what happened.
 

Danny Kanell took Central Michigan for his ESPN Bowlmania confidence picks. On the bright side, it was his 2nd least confident pick (2 points) out of 42.
 

In bowl games the more motivated team is often a big factor. In this game Central Michigan will obviously be very motivated to beat a respectable Big Ten team, not to mention they will be playing close to home/in their backyard.

I think Minnesota could also make a statement in this game if they roll/dominate Central Michigan. Hopefully MN gets Richardson, Ekpe, and Myrick back, and the O line is feeling good. It would be interesting to see how Claeys has the team prepared to play this game with a pretty healthy team.

As a Gopher fan, I'm excited to watch this game and I really hope the Gophers are healthy (including Mitch Leidner) and play fast and with confidence.

Ski U Mah Gophers


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Some Day...Is Coming! said:
In bowl games the more motivated team is often a big factor. In this game Central Michigan will obviously be very motivated to beat a respectable Big Ten team, not to mention they will be playing close to home/in their backyard.

I think Minnesota could also make a statement in this game if they roll/dominate Central Michigan. Hopefully MN gets Richardson, Ekpe, and Myrick back, and the O line is feeling good. It would be interesting to see how Claeys has the team prepared to play this game with a pretty healthy team.

As a Gopher fan, I'm excited to watch this game and I really hope the Gophers are healthy (including Mitch Leidner) and play fast and with confidence.

Ski U Mah Gophers


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Yeh, I guess that will be the case.

I think the "only" ones we will miss are Plsek, Ace, Travis, Poock, Campion, Lauer, Bobeck, James, Gentry, A.Mayes. :>/
 



Bayfieldgopher said:
Yeh, I guess that will be the case.

I think the "only" ones we will miss are Plsek, Ace, Travis, Poock, Campion, Lauer, Bobeck, James, Gentry, A.Mayes. :>/
Click to expand...

I'm hoping Poock will be good/healthy too. Like I said, I'm hoping. We'll see what happens. The rest of the guys you mentioned have been out for most of the year. The additions I'm speaking of, if back and close to 100%, would be something we hadn't had since what, the Michigan game???


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Every guy we get back will really help.

I have never seen the number of injuries we have had in my many, many decades of following sports.
 


per SI:

Final Analysis

Minnesota may have a losing record but it has faced much stiffer competition than Central Michigan in 2015, taking losses from five ranked opponents, and Big Ten teams have won 10 of 12 games against the MAC this season. The Gophers also carry the weight of the nation’s longest bowl game losing streak into Detroit, having dropped their last seven postseason contests.
Still, Central Michigan is playing in its home state, and the team has the kind of potent passing attack that can cause problems for any opponent. If the Chippewas can get the kind of strong production they saw out of running back Martez Walker in the regular season finale against Eastern Michigan (117 yds, 17 carries) against a weak Gophers run defense, they will be in a good position to extend Minnesota's bowl futility.

The Pick: Central Michigan 34, Minnesota 30

http://www.si.com/college-football/...was-minnesota-gophers-quick-lane-bowl-preview

Go Gophers!!
 




BleedGopher said:
per SI:

Final Analysis

Minnesota may have a losing record but it has faced much stiffer competition than Central Michigan in 2015, taking losses from five ranked opponents, and Big Ten teams have won 10 of 12 games against the MAC this season. The Gophers also carry the weight of the nation’s longest bowl game losing streak into Detroit, having dropped their last seven postseason contests.
Still, Central Michigan is playing in its home state, and the team has the kind of potent passing attack that can cause problems for any opponent. If the Chippewas can get the kind of strong production they saw out of running back Martez Walker in the regular season finale against Eastern Michigan (117 yds, 17 carries) against a weak Gophers run defense, they will be in a good position to extend Minnesota's bowl futility.

The Pick: Central Michigan 34, Minnesota 30

http://www.si.com/college-football/...was-minnesota-gophers-quick-lane-bowl-preview

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...


The Gopher offense will give TC his first bowl win in his first bowl game as HC.
 

Hearing that the D will be rolling with (hopefully) healthy Richardson, Scott Ekpe, and Myrick, I'm tempted to head to the book and put a wager on the Rodents. Not crazy about giving up 5 points though.

Having Richardson and Scott Ekpe back is just plain huge. Gophers win. Period.
 



4 out of 6 ESPN reporters pick the Gophers:

Why Minnesota will win: Motivation is a question here, as the 5-7 Golden Gophers must play what is close to a road game against a MAC team. Still, don't forget that Minnesota played teams like TCU, Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan pretty tough this season. The month off should help heal the team's many injury problems, and Minnesota's excellent secondary will slow down Central Michigan's passing attack. -- Brian Bennett

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/128815/big-ten-bowl-picks-quick-lane-bowl

Go Gophers!!
 

College Football News:

Why Minnesota Will Win

Minnesota’s running game might not be up to its normal snuff, but this might be the game it goes off.

The Central Michigan run defense has been terrific at times, allowing fewer than four yards per carry and not giving up more than 180 yards on the ground in any of the last six games. However, Northern Illinois was able to run well in its win back in early October, and Western Michigan came up with 215 yards with plenty of big pops. The CMU run defense stats are mostly decent because teams haven’t had time to run the ball – CMU’s time of possession comes into play – but those teams that could pound the ball were able to. Rested and ready, the Gopher ground game that started to step it up over the second half of the season should be able to use its O line to pound away. Given time to prepare, expect the Gophers to Big Ten up and run like they did against Illinois and Purdue, running for 255 and 326 yards, respectively.

Player Who Matters

Central Michigan QB Cooper Rush came up with a 493-yard, seven touchdown day in the epic Bahamas Bowl last year against WKU, and it all carried over to this season with eight 300-yard games, 25 touchdown passes, and a brilliant year overall keeping the chains moving. He threw ten picks, but he spread them out over ten games – he didn’t kill the team with a slew of big mistakes. Poised, experienced, and just mobile enough to not be a sitting duck, he’s not going to be fazed by going against a Big Ten team in a bowl game. He’ll keep the pressure on a good Minnesota secondary, and he’ll spread the ball around enough to keep the offense moving.

Minnesota QB Mitch Leidner has taken his team by the horns after handing it off for the previous two seasons. This year he’s turned into more of a passing threat, but against CMU he’s going to need to go back to giving it to the backs. Shannon Brooks followed up a 174-yard, three score day against Illinois with eight yards on five carries against Wisconsin, while Rodney Smith is overdue to start getting some more work after running for 596 yards and two scores with his second touchdown of the year coming against the Badgers. Can the running game get into a lather? The Gophers are going to give it a try.

What’s Going To Happen?

Minnesota has the 15th-best pass defense in college football. The secondary was supposed to be the strength coming into the season, and it turned into being just that even against the better quarterbacks and good passing games. CMU will get a few big plays from Rush, but Minnesota will find the power and end the disappointing year on a major positive.

Quick Lane Bowl Prediction

Prediction: Minnesota 31, Central Michigan 21, Line: Minnesota -6, o/u: 56.5
Must See Rating: 5: Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens – 1: Property Brothers at Home on the Ranch … 3

http://collegefootballnews.com/2015/minnesota-vs-central-michigan-prediction-quick-lane-bowl-preview
 

CBS Sports -

3 pick a Gopher win. 3 pick a Gopher loss.

Quick Lane Bowl: Central Michigan vs. Minnesota (-5.5) -- ESPN2, 5 p.m. -- A trip to Detroit in late December doesn't seem like much of a reward, does it? This game doesn't seem all that enticing, either. Central Michigan is 7-5, but only two of those wins came against teams that finished the season with winning records. Then there's Minnesota, which doesn't have a winning record at 5-7! All in all, this feels like your typical Big Ten-MAC matchup that we see in September, only this time it's on a neutral field.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoo...owl-picks-military-quick-lane-start-busy-week
 

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