Sid's Scoops Blog: Suddenly Iowa is powerful

[BleedGopher]

per Sid:

I think the Gophers are very fortunate that they had a week off before they play the Hawkeyes so they can get everybody healthy and be in a position to win this game and stay in contention for the Big Ten West title.

Gopher quarterback Mitch Leidner will have to be at his best when it comes to the passing game, and it appears it will be a high scoring contest with the Gophers most likely to be favored because they have home field advantage.

It’s a much better game than was anticipated three or four weeks ago.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/blogs/281195351.html

Go Gophers!!

 

[BleedGopher]

per Sid's column:

Tough opponents for U

The Iowa football team lost to terrible Iowa State (2-6) and also lost to Maryland (6-3) early in the season. The Hawkeyes also barely beat Northern Iowa in their first game. However, they certainly have turned their performance around based on a 48-7 home victory over Northwestern on Saturday, when Iowa scored two touchdowns in the first five minutes and scored one touchdown off a blocked punt and another off a fumble.

Now the Gophers must face an Iowa team that Saturday had two rushers in Mark Weisman and Akrum Wadley, combine for 200 yards and four touchdowns. Quarterback Jack Rudock threw for 269 yards and three TDs.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/281201871.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue

Go Gophers!!

 

[tjgopher]

per Sid: It’s a much better game than was anticipated three or four weeks ago.

What does Sid's ghost writer mean by that?

Three or four weeks ago, I think most reasonable football minds figured this would be a matchup of a pair of teams sitting with 7-1 records. Then, Iowa went and lost at Maryland and the Gophers lost at Illinois. So, this is actually a worse matchup than we thought 3 or 4 weeks ago.

Certainly, he couldn't have meant that the Gophers expected this to be an easy game three or four weeks ago and now they don't. No reason to expect this would be an easy game, ever.