The Minnesota Golden Gophers (1-1) picked up win No. 1 of the 2024 season last Saturday with a 48-0 win over FCS opponent Rhode Island. Now, the Golden Gophers will look to finish their non-conference slate off with a win over the Mountain West Conference's Nevada Wolfpack (1-2).
The Wolfpack are coming off their second loss of the young season last weekend falling to Georgia Southern 20-17 at home.
The Wolfpack found themselves on the losing end of the game despite a 498 to 285 total yards advantage over Georgia Southern, being hurt by a turnover and 14 penalties in the defeat. Georgia Southern scored 13 unanswered points between the second and third quarters to take a 20-14 lead and never relinquished.
When, Where, How to Watch:
WHEN: Saturday, September 14, 2:30 p.m. CT
WHERE: Huntington Bank Stadium (50,805)
TV: BTN // Lisa Bynington (PXP), Brock Vereen (Analyst), Melanie Ricks (Reporter)
RADIO: KFAN FM 100.3 | Mike Grimm (PXP), Darrell Thompson (Analyst), Justin Gaard (Reporter)
SIRIUS XM: 372 | SXM APP
Keys to victory
GET PRESSURE ON BRANDON LEWIS
As discussed in our advanced stats look at Nevada, Brandon Lewis struggles when being pressured this year, completing 6-of-17 attempts for 48 yards. When not being pressured, he's been fantastic, completing 48-for-65 this season for 528 yards and five touchdowns. Through two games, the Gophers defense has totaled 29 quarterback pressures, an average of just under 15 per contest. They'll have a quality test this weekend in the Wolfpack's offensive line who has allowed just 20 pressures through three games.
GET MAX BROSMER IN RHYTHM EARLY
Max Brosmer had a big game last weekend against Rhode Island completing 24-of-30 passing attempts for 271 yards and two touchdowns. One of the biggest differences between his performance in week one against North Carolina and week two against Rhode Island was getting off to a fast start and finding his rhythm early. Brosmer in the game completed each of his first three passes including two on the Gophers first drive and finished the first quarter 5-of-7. Allowing Brosmer to gain that early momentum in the passing attack will be big on Saturday as the Gophers face a Nevada pass defense that has struggled thus far in their first three games.
Slowing down the Nevada rushing game
For Nevada to have a chance at an upset on Saturday, the Wolfpack will need to shorten the game. The best way of doing that is to have a successful rushing attack. So far this season, that has not been an issue for Nevada as they've averaged 196.3 rushing yards per game and nearly 5.0 yards per carry. On Saturday, the Gophers will have to be strong in their tackling and limit the missed tackles, which can be difficult when facing a running back like Savion Red who has already broken 13 tackles this season. If the Gophers allow the Wolfpack to have any continuous success on the ground Saturday, it could quickly become an uncomfortable matchup.
PREDICTION
This Nevada team is certainly better than expected heading into this season, that being said, the Wolfpack are still very much a work in progress, especially defensively.
On the home side, the Gophers gained a lot of positive momentum and confidence with their week two win over Rhode Island and will look to carry that over into this week's matchup against the Wolfpack.
Ultimately, while the Wolfpack offense may find some success throughout the game, it seems unlikely that they'll be able to consistently slow down the Gophers offense.
]The Minnesota passing attack last weekend against Rhode Island certainly found its footing with the Gophers throwing for over 300 yards and now will face a Wolfpack secondary that is allowing over 250 passing yards per game. Of course, we can't forget about Darius Taylor either who now in his second game back from injury, could be poised for a big game on Saturday.
PICK: Minnesota 38 - Nevada 17 (Minnesota -21)
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