Thursday, August 30, 2007

Gophers vs. Bowling Green

So the super exciting Gopher football season kicks off this weekend at 7pm, with the mighty Gophers taking on the Bowling Green somethings (Falcons? EDIT: Yes, Falcons) at the Metrodome. (Why 7? Make it at noon and I'm there. But 7 on a Saturday night for this matchup? No thanks).

The Gophers are currently a 14.5 point favorite, and I don't have a strong feeling either way. If I had to choose, I'd go with Minnesota.

Sure, the QB is a question mark with redshirt freshman Adam Weber getting the start, but BG isn't exactly a stellar defense either. A spread offense, which I hope is really truly going to be used this year, always has the potential to put up a lot of points (and is always fun to watch - Harvard and Cornell both use spread offenses by the way. True story.)

BG returns 8 starters on defense this season, although they are very young at LB and DB, but that's ok because they weren't very good last year. BG ranked 98th in points allowed last season in DI, and although they should be better this year, they still aren't going to be shutting anyone down.

BG offense is mostly run-oriented, which is excellent news for the Gophers lackluster pass defense. They can get into the groove against a not-very good passing team and maybe get some confidence.

PREDICTIONS: Weber looks good. Pinnix looks good. Defense gives false hope. Minnesota 28 - Bowling Green 10.

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