Gophers open +4 vs Penn State

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This tells me it would be a Pick Em or Gophers Favorite at Home. I think this has turned into a must win game to stay relevant in the West.
 

homermn said:
This tells me it would be a Pick Em or Gophers Favorite at Home. I think this has turned into a must win game to stay relevant in the West.
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by what reasoning? legitimately curious.
 


LesBolstad said:
What don't you understand? Home field is worth 4-7 points so the explains the first sentence. The second one needs no explanation.
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thank you - y'all understand that we look like neb/wis will rock us but we could be even with iowa.
 


upnorthkid said:
by what reasoning? legitimately curious.
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With both Wisconsin and Nebraska winning it will take 7 Big Ten wins to take the west.
My easiest path to the West is:
Count Rutgers, Purdue, Northwestern, Illinois as Gophers wins.
Iowa as a huge must home win.
You will need at minimum two additional road wins with @ Maryland and @ Penn State being the best options.
@Neb and @Wis right now look like very hard wins. But it might take 7 wins going into Wisconsin to take the West, so I'd rather have beat Penn State than have to get my 7th win at Wisconsin.
 

We are looking fairly good right now. I like how the new offensive coordinator is working out. Overall, the team is the most balanced since Mason. We have a solid quarterback, decent backs, a much improved rush with tackles for loss and sacks. If the team plays smartly and plays to their potential, the sky is the limit. Time to get on board the possibility that Minnesota is for real this year.
 

LesBolstad said:
What don't you understand? Home field is worth 4-7 points so the explains the first sentence. The second one needs no explanation.
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I thought home field was worth 3 points in Vegas.
 

homermn said:
With both Wisconsin and Nebraska winning it will take 7 Big Ten wins to take the west.
My easiest path to the West is:
Count Rutgers, Purdue, Northwestern, Illinois as Gophers wins.
Iowa as a huge must home win.
You will need at minimum two additional road wins with @ Maryland and @ Penn State being the best options.
@Neb and @Wis right now look like very hard wins. But it might take 7 wins going into Wisconsin to take the West, so I'd rather have beat Penn State than have to get my 7th win at Wisconsin.
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Agree...winning at PSU is a must if we are thinking we can win the West.
 




Wouldn't touch this one if I were a betting man. PSU has looked suspect, doesn't defend the run well and is coming off a complete depantsing against Michigan, while we have looked suspect and haven't been able to defend much of anything, getting by with wins over some iffy competition. It could be a 24-14 type of game in favor of PSU as they rally around Franklin, or a 30-14 game in favor of the Gophers as the regime collapses (like Michigan a few years ago). Neither would surprise me.
 

It started at +5 and quickly went to +4.


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Gopher07 said:
Wouldn't touch this one if I were a betting man. PSU has looked suspect, doesn't defend the run well and is coming off a complete depantsing against Michigan, while we have looked suspect and haven't been able to defend much of anything, getting by with wins over some iffy competition. It could be a 24-14 type of game in favor of PSU as they rally around Franklin, or a 30-14 game in favor of the Gophers as the regime collapses (like Michigan a few years ago). Neither would surprise me.
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Good analysis. Does Penn St come out fired up after an embarrassing loss? Or do they throw in the towel? Do we get our DBs back and play better on defense, or are we shell shocked going on the road for the first time. A lot of unknowns.
 



Make no mistake winning on the road in the Big 10 is a tough test. Playing in Happy Valley before 90,000 plus of the most polite fans must be taken into account. The Gophers must be physical, focused, and error free just to compete. It will take a player or two making a play or three to win. If we jump on them, we cannot let up. If they get an early lead we need to just keep playing. This is not your fathers Penn State. Some think James Franklin is over his head.
This is a must win, and however it comes it a road win, a statement win, and a momentum generator.
 

This game will come down to which team has more bulletin board material.


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A couple of quick 1st quarter scores and pedo state will fold like a cheap suit...

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LesBolstad said:
What don't you understand? Home field is worth 4-7 points so the explains the first sentence. The second one needs no explanation.
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must win, in my opinion, means win or it's over. a loss to PSU does not end the season. Makes $hit a whole lot easier if we win, but it won't mean dirt if we can't beat Iowa or Wisconsin. That's my point.
 


It is tough to go to the big boy games after edging out cream puffs.
Winning on the road in either FB or BB is tough in the BIG no matter whom you play.
PennST has experienced BIG level coaches, better recruits, bigger fan base and 80,000+ fans cheering for them.
I suspect the +4 will increase as th week goes on.
 

homermn said:
With both Wisconsin and Nebraska winning it will take 7 Big Ten wins to take the west.
My easiest path to the West is:
Count Rutgers, Purdue, Northwestern, Illinois as Gophers wins.
Iowa as a huge must home win.
You will need at minimum two additional road wins with @ Maryland and @ Penn State being the best options.
@Neb and @Wis right now look like very hard wins. But it might take 7 wins going into Wisconsin to take the West, so I'd rather have beat Penn State than have to get my 7th win at Wisconsin.
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That's fair logic. The musts, to me because of tie breaks, are Neb and Iowa. I see Wisco losing to Mich and OSU. Then even if they beat both Neb and Iowa (which in that scenario would be beneficial) they're still stuck with 2 losses. A win vs PSU is the path of least resistance and I do see us winning, but all is not lost if they falter in Happy Valley. Just why I was curious. Can't fault your logic at all, just differs from my own.
 

olddoc said:
It is tough to go to the big boy games after edging out cream puffs.
Winning on the road in either FB or BB is tough in the BIG no matter whom you play.
PennST has experienced BIG level coaches, better recruits, bigger fan base and 80,000+ fans cheering for them.
I suspect the +4 will increase as th week goes on.
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experienced BIG level coaches.... keep on tryin olddoc. The guy is 6-11 in Big Ten play and has never beat a ranked team in his tenure at PSU.
 


olddoc said:
It is tough to go to the big boy games after edging out cream puffs.
Winning on the road in either FB or BB is tough in the BIG no matter whom you play.
PennST has experienced BIG level coaches, better recruits, bigger fan base and 80,000+ fans cheering for them.
I suspect the +4 will increase as th week goes on.
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It started at +5 and went down to +4
 

GophersInIowa said:
It started at +5 and went down to +4
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Now down to +3 or +3.5 in most places.

And to all saying this is a "must win": there are eight Big Ten games after this still to be played. Wisconsin looks likely to be 1-2 in two weeks, Iowa looks questionable at best and we get them at home, and Nebraska looks legitimate but they could easily end 6-3 with losses at Wisconsin, at Iowa, at Ohio State and/or vs the Gophers.

I think there are plausible scenarios in which a 6-3 Gophers team ties for first and wins the division via tiebreaker.

And I would definitely not consider this a "must win" to get to 6-3 (or even 7-2), although it definitely makes things significantly easier.


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olddoc said:
It is tough to go to the big boy games after edging out cream puffs.
Winning on the road in either FB or BB is tough in the BIG no matter whom you play.
PennST has experienced BIG level coaches, better recruits, bigger fan base and 80,000+ fans cheering for them.
I suspect the +4 will increase as th week goes on.
Click to expand...

I hate that line about it being tough to win on the road in the B1G. I have seen no shortage of road wins in Minneapolis in football and basketball over the years. We need to get up for this game, its a big one for us, and not worry too much about where it is played. Hopefully our boys can bring the bell back with them.
 

Anybody see Limegrover being at PSU playing any type of role here? Familiarity with Claeys's tendencies after working with him for so long give them any measurable advantage?
 

Gopher07 said:
Wouldn't touch this one if I were a betting man. PSU has looked suspect, doesn't defend the run well and is coming off a complete depantsing against Michigan, while we have looked suspect and haven't been able to defend much of anything, getting by with wins over some iffy competition. It could be a 24-14 type of game in favor of PSU as they rally around Franklin, or a 30-14 game in favor of the Gophers as the regime collapses (like Michigan a few years ago). Neither would surprise me.
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Yeah neither of these teams can count any win ahead of time.... both seem equally likley to blow the other guy up or blow up themselves.
 

Boy are the question marks big on this one.

On one side a team who just got destroyed that is being coached by a guy who hasn't done anything in the Big 10.

On the other side an undefeated team whose opponents have 1 FBS win between them, and that was a 9 pt home victory over UTSA.

It may as well be week 1.
 

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