Minnesota faces a huge step up in competition in Week 3 when it travels on the road for the first time this season to face the 2-0 California Golden Bears. The Gophers are currently slight favorites in a late-night game that will kick off at 9:30 p.m. CT.
Here are our staff’s predictions for Saturday night.
The Golden Bears completely changed their program in the last 12 months. They have a true freshman QB, first-year offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin, new defensive coordinators, and a new GM in Ron Rivera. Minnesota’s stability could be an advantage.
The Gophers had a similar situation last season at UCLA in a late-night game in L.A., which could help them prepare for this one. I fully expect a close game, but Minnesota makes a late play to steal one on the road.
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How good is Cal? Hype is cool, but they haven’t faced a team nearly as good as Minnesota. They beat a terrible team in Oregon State, who lost to a very average Fresno State, who got smoked by Kansas, who blew a 21-6 first-quarter lead and lost 42-31 to Missouri. This feels like a spot for Drake Lindsey to really show off his arm, and I can see him going big with more than 300 yards and two or three touchdowns. Look for Javon Tracy to have a big game as Lindsey’s top target.
It’s hard to know what to expect from this game, given that both teams have started 2-0 against a soft schedule. Cal is at home and will be a big step up in competition for the Gophers, but it’s a test I think P.J. Fleck’s team will ultimately pass. Drake Lindsey is built for these moments. Meanwhile, the Gophers have the defensive line and secondary talent to make life difficult on QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele.
Minnesota is back to facing real competition after last week’s blowout win over FCS Northwestern State. This feels like it will be a good insight into who both of these teams will be this season after essentially two warm-up games for both squads to open the season.
Drake Lindsey is likely to face some pressure from a pass rush that can get after the QB. How does that impact the Gophers’ young quarterback? Is the Gophers’ defense really as good as the numbers have stated over the first two weeks, or did they just take advantage of bad offenses? There are a lot of questions that will have answers coming out of this one late Saturday. I’m going with Minnesota narrowly grabbing victory over Cal.
Here are last week’s predictions. Season records for our pickers:
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