For your Friday Open Thread perusal, a few links from your bloggers here at MotSaG:
Chip sees this as being a smash-mouth, BEE ONE FREAKING GEE three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-frozen-dust, football game. Man on man, strength against strength, as two teams line up and go at it.
The weather will be cold with possible snow, as the present weekend forecast for Minneapolis is for a high of 28 degrees. As Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill said, “I don’t see it being a factor. … That’s the way it is in the Midwest so you deal with itâ€.
As always, you can see how these two teams stack up statistically in our weekly By The Numbers post.
When Ronnie took a look at which players to watch in Saturday’s game, he singled out the two middle linebackers who hope to stop the opposing running game. It sounds like they have the same style of play, but the edge might go to Minnesota:
Damien Wilson, Middle Linebacker
Wilson is the most NFL ready player on this Gopher roster. The 6’2, 242 pound linebacker leads the Big Ten in tackles with 88 and is beginning to play some of the best football of his career. Wilson is a do it all linebackers as he not only leads the team in tackles, but he also has recorded 8 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 interception, and 1 forced fumble. Wilson will be anywhere and everywhere the Gophers need him to be on Saturday in order to try and contain this Buckeye offense. I would not be shocked to see Wilson have an upwards of 15-20 tackles on Saturday for the future NFL talent.
A lot of people are seeing this as a potential trap/letdown game, but I don’t see it like that at all. I think Urban is going to have the Buckeyes rolling. Their confidence is at an all-time high, this is another chance to put up a good victory against a ranked team, in front of a national audience. I don’t see any chance of a letdown. I say:
Ohio State: 45
Minnesota: 16
What say you?
Just heard that there will be no wind and very little snow which is good news. Less flukey plays will help the more talented team.