Minnesota vs New Mexico State game preview, prediction, and breakdown for the Week 1 game on Thursday, September 1
Minnesota vs New Mexico State prediction, game preview, how to watch. Week 1, Thursday, September 1
Minnesota vs New Mexico State How To Watch
Date: Thursday, September 1
Game Time: 9:00 ET
Venue: Huntington Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN
How To Watch: BTN
Record: Minnesota (0-0), New Mexico State (0-1)
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Minnesota vs New Mexico State Game Preview
Why New Mexico State Will Win
The Aggies already have a warm-up game under their belt.
They weren’t bad in the 23-12 loss to Nevada – the defense did a nice job of holding up, was solid against the Wolf Pack passing game – there wasn’t anything happening deep – and was in it until late.
Former Gopher head coach Jerry Kill is facing his old program, and his team will try to replace the same style with a tough running game that controls the clock. That didn’t work against Nevada, but that’s still the goal.
Minnesota has no problem grinding games down a bit, and that might fit into New Mexico State’s plan to make this a battle.
Minnesota’s defense didn’t come up with enough plays in the backfield last season, but …
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Why Minnesota Will Win
The Gophers should be a rock against the run.
A few transfers are helping out the established starters, and it should all work against a New Mexico State offense that’s going to try pounding away, but will struggle to get too much going. The Aggies managed just 3.4 yards per carry against Nevada, and they’re not going to have the passing attack to open it up deep.
The focus will be on the other side and the return of RB Mohamad Ibrahim from a torn Achilles tendon. He and Trey Potts should be able to rumble at will as the revamped offensive line gets time to jell.
New Mexico State’s front three should be better, but it has a long way to go after allowing close to 200 rushing yards per game. It gave up 170 yards to the 1-2 punt of Toa Tau and Devonte Lee, and now it’s about to get hit a whole lot harder.
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What’s Going To Happen
Will Minnesota show up?
It almost always wins the layup non-conference games under PJ Fleck – the gack against Bowling Green last season was the exception – but it has a weird way of needing to work WAY too hard in games that should be easy.
It struggled against Miami University last year, had to push to get by South Dakota State, Fresno State, and Georgia Southern in 2019, and …
It beat New Mexico State 48-10 in 2018. There won’t be a problem here with the balanced offense taking over after two drives.
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Minnesota vs New Mexico State Prediction, Line
Minnesota 44, New Mexico State 10
Line: Minnesota -36.5, o/u: 53.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 1.5
Minnesota vs New Mexico State Must See Rating: 2
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