Tailgate Nugz - 9.8.12

Happy home opener everybody! For those of you stuck at home on your couches or those of you who are reading this on your mobile device from the tailgate lot (and you shouldn't be btw...put the phone down, grab a beer, and throw bags at a hole) here are some delicious tailgate worthy stories to cover you up until kickoff.

Football:

- Sandell offers up his preview and prediction for today's game. Shorter Sandell: Gophers win if they take a 7-10 point lead into the 4th.

- TRE over at DWG writes the kind of preview I intended to write. Ya know, full of some actual analysis and details. I think he's trying to show me up...jerk. His prediction? Gophers by 10.

- Fuller offers up his 5 keys for the game. His prediction? Gophers by 2 TD's. He also blogs about the similarities between the UNH offense and Oregon's offense (reminder: Chip Kelly was their OC once upon a time).

- Big Ten Football dude also predicts a Gophers win as part of his wider conference predictions.

- Phil Miller (aka: the STrib writer who produces high quality content) talks about the importance of Gray getting help from his RB's, something that Gray is confident in:

But the quarterback said he is more certain than ever that the Gophers can deliver on their coaches' goal of being a ball-control, keep-it-on-the-ground type of offense.

Kirkwood impressed him with how much he has improved, Gray said.

"He had the coaches raving after the game -- he played a great game, one of his best since he's been here," Gray said. ''What he can do with the ball in his hands is going to be very positive for the team."

Phil also looks back at UNLV and hears from Coach Limegrover that Q simply held the ball a bit too long on his INT, the sort of mistake the coaches think he won't make this week.

More Gopher and college football links coming right up, just as soon as my mom gets us that meatloaf and brings it below the jump...

- Shama joins #TICKETGAZE, talking about both student and regular season ticket sales. More interesting are some of the nuggets at the bottom of the post:

New Hampshire receives $375,000 for tomorrow’s game at TCF Bank Stadium.

...

The Wildcats run a spread offense with a 4-2-5 defensive alignment.

"They’re going to snap it 90 to 100 times a game," Kill said. "They’re no‑huddle offense. They’re going to get up, boom, boom, boom, boom."

New Hampshire receives a smaller financial payout from the Gophers because the Wildcats are an FCS school. Western Michigan, an FBS school that will play at TCF Bank Stadium a week from Saturday, will receive $750,000. Syracuse, the Gophers’ final 2012 nonconference opponent, will earn $250,000 for playing here. That amount is based on a home-and-home arrangement where Minnesota played at Syracuse in 2009.

...

Last month, before the Gophers opened their season, KFAN’s Dan Barreiro predicted Minnesota will start the season with a record 7-1.

- Bill Connelly, stats guru for the mothership, thinks the Gopher offense might be better than it showed against UNLV.

- Gopher Sports released the kickoff video for TCF a day early. NOTE: this is not the team's entrance video. This is the video that will play before the opening kick. It will be updated each week and will not remain the same.

- Looking back to last week, Gopher Sports has a full album of photos from the UNLV game up on Facebook.

College FB:

- Some guy over at OTE (who is probably a jerk) outlines what he wants from every B1G team in the 2nd week of the non-conference season.

- Did anyone else watch the Utah/Utah State game last night? Best referee explanations EVAH! Dude was a stud with the clear and detailed reasons why a penalty was called.

The Smorgasbord:

So, it turns out John Clayton is actually the real life version of Chazz from Wedding Crashers. Compare for yourself:

Ski-U-Mah and Go Gophers!