ESPN’s College GameDay will visit the campus of the defending National Champions for the first time since they won it all last year when the Indiana Hoosiers play host against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Indiana is once again near the top of the Big Ten with a conference record of 4-1. They bounced back from their first loss of the season against Ohio State with a 13-6 overtime win over Michigan in Ann Arbor. The Hoosiers, led by head coach Curt Cignetti, are in a bit of an offensive drought, scoring 20 or fewer points in their last three games.
Minnesota is 3-1 in conference games with their only loss coming against Purdue at a score of 41-13. While losing to a team picked to finish near the bottom of Big Ten in the preseason is concerning, the Gophers have wins against Washington, Michigan and Iowa, teams that were all ranked within the Top 25 at one point this season. If the Gophers hadn’t come out flat and managed to beat Purdue, they would have a legit claim to being ranked.
In the past three weekends, Indiana’s offense has fallen from being a great offense to one that might just be categorized as a good one. The Hoosiers are still led by quarterback Josh Hoover, who has thrown for 1,741 yards, 18 touchdowns and only one interception. Hoover has a pair of great targets in Charlie Becket (726 yards and eight touchdowns) and Nick Marsh (610 yards and seven touchdowns). Eventually, this trio should be able to lead the Hoosiers back into an elite tier of college football offenses, but it might not be this weekend against the Gophers pass defense. Minnesota has a great pass defense, only allowing 152 passing yards per game. They hold opposing quarterbacks to a 58% completion percentage, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions in seven games played. These numbers put them within the top 15 in net passing yards allowed.
The Gophers also get after the quarterback regularly with 15 sacks. PJ Fleck’s “Row the Boat” philosophy and infectious energy has obviously inspired the Gophers with multiple upsets against the school’s rivals. The Gophers will come into this game inspired, hoping to surprise an Indiana team that hasn’t performed up to their standard.
Minnesota vs Indiana prediction: Minnesota Golden Gophers +20.5 is available at the time of publishing. Playable to +17.5.
