Minnesota at Purdue

Written by Steve Janus

This Saturday the Minnesota Golden Gophers will head to West Lafayette to take on the Purdue Boilermakers in Big Ten action. The Golden Gophers come in off a 41-23 loss at Wisconsin, and have now lost five straight since winning the season opener against Middle Tennessee. The Boilermakers got a nice win on the road last week, as they beat Northwestern 20-17 to start the 2010 season 1-0 in conference play. The Golden Gophers have won the last two in the series, including a 35-20 win at home last year, but Purdue hasn’t lost three straight against Minnesota since 1989-1991. If you are thinking about betting on the game this weekend, the current college football odds have the Boilermakers favored by 5.5-points over the Golden Gophers at home.

Minnesota (1-5, 0-2 Big Ten): After playing Northwestern tough at home, the Golden Gophers were no match for a very good Wisconsin team on the road, as they trailed 14-0 after the first quarter, and were down 24-9 after the third quarter. Minnesota got a great game out of quarterback Adam Weeber, as he threw for 249 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. The Golden Gophers struggled to run the ball, as they managed just 96 yards on the ground. Defensively the Golden Gophers were torched on the ground for 250 yards, as James White ran for 118 yards and two scores and John Clay added another 111 yards and three touchdowns.

Offensively the Golden Gophers have some weapons, as they have shown they can move the ball through the air, and the running game figures to improve this week, as the Boilermakers are not as talented on the defensive side as the Badgers. The problem is the Minnesota defense has been terrible all season, as they are allowing 32 points a game to opposing teams.

Purdue (3-2, 1-0 Big Ten): While Northwestern is not a top team in the Big Ten, going on the road and getting a win deserves some credit, but they have to back it up with a dominating performance against a Minnesota team that is really struggling. The Boilermakers have done most of their damage on the ground so far this season, as they average just 158 yards a game through the air. Last week against the Wildcats the Boilermakers managed just 47 passing yards, while racking up 232 yards on the ground. Rob Henry led the way with 132 yards and a score on 16 carries, but not being able to throw the ball is really going to hurt this team when they go up against the top dogs in the Big Ten.

Defensively the Boilermakers gave up a ton of yards, as the Wildcats outgained them on the game 389 to 279, but they made the plays when needed and were able to hold off the Wildcats late with the game on the line. The defense will have to play well again this weekend, as Purdue can not afford to fall behind early and play catchup.

Looking at the Odds: With the way the Golden Gophers have struggled on defense this season, I think the safe bet is on the Boilermakers to cover the 5.5-point spread in this one, as I believe Purdue is going to be able to run all over the Minnesota defense that is giving up an average of 196 yards a game on the ground. My final score prediction is Purdue 33, Minnesota 24.

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