Week 7: Minnesota at Northwestern

In what is normally a battle won in between the tackles and on the backs of ballcarriers and offensive linemen, the contest between Northwestern and Minnesota offers a twist this year: passing, and plenty of it.

Both clubs have effectively thrown the ball – out of need, mostly – and each owns a version of the spread offense that it will showcase on Saturday afternoon.

The Gophers would prefer to use a more balanced attack. But their inability to gain yards on the ground in recent weeks will only intensify in this matchup with Duane Bennett on the sideline with an injury. That means coach Tim Brewster will call on young quarterback Adam Weber and his top-flight receiver, Eric Decker, who has already hauled in a Big Ten-best 44 passes this season.

On the opposite sideline, C.J. Bacher’s surprising play has helped Northwestern’s keep pace with opponents. On occasion Bacher has had to fight off a huge deficit, but not this Saturday; Minnesota has the distinction of owning the Big Ten’s worst pass defense (No. 117 in the country) and that should allow Bacher to go to work all afternoon.

Said Brewster, “Defensively, we’ve just got to try to continue to eliminate the explosive plays. What is an explosive play – a run over 12 (yards) and a pass over 18 (yards) – we’re giving up too many explosive plays.”

Good luck coach — the Wildcats are making as many ‘explosive plays’ as any team in the conference right now; last week three Northwestern receivers had gains of 50 or more yards.

Of note: in the last two meetings of this series, Minnesota has dominated, winning 42-17 in 2003 and 43-17 in 2004. Interesting, but that stat will have no bearing on the outcome of this one.

Northwestern by 8