The Minnesota Golden Gophers take on the Northwestern Wildcats. Check out our college football odds series for our Minnesota Northwestern prediction and pick. Find how to watch Minnesota Northwestern.
This is a game in which bettors will not trust the team they think will win. They will distrust the team they think will lose.
Minnesota is 2-1, but the Golden Gophers have not looked impressive this season. They won a 13-10 pillow fight against a Nebraska team with a bad offense. That game was less about the Gophers being good and more about the Huskers being well below average. Minnesota lost decisively last week against North Carolina. Its offense failed to finish drives and make big plays. The Gophers played a lot worse on offense against North Carolina than Appalachian State did. If a team's offense is clearly worse than App State's offense in September, that's a bad sign for the remainder of the college football season.
Yet, when compared to Northwestern, Minnesota looks powerful and efficient. Northwestern has been clobbered by Rutgers and Duke. Those were both non-competitive football games. Northwestern is going through a miserable time in the program's existence. Pat Fitzgerald was dismissed in the summer. An interim coaching staff is guiding the team. Players have transferred out of the program due to the Fitzgerald dismissal. The roster is bare-bones in nature. Minnesota might have an opportunity to play well on offense in this game, but can the Gophers be trusted?
Here are the Minnesota-Northwestern College Football odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
College Football Odds: Minnesota-Northwestern Odds
Minnesota Golden Gophers: -11.5 (-110)
Northwestern Wildcats: +11.5 (-110)
Over: 38.5 (-106)
Under: 38.5 (-114)
How To Watch Minnesota vs. Northwestern
TV: Big Ten Network
Stream: Big Ten 2 Go / Fox Sports app
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT
*Watch Minnesota vs Northwestern LIVE on fuboTV (click for free trial)*
Why Minnesota Could Cover the Spread
If you have seen Northwestern play this year, you know why Minnesota will cover the spread. Northwestern is a bad team, but more than being bad, the Wildcats are thin due to transfer portal departures. They are also soft. They can be bullied up front. Rutgers and Duke both smacked them around at the line of scrimmage and at the first point of contact.
Some teams are bad because they have good skill players who can't demonstrate their skills due to the line play being so awful. Other teams are bad because they lack skill and their line play is also terrible. Northwestern fits that last description. It's not as though NU has good skill players whose talents are wasted behind a bad offensive line. No, it's a lot simpler: NU has bad skill players and bad linemen. Not even Minnesota, with all its offensive woes, will squander this opportunity to post a blowout win.
Why Northwestern Could Cover the Spread
The Minnesota offense is well below average. The Golden Gophers struggle to score. They struggle to finish drives. They struggle to make big plays downfield in the passing game. Minnesota does very few things well on offense. Northwestern doesn't have to win this game to cover the spread. It just has to lose by 11 points or fewer. If Minnesota scores just 20 points, Northwestern would need to score only 10 points to cover. Minnesota's offense hasn't proved it can put up a huge number. Northwestern won't win outright, but it will keep the game close.
Final Minnesota-Northwestern Prediction & Pick
Neither team is worth your trust as a bettor. Northwestern is worse, but it might be only 10 points worse, not 15. Stay away from this game.
Final Minnesota-Northwestern Prediction & Pick: Minnesota -11.5
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