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And the Gophers round out their non-conference portion of the schedule with a visit from the Bowling Green Eagles. This is the weakest team that the Gophers have on their schedule this season, but they still have to do the things necessary to win the game. What are those things? I’m glad you asked.
3 KEYS
- Control the line of scrimmage - I really expect the Gopher offensive line to thoroughly dominate. No doubt that if the OL is opening holes, this game is going full Kent State protocol and they may not throw a pass.
- No big plays in pass defense - Bowling Green passes. They pass a lot. 82% of their total yards are through the air and their leading rusher has 74 yards for the season. The Gopher nearly had 3 guys out rush him last game. Don’t give up any big plays through the air and I see this team really struggling to get first downs.
- Stay healthy - I have little concern about the outcome of this game, but it will also be a major “win” if we come out of this game without any injures
OPPOSING PLAYERS TO WATCH
- #3 QB- Matt McDonald - Completing over 71% of his passes and accounting for 82% of the team’s yards. He is the one to watch on the offense.
- #23 LB - Darren Anders - Leads the team in tackles and has 3 TFLs on the season.
PREDICTION
As I said above, this game is going to go full Kent State Protocol. You may recall the 2015 game against Kent State when the Gophers snuck out a 10-7 win over a Kent State team that finished 3-9. Even as the game was MUCH closer than it should have been, the Jerry Kill staff kept the game plan extremely vanilla, never deviating and sill pulled out a win.
Expect much of the same. Because of the expected offensive line dominance, I do not expect this to be a 1-possession game. But expect a vanilla game plan, expect a lot of rushes. Maybe this will also resemble the 2014 San Jose State game when the Gophers attempted a total of 7 passes.
Regardless, it might be an extremely boring game, but it will be a Gopher win.
Bowling Green - 13
Minnesota - 37