Minnesota Schedule
- Thread starter bluewhiteApos
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The amazing stat about Minnesota's schedule is that they are the only team ranked in the top 50 who hasn't yet played another team ranked in the top 50! Not one. That isn't to say they are a bad team. They are undefeated and might be better than the New England Patriots. It is just that there is no way to know how good or bad they are. I guess we will find out how good they are tomorrow.
Minnesota's 10-game winning streak goes back to last year....blowout victories in a Bowl (34-10) and @Wisconsin (37-7...before WI scored in the very last minute of garbage time).
That's why I believe PSU will overwhelm them. They haven't seen the talent and speed they are about to witness. They will be fired up though. PSU will have to bring its A-game and calmly execute and they will be alright.
While they struggled early on in their non-con games, they've been firing on all cylinders in their conference games. Doesn't matter that it's been against the bottom of the conference. They haven't sputtered at all lately and I believe that's a pretty big deal if you're playing with a high sort of efficiency whether it's against Ohio State or against Rutgers.
That said, they haven't seen anyone on their schedule with the talent and speed as Penn State but given that the Gophers are 8 games into their season, that may not mean as much as it might if they were playing us in say, game 4 of the season. If PSU does the things they do right and consistently, the win will take care of itself. The fans can try to take Minnesota lightly because they see that 8-0 as high in carbohydrates but they are a very sound team.
That said, they haven't seen anyone on their schedule with the talent and speed as Penn State but given that the Gophers are 8 games into their season, that may not mean as much as it might if they were playing us in say, game 4 of the season. If PSU does the things they do right and consistently, the win will take care of itself. The fans can try to take Minnesota lightly because they see that 8-0 as high in carbohydrates but they are a very sound team.
I expect a very physical game. They are 8-0, no matter who and under what circumstances they played. They have 3 excellent RBs, 2 WRs that will play on Sundays and a heady QB along with a massive OL. Our offense must avoid turnovers as Minny leads conference with 11 INTs and like PSU are in the plus territory in turnovers. Winfield is a legit talent @ Safety for them. We need to come out and score early and build a lead ala MD and UM games. This would be another huge W for PSU.
... against the bottom gutter tier teams. Yes, it does matter. We would have no clue about our team playing this schedule. I'd hate to have OSU, Michigan, and Sparty after this week had our schedule been like this.
Is it their fault? Absolutely not.
Is it their current reality? Absolutely.
We get out to fast starts, I think that will be a huge impact. Theirs is more a grind it out game, and it is tough to stay the course with a ground game when you are down double digits. Hoping we score early and often.
It's not like Minnesota's players have never faced decent talent. They blew-out Wisconsin on their home field, as I mentioned. You guys act as if you've faced such top competition....but who? Michigan got blown-out by Wisconsin the week before they played you. Michigan State stinks this year. And you beat Iowa in a 17-12 ugly slog.
And yet I was more worried about sparty and meatchicken than I am about this one.
I am on board the Minnesota boat with them being a good team but you can't keep counting last year's win over Wisconsin....it doesn't work that way
it would be like Michigan counting their win over us in 2016 before our game in 2017
it would be like Michigan counting their win over us in 2016 before our game in 2017
