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This Week at The Wolverine Den

Game Weather

Game Preview

The Michigan Wolverines return to the gridiron on Saturday to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. It's the battle for the Little Brown Jug, the oldest trophy in college football. You all know the story, in 1909, Michigan left their water jug and asked for it to be returned. Minnesota responded by saying come win it back. And the jug became part of college football lore. This is the 100th game for the Little Brown Jug. Michigan holds a 74-23-2 record in games played for the Jug.

Pre-game Menu

Breakfast Hash
Donuts
Fruit

Minnesota is led by the face of their program, head coach P.J. Fleck. He came from Western Michigan to Minnesota after parlaying a 13-1 season and trip to the Cotton Bowl for Western Michigan in 2016. This is his 10th year with the Golden Gophers. His overall record at Minnesota is 69-45. They have won 7+ games every year since 2018 (sans the Covid year) and have 8+ wins in four of the last five seasons. The Row The Boat scene is alive and well in Minnesota. Fleck has turned a below average team into an above average team. The Gophers are better but nowhere near the talent or success of Michigan.

The Minnesota offense is led by QB Drake Lindsey. He is one of only 5 QBs in the Big Ten with 2,200 passing yards, 22 TDs and 6 or less turnovers in a season during the playoff era. The others? Justin Fields, Drew Allor, Fernando Mendoza, and JJ McCarthy. This year, in 4 games, he is averaging 237 yards passing with a 67% completion rate, 7 TDs and 2 INTs. He is a true pocket passer who has negative rushing yards on the season, even though he has only been sacked 4 times. The Gophers rely on a consistent rushing attack with lots of play action. Lindsey is not a deep ball passer, his average pass completion is 10.8 yards, ranking 103rd in the nation. Minnesota has two capable running backs in TJ Thomas and Darius Taylor. Thomas is a transfer from Elon while Taylor is a Michigan kid from Walled Lake Western. He was Minnesota's leading rusher in each of the last three seasons. Both are capable receivers out of the backfield.

The Wolverine Den Trivia

Minnesota has won 18 Big Ten Football Championships, the 3rd most in the conference (Michigan has won the most with 45). When was the last time Minnesota won the Big Ten Football Championship?

The Gopher defense is ranked 25th in the nation (Michigan is ranked 7th). In last week's win at Washington, they had 7 sacks to bring their season total to 11 (Michigan has 12 sacks on the season). The defense is built for the Big Ten, very tough in the trenches while making the opponent go the length of the field. LB Maverick Baranowski is the leading tackler.

Minnesota has had two Power 4 opponents this season. They were blown out by Mississippi State (in Minnesota) and then beat a good Washington team in Seattle. Which team shows up on Saturday? The Maize and Blue have also played two Power 4 teams, beating up on Oklahoma and then losing on the last play to Iowa after dominating the game. How does that loss affect the Wolverines? Michigan is improving but undisciplined penalties and costly turnovers continue to be a problem. The other problem for Michigan is the accumulating injuries on both sides of the ball. The offensive line is thin (we might be down to our 5th offensive tackle this week). It is a critical game for Michigan, first road game of the year and a week away from the bye week. The Wolverines played well, historically, in Minnesota. Michigan has won the last 18 straight games played against the Gophers in Minnesota, and only 3 of those games were within one score. Under Fleck, Minnesota has won 71% (45-18) of their games at home.

Michigan leads the all-time series with Minnesota 78-25-3 and are ranked #24 in the Coaches poll but are unranked in the AP poll.

The Wolverines are a 5½ point favorite. Michigan will not leave the Jug behind this year.

Steve's Prediction

24-20

Brown's Prediction

24-16

Tim's Prediction

24-20

Craig's Prediction

30-17

Brown 12½, Steve 9½, Craig 9, Tim 9