Minnesota Football: Gophers host Purdue under Friday night lights - GAME THREAD

Yet another Friday night game for your Golden Gophers. Purdue comes to town in a showdown between two teams missing an awful lot of their regular contributors. This battle of attrition is a big one for Purdue’s West title hopes and important for the Gophers as they try to get back on track.

3 KEYS

• Find offensive rhythm - This was a week 1 key and it is going to be huge tonight. Can the Gopher offense start to get back into the rhythm they were in last year? Can this balanced attack put up points on a weak Purdue defense?
• Stop the run - It is going to be imperative that the Gophers stop the run to make Aidan O’Connell throw it.
• Special Team PLEASE?? - It has been pretty brutal this year. I’m just hoping for a neutral performance by this unit.

OPPOSING PLAYERS TO WATCH

• #40 RB - Zander Horvath - No relation to Nick, that I know of. But Horvath’s 4.8 per carry average stands to go up. I remember a gold & black #40 running all over the Gopher defense and I really don’t want to see it again.
• #18 CB- Cam Allen - Two picks on the year plus a fumble recovery and a tackle for loss. Allen has been making plays and I’d like to not hear his name all night.

PREDICTION

I won’t pick Minnesota anymore this season. Illinois is over and even if I have a little confidence tonight, this defense is just not good enough to trust.

Minnesota - 24
Purdue - 35