Ohio State at Minnesota

Written by Steve Janus

This Saturday the No.11 Ohio State Buckeyes will look to add to their win total when they go on the road to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Buckeyes responded from a disappointing loss at Wisconsin with a 49-0 beating of Purdue last week. The Golden Gophers are really struggling to get things going, as they fell to Penn State 33-21 at home for their seventh consecutive loss on the season. The Buckeyes had no trouble putting away the Golden Gophers last year, as they won 38-7 at home. The oddsmakers don’t seem to think it will be any different this season, as the current college football odds have the Buckeyes favored by 25.-points over the Golden Gophers on the road.

Ohio State (7-1, 3-1 Big Ten): Whether it was revenge from last year’s loss at Purdue or if it was the fact that they lost their No.1 ranking the previous week, the Buckeyes looked like a team on a mission last week against Purdue. Ohio State jumped out to a 42-0 lead at halftime before calling off the dogs.

Quarterback Terrelle Pryor threw for 270 yards and three touchdowns, and running back Dan Herron finished with 74 yards and two scores on the ground. The only mistakes for the Buckeyes were two interceptions by Pryor in the first half. The defense gave the Boilermakers nothing to work with, as Purdue had just nine first downs, only 118 yards of total offense, and three turnovers.

If the Buckeyes come out with that same kind of intensity this week against Minnesota, they should win easily. Look for the Buckeyes to do a lot of damage on the ground, as Minnesota comes in giving up an average of 194 rushing yards a game.

Minnesota (1-7, 0-4 Big Ten): The Golden Gophers actually outgained Penn State 433 to 351, but really had trouble keeping drives going. Quarterback Adam Weeber threw for 299 yards with three touchdowns to just one interception, and running back DeLeon Eskridge ran for 111 yards on 26 carries.

For as bad as their record is, the Golden Gophers have the ability to put some points on the board, the problem is their defense ranks 100th in the country giving up nearly 32 points a game. Only once all season have the Golden Gophers failed to score at least 20 points in a game, but it is going to be hard for this offense to get a lot going against a tough Ohio State defense.

Looking at the Odds: I think the right play in this game is to take Minnesota +25.5. The Golden Gophers may not have the talent on defense, but they are at least capable of putting some points on the board, especially in front of their home crowd. The Buckeyes have not looked the same in their two road games this season. Minnesota has also scored a lot of late points in the fourth quarter, which is a big advantage when you are betting on a team to cover such a huge spread. My final score prediction is Ohio State 42, Minnesota 24.

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