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Minnesota Football: Three keys to beating Purdue and how to watch Saturday’s game

How do you watch the Gophers at Purdue and 3 keys to a Minnesota win

By GopherNation
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Illinois v Minnesota Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

Time to bounce back after a heart-breaking loss to Illinois. Can the Gophers get their second road win of the season?

How to Watch

TV: NBC
Time: 2:30
Stream: NBCSports.com

We now face the unquestionably worst defense in the Big Ten. Purdue ranks last in points allowed, last in total yards allowed, last in passing yards allowed and 11th in rushing yards allowed.

3 KEYS

  • Score points - Maybe the most “duh” key to a win ever. But this defense should allow the Gopher offense to move the ball and then potentially score points. The last time they held a team to under 30, it was Iowa. I want 30+ points on Saturday.
  • More QB pressure - The defensive line has probably been the most improved unit on the team. 19 sacks last year in 13 games. They have 21 through 9 games. Get in the face of Caleb Hunt and rack up a few more sacks.
  • Win 3rd downs - Defensively these are the two worst teams at stopping opponents on 3rd down. They also are both pretty bad at converting 3rd down on offense. Winning this on both sides seems important.

OPPOSING PLAYERS TO WATCH

  • #1 WB - Hudson Card - Texas transfer who has been solid, but has been prone to interceptions after going through the first two games of the season without any.
  • #4 LB - Kydran Jenkins - Senior linebacker who leads the Big Ten in sacks and is 2nd in TFLs. Seems like we should get a hat on this kid.

PREDICTION

This Gopher team is wildly inconsistent. At times the defense looks dominant, at others they give up so many big plays that you wonder how they’ve stopped anybody. At times the offense runs the ball as if they are unstoppable and then at times they fall in love with punting after 3 plays.

Purdue is bad, we are inconsistent. They have lost 6 out of their last 7 games with their only win being a 44-point outburst against Illinois.

The line here is Minnesota -1, so this is expected to be close. But I think the Gophers respond with a well-executed game after the Illinois disaster. They actually win bid.

Minnesota - 31
Purdue - 16

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