Michigan Football: Q&A with Minnesota Gophers Expert

In preparation for Michigan football‘s matchup with Minnesota on Saturday, I’ve called in a Gophers expert to answer some questions of mine.

Mark Mowery of SB Nation’s The Daily Gopher offers his insight on what to expect come Saturday night in the Twin Cities.

Q. Michigan and Minnesota are working under pretty similar circumstances coming into this game. Both teams lost two weeks ago and then were on a bye week. Do you think one team will come with a distinct advantage with the extra week of preparation and a sour taste in its mouth?

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In short, I believe Michigan will have a decisive advantage, if only because they have more talent and are healthier than the Gophers. However, the bye week should help Minnesota from a preparation standpoint because offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover and defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys both generally do their best work when given extra time to prepare a specific game plan.

Q. Minnesota didn’t have to rely so heavily on Mitch Leidner last season with a running back like David Cobb. This season is a little different. Freshman running back Rodney Smith has been reliable, but Leidner is being forced to do a little more. Besides that, Michigan has allowed one team (Utah) to rush for 100 yards. If it comes down to it, is Leidner capable of making enough plays to win this game?

Personally, if Leidner has to throw more than 25 times, Minnesota will probably have lost the game by a sizable margin. The only way the Gophers have a chance of winning this game is utilizing their preferred style of play on the offensive side of the ball which entails throwing it very little.

When he does throw, Leidner has to make the defense pay on play-action and not miss open receivers. A stat line similar to the one Leidner had against the Wolverines last year (14-22 for 167 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions) would go a long way towards giving Minnesota a chance to spring the upset.

Q. Minnesota features a strong pass defense and an average run defense. Michigan prefers to keep the ball on the ground. Does Minnesota’s defense has what it takes to force the Wolverines to put the ball in the air? If so, you’d have to think the Gophers have the advantage there.

It depends on the health of the front seven. Three of the Gophers’ starters are currently questionable for the game including starting linebacker Cody Poock, defensive tackle Scott Ekpe, and defensive end Theiren Cockran. If all three play, they have a fighting chance at stopping the Wolverines’ ground game, or at least neutralizing it to the point where it would force Jake Ruddock to extend drives with his arm.

If any of the three are out, I don’t think Minnesota’s depth will allow them to stay competitive up front against Michigan’s ever-changing power blocking schemes. However, if the Gophers do somehow force Michigan into trying to throw against cornerbacks Eric Murray and Jalen Myrick, I have some slight confidence they can be effective at stopping the Wolverines’ speed on the outside.

Q. I’m looking at Minnesota’s special teams stats and can’t help but notice a lack of efficiency from the punt returners. Craig James has gotten a bulk of the work, but he’s averaging -0.6 yards per return and had a dismal -27 yards against Ohio on three returns. KJ Maye has the best numbers, but that’s with a very small sample size, and KiAnte Harden is also in the mix. So who does Minnesota field on Saturday? And is this a part of the game that could hurt the Gophers?

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Michigan Wolverines

Craig James struggled with some butter fingers throughout the beginning of the season. However, he is currently sidelined with a broken bone in his leg and hasn’t returned a punt in the last two games. KJ Maye has been the primary punt returner in recent weeks and I have faith that he can at least catch the ball.

Jerry Kill has always made special teams a point of emphasis at every stop in his coaching journey and the fact that the Gophers have struggled significantly in the return game this year has inevitably hurt their bottom line.

Because their offense lacks “explosion,” it puts a lot of pressure on the special teams to provide good field position. This year, this generally logical and sound plan hasn’t gone as expected. I think the bye week may have given them some time to shore up some of their return plans, but the plague of injuries up and down the roster have also been felt on special teams, where more freshman than is generally desired have had to play. Special teams could either be a big helper or a big reason for a blowout in Michigan’s favor on Saturday.

Q. Minnesota is kicking off a very important and difficult stretch of games here. After Michigan, the Gophers play night games against Ohio State and Iowa, both of which are on the road. So you have a rivalry game, followed by a game against the No. 1-ranked team, followed by a game against the current division leader. If you could pick one game for Minnesota to win here in the next three weeks, which one would it be?

Wow, this is a fantastic question. I almost wish I could go back to the Daily Gopher, poll the masses, and see what the rest of Gopher Nation thinks. While victory in any of these three games, when examined independently, certainly seems unlikely based on what we know about each of the teams, I personally would want a win against Iowa in Iowa City the most.

While I love the Little Brown Jug and the thought of holding on to it until 2017, when the Gophers and Wolverines are set to square off again, it would be a most wonderful sight to ruin Iowa’s dream of a perfect regular season on their home field. Plus keeping the Floyd of Rosedale safe in the Twin Cities for another season would be an added bonus.

And, no offense to Michigan, but Iowa is, at least in my opinion, much more of a rival because of the proximity, program similarity, and fact that we play them annually.

While beating the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes and ending their winning streak would be both awesome and possibly one of the biggest surprises in recent college football memory, it wouldn’t really bring along the extra incentives that beating Iowa would.

Q. What is your prediction for the game?

In general, I am a starry eyed optimist. And thus far through my Q&A predictions, I am 6-1, with my lone incorrect prediction being the last game against Nebraska.

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With these two facts in mind, I’m going to take the Wolverines to grind one out over four quarters and escape with a 20-10 win. I think Minnesota will come out a little healthier and have enough success on the ground to keep it close for the first half, but in the end, Michigan’s superior defense and semi-capable offense are enough to take back the Little Brown Jug. So the Gophers will cover the 13.5-point spread but ultimately fall short of glory.

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