Minnesota Vs. Louisiana 2023 - Media Predictions

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IceBoxGopher

IceBoxGopher

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The past is water under the bridge. Let’s look to the future. Predictions for THIS week’s game! Early ones so not a ton of analysis but some score predictions still.

Picks and Parlays has Minnesota winning 24-21
Louisiana is playing great football coming into this week and will jump on a struggling Minnesota team. Look for Louisiana to keep this game close enough throughout giving themselves a shot at the win.

The Ragin Cajuns will do enough this week on the road to cover the number as a win could be possible up north. Minnesota Golden Gophers win but Louisiana covers

Scores & Stats has Minnesota winning 30-18
Louisiana and Minnesota both saw big leads shrink in the fourth quarter last week.
The Ragin' Cajuns (3-1), who were able to hold on for a victory, and the Golden Gophers (2-2), who fell in overtime, will meet in a nonconference game on Saturday in Minneapolis.

The Cajuns allowed back-to-back touchdowns that trimmed the gap to seven points with two minutes remaining. After a three-and-out by the Louisiana offense, Tyree Skipper made an interception that sealed the victory with 17 seconds left.

OddShark has Minnesota wining 27-24
Minnesota will win, Louisiana will cover, and the total will go over.

Play Picks has Minnesota winning 32-24
The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (3-1) will look to upset the Minnesota Golden Gophers (2-2) on Saturday, September 30, 2023 at Huntington Bank Stadium. The Golden Gophers are significant favorites in this one, with the spread sitting at 12.5 points.

Cappers Picks has Minnesota winning 30-19

DRatings has Minnesota winning 27-18
 

College Football news has Minnesota winning 38-20
Minnesota needs to be far, far better at being Minnesota.

The running game is fine, but it needs to be stronger and more dominant. The defense can’t come up with a third down stop, the passing game is brutally inefficient, and …

The team should be 3-1, but it’s not, and this is a big moment in the season. It has to be an easy win, and it won’t be.

Louisiana is too offensively balanced and playing too well, but it’ll turn the ball over three times as the Gophers start to pull away in the second half.
 

I'm not confident this defense will keep a pretty high powered Louisiana offense under 4 touchdowns! Hopefully, they have worked some kinks out in the secondary!
 

The Pioneer Press has Minnesota winning 27-21
MN Offense vs. Louisiana Defense: After a poor outing against North Carolina, QB Athan Kaliakmanis had a nice bounce back against Northwestern, especially in the first half, with a perfect 8-for-8, 97 yards and two touchdowns. The U offense couldn’t finish off the Wildcats, though, with only 12 yards passing and 38 yards rushing in the fourth quarter. The U remains outside the top 110 in the nation in major passing categories. Louisiana mixes up defensive schemes and have allowed 27.5 points per game, which is 93rd in the nation. EDGE: Gophers

MN Defense vs. Louisiana Offense: The Gophers have allowed 31 and 37 points in the last two games; they had given up 16 total points in the first two wins. Meanwhile, Louisiana is 22nd in the nation, scoring 38.8 points per game, all against Group of Five conference competition. EDGE: Louisiana

Special Teams: Both kickers have been strong. Dragan Kesich hit a career-long 50-yard field goal against Northwestern and says his range on a calm day is closer to 58 or even 60 yards. … Louisiana’s Kenneth Almendares has made 17 straight field goals. … KR Zylan Perry is averaging 25.4 per return, which is third in the nation among players with at least 10 returns. EDGE: Louisiana

Prediction: The Northwestern loss last week has been compared to the Bowling Green defeat on homecoming in 2021. After that massive upset two years ago, the Gophers quickly bounced back and won four in a row. Look for Minnesota to come out ticked off in this homecoming game. That doesn’t mean it will be easy.
 

The Star Tribune has Minnesota winning 24-20
The Gophers will win if they take the lessons learned from the collapse at Northwestern and make defensive adjustments to limit explosive plays; they extend drives through all four quarters; they become more aggressive in play-calling in key moments; and they get a more well-rounded performance on special teams.

The Ragin' Cajuns will win if their running game, which ranks fourth nationally at 238 yards per game, works effectively; Chriss proves to be elusive as a runner and does enough as a passer to keep the Gophers off-balance; and their pass rush puts enough heat on Gophers QB Athan Kaliakmanis to force him into mistakes.

Prediction: We'll know a lot more about this Gophers team come 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The loss to Northwestern was devastating, but the Gophers can't let the Wildcats beat them twice. There were some good things that came out of the first three quarters in Evanston, such as an accurate Kaliakmanis and an offensive line paving the way for Taylor.

That must continue no matter who's starting in the backfield. Opponents have exploited the inexperience on defense, so veterans like safety Tyler Nubin will need to settle things down.

My expectation: The Gophers should play better throughout, but that doesn't mean this game will be easy. Louisiana can and will score, but Minnesota will have just enough to win.

The Lafayette Daily Advertiser has Minnesota winning 31-14
Due to the Gophers' ability and game plan of running the football, that puts extra stress on Zeon Chriss and UL's offense to be efficient when it has the ball.

If the Ragin' Cajuns are going to stay in this game and have a shot, they'll need to make the most of their opportunity as possessions will be limited. Louisiana will have to be better in the red zone than it has been through four games this season.

This is a tough spot to ask of a freshman quarterback in his second career start. While the score will be respectable for much of the first half, Minnesota will clamp down and put this one to bed in the second half.

Gopher Illustrated (Minnesota 247 Sports) has Minnesota winning 27-24
I know that Louisiana has played an incredibly easy schedule thus far. As I mentioned earlier, their opponents combined record so far is 3-12, and Minnesota will be their toughest opponent to date. But I'm still really surprised that spread is as big as it is at nearly two-touchdowns. Especially after last week's debacle in Evanston for the Gophers.

But my hope for this game, other than the Gophers being able to get back in the win column, is that PJ Fleck finally allows a running back not named Darius Taylor or Bryce Williams to get double-digit carries. It's time to allow Sean Tyler, who ran for 1,000 yards the last two seasons at Western Michigan, to earn carries. Or, actually use Zach Evans on a few series to see if the lights are too bright for him or not.

On defense, the linebackers have to figure it out. They're missing too many assignments, tackles and committing unnessary penalities. If that happens again this week, Louisiana's going to move up and down the field easily.

But we've seen historically after a bad loss, aka 2021 Bowling Green, that Fleck-led teams have responded. That specific year, they ran off four straight wins after that. It's not pretty on a gorgeous late September day in Minneapolis, but the Gophers' do enough to get the win.
 




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