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Insight Bowl: Kansas vs. Minnesota Football Picks

Written December 30, 2008 by Jason Lowry

Kansas Minnesota Football

There is a lot in common with how the 2008 season ended up for the Kansas Jayhawks and Minnesota Golden Gophers, as both teams got out to great starts, only to finish the season really struggling to win football games. The two teams are set to do battle on New Year’s Eve this Wednesday in the Insight Bowl at Sun Devil Stadium. The Kansas Jayhawks started the season 5-1, but won just 2 of its final 6 games to finish 7-5. The Golden Gophers got out to an excellent start going 7-1, but finished the season on a 4 game losing streak, including a 55-0 loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes at home in the final game of the season. For those of you looking to do a little NCAA football betting this Wednesday, the oddsmakers have Kansas 9 point favorites over Minnesota at Bookmaker.com.

The Jayhawks come into this one scoring a nice 32.7 points a game, and are averaging over 431 yards a game this season. The offense is led by the play of the passing game and that is all on the arm of Todd Reesing, who completed nearly 66% of his passes this season for 3,575 yards with 28 touchdowns to just 12 interceptions. Making life easier on Reesing was the fact that this guy had two solid wideouts to throw the football ball to in Kerry Meier and Dezmon Briscoe. Meier led the way with 87 catches for 932 yards and 7 scores, but Briscoe was the big playmaker catching 78 passes for 1,206 yards and a team high 12 touchdowns. The passing game better be on in this one, as the Jayhawks don’t have much of a ground game to speak of, as Jake Sharp led the way with just 796 yards and 11 scores.

The defense isn’t as impressive when you look at the numbers, as they are letting teams score nearly 30 points a game, and they are giving up over 400 yards of total offense a game. The team has really struggled to stop the pass, as teams have scored 26 times through the air and are throwing for 275.5 yards a game. The Jayhawks are a little better against the run, but going against a Gophers team that loves to pass, that doesn’t look like it will really matter in this one. The guy to watch for the Jayhawks is James Holt who not only led the team with 97 tackles, but had 15.5 tackles for loss, 7 sacks, and forced 6 fumbles, so if someone is going to make a play its likely this guy. Bet Kansas Jayhawks -9 at Bookmaker.com.

When you look at the Gophers offense there its no wonder this team likes to throw the football, as they are averaging just 106 yards on the ground. The passing attack has worked well over the season, as the Gophers are throwing for nearly 215 yards a game and that has led to nearly 23.4 points a game this season, but come in averaging just around 14 points a game in their recent 4 game losing streak. The passing attack is led by Adam Weber, who threw for 2,585 yards and 14 touchdowns to just 8 interceptions, a number that is even more impressive with the way this team can’t run the football. Weber can also beat you with his legs, as he has ran for 202 yards and 4 scores this season, but the guy this team has to have on the field is star receiver Eric Decker, who has 76 catches for 925 yards and 6 scores, and when the next closest guy has just 31 catches for 310 yards and no touchdowns, you can see how much they need Decker in this one.

The Gophers defense got ripped apart by the Hawkeyes in the final game of the season, and you have to have some concerns about this unit letting the Jayhawks go wild in this one. Opponents are scoring nearly 23 points a game this season while racking up nearly 378 yards of total offense. The one thing that could keep this team in the game is this units ability to force the big play, as they have forced 30 turnovers this season. The guy to watch is Willie VanDeSteeg, who had 18 tackles for loss including 9.5 that ended up in sacks. Another player who could make a difference in this one is Traye Simmons who had 4 interceptions and was all over opposing receivers this season. Bet Minnesota Golden Gophers +9 at Bookmaker.com.

Lowry’s Lean on the Game: Kansas -9
The Gophers can’t have much confidence going into the game this weekend, and there’s a good reason for that, as they really fell apart at the end of the season, as 3 of their final 4 losses were at home. Look for the Jayhawks offense to jump out early and often in this one, as I got Kansas having this one won by halftime.

Predicted Score: Kansas 38 Minnesota 24

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