Here are some thoughts from this week from the SB Nation blog about the University of Minnesota, The Daily Gopher.
Earlier this week, both Conquest Chronicles and The Daily Gopher exchanged thoughts, with five things each side should know about the other. Here's an excerpt from what to know about the Golden Gophers:
3. We don't have one player who would start for USC
No really, not one. I say that more so that you'll hopefully feel bad if you don't blow us out because you really, really should. So if you don't, it's almost like losing. The only guy we have who might crack your two deep is sophomore MarQueis Gray. He's our backup QB, and could be good enough to start- it's just that our coaching staff refuses to bench incumbent starter Adam Weber so he's never had a chance. Think of Adam Weber like...Mike Van Raaphorst. But not as good. But with a better name (seriously what the hell kind of name is Van Raaphorst anyway?). So yeah, as I was saying, Weber plays no matter what because Coach Brew says he must, so we have to find other ways to use MarQueis. The same guy who was the #2 rated dual-threat QB coming out of high school in Indianapolis behind some guy named Terrelle Pryor. Brewster decided the dual threat ability would be as a wide receiver. He's 6'4 and 230 pounds with good hands, good speed, and a ton of athleticism, and he did have 9 catches for 91 yards and a TD last week. OF course that was against 1-AA South Dakota? Is your defense better than USD's? It is? Ok well then he may not be that tough for you, but seriously, he tore up a 1-AA defense.
In addition, this week figures to be a big recruiting weekend for Minnesota, with USC in town, with at least six top recruits paying an official visit to watch the game.
The Daily Gopher even scored an interview with a USC Song Girl this week:
TDG - I think we all assume that the life of a Song Girl is all glamorous and you are living the life of a Hollywood star. Tell us something interesting about being a Song Girl that we'd be surprised to know. What is the least glamorous thing about being a Song Girl?
SGS - Being a USC Song Girl is such a great honor and all the girls on the team feel so lucky to be having the experiences that we are having. One interesting thing that happened last season when our team traveled to Chicago for the Notre Dame game, was that we only got two hotel rooms for our team of ten girls. This meant girls were sleeping on couches and on game day, there were five girls sharing one mirror! It was a little stressful but it all worked out on the end!
They also pointed out what may be a key matchup in today's game:
(1) That mammoth Gopher offensive line v. USC's pretty darn good defensive line - The Gophers have been racking up impressive rushing totals behind the work of Coach Davis and the big lugs up front (it's worth noting that for as good as Minny's been so far, they only have 30 more rushing yards than Denard Robinson after 2 games). However, they've made those numbers against MTSU and USD's severely under-sized and non-guru approved defensive fronts. The challenge comes tomorrow - USC's starting D-linemen run 295-305-305-260, with backups in the two-deep that are similarly sized. And as Buck showed you, they're all guru-approved goliaths. Minnesota won't be able to push these guys around as easily as they did the first two opponents, and if they can't run the ball, the game-plan might be out the window.
For more information on today's game, be sure to read both The Daily Gopher and Conquest Chronicles.