The Minnesota Gophers will look to improve to 2-0 on the season on Saturday afternoon went they take on FCS opponent, Western Illinois. The Gophers are coming off a 38-0 win over New Mexico State a week ago and looking for another game of complete domination on Saturday against the Leathernecks.

Here's what you need to know about Western Illinois entering Saturday.

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Western Illinois started their season off in a tough manner following to Tennessee-Martin 42-25. It was not the start to the season that the Learhernecks were hoping for after going 2-9 a season ago.

Offensively, Western Illinois presents a balanced offense and did so last week against UT-Martin. In their 42-25 loss, the Learherneck ran the ball 17 times for 137 yard while throwing the ball 38 times for 285 yards. Against the Gophers, they’ll likely try to establish a run game early but will become increasingly pass happy as the game progresses.

It will be intriguing to see who Western Illinois plays at quarterback. Last week both Nick Davenport and Henry Oglala saw significant snaps under center. Davenport struggle in connecting with his receivers, completing just 9-of-19 passing attempts. He did, however, pass for 180-yards and three touchdowns on those nine completions Oglala, on the other hand, completed 12-of-19 attempts for 105-yards and a score. Oglala, was definitely the more efficient quarterback but Davenport showed the ability to move the Leathernecks offense as well.

Davenport also is a dynamic runner which could play intk his favor. He rushed for 62 yards last week on eight attempts and was by far the Leathernecks best weapon on the ground. Their two main running backs were woefully inefficient totaling just 36 yards on 13 attempts, a matchup that plays well into the favor of the Gophers front seven.

Wide receiver Nasei Brantley is the name to really know on their offense when it comes to weapons around the quarterback. He had a spectacular game against UT-Martin with six receptions for 171 yards and three touchdowns. Don’t be surprised if he makes a big play or two over the course of the game on Saturday.

Overall, the Western Illinois offense over the course of the season should be fine. But for Saturday afternoon’s matchup, the Learhernecks will struggle against a Minnesota defense that has the edge in every aspect. They may have some better success as the game goes on but until they stay facing second and third stringers for the Gophers, it will be a long afternoon for Western Illinois.

Like the Gophers defense against Western Illinois’s offense, the offense should have no trouble on Saturday. This Leathernecks defense is vulnerable in every facet of the game. After allowing 38 points and over 450 yards per game a season ago, they showed little improvement in week one.

Tennessee-Martin was able to move the ball at will last week totaling nearly 600-yards of total offense. The Leathernecks front seven had no answer for the run game, allowing six yards per carry and over 260 rushing yards total. The secondary didn’t matchup much better, allowing 22-of-39 passing attempts to be completed for 317-yards.

Even if the Gophers decide to be quite vanilla in their play calling they should be able to have a great amount of success in this one. The size and physicality difference in the trenches will give the Gophers an overwhelming advantage on the ground while the size and speed of Minnesota’s wide receiver room will create issues throughout the afternoon for Western Illinois.

This is the type of game that if you're Minnesota, your focus should be on getting the staters some good reps in the first half before focusing on development in the second half. Not many of these opportunities present themselves each season and giving young guys that much-needed experience even if it's against an FCS opponent could go a long way in the future. The Gophers' starters should have no issues in this one, it should be complete domination on their end. Expect Minnesota to be four or five scores at half time before turning it over to the backups at some point in the third quarter.

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