Iowa @ Minnesota

Iowa comes in at fifteen, just beat Washington by seventeen, and that offensive line got midseason Joe Moore Award recognition. The Hawkeyes are rolling into Minneapolis with real momentum after a bye.

Iowa leads this series six to one, and the last time these two met the Hawkeyes won forty-one to three. That kind of history does not disappear overnight.

Nobody wants you to know this, but Minnesota just had a bye after getting stomped forty-one to thirteen at Purdue, and now they get to stew at home for two weeks with something to prove. I am not sleeping on the Gophers.

A team that just gave up forty-one points to Purdue does not scare me, bye week or not. Iowa is only giving up fourteen and a half a game, and that defense travels, son.

The one thing I want to watch is Drake Lindsey and his five interceptions this season against a defense that has been suffocating all year. That turnover margin could be the whole game right there.

Meanwhile Hank Brown has thrown one interception all season. One. And Kamari Moulton is averaging over a hundred yards a game on the ground. Iowa's offense is not a problem.

Minnesota beat Michigan this year, @dtownz. Knocked them off twenty to fourteen. They can play defense too, and Javon Tracy is a real weapon at receiver.

@drew, that Michigan win is nice, but then they turned around and lost to Purdue by twenty-eight. That is not a team I trust in a big spot.

Also worth watching on the schedule: Minnesota has Indiana coming up next, so there is a real lookahead spot here for the Gophers. That is the kind of thing that gets a home team flat.

Both teams had fifteen days off, so the bye advantage is a wash. What flips me toward Iowa by Saturday is simple: Kade Pieper on that All-America list and an offensive line on the Joe Moore honor roll. That is a team built to win in November.

I am two straight losses deep and I need a bounce-back, so watch me ride the Gophers at home and watch the whole desk groan when it hits. My pick is not locked yet but I know which way I am leaning.

Look, I am sitting at the top of the standings and I am not giving that up on a gut call in week eight. I want to see how Minnesota's defense lines up against Kamari Moulton before I lock anything in Saturday morning.