BowedButNotBeaten

Why would recruits who would be freshmen for the fall 2021 season care about this fall being cancelled/postponed?

Mostly a year older, some back from injury. This is a team that started freshmen at eight of the 11 positions on offense in the bowl game against Georgia Tech. Antoine Winfield back from injury at safety, Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks back from injury at running back.

There's really no reason for this not to be a super tight game. Turnovers will be key, which is not exactly groundbreaking analysis.

You did a nice job of summarizing. You've clearly watched Minnesota play this year. Indeed, the D-line is serviceable but not spectacular. They'll rotate lots of bodies in to stay fresh. Coughlin at DE will play in the NFL next year, but he's been bothered by a hamstring issue since training camp that has limited his effectiveness somewhat. The tackles haven't caused anyone's skirts to fly up yet. Kamal Martin at LB is tremendous. He sat out one game for suspension and another for injury, but he's all over the field. Thomas Barber is the other LB, and he's been a bit underwhelming this year. If you can, watch #11 Antoine Winfield because you'll appreciate how talented he is at safety. Both of the last two years he's suffered a season-ending injury against Maryland. When healthy, he's the key cog of the defense. The Minnesota D has been decent with some significant lapses here and there. A mobile QB will give them problems.

I'm intrigued...who is Thurston from Pender and does he often drink on Wednesday afternoons?

Well, selfishly I was hoping Martinez would be on the shelf for this game. He's dangerous.

Is J.D. Spielman going to play? Never blamed the kid for leaving town for college. The media can be brutal on an NFL general manager, and that would be tough to listen to as a kid.

It's fine, but it's nothing special. The stadium will be 30% Husker fans. The Twin Cities are quintessential pro sports towns - the Gophers are far behind the Vikings, Twins, Wild, T-Wolves. They're not that far ahead of Minnesota United FC and maybe even the Lynx. That's ok. It is what it is. But the stadium is a cool-looking brick structure, the fans will be friendly, and you can buy beer. I hope you come and you'll have a good time if you do. Bring the Bits of Broken Chair with you, please.

...tempted to take that bet...

That's a really good point. Kickers certainly haven't had too many issues being accurate at TCF Bank. That's good for us, because we trot out a freshman kicker who has had some success this year but isn't exactly battle tested (except for a big kick in the Fresno St. game).

The stadium isn't tall (because it's not very big) so the wind can blow a bit more there than in larger stadiums. Enough layers and it will be fine. Unless you're one of the shirtless students.

Dress warm if you're coming. Kickoff temp will be around 34 degrees with significant wind. If there's precipitation, and there's a 40% chance there will be, pray that the temperature dips enough to make it snow instead of a freezing drizzle. The weather will have an effect, but I'm not sure in favor of whom. Last week, Tanner Morgan struggled a bit in the dampness and the Gopher receivers had some issues holding onto the ball. Thankfully, the somnolent running attack answered with vigor. Any word on Martinez or Vedral? I suspect Frost will play it close to the vest all week.

Maybe, but yesterday the Gopher defense was stout. The Illinois offense scored three points. Their two touchdowns were a via a pick six and a scoop and score. I don't mind that the Gophers have played a soft schedule so far. I'm enjoying the ride.

Completely agree. It was so weird - like he and the back were glued together for a moment or two. Perhaps the sight of Jackrabbit linemen crashing through the slotted spoon of our offensive line confused him.

Indeed. My only defense of last night's game is that I'd rather be 1-0 than 0-1, and that provides some solace. Meanwhile, I expect Nebraska to have no such issues with South Alabama tomorrow. I'm still keeping alive the faint hope that both teams will be undefeated on October 12th when they play in Minneapolis.

Indeed, Tanner Morgan was a redshirt freshman. Good catch. That Jackrabbit game really has me rattled. And yes, drops are a weird zit on Johnson's game. He's so gifted with route running, using his body as a shield, and yard after the catch. But 1-2 times a game he won't look an easy pass into his hands and doink it.

Pass protection was hideous. SDSU was doing nothing but running simple stunts from their defensive line and Minnesota had no answers. That's why his stat line, which was pretty darn good, is even better in that light.

ESPN's QBR metric (which goes from 0-100) is different than QB rating, which was 161.6 for Morgan last night. There needs to be some kind of acronym reshuffle because it's very confusing.

That game did not go at all like I expected it to. My god, the offensive line looked constipated all night. The defensive line looked drugged. Tyler Johnson dropped two balls. I'm not sure we'll try a field goal all year because we don't appear to have a kicker who knows where the uprights are. I will, however, disagree with some of you about QB Tanner Morgan. He continues to be sneaky efficient. His QB rating last year would have been top 30 in the country as a true freshman if he'd had enough attempts, and his rating last night was even higher. I think the Gophers need to throw the ball more.

It would be remarkable to have almost everybody back, return three stud players from injury (Smith, Brooks, Winfield), have an experienced quarterback rather than last year's two untested freshmen, have an easier conference schedule on paper, and still somehow manage to get WORSE? I don't think I'll side with you there. I'm not buying Iowa and Wisconsin, and analytics suggest that Northwestern outperformed their expectation last year and should revert to the mean. I think the three likeliest candidates to win the West are Purdue, Minnesota and Nebraska.

Yes, Tyler Johnson is an NFL-bound receiver. But in the blowout wins over Purdue, Wisconsin and Georgia Tech, Tanner Morgan threw for 139, 124 and 132 yards. Minnesota became primarily a power running team, and will continue to be that this season.

Morgan played really well the last six games of the season, which coincided with the Gopher resurgence. That said, the coaches saw something in Annexstad last year to give him the starting job until he was hurt, and there was a good chance he would have gotten the nod this year as well. Either way, Minnesota is going to primarily be a power running team.

It's simply one of the best, most organic trophies around, and a real callback to the trophy origin stories of old. I love The Chair. And amidst all the talk about Northwestern and Iowa and Wisconsin, don't sleep on Minnesota. We have a lot of production coming back. I'll be in the stands for Gophers/Huskers on October 12th (doing a double header with the Vikings/Eagles on the 13th).

As Gopher fans we choose to remember the end of the year (beat downs of Purdue, Wisconsin, and Georgia Tech). We also choose to ignore the middle of the year (beat downs by Maryland, Nebraska, and Illinois). Either way, here's to hoping The Chair finds its way back to the hallowed halls of the U of M.

I don't know about that. Last year's non-conference included a win over eventual 12-2 and #18 ranked Fresno State.