HALFTIME UPDATE:
Minnesota - 21
Wisconsin - 7
First of all the first half game ball has to go to the offensive line. They are giving Weber all kinds of time and he's been able to find his freshmen receivers to make some big plays. Watch for the Badgers to start blitzing to get through to Weber, we'll see how ready we are for that.
Defensively we have stopped the run and gotten great pressure on Sherer (who is terrible btw). When this game began with a Gopher fumble at the 10 things had a chance to get way out of hand in a hurry. But these guys are playing with some toughness and confidence that we haven't seen in several weeks.
Plenty of mistakes on both sides but plenty of big plays as well to make this an entertaining game. Second half should be a lot of fun as The Axe is on the line.
----------
We are live from the Camp Randall pressbox. Game thread will likely be maintained by you the readers/commenters. PJS and I may be in and out but no official moderation.
The band is on the field, we are less than 20 min from kickoff. Here are some keys or questions to be answered today if the Gophers are to win.
1. Win special teams. Troy Stoudermire told me last week that he would house a kick off today. Getting a special team's TD, great coverage and no missed kicks (easy ones at least) will be vital if we are going to win in Madison for the first time since 1994.
2. How disciplined will our linebackers be. The weakside guy has to stay at home and not get beat on the cutback. Then the guys in the middle have to stuff anything between the tackles.
3. Three and Outs. We cannot have them on offense and we need to force several of them on defense.
4. Third and longs! Get them in third and long, make them pass, then let the secondary make a huge play.
We'll see how it plays out.