I've lost track of this information but am guessing that MN covered the betting spread against only OSU and MTSU this year.
One of the reasons I bring this topic up is that teams tend to end their year pretty close to breaking even on covering the spread over a season. Hopefully, that bodes well (or better, at least) for the Gophers heading into the last five games of the season.
Finally, I'm really worried about the Iowa game. IA will be sky-high for this game due to their loss at NW. They are playing for respectability and the best possible bowl game. Iowa has also been consistently better when playing at home under the lights (e.g., MI upset last year and PSU near upset this year). MN hasn't won in Iowa City for a very long time.
Once fully implemented (probably not this year), MN's offensive schemes will be much better than Iowa's. Kirk Ferentz believes in playing games very close to the vest and will never allow his OC to open up the offense. Ferentz's son is not particularly qualified to be an OC.
At this point, it appears that the OLs for each time are about the same.
IA has an edge at QB.
IA's passing game is better.
MN has a slight edge at RB.
The DLs are about the same--MN doesn't have DEs and IA's young at DT.
IA's LB are all seniors.
IA's DBs are not as beat up and inexperienced as MN's are.
MN's kicking game is better.
MN's kick return game is awful due to its inablitly/unwillingness to even try to run back punts.
One of the reasons I bring this topic up is that teams tend to end their year pretty close to breaking even on covering the spread over a season. Hopefully, that bodes well (or better, at least) for the Gophers heading into the last five games of the season.
Finally, I'm really worried about the Iowa game. IA will be sky-high for this game due to their loss at NW. They are playing for respectability and the best possible bowl game. Iowa has also been consistently better when playing at home under the lights (e.g., MI upset last year and PSU near upset this year). MN hasn't won in Iowa City for a very long time.
Once fully implemented (probably not this year), MN's offensive schemes will be much better than Iowa's. Kirk Ferentz believes in playing games very close to the vest and will never allow his OC to open up the offense. Ferentz's son is not particularly qualified to be an OC.
At this point, it appears that the OLs for each time are about the same.
IA has an edge at QB.
IA's passing game is better.
MN has a slight edge at RB.
The DLs are about the same--MN doesn't have DEs and IA's young at DT.
IA's LB are all seniors.
IA's DBs are not as beat up and inexperienced as MN's are.
MN's kicking game is better.
MN's kick return game is awful due to its inablitly/unwillingness to even try to run back punts.
