MOLESKY: What To Watch on the Gophers Bye Week

The Minnesota Golden Gophers have the week off to get healthy and ready for Big Ten play. While the bye week is well-timed for the young team — the week before conference play opens — Gophers fans still need to get their college football fix on the weekend. Here are the three games you should be watching this weekend — and why.

Central Florida Knights at Maryland Terrapins 

The Terrapins are not only next week’s opponents for the Gophers, they are also the first Big Ten team on the schedule. The Terrapins offense has looked explosive through two weeks, stunning the Texas Longhorns 51-41 in the first game and easily beating the Towson Tigers 63-17 last week.

After knee injury to quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome — which will have him sidelined the rest of the season — in the opener, the Terrapins have been able to pivot nicely to true freshman quarterback Kasim Hill. He will be starting against the Knights and has passed for 207 yards and two touchdowns through five quarters. He has solid talent around him in running back Ty Johnson (256 yards, three touchdowns) and wide receiver D.J. Moore (230 yards, three touchdowns).

Keeping an eye on their offense and how it runs with Hill at the helm should help the Gophers project what they will be getting next week.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Michigan State Spartans 

The Spartans have stumbled ever since Alabama squashed them 38-0 in the Cotton Bowl back in 2015. Now, even in winning starts to the season, there is skepticism about how this team will perform. In their two victories over Bowling Green and Western Michigan, the Spartans gave up only 183 combined yards to the run game and have a seemingly solid front. However, these were not world-beaters they took wins over, and the Fighting Irish roll into town with a dependency on the ground attack, averaging 330.7 yards per game.

In this game, two players to watch for the defensive front of the Spartans are defensive end Brandon Randle and linebacker Chris Frey, who combined for 2.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. If they can lead the front seven to another stifling game against the run, then this could be a tough game for the Gophers come Oct. 14. Another player to watch is running back L.J. Scott, who was anticipated to have a breakout season after jumping from 699 yards to 994 yards in his first two campaigns. In two games, he has only rushed for 125 yards and a touchdown. His struggles — and if they continue — are another key to look for in this game.

No. 8 Michigan Wolverines at Purdue Boilermakers 

The Gophers have both of these teams on their schedule — the Wolverines on Nov. 4 and the Boilermakers on Oct. 7. The Wolverines quarterback and Boilermakers defense are the two things to watch test each other.

Wilton Speight has looked shaky quarterbacking the Wolverines this season, with a pair of picks against Florida — giving the team 14 points. Despite the poor opener, he threw for 221 yards and two touchdowns the next week against Cincinnati. Against Air Force, he simply managed the game, throwing for 169 yards. Will he hold the Wolverines offense back or help them ramp up for the postseason? This will be a big one to watch for the Gophers, because a quarterback with constant slip-ups could lead to upset potential.

The Boilermakers defense looked phenomenal against Heisman-winning quarterback Lamar Jackson and the Cardinals. After keeping the game tight with the Cardinals, who eventually pulled away to win 35-28, the Boilermakers let up only 24 points in two games. Their success has come from turnovers, with eight on the year, leading college in fumble recoveries with only Texas A&M at six. If they can continue to swarm to the ball and grab fumbles, this team will be a tough out. Watching them play defense against teams like Michigan should show if the trend was early season luck, or a defense full of ballhawks.


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