Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

This game fascinates me. Both teams badly need a bounce back win.

Minnesota:
When October arrived the Gophers were 4-0/1-0, ranked #21, and they had just obliterated a ranked team on the road. They appeared to be the favorite to win the B1G-W.

October has not been kind to Fleck and his oarsmen. The only Saturday so far in October that Minnesota did not lose a football game was the one when they didn't play. Worse, the two losses were to the two co-leaders in the B1G-W so the Gophers B1GCG chances are now on life support.

Penn State:
When the Nittany Lions showed up in Ann Arbor they were undefeated and the game was a top-10 matchup with major CFP implications. The Wolverines made the game look like Varsity vs the Freshmen team. Penn State scored two TD's but one was a flukey tipped ball pick-6 and the other was due to a fantastic ball fake that appeared to fool all 100k+ in the Big House including the 11 guys on the field in Blue.

Penn State gave up more rushing yards and rushing TD's in one game than they had all year and gave up more points in one game than they had since Iowa (of all teams) dropped 41 on them two years ago.

That kind of loss can be demoralizing.

Even taking all of the above into consideration, this game still means a lot to both teams:

Minnesota isn't out of the B1G-W race yet. It isn't implausible that Purdue and Illinois could lose twice each and after this game the Gophers might be favored in every game from here out.

Penn State, could get back into BIGCG contention with a win here and an upset of the Buckeyes next week. Even assuming that they lose to tOSU, the Nittany Lions have a not implausible path to the RoseBowl and in a worst-case-scenario a 10-2 Nittany Lions team would still get at least a Citrus Bowl bid.

The winner of this game isn't in terrible shape. The loser may see the wheels coming off.

The Gophers may not be out of the West race yet, but they need more help than one can expect to get. The most demoralizing thing about last week's stinker is that they were utterly dominated in every facet of the game. By fucking ILLINOIS.

At least they showed some signs of life against Purdue. For as lousy as things were, it was only 13-10 in the deep stretch with a couple of tangible mistakes that could have salvaged the game and needed cleanup. I thought they would go into the bye week with a bad case of red-ass and come out swinging in Champaign. If not for a long return to start the 3rd quarter, it's 30-7 Berts in a game not nearly as close as the final score indicated. 

Tanner Morgan took an overhand right to the temple near the end of the game that was somehow not flagged for targeting, and should sit this week. I know starting a RS freshman as the pig roast for the White Out is far from ideal, but for Tanners sake he shouldn't see the field this week.

Mo could have a big day, but this OL isn't good enough to keep him clean from 9-man boxes. There is serious blowout potential here for PSU.

I'd love to see the Illini win the West for some reason.

Hey-Hey-Hey,Bert's libel to get upset if Michigan can rise from the ashes why can't the Illini.Could be a new sheriff in town

Even in the Hoke era, when he was sending out concussed QBs that the center had to hold up, they were never as hideous as Illinois was for most of the 2010s. Fat Bert had NOTHING there, and his club is in the drivers seat for the West title.

My bigger point is that this Gopher club, for everything that seemed to be in their favor and Wisconsin and Iowa circling the drain, pissed away their best chance at a division title they're ever going to get. 

My bigger point is that this Gopher club, for everything that seemed to be in their favor and Wisconsin and Iowa circling the drain, pissed away their best chance at a division title they're ever going to get.

Ya things were looking good even after the two tough losses to Boilers/Illini but getting nailed by the Ninnies was problematic