Not a lot of optimism here
The Minnesota Golden Gophers (2-3) return home on Saturday to host the No. 11-ranked USC Trojans (3-1) for a 6:30 p.m. CT kickoff at Huntington Bank Stadium.
The game will air on the Big Ten Network.
This Week’s Thoughts:
GopherNation: I’m not convinced USC is that good. Minnesota gets the ground game going, USC is really excited about hosting Penn State next week, they have a few turnovers, and the Gophers sneak out a win.
gopherguy05: Another close game but the Gophers just can’t put enough of a game together to close the deal.
Blake: See my opponent preview.
GoAUpher: Look, until P.J. Fleck is willing to adapt his offensive play-calling for a whole game, I’m honestly going to shrug and not put a lot of effort into anything besides saying who I think will win. His best season was one where the team was willing to be aggressive and at least a little unpredictable on offense. Since then? Well, generally I’d say it’s rather Ferentzian, only without the lights out special teams play required to turn the turtle approach into repeated close wins (and frankly most of the time Minnesota’s defense has been close but not quite at the level required either).
Playing not to lose instead of playing to win is an easy thing to critique as a fan, but I’m not asking for Air Raid here. I’m asking for a willingness to gamble and employ tempo a reasonable amount of the time. In other words, to have a little fun. Sure, the outcome might be that some close losses turn into slightly bigger losses but WE ARE ALREADY LOSING. And the upside is that maybe you pick up a couple of wins against teams people actually care about. (Remember how that used to feel and the fun we used to have?) Anyway, this is already more words than I intended to write. I expect nothing to change, which means I’ll invest as much effort in my predictions as Fleck is investing in improving the outcomes.
In closing:
zipsofakron: Emotional letdown from the Michigan game means a bludgeoning at the hands of a superior team.*
*If the new hurry-up offense remains in place then all bets are off.
Ustreet: What GoAUpher said.
WhiteSpeedReceiver: It’s possible that we’ll win, but it seems unlikely.
Post your score predictions in the comments!