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Minnesota lost a ton on defense. They have a lot to overcome there.

This is the most interesting game for me this week. It will probably tell us much about the two teams.

The Wolverines had the unexpected loss of Ambry Thomas, leaving their corner situation fairly thin.  See if Minny can Rashod Bateman can make some plays. 

Also lost Nico at WR.

I’m picking Minnesota by 6.

isn’t Tyler Johnson gone? He was a pretty big weapon. 

I’m leaning to Minnesota by 6. Harbaugh’s teams perform poorly on the road. Especially in openers vs ranked teams. And he’s breaking in a brand new QB and his top WR in Nico Collins and his top CB in Ambry Thomas both decided to opt out bc of COVID. And both these dudes are some dudes. All-Conference caliber players and surefire NFL draft picks.

Definitely the most interesting game of the weekend from the perspective of our Power Rankings.  This is #4 at #5 and it just doesn't get much better than that (adjacent teams and the higher ranked one is on the road).  For comparison, the other games are:

• #1 tOSU vs #9 UNL
• #2 PSU @ #7 IU
• #3 UW vs #12 IL
• #6 IA @ #11 PU
• #8 NU vs #13 UMD
• #10 MSU vs #14 RU

In the other six games the teams are separated by at least four spots in our rankings and in four of the other six the higher ranked team is at home.  


This game has the added benefit of being at least potentially important to both divisional races.  If Minnesota can win this then they stand a VERY good chance of sweeping their B1G-E opponents (because the other one is UMD) and that just might be the difference in the B1G-W especially since UW and Iowa have difficult B1G-E games (UW is @M, IA is @PSU).  

This game is important for Michigan in part because their schedule looks brutal.  They have to play the other four of the league's top-5 teams and five of their eight games are against the top-7 teams in the league.  If they win this, that might start to look like an opportunity but if they lose this then that looks like a disaster.  

Meh. Win or lose this game, Michigan is still going to get taken to the woodshed by Ohio State. And at this point- Jim has done almost everything but beat Ohio State. I really don't care about anything at this point. I just want a win, any win, vs Ohio State. I'd rather lose every game this year and beat Ohio State than win every game and lose to Ohio State. Literally.

I get it.  When Cooper was in town I felt the same way in reverse.  

It is funny, a rivalry seems to always be more important to the fans of the team that has been losing.  Most of the Michigan fans I know didn't really care much about Michigan's 2001 loss, I think they figured it was bound to happen eventually anyway.  

In 2001 I felt exactly like you do now.  I would have taken 1-11 in an instant if it meant 1-0 against Michigan and 0-11 against teams not named Michigan.  Now that Ohio State has won so many in a row I still want my team to win but if you asked me to choose between 14-1 with a loss to Michigan and an NC or 14-1 with a win over Michigan and no NC, I'd take the NC without hesitation.  Twenty years ago I'd have accepted a 1-11 season for a win over Michigan, now I'd rather have tOSU lose to Michigan and win a CFP game than to have them beat Michigan and lose a CFP game.  

That's just crazy talk