** 2023 Opponent Preview : Minnesota (Game 1) **

Saunders

Saunders

Heisman Trophy Winner
HuskerOnline: Minnesota Spring Review

Greder: “I think we expect Matt Rhule, in his first game, to kind of be getting his feet underneath him. The Gophers have been able to come out well against the Cornhuskers, and I expect them to be able to do so again, just given the fact that this is Matt Rhule’s first game and there’s always a bit of an adjustment period and learning curve in those first games.

“So, I’d imagine that the game will be close but that the Gophers will be the favorites. If the spread gets to the three to five (point) range, I’d imagine the Gophers will probably be able to cover that.”

2023 win-loss expectation for Minnesota

Greder: “I’d probably put it at maybe seven, seven and a half (wins). The Gophers have a really difficult schedule this year. They get Ohio State and Michigan, and their other crossover game is Michigan State. Given that they face the two best teams in the conference, it’ll be difficult to get a much higher win total than that. 

“They also have to go on the road to North Carolina, and obviously, Drake Maye is looked at as maybe one of the best quarterbacks in this (draft) class, along with Caleb Williams at USC. So, yeah, it’ll be a difficult year for the Gophers given the transition at the skill positions and along the lines.”

https://www.on3.com/teams/nebraska-cornhuskers/news/nebraska-opponent-spring-review-minnesota/
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CollegeFootballNews: Minnesota 2023 Preview

At what point do we give Minnesota under PJ Fleck the benefit of the doubt and assume the production will keep on rolling no matter what? The offensive line might take a wee step back, but not by much. The receiving corps is fantastic, the passing game should be better, and the systems that helped produce all the wins over the last few years aren’t changing. There’s one big problem, though … The Big Ten West is tougher now.
Nebraska hasn’t been anything more than a speed bump for the Gophers over the last four years, but it’s about to get a whole lot sharper. That’s the home opener, though. Northwestern can’t help but be better than whatever that was last year, Illinois is a bear, Wisconsin is going to be a whole lot stronger, and Minnesota couldn’t beat Iowa before and now Kirk Ferentz has a quarterback. Throw in a road game at North Carolina, and the horrible break of getting both Michigan and Ohio State from the East, and coming up with a second straight eight-win regular season won’t be easy. For now assume it’s a hard no on pulling off a win in Columbus, and until proven otherwise, winning in Iowa City is going to be rough, too. That means Minnesota can’t lose at North Carolina or Purdue and has to pull off at least three wins in home games against Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan State, and Nebraska just to get to eight.

Minnesota didn’t beat a team that finished with more than seven wins last season, and this year there’s no Rutgers, New Mexico State, Western Illinois, or Colorado to fatten up on. It’ll get to eight, and getting bowl eligible won’t be an issue, but it’s going to take something special to go into the regular season finale against Wisconsin with a shot at pulling off the Big Ten West.

https://collegefootballnews.com/cfn/minnesota-golden-gophers-college-football-preview-2023-breakdown-prediction-top-players-win-total
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Athlon Sports:  #34 Minnesota Preview

Wisconsin and Iowa are likely to be the preseason favorites in the Big Ten's West Division, but don't count out Minnesota this fall. Despite losing quarterback Tanner Morgan, running back Mohamed Ibrahim and a couple of key offensive linemen, coach P.J. Fleck's team returns a promising signal-caller in Athan Kaliakmanis and one of the Big Ten's top receiving corps. And if coordinator Joe Rossi can restock on defense, the Nov. 25 showdown against Wisconsin in Minneapolis could decide the winner of the West.

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/minnesota-football-golden-gophers-prediction-preview-2023
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Minnesota Football Schedule 2023: Game Predictions

2023 CFN Preseason Prediction: 8-4
2022 Record: 9-4

Aug 26 OPEN DATE
Aug 31 Nebraska W
Sept 9 Eastern Michigan W
Sept 16 at North Carolina W
Sept 23 at Northwestern W
Sept 30 Louisiana W
Oct 7 Michigan L
Oct 14 OPEN DATE
Oct 21 at Iowa L
Oct 28 Michigan State W
Nov 4 Illinois W
Nov 11 at Purdue L
Nov 18 at Ohio State L
Nov 25 Wisconsin W

https://collegefootballnews.com/cfn/minnesota-football-schedule-2023-game-predictions-scores
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More to come...

 
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Wow, his 7th season?

I thought he might pump and dump but it looks like he is in it for the long haul, might as well.

Take over a team with no expectations

Take over a team with no fan base

Win the same amount of games that the last guy did

Convince the 8 fans that you are doing. better

Get extension and raises. 

Follow the Iowa coach blueprint of never really doing anything 

Crazy to think that 7 more similar seasons and he probably becomes Minny's all time wins leader with like...85 wins.

 
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teachercd said:
Wow, his 7th season?

I thought he might pump and dump but it looks like he is in it for the long haul, might as well.
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I don't think any name-brand program would take his shtick.  Could you imagine him at USC, Norte Dame, or Miami with the Row The Boat crap?  A midlevel B1G team seems to be his ceiling.

teachercd said:
Crazy to think that 7 more similar seasons and he probably becomes Minny's all time wins leader with like...85 wins.
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You are short changing Henry L Williams and his 136 wins.

 
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teachercd said:
Wow, his 7th season?

I thought he might pump and dump but it looks like he is in it for the long haul, might as well.

Take over a team with no expectations

Take over a team with no fan base

Win the same amount of games that the last guy did

Convince the 8 fans that you are doing. better

Get extension and raises. 

Follow the Iowa coach blueprint of never really doing anything
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Raking in a steady $6 million a year doesn't hurt. A lot of coaches don't know how to quit when they're ahead and try to move up to a job that they might not be able to hold onto...

 
teachercd said:
Wow, his 7th season?

I thought he might pump and dump but it looks like he is in it for the long haul, might as well.

Take over a team with no expectations

Take over a team with no fan base

Win the same amount of games that the last guy did

Convince the 8 fans that you are doing. better

Get extension and raises. 

Follow the Iowa coach blueprint of never really doing anything 

Crazy to think that 7 more similar seasons and he probably becomes Minny's all time wins leader with like...85 wins.
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I know you just joke and only pay about 57% attention, but he's been a pretty significant upgrade for them. They won 11 games in 2019 which is the most they've won since 1904. He is actually doing consistently well, and they've beaten Wisconsin.  Like him or not he's doing a good job up there.

 
runningblind said:
I know you just joke and only pay about 57% attention, but he's been a pretty significant upgrade for them. They won 11 games in 2019 which is the most they've won since 1904. He is actually doing consistently well, and they've beaten Wisconsin.  Like him or not he's doing a good job up there.
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I kind of like him...but he has totally convinced that fa base that he is amazing. I think he is brilliant.  He can avg 7 wins a year (which is where he is at) and has finished ranked once...and the fans there think he is TO.

 
I saw that (Minnesota fav)

Let's see...

Road game for the Huskers (yikes), night conference game (yikes), Thursday Night game (yikes), Minnesota coming off 9-win season including a Bowl win (yikes) and have beaten the Huskers four years in a row (and 5 out of 6 seasons).........yikes......   and the Huskers are breaking in a new coaching staff, scheme, playbook and some new players...... 

And the Huskers have been bad in openers and very inconsistent on the road.

All the boxes are checked for the Gophers.

I'll lay the points and take Minnesota.  Unfortunately.

 
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admo said:
I saw that (Minnesota fav)

Let's see...

Road game for the Huskers (yikes), night conference game (yikes), Thursday Night game (yikes), Minnesota coming off 9-win season including a Bowl win (yikes) and have beaten the Huskers four years in a row (and 5 out of 6 seasons).........yikes......   and the Huskers are breaking in a new coaching staff, scheme, playbook and some new players...... 

And the Huskers have been bad in openers and very inconsistent on the road.

All the boxes are checked for the Gophers.

I'll lay the points and take Minnesota.  Unfortunately.
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-8 is an interesting number though. They've beat us by 7 each of the past 3 years because they really don't try to pull away. There are teams they will beat down into a blowout (like us in 2019, or their non-conference schedule last year), but they're happy to keep a one-score lead and grind out the clock too. They do have a fair amount of questions this year but we absolutely have more.

If I were to bet it would be on Minnesota, but I'd have a hard time gambling on it being a two-score game. To me this feels like last year, another 20-13 game with both teams under 300 total yards. (Technically Minnesota was right at 300 yards last year)

 
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