@ Minnesota (9/25)

[mbenecke]

Fresh off a big homecoming win, our Falcons (1-2) will travel north to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers (2-1) on Saturday, September 25. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.

Gophers come in following a 30-0 drubbing of Colorado, who had just the week before nearly toppled a top-10 Texas A&M squad.

Minnesota played Miami (OH) a few weeks ago and held on to win, 31-26.

Gophers opened as 31 point favorites. That seems about right - let's see, though, if BG can move to 4-0 against the spread this season. It feels like we have a decent chance to do so. Minnesota is decently good, but they like to run the ball and kill the clock a lot of the time. So I think a 63-10 blowout would be fairly unlikely. I'm thinking something more like 35-10 or so.

We'll see. Go Falcons!

[BillyLP]

I'm kinda viewing this as a collect the check and get out without any major injuries game. I'd like to see some solid movement on offense, good tackling on defense, and some confidence going into MAC play.

[jpfalcon09]

Yeah, I think this won't be particularly close. Minnesota is better than Tennessee even without Ibrahim. If BG is able to move the ball and get a score or two, it'll be a successful game. I expect the Gophers will go run heavy, use their size, and wear down BG up front. I'll go with 45-7 and the Falcons hopefully getting out without any injuries.

[roguewarrior]

Minnesota has one of the best O-Lines out there, big and bruising. Will be interesting to see if our D line can hang. If they open lanes, can we tackle in space?

Their DB’s are all big, and “slower” than the norm. We would be better served to get some speedsters in space quickly…. We’ll see if we are able/willing to adjust our Scheme to adapt.

[mbenecke]

Minnesota has one of the best O-Lines out there, big and bruising. Will be interesting to see if our D line can hang. If they open lanes, can we tackle in space?

Their DB’s are all big, and “slower” than the norm. We would be better served to get some speedsters in space quickly…. We’ll see if we are able/willing to adjust our Scheme to adapt.

Even more than that, I'm worried about our young, undersized offensive line going against their talented, experienced, huge defensive front. We might need to bubble-wrap 3 before he steps off the plane.

[roguewarrior]

Minnesota has one of the best O-Lines out there, big and bruising. Will be interesting to see if our D line can hang. If they open lanes, can we tackle in space?

Their DB’s are all big, and “slower” than the norm. We would be better served to get some speedsters in space quickly…. We’ll see if we are able/willing to adjust our Scheme to adapt.

Even more than that, I'm worried about our young, undersized offensive line going against their talented, experienced, huge defensive front. We might need to bubble-wrap 3 before he steps off the plane.

Indeed. You cannot wait for our long routes to unfold this week. Hopefully they don’t stick to the Model T O and get someone injured.

[MarkL]

Minnesota held Colorado to 63 yards. Total yards all game.

Wow

[Flipper]

This figures to be a blow out...go deep down the depth chart to get some of those guys off the two deep some reps and try to stay healthy

[zete]

Don't see much positive coming out of these games anymore other than the ADs walking into the bank. September games most always produce letdown and embarrassment for BG and the league.

[hammb]

Don't see much positive coming out of these games anymore other than the ADs walking into the bank. September games most always produce letdown and embarrassment for BG and the league.

These used to be by FAR my favorite games of the season...OOC matchups against non-elite P5 teams. Good BG teams of the past could've taken down that mediocre UT team. Minny has some hogs up front, but their pass game isn't great and their star RB is gone. Another sort of team that good BG teams could beat in years past.

These days the college landscape has changed quite a bit, we have fewer MAC wins over P5 teams (although WMU did beat Pitt, and UT gave ND all it could handle). But boy with BG being god awful for the last 6 years, these games have gotten painful. We obviously still need the paydays (now more than ever), but it's a real testament to where our program is that we now go into games against Tennessee & Minnesota and merely hope to not get hurt.

[BillyLP]

Don't see much positive coming out of these games anymore other than the ADs walking into the bank. September games most always produce letdown and embarrassment for BG and the league.

These used to be by FAR my favorite games of the season...OOC matchups against non-elite P5 teams. Good BG teams of the past could've taken down that mediocre UT team. Minny has some hogs up front, but their pass game isn't great and their star RB is gone. Another sort of team that good BG teams could beat in years past.

These days the college landscape has changed quite a bit, we have fewer MAC wins over P5 teams (although WMU did beat Pitt, and UT gave ND all it could handle). But boy with BG being god awful for the last 6 years, these games have gotten painful. We obviously still need the paydays (now more than ever), but it's a real testament to where our program is that we now go into games against Tennessee & Minnesota and merely hope to not get hurt.

I don't think it's a permanent shift in feeling, at least for me. It's more a realistic view of where we stand right now. In two years, I hope to feel differently. I think the MAC has had an average-to-decent showing this year against the P5, especially with NIU beating GT, WMU over Pitt (which...how?), and UT blowing it against ND.

[Flipper]

We used to play one of these a year to meet the average people played in front of requirement to stay 1A. Now we have to play two just to stay somewhat afloat financially. TV...OK...more accurate to say "Media" today... and the money that goes with it destroyed college football for all but the very top of the food chain

[hammb]

We used to play one of these a year to meet the average people played in front of requirement to stay 1A. Now we have to play two just to stay somewhat afloat financially. TV...OK...more accurate to say "Media" today... and the money that goes with it destroyed college football for all but the very top of the food chain

And by "somewhat afloat" you still mean, "costing our students way more than it ever has in the past, but not as much as it would if we didn't play these 2 money games."

Also worth noting that the "very top of the food chain" is a MUCH smaller group than what many schools will admit. College football is only good for about 4-5 programs on an annual basis. There are another 10-20 that on any given year might be worthwhile. The rest of us are here just twiddling our thumbs spending more and more money on an ever diminishing product.

I will say, product on the field notwithstanding, last weekend was a glorious time at BG. Fantastic atmosphere in the parking lots, events for alumni, events for kids, and thousands of students/alumni partying all day out there. We got to the lots around noon and parking was already picked over. The students were out in droves.

Of course, a fraction of these people actually entered the Doyt, the game was an afterthought for most people, but the pre-game atmosphere out there would be tough to replicate without the football.

[jpfalcon09]

We used to play one of these a year to meet the average people played in front of requirement to stay 1A. Now we have to play two just to stay somewhat afloat financially. TV...OK...more accurate to say "Media" today... and the money that goes with it destroyed college football for all but the very top of the food chain

And by "somewhat afloat" you still mean, "costing our students way more than it ever has in the past, but not as much as it would if we didn't play these 2 money games."

Also worth noting that the "very top of the food chain" is a MUCH smaller group than what many schools will admit. College football is only good for about 4-5 programs on an annual basis. There are another 10-20 that on any given year might be worthwhile. The rest of us are here just twiddling our thumbs spending more and more money on an ever diminishing product.

I will say, product on the field notwithstanding, last weekend was a glorious time at BG. Fantastic atmosphere in the parking lots, events for alumni, events for kids, and thousands of students/alumni partying all day out there. We got to the lots around noon and parking was already picked over. The students were out in droves.

Of course, a fraction of these people actually entered the Doyt, the game was an afterthought for most people, but the pre-game atmosphere out there would be tough to replicate without the football.

Typical for Homecoming. Lots of people stay in the lots and party throughout the day. The university still made out like bandits with the $10 parking fee. IMO, covid had a lot to do with the bigger tailgate crowd as obviously it was missed last year.

I thought the game atmosphere was decent. Student showing was impressive given the current state of affairs and with the Buckeyes playing at 3:30. People around us were pretty engaged in the game. I feel it's proof people will come to the Doyt if given a reason to (primarily if there's a good product).

[Flipper]

Competitively, B1G football works for OSU and occasionally Wisconsin, Iowa, MSU ...Financially...it works for all of them thanks to the B1G network .