The Big Ten has been an up and down conference all season and aside from the two teams at the top of the conference, the rest has been pure chaos. There are a handful of teams right in the middle of the pack who are looking to separate from the rest as the back half of the season rolls on. In this post, as the Noah Vedral era appears to begin in earnest, we provide our best Rutgers-Minnesota prediction in our continued college football odds series.
This contest features two 4-3 teams who are looking to do just that as the Rutgers Scarlet Knights go on the road Saturday to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Rutgers is coming off of a win as Minnesota looks to rebound after an embarrassing loss last weekend. Every game is important now going forward and this is one is going to tell us a lot about both teams.
Rutgers-Minnesota Prediction and Betting Picks
Scarlet Knights Building off Noah Vedral
For the past couple of years, Rutgers has been the laughing stock of the Big Ten but it looks like the narrative may be changing for this program. Although they are not going to be a title contender this season, 4-3 already looks like improvement after their 5-8 campaign last season.
The difference for the Scarlet Knights this season has been their defense. The Scarlet Knights are 5th in the Big Ten in total defense and been giving up around 21 points per game (PPG) on the year. Offensively, looks like quarterback Noah Vedral will be getting the start the rest of the way as the Senior was able to lead his team to a victory last week and although he didn’t put up the most impressive numbers, he took care of the football which is going to be a key against this Minnesota defense.
Gophers Getting Back on Track
Minnesota is coming into this matchup having lost 3 straight games and it may be time to hit the panic button. Although they were without quarterback Tanner Morgan last week, Minnesota got absolutely demolished against Penn State with a score of 45-17. Penn State ran all over them as they recorded 479 total yards and kept Minnesota from getting any rhythm going offensively.
The Gophers had one of the strongest starts to this season in the entire country but after the first 4 weeks, both the offense and defense haven’t been able to find much success of anything and head coach P.J. Fleck needs to see drastic improvement from all phases on Saturday. It is still unsure if Morgan is going to be able to go on Saturday as he has still been in concussion protocol, but if he is still ruled out, Minnesota will lean on quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis for another start this weekend.
Rutgers-Minnesota Predictions
This is going to be an important weekend for both teams with not too much time remaining to finish the season the way that they want. Minnesota is a 14-point home favorite against Rutgers in this one. Although the Golden Gophers have struggled as of late, they have been able to beat some pretty mediocre teams handily and Rutgers is not a great team this year.
I see Minnesota covering this 14-point spread which is the best bet for this game on Saturday and for the Gophers to get back on track with a win. These are two teams who both play with a very slow tempo and don’t run a lot of plays per game as Minnesota is 99th and Rutgers is 90th in that category. Even though they don’t push the pace, this is still a Minnesota team who is 5th in the Big Ten in total offense and I see them finding enough success against this Rutgers team and for this game to finish over the 40-point total by the final whistle.
Final Rutgers-Minnesota Prediction And College Football Odds Pick: Minnesota covers 14-point spread.
