Minnesota Golden Gophers 2024 football schedule preview and point spread prediction

so today I'll be continuing with my schedule discussion and point spread prediction videos today I'll be doing Minnesota so Minnesota has usually been a solid team in the Big 10 uh never a great team and not a good program in football but uh they usually at least get six wins and uh last season was a little bit of a disappointment for them uh they only went five and seven and they actually still got invited to a bowl game and they did win that so they finished six and seven uh but uh their offense was a terrible last year uh they only averaged around 20 points per game and um I'll be honest I barely ever watched Minnesota football uh but I do know the kind of football that they like to play u they never have a good quarterback they had terrible quarterbacks last year uh really that big 10 west division that uh they played in uh had the worst group of quarterbacks in the country last year I think they were just terrible and uh they just want to run the football a whole bunch and try to use up clock by keeping other team's offenses on the field so they can uh keep their defense uh from getting tired and hold their opponent down uh to a low score but uh that didn't work last year they were okay at running the ball but they weren't great and their defense was not good either uh it was a I think below average by a little bit and um so uh on this uh schedule uh they start the season uh on a Thursday at home against North Carolina so I think Minnesota may be getting North Carolina at a good time because of not only North Carolina is losing Drake May who was a really good quarterback but they only have a a few players I think coming back from last year's team uh uh with the starters uh they don't have that much production coming back so with it being at the beginning of the season in a home game for Minnesota I would like their chances to get the win in this one uh and uh then they play Rhode Island in Nevada which those should be two uh for sure wins for them Nevada will probably be tougher than Rhode Island is going to be but uh Minnesota should win both of those pretty big uh and uh then they start their conference schedule at home against Iowa uh so Minnesota's best win last year was against Iowa and that actually wasn't that good really because I know Iowa won 10 games but you know how awful Iowa's offense was they weren't really one of the good teams uh and I think Minnesota has a good chance to beat them again uh the final score to that game last year was H I think 12 to 10 so uh Iowa's offense I think was still going to be like that and um if they are Minnesota offense shouldn't have to do much again to beat them but Iowa's defense I think is going to be a problem for anybody uh especially a team like Minnesota whose offense I don't think is going to be that good especially not at throwing the football and then next on the road at Michigan there's really no chance here for Minnesota uh Michigan's uh offense uh may be uh pretty bad actually uh but but uh their defense is still uh a lot better than Minnesota is going to be uh and Michigan's offense is probably still a little bit better at least than Minnesota is so I don't really see this one being that close and then they play USC at home so I've been saying that uh USA's offense probably won't be as good this year because they're losing Caleb Williams but I actually think they may score more points this year than last year not because Caleb Williams is leaving Caleb Williams uh has in my opinion been the best quarterback in college football these past two seasons uh but uh I think USC will probably have better uh quarterback protection this year and I think they'll probably be able to run the ball a little easier so I just don't think Minnesota's offense can keep up with USA's so I don't think they have that much of a chance to win that one I probably won't be picking Minnesota in that game when I do predictions and then UCLA on the road this is more winnable it's going to be tough but you is a lot different of a team this year than they were last year and then this first week off comes at a good time because comes after a game against UCL that's going to be tough even though they may win and then before a home game against Maryland that's going to be very winable also Maryland loses that quarterback this year who uh is Tu a Tanga Viola's younger brother and he was a really the only reason why Maryland was even an average team these past couple of Seasons uh so I don't really expect much from Maryland this year they don't have anybody really good to replace them I don't think and then on the road to Illinois this is one that it would have been better to have at home uh because Minnesota and Illinois are pretty close I think Minnesota I think maybe a little better but I know I talk a lot about home field advantage on this uh Channel but it really does matter a lot uh where our game is played uh it can really make a difference because uh if you look at a bunch of games uh uh between uh teams like Minnesota and Illinois that are pretty evenly matched uh uh from the past of really any year uh you will see that uh a whole lot more than not the home team won the game and then on the road at Rutger so two Road games in a row that's not really good now they could beat ruers uh just just as much as they could beat Illinois but uh ruers I don't think it's going to be much worse than Minnesota and then they take a week off before playing Penn State now I don't think this is going to do them any good because Penn State has so much more Talent than Minnesota does and I think they're a much better coach team um now uh I did see that uh disaster Aller is still looking like a disaster for Penn State at quarterback because he looked terrible in the spring game like he looked all season pretty much of last year uh but even if he is a disaster Minnesota's going to be just as much if not more of a disaster quarterback and nowhere near as good as Penn State on any other part of the team and then they play Wisconsin on the road that's one they might be able to pull off but I think it's probably unlikely uh Wisconsin I think is [Music] better and uh so now I'll move on to the point spread prediction so uh if you want to see more about how I do these point spreads you can watch my first video of these Ohio State I explain it all in that video but games in the green are games where I think Minnesota will be a blowout favorite which is 20 or more points and there's one of those Rhode Island and then games in the blue are games where I think Minnesota will be favored to win by double digits 10 to 19 points so and there's one of those Nevada games in the pink are games where I think Minnesota will be favored to win by about a field goal one to five points and there's two of those Maryland and Rutgers and U games in the black are TOS up games which means there won't be a favorite at least right now there would not be a clear favorite but there could be a favorite when it comes time and there's one of those Iowa and games in the gray or games where I think Minnesota will be a about to fi goal Underdog so one to five points and there's three of those North Carolina UCLA and Illinois and games in the yellow or games where I think Minnesota will be an underdog by about a touchdown so 6 to9 points and uh there's uh uh two of those USC and Wisconsin and games in Orange are games where I think Minnesota will be a double digit Underdog but not a blowout Underdog so 10 to 19 points and there's two of those Michigan and Penn State so Rhode Island was spreading that one should be 30 points at least Nevada that's close to the grain but I put it in the blue because the Minnesota is not a great team in the power four and Nevada is in the Mountain West Conference which isn't horrible but I think Minnesota should be favored by three scores 17 to 19 points uh but probably not quite 20 but possibly and uh I I uh don't just have that as a toss up because it's a home game but also because Minnesota did beat them last year but I do think Iowa overall is a better team than Minnesota and uh UCLA that's a in the grave because it's a road game I think they may be favored by a point or two over Minnesota and then Illinois it's the same way I think Illinois may be favored by about a point in that game but Minnesota would be the favorite I think in both of those if they were home games for them uh and uh Maryland uh that's the in uh the paint because it's a home game for Minnesota I think they may be about a point favorite in that one and then uh Ru G I think Minnesota may be favored by about three in that game uh but uh they would for sure be an underdog to Marland if it was on the road and ruers possibly or it might be a toss up if that was the case and USA I think the spread will be about six points in that game uh and then uh Wisconsin I think the spread in that one will be around six that would be in the gray if it was a home game and uh Michigan and Penn State uh I think they'll be favored to beat Minnesota by around 14 points and uh North Carolina that one's tough I think North Carolina will probably still be favored by about a point in that game even on the road but wouldn't be surprised if Minnesota was favored uh so uh I think Minnesota will be favored in four games uh and uh they'll have a game that they might be favored in I so maybe five but that means that they will have to pull at least one upset to get to a bowl game and uh I actually think there's a good chance they could do that uh there's a good chance that I do my final predictions I'll have Minnesota at six wins and of course I know they did make a bowl game with five wins last year but it's going to be unlikely for them to get invited to one again at only five win but good news about this is they do avoid Ohio State in Oregon uh and that will be it with this video and please subscribe and thanks for watching uh and also thank you to the uh newest subscriber that I got a subscriber number eight uh I really appreciate it