Minnesota Football: 2017 game-by-game predictions
By Shane Lunnen
The Gophers return home to face a tricky Middle Tennessee team. The Blue Raiders were 8-5 a year ago with a loss in the Hawaii Bowl to Hawaii. Fun fact about this matchup is that these two schools met in the 2017 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, with the 12-seed Blue Raiders upsetting the fifth-seeded Gophers.
Middle Tennessee’s head coach, Rick Stockstill, is entering his 12th season with the Blue Raiders. His son, Brent, is entering his third year as the starting quarterback and he’s a good one. In his two years as starter, he’s thrown for over 7,200 yards and 61 touchdowns. He even missed three games last season due to injury and still had impressive stats. His favorite target also returns. Sophomore receiver Richie James had 1625 yards and 12 touchdowns last season.
The defense was ok last year but could be better. Considering how many of their games were shootouts, they held their own. The linebackers are definitely the strength. Junior linebacker Chris Melton led the team in tackles with 102 last season and junior DJ Sanders had two interception returns for touchdowns.
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This game has the makings of a loss for Minnesota. Yes the Blue Raiders play in Conference USA where the defenses are not as good as the defenses in the Big Ten. But just looking at the Stockstill and James connection should have Gopher fans worried.
The Minnesota secondary is young and still building chemistry early in the season. Stockstill lights them up for over 300 yards and four touchdowns. The Gophers don’t have the firepower to keep up and take their first loss on the season in an upset.