Purdue heads on the road for a Big Ten game for the first time this season. After suffering home losses to conference foes USC and Illinois this Purdue team gets its first taste of conference road play.
Minnesota is coming off an absolute drubbing from Ohio State so they are looking for a bounce back game. With a problematic defense and an offense that hasn’t done the numbers they’d hoped is this game one Purdue can win? I asked the staff and they gave me their thoughts. Let’s go!
Ledman (5-0):
The sole reason I’m gonna pick against Purdue here, yes I won’t leave you in suspense, is that the Purdue defense just struggles mightily. While yes I know Minnesota has a freshman QB, and a former Purdue TE, I just don’t think the Purdue defense will be able to do enough to stop them. The Minnesota offense isn’t exactly the same caliber of offense as previous Purdue opponents like Notre Dame, USC, or Illinois I’m just not feeling any level of confidence with the Purdue defense. I think the offense will fight valiantly but it’s so hard to play mistake free football when you’re constantly under stress to keep putting points on the board to keep up with the opponent.
Purdue 24
Minnesota 35
Travis (3-2):
You know what, I am going to keep swinging and believing in this team. I have to hit one of these, right? The defense will get to face a unit that was either really bad or really suppressed last week at Ohio State. It’s a great chance for them to turn it around a little. Purdue keeps playing hard and it gets a dub. Purdue 32, Minnesota 28.
Ryan (5-0):
Call me crazy but I still like what I see out of Purdue football. The offense isn’t the problem except that they have been responsible for some big momentum swings in Purdue’s 3 losses this season. Those three losses were to basically ranked teams and Minnesota is just not on that level. What gives me pause is the same thing that Purdue has struggled with the entire season: the secondary. In the first quarter against Illinois, the defense was attacking and actually held the Illini to 0 points, which is ideal. Of course, Illinois wound up putting 43 on the board but again, Minnesota is just not on the same level. If the secondary can do just enough to limit Drake Lindsey while containing the duo of Fame Ijeboi and Darius Taylor (who is still getting back on his feet following injury), I think the Boilermakers pull off the road win. That’s also contingent on Ryan Browne making good decisions and the ball carriers keeping the ball off the ground. I think Purdue learns from its previous mistakes and plays a clean game.
Purdue 30
Minnesota 28
Kyle (5-0):
Purdue heads up north for a winnable game against Minnesota.
This could be one of those breakthrough games for a new regime to get the monkey off of their back.
I like Purdues chances up north, I think they run the ball well and play defense to get a good big ten win
Purdue 27 Minnesota 21
Drew (4-0, no ND pick received):
The big picture game plan isn’t complicated.
Keep Minnesota from dominating the game on the ground and hope Ryan Browne and Purdue’s skill position players outplay Drake Lindsey and Minnesota’s skill position players.
I fully expect a couple catastrophic Purdue plays on offense, but if Minnesota is forced to put the ball in the air, they are more than capable of returning the favor. If Purdue’s run defense holds up, if nothing else, we should be in for some solid Saturday night entertainment.
I’m not predicting a Purdue win. The most likely scenario is a Minnesota victory in a competitive game that ends in a 10-14 point Golden Gopher victory.
If, however, Purdue were to leave Minnesota with The Little Brown Jug, the score will probably look something like this:
Purdue – 41
Minnesota – 38
Either way, this should be a good game.
