| We were so close to this game being so much more than pride. If Minnesota and Nebraska had been able to finish last week, this would be the Gophers playing for potentially a Big Ten West title, against a Wisconsin team playing for bowl eligibility. Instead Minnesota is eliminated from contention for Indy, and Wisconsin is already bowl eligible. There is plenty of pride on the line since Minnesota has won 2 of the last 4, since ending Wisconsin's 14 year domination of the series. Now Minnesota seeks their first retention of the Axe since 1994, which was also in Madison. They've only won once in Camp Randall since. The Over/Under on this one is 34.5, which seems way too low to me. Yes, Minnesota and Iowa combined for just 23 points last week, and Wisconsin and Nebraska for just 29, but I think the underlying numbers suggest those scores probably should have been higher. The Gophers gave away at least 10 points with costly turnovers, and Mo Ibrahim ran at will. If you have one player go for 260+ yards, putting up just 10 points feels like a fluke. Wisconsin's run defense has started to play better recently, but they've been exposed at times this year. You would think becoming as one dimensional as Minnesota has been since Tanner Morgan went out would make them easier to defend, but that certainly hasn't held true the past two weeks, with Ibrahim running for 441 yards and 4 touchdowns (his first and third highest rushing totals of the season) without Morgan. But even with that, it wasn't enough against Iowa, because Athan Kaliakmanis has been a complete non-factor passing the ball. He has been 14-28 for 151 yards, no touchdowns, and 1 interception in his two starts. There were rumors than Graham Mertz wasn't even making the trip to Lincoln last week. He did, and took every snap, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing. Mertz has failed to complete even 50% of his passes in three consecutive games, and has only thrown for over 175 yards once in his past 5 games. This one should be ugly, and if Morgan is back and healthy, I'll give the Gophers the edge. But assuming he's not, I'll take the home team in a coin flip rivalry game. |