Minnesota at Wisconsin

Written by Steve Janus

This Saturday the Paul Bunyan Axe will be up for grabs when the Minnesota Golden Gophers travel to Camp Randall Stadium to take on the 20th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers. Wisconsin has won seven straight at home against Minnesota and the last five overall. In the their meeting a year ago Wisconsin managed just a 31-28 win on the road. The oddsmakers seem to think it won’t be so close this weekend, as the current college football odds have the Badgers favored by 22-points over the Golden Gophers at home.

Minnesota (1-4, 0-1 Big Ten): After beating Middle Tennessee in the first week of the season, the Golden Gophers lost four straight home games, including a tough 28-29 loss to Northwestern last week. Minnesota has been in every game this season, but they just can’t get the defensive stops at the end of the game to secure a win. They have really struggled against both the run and the pass this season, as they are giving up nearly 407 yards of total offense after five games. On the other hand the offense is keeping them in games, as they have really moved the pall well in the passing game, averaging 241 yards a game.

Quarterback Adam Weber has thrown for 1,199 yards with nine touchdowns to just four interceptions. Weber had a bit of an off game against the Wildcats last week, as he threw for just 194 yards and two scores, a week earlier he threw for 373 yards and two scores against Northern Illinois. The Golden Gophers also have a couple of nice backs in juniors Duane Bennett and DeLeon Eskridge. Bennett leads the team with 400 yards, but Eskridge carried the bulk of the load against Northwestern, running it 22 times for 119 yards and a score. The offense is going to have to play lights out in this one, as I really think the Badgers are going to run all over the Golden Gophers defense.

Wisconsin(4-1. 0-1 Big Ten): The Badgers were unable to pull off a big win on the road to open their Big Ten season, as they fell to Michigan State 34-24. The Badgers defense just forced three early turnovers against the Spartans, but just couldn’t get the stops on third and fourth downs when they needed them. Michigan State converted 9-18 on third down and 2-3 on fourth down, while the Badgers were 3-11 on third down and 0-1 on fourth down. That allowed Michigan State to completely control the clock in this game, and come out on top.

Quarterback Scott Tolzien completed just 11 of 25 attempts for 127 yards and a score, by far his worst game of the season. The running game was averaging well over 200 yards a game, but managed just 165 yards on the ground against the Spartans. John Clay had 80 yards on 17 carries, while backup James White finished with 98 yards and two touchdowns on just 10 carries. The offense should get a much needed spark this weekend as they should rip apart the Minnesota defense.

Looking at the Odds: This is a very tough game to predict based on the 22-point spread, as the Badgers have only beat Minnesota by more than seven points once in the last five years, but this is the Badgers homecoming and they are going to really come in focus after suffering their first loss of the season. Even though I am extremely confident that Wisconsin comes away with a win in this game, I think the right bet is on Minnesota at +22, as their offense is good enough to at least keep it within three touchdowns. My final score prediction is Wisconsin 44, Minnesota 27.

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