Ohhh the drama! Both of these teams experienced high levels of dramatics last weekend, as the Minnesota Golden Gophers needed a touchdown in the waning seconds to upend fiesty Northern Illinois in the season opener at home. Bowling Green shocked previously ranked Pittsburgh 27-17 in what many dubbed one of the better games of the opening week of college football. So, can they create more drama this week? If last year’s game was any indication, the answer is YES!

Last year, when these two teams squared off, Minnesota fell behind by 3 TDs but stormed back and the Falcons edged the Gophers 32-31 in a heartbreaker for coach Tim Brewster and for Gopher fans alike. This year, after both teams are 1-0 and brimming with confidence, Minnesota will try to return the favor as they travel to Ohio for this good non-conference match up.

Minnesota had good numbers offensively last week as they almost reached 450 yards total, with do-everything QB Adam Weber throwing for just short of 300 yards, along with the coming out party of one Eric Decker, who garnered 10 catches for 86 yards. Duane Bennett had a great game overall (117 all purpose yards and 2 TDs) and was the catalyst that won the game for the Gophers, so it’s apparent that there are many different weapons that Minnesota can use if needed. The defense was porous, though, allowing 326 yards passing and almost 400 yards total.

The question is–if a team like NIU was able to get almost 400 yards on the Gophers–what is a team like Bowling Green going to do? The Falcons didn’t put up a ton of yards on Pittsburgh (a little over 250 yards total), but they were efficient, and going into enemy territory who is known for their defense and still putting up 27 on them–well, that’s impressive. The defense for Bowling Green totally outshined the Panthers, creating 4 turnovers in a bend-but-don’t break defense that, while giving up almost 400 yards and shutting them out in the second half.

Minnesota is definitely better than last year, and while they were able to win the game against Northern in the season opener, traveling to Bowling Green where the the Falcons are riding an extreme high and very much deserved to win–because they are a very good team–is too much to ask at this point. The line is currently at 5.5 in favor of BGU, but I think that it’s off by a bit. My final tally: Bowling Green 38, Minnesota 24.