The Oregon State Beavers travel to Minnesota to face the Golden Gophers in a Thursday night clash between two power conferences. It’s the PAC 12 versus the Big 10 on Thursday, September 1st at 9:00 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network. Currently, line-setters have Minnesota favored by -13 points and the over/under notched in at 55.
Oregon State:
The Beavers will look to rebuild their program with new head coach Gary Anderson. Anderson moves over from Wisconsin to help and try to improve on a paltry 2-10 2015 record. The Beavers remain in a rebuilding effort but they think they have found a QB in Utah State transfer Darell Gurretson.
Oregon State brought in a new offensive coordinator and a new defensive coordinator. Hopefully the whole sale changes will improve a team that ranked near the bottom on both sides of the ball in 2015. The Beavers were 111th in the nation in total yards. They only put up 19 points a match, which ranked them 115th in Division I football.
Darell Gurretson hopes his red-shirted season gave him the opportunity to learn a few things on the sidelines. The quarterback has some talent to work with at the wide receiver position. Jordan Villamin is back to move the chains for Gurretson. He reeled in 43 catches for 660 yards and five scores last season.
The Beavers really didn’t bring anything to the table defensively last year. The numbers speak for themselves. They yielded 37 points a contest to opposing teams. The Beavers finished the 2015 campaign 114th in points allowed. In fact, Oregon State ranked in the bottom quarter of the country in almost every major defensive stat.
To repair the sinking ship, the Beavers added mammoth nose tackle Elu Aydon. Aydon was a transfer from Gary Anderson’s 2015 Wisconsin squad. The 6’3, 330 pound player looks to shore up the PAC-12’s worst rush defense. Oregon Sate was an absolute sieve, giving up 271 yards via the ground to end it’s six game skid last year.
Minnesota:
Jay Johnson, Minnesota’s new offensive coordinator hopes to add a little pick me up to an offense that struggled throughout 2015. Unlike the Beavers, the Golden Gophers have some familiar faces returning to help improve their performance this season. Senior quarterback Mitch Leidner is finally healthy and is one of the most experienced signal-callers in the Big 10. The mobile man behind center produces with his feet as well as his arm. Leidner is second in school history with 23 rushing scores.
The Golden gophers also return a pair of gifted running backs. Shannon Brooks and Rodney smith scampered for over 1,300 yards and nine touchdowns. Unfortunately, Smith will be sitting this contest out due to an injury he sustained in practice.
Minnesota lost their number one wide receiver KJ Mayes to the NFL. His 73 catches could have came in handy for a team that needs to have some balance to keep opposing defenses honest. There is some talent returning at wide-out but nothing to write home about. Fans can expect play-action to be a huge part of the Golden Gopher’s red-zone offense. Taking all the information into consideration, Minnesota ranked 103rd in the county last year in total offense.
The reason for the Golden Gopher’s six wins in 2015 was their defense. The unit ranked 45th in the nation surrendering only 25.1 points a contest. That effective side of the ball allowed Minnesota to keep some games close in the fourth quarter. Three quarters of Minnesota’s tackling leaders are gone. The new cast will have a little better offense to support this time around but need to live up to their mentors if they hope to compete in the Big 10.
Match-Up Analysis:
Blowouts became all to common for the Beavers in the PAC -12 last year. They got walloped by over 24 points in nine of their conference games. Minnesota was 2-6 in their league play, but manage to keep some games tight against some tough Big 10 foes.
The Golden Gophers will have the best play-makers on the field at any given time during the game on Thursday night. As of now, it just doesn’t look like the Beavers have enough talent to compete with any PAC 12 outfit or Big 10 team for that matter. The Beavers were also terrible on the road last year.
Minnesota has the luxury of playing on it’s home turf for it’s opening game. With a healthy quarterback and an improved offense, maybe they won’t drag down the defense as much as they did last year. Fans might want to consider laying some greenbacks on this game just so they have a reason to watch. This match-up is a recipe for an ugly contest that could very well be doled out between the twenties.
Neither squad jumps out at me as an offensive juggernaut by any means and I hate placing my money on double digit favorites. Honestly, I’d rather play the dog in this roll but I can’t bring myself to take a horrible road team in another rebuilding year on Big 10 turf. Therefore, I’ll take the under.
The Hun’s Prediction:
The Under 55
