Game 10: Ohio State v Minnesota

Game 10              OHIO STATE v MINNESOTA

                             November 15, 2014    TCF Bank Stadium       Minneapolis, MN

Minnesota Golden Gophers

Location: Minneapolis, MN

Stadium: TCF Bank Stadium (50,805)

Coach: Jerry Kill (4^th year): 24-23 at Minnesota, 151-96 overall, 14-20 v B1G, 0-0 v OSU

Series: OSU 42, Minnesota 7

Last Meeting: 10/30/2010: OSU 52, Minnesota 10

Last Minnesota win: 10/15/2000: Minnesota 29, OSU 17

Coach Meyer: 32-3 at OSU, 136-26 overall, 24-2 v B1G, 0-0 v Minnesota

2013 Ohio State Buckeyes (12-2)(8-1)                      2013 Minnesota Golden Gophers (8-5)(4-4)

40        Buffalo                         20                                51        UNLV                           23

42        San Diego State             7                                44        at New Mexico State    21

52        at California                34                                 29        Western Illinois            12

76        Florida A&M                 0                                43        San Jose State               24

31        Wisconsin                    24                                  7        Iowa                              23

40        at Northwestern          30                                 13        at Michigan                   42

34        Iowa                            24                                20        at Northwestern            17

63        Penn State                   14                                34        Nebraska                      23

56        at Purdue                      0                                42        at Indiana                      39

60        at Illinois                     35                                24        Penn State                   10

42        Indiana                        14                                  7        Wisconsin                    20

42        at Michigan                 41                                  3        at Michigan State        14

24        Michigan State            34                                17        Syracuse                      21

            (B1G Championship)                                                   (Texas Bowl)

35        Clemson                      40

            (Orange Bowl)

2014 Ohio State Buckeyes (8-1)(5-0)                                    2014 Minnesota Golden Gophers (7-2)(4-1)

34        at Navy (Baltimore)    17                                42        Eastern Illinois            20

21        Virginia Tech               35                                35        Middle Tennessee       24

66        Kent State                      0                                  7        at Texas Christian       30

S20                                                                              24        San Jose State               7

50        Cincinnati                    28                                30        at Michigan                 14

52        at Maryland                 24

O11                                                                              24        Northwestern              17

56        Rutgers                        17                                39        Purdue                         38

31        at Penn State                24 (2OT)                     24        at Illinois                     28

55        Illinois                         14

49        at Michigan State        37                                 51        Iowa                            14

N15      at Minnesota                                                               Ohio State

N22      Indiana                                                                        at Nebraska

N29      Michigan                                                                     at Wisconsin

            After a dominating win over the Spartans of Michigan State, the Buckeyes travel to frigid Minneapolis to take on a surprising Minnesota Golden Gopher football team.  The Gophers, while a team that inexplicably lost to Illinois, aren't slouchy, and they could give the Buckeyes all they can handle if Ohio State comes into the game with a major let down.

Ohio State offense v Minnesota defense: Like the Spartans, the Minnesota defense prides itself on excellent line play.  When Minnesota’s defense is clicking, it is one of the best units in the Big Ten. On Oct. 18, the Gophers limited Purdue to seven points, 18 yards passing and 132 yards of offense (69 yards came on one play) in the second half. On Oct. 25, Illinois totaled 157 yards of offense in the first quarter. For the final three quarters, the Illini managed one offensive touchdown and 106 yards of offense, as they punted eight times and turned the ball over once. The Gophers gave up a touchdown to Iowa on its first possession, but then held the Hawkeyes to 60 total yards on their next 10 drives. In addition, the Gophers have held four teams under 100 rushing yards this season: Eastern Illinois (99), San Jose State (68), Michigan (88) and Iowa (84).  Experienced book ends Theiren Cockran and Michael Amaefula have shown their toughness on containing off-tackle runs, while interior men Cameron Botticelli and Steven Richardson can also provide a good pass rush.  The Minnesota linebackers all show quickness and a nose for the ball.  It starts with MLB Damien Wilson who leads the Gophers in tackles with 88 and already has eight TFLs, two sacks and an interception.  DeVondre Campbell is an experienced and speedy OLB who always seem to be around the ball as he has two fumble recoveries to go along with a respectable 49 tackles, 4.5 TFL, a sack, and an interception.  Newcomer sophomore Jack Lynn has shown he can learn quickly and is just behind Campbell with 40 tackles and another 4.5 TFL.  Cedric Thompson leads a good Gopher secondary as he is adept in deep coverage as well as run support, garnering 51 tackles and two interceptions.

Ohio State will need another strong performance from quarterback J.T. Barrett and another dominating performance from the improving offensive line.  Jalin Marshall will take over full time for the injured Dontre Wilson and look for him to take a few snaps out of the Wildcat formation as the Buckeyes will use different looks and different combinations in the four-and-five wide out sets to create confusion and mismatches against the Minnesota defense, along with the counter runs and wide runs that Ezekiel Elliott had success with last week.

                                                 Damien Wilson

Ohio State defense v Minnesota offense: Minnesota brings to the table a very sound running game with a very sound offensive line.  RB David Cobb is as good as any runner in the conference.  Combining a good blend of power and quickness, Cobb already has over 1200 yards in nine games.  Seniors Tommy Olson at center, Zac Epping at guard along with junior Josh Campion at tackle provide the push up front that has enabled Cobb to wear down defenses in the latter part of their games thus far.  This has taken the pressure off of young sophomore quarterback Mitch Leidner and allowed him to develop into an efficient quarterback who doesn’t have the athletic ability, or quite the supporting cast as J.T. Barrett, but in their offense, he doesn’t need to.  Leidner has managed to throw for over 1200 yards and 10 scores in this run-dominated offense and he’s got a couple of good targets in TE Maxx Williams, who leads in receptions with 22 and speedster Donovahn Jones with 11.  Rangy TEs who can catch have shown to give Ohio State’s defense problems in the past and Minnesota may have Leidner to utilize the quick throw to Williams off a three-step drop to try to counter Joey Bosa and the pass rush and to keep Ohio State’s front seven from keying on Cobb.  Ohio State will concentrate on neutralizing Cobb the best they can (keeping in mind they weren’t too successful against MSU’s Jeremy Langford) trying to make Leidner win the game with his arm.

                                                  David Cobb

Special Teams: Ryan Santoso has a very good leg for the Gophers, going 9 for 13 with a long of 52, while Peter Mortelli averages a very good 44.7 yards per punt.

SUMMARY: This is not your father’s Minnesota football program as Coach Jerry Kill has done nothing short of amazing work since he’s been in Minneapolis.  As I said above, David Cobb is as good a runner as Ohio State will face on their schedule and the Gophers play very sound on their defensive front.  However, the bottom line is, Ohio State simply has too much talent and they showed their speed advantage against a Michigan State defense that was fifth in the country.  The question is whether or not Ohio State suffers a letdown after their dominating win last week.  If they do and come out flat, Minnesota is good enough to take advantage.  If Ohio State does not have a letdown, their large advantage in talent and speed will make this an easy win.

                                                OHIO STATE 35, MINNESOTA 21