Minnesota

The Golden Gophers are a team that is undefeated, beating two teams with names. Not great names, but names. Some people still remember the Syracuse Orange as a decent enough team. And Air Force is always tough when you play them, due to their scheme and their speed. They scored 72 points against a crappy team (Nichols State) but they still scored. And Minnesota held them to 13. So they may have a defense. In fact, their defense, and particularly their run defense, is the heart of the team.

And at Syracuse, they beat a team with a new coach and a new QB, who some of you may remember as the point guard for Duke, Greg Paulus. He went home to Syracuse to help them get started with the new program, after he played 4 years of hoops at Duke. So he is clearly a gifted athlete. It could be said that he made a mistake on the final play of the game, in OT, to allow the Gophers to win. As a measure of Syracuse's capabilities, they went out and lost to Penn State by a score of 28 to 7. Not terrible, but not good.

The point being that Paulus was a passer, not a runner. And he was able to do some things against the defense that was dominant against the Air Force running attack. Minnesota is holding opposing rushers to 3.5 yards per carry, which is not bad.

Not to say that the Bears are in the same place as Air Force or Syracuse. But clearly this is a team that has a strength against the run. And probably a weakness against the pass.

As far as offense goes, they are not that good. They are averaging 21 points against mediocre at best defenses in Air Force and Syracuse. They are a passing team, with experience at QB and the one quality receiver. Clearly the Bears defense should be able to handle these guys.

The key issue to this game is that they will be keyed to stop the run. I think that actually helps our running game, to a certain extent. When people stack the box, it is easy for Best to make huge plays (OK - maybe not easy, but...). That is because if he can make the linebacker miss, he is already in the secondary and has a 50% chance of breaking one all the way. i thought that the way Eastern Washington played him was pretty good - they stayed fairly deep and conservative, and did not over-pursue. While Jahvid had 10 yard runs, with some 5 and some 20 added in, he did not get the huge 80 yard chunks that have been his calling card. So stacking the box, like may teams did to us last year, is actually a good thing. That is why I would like for the Bears to continue to run, this game, and to continue to get Jahvid out there crushing it.

Because this is not a game that we are going to lose. Believe me, i know all the angst and the issues, but the Bears are not going to lose to Minnesota. These guys are not at their first Rodeo. Riley and Jahvid are team leaders, and the Defense has Syd and other stepping up. This is a true team, and they will fight this year for their goals. A lot of the issues on the "Road Loss" devastation are from the time that Nate broke his ankle to the beginning of this season. Is this really the same team as those teams? The answer is no.

Many people are saying that this needs to be Kevin Riley's coming out game. I disagree. I think that we do not need to fear these guys, that we are ready to play on the road, and that we need to take it to them right down their throat. Riley will get his shots - while they are good against the run they do not have a ton of sacks (four total) and no QB hurries. So the pass rush will not be a huge issue - especially if Jahvid is in the backfield. So no pressure on Kevin. These guys are going to be looking for Jahvid, and I say we give it to them. He can pop through on an early Saturday on national TV, get a few 80 yard TD runs in, and call it a Heisman. Let Riley pass a few to keep them honest but stick with the run. We're pretty good at it.

GO BEARS!!