Chalk it up as a win...
For some reason, I'm just not as concerned as I was to start the week. It will be a tough game, no doubt, but it's one the Gophers really should win, even for a team picked to finish 8-9th in the Big Ten.
> I'd be much more concerned if this were the Gophers of 4-6 years ago. Today, the strength of the team is the defense and more importanly, against an offense like this, Brewster has spent his time with MN significantly upgrading the SPEED and ATHLETICISM of the team. Against the option, this should reduce big plays and they should get frequent negative plays or plays for no gain.
> I'd much rather have had a game like the Gophers did last week (opening on the road, close game, TESTED) than a game like the Falcons did; a feel-good game against a JV squad in which you really don't find out anything about your team's strengths and weaknesses.
> I'm just not hearing anything great about the Falcon defense. Every time they've played any remotely quality opponent in the last year or two, they've given up 30+ points on average.
Forget about how tough and challenging Air Force can be to match up with. If the Gophers can't knock off a middle of the pack Mtn West team, at home, home opener, in Brewster's third year, with 18 returning starters, they're in a lot worse shape than I thought...