The biggest question remaining for each Top 25 college football team

[Taji34]

Per ESPN:

No. 17 Minnesota: What happens now that the schedule gets tougher?
The Golden Gophers are 7-0 for the first time since 1960, and the offense is averaging 36.4 points per game. The question here is whether Minnesota can continue scoring at that clip with the tougher part of its schedule coming. Maryland, Penn State, Iowa, Northwestern and Wisconsin remain and will give Minnesota's offense a challenge. Of the first three Big Ten opponents Minnesota faced, none ranks higher than 73rd among FBS teams in touchdowns allowed this season. Of the five Big Ten teams remaining on the schedule, only Maryland ranks lower than 23rd in touchdowns allowed this season, with Iowa, Penn State and Wisconsin all ranked in the top six. Those games will be the true test of whether Minnesota can score and keep itself in big games. -- VanHaaren

https://es.pn/33O2FCf

 

[Sparlimb]

That's a fair analysis. We haven't played a killer defense yet. It will be interesting to see how the slant passes go once that happens. We did pass extremely well against Wisconsin last year. But I'm not sure how beat up their defense was. I think we'll have a lot more trouble with Penn St, because they'll stuff the run with their defensive line and we'll be forced to pass. We need that game to stay under 20 points for both teams to win...

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Seems accurate.

 

[jonnyganas]

Should be interesting to see how Kirk C adjusts the play-calling to counter these tough B1G defenses. Besides the vanilla non-con games, the Gophers on offense haven't given me a reason to doubt them.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Fair analysis. All 4 teams in November have good defenses so we will find out just how good our offense really is. The thing that gives me hope is that we have shown an ability to move the ball effectively on the ground and through the air, so hopefully we can find a way to move the ball and score on all of them. Iowa and Northwestern both look really suspect on offense so if we can put up a few scores on them I love our chances of winning those games.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

I mean wisconsin's defense does rank well. They also haven't played anyone...

 

[WhoFellDownTheGopherHole?]

I mean wisconsin's defense does rank well. They also haven't played anyone...

Wasn't a believer in their D already, and now especially after the Illinois game.

Assuming good health, i like the Gophers chances (or at least think there is some) in all of the games going forward, as long as the offense plays to what the defense is showing, and doesn't get locked into the mode of trying to force the run or force the pass, respectively. I said in a post somewhere before the season started that Bateman was about to explode, and i think he's gonna turn it on even higher with more spotlight as they progress.

In any previous year i would be terrified of the closing schedule; this season, i can't wait to get there.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Wasn't a believer in their D already, and now especially after the Illinois game.

Assuming good health, i like the Gophers chances (or at least think there is some) in all of the games going forward, as long as the offense plays to what the defense is showing, and doesn't get locked into the mode of trying to force the run or force the pass, respectively. I said in a post somewhere before the season started that Bateman was about to explode, and i think he's gonna turn it on even higher with more spotlight as they progress.

In any previous year i would be terrified of the closing schedule; this season, i can't wait to get there.

Couldn't agree more with that last part. The way the team finished down the stretch last year and has been picking up steam this year gives me a lot of hope for how we will do over those final games. The degree of difficulty goes up but this team has shown an ability to up their play as well as the season progresses.

Purdue and Wisconsin were not great teams last season but they were not push overs either and we came out and dominated them. Turnovers doomed us against Northwestern in another game that was winnable against the run away division champ.

We will almost certainly lose some games down the stretch but unlike previous years there are lots of reasons to believe the team will be able to compete with anyone on the schedule and has a better than average chance to come away with the victory most weeks. Really excited to see how this season plays out and super excited to see what this team can do in 2020 with a ton of experience on both sides of the ball.