Opponent View: Minnesota

GoldandBlack.com caught up with Sean Williams of TheGopherReport.com--Rivals.com's Minnesota site--to break down the 1-2 Golden Gophers in advance of Purdue's trip to the Twin Cities for a Friday night 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff.

GoldandBlack.com: Give Purdue fans a sense of what they can expect to see from Minnesota offensively.

Williams: Offensively, you’re probably going to see a lot oof Rashod Bateman and a lot of Mohamed Ibrahim. Ibrahim is having a phenomenal season, so far. He's got (Big Ten-high) 715 yards rushing already with 10 touchdowns. He had back-to-back 200-yard, four-touchdown games against Maryland and Illinois. He was able to scrape together over 100 against Iowa. That's kind of been the offense, so far. Minnesota has really done well running the ball (No. 2 in Big Ten, 215.3 ypg). That's kind of their bread-and-butter, so far, and Ibrahim is kind of the guy there. They've got some backups like Cam Wiley, who's got some spot carries here and there. Trey Potts, who's kind of a versatile guy like Ibrahim, too, is a really a good rusher and can catch the ball in the backfield, as well.

GoldandBlack.com: Talk a little bit about Tanner Morgan at quarterback.

Williams: Morgan's been OK, but he is definitely not having the season he had last year. He has really struggled with his accuracy (58 percent). He seems like he’s been kind of keying in a little bit on Bateman too much. Also, the offensive line isn't as good. They are run blocking, but they have struggled mightily in pass protection. So, it seems like it's kind of a combination of those two things. I mean, in terms of pass protection, Minnesota is kind of getting pushed around a little bit in that regard. And Morgan seems to be keying in on Bateman a lot. When that read is not there, Morgan freezes a little bit and holds the ball a little bit too long and he's got sacked a few times. There’s been some times where he's thrown the ball downfield. He's kind of under thrown some balls, got some interceptions that really happened against Iowa and earlier this year, too. So, it's been a little bit of a struggle for Morgan, so far, in the passing game overall. Bateman’s done a good job. I mean, he's obviously getting yardage, he's doing the things that he's expected to do. We're still kind of looking to see that No. 2 guy. Chris Autman-Bell is another wide receiver that's really waiting to step up and be a little bit more consistent. He flashed really good against Maryland, but they haven't really thrown the ball to him a whole lot, either. So, that kind of goes back to maybe Morgan focusing in a little too much on Bateman so far this season.

GoldandBlack.com: What can Purdue fans be looking for from that Minnesota defense on Friday night?

Williams: Purdue is probably going to get some yardage on this defense. It's been a real struggle for Minnesota so far this year, and they've lost obviously seven starters from a year ago. It’s really more of a thing with depth behind those starters right now. There’s a lot of inexperience in the depth, especially the d-line. They struggle a lot at linebacker, but any team can run against this Minnesota defense, really (No. 14 rush defense, 238.3 ypg). The defensive line has trouble setting the edge, the linebackers have missed a lot of gap assignments. They've taken some bad angles on open-field tackles and it's led to a lot of big chunk yardage. So, Minnesota’s defense is probably the worst still in the in the Big Ten (No. 12 overall, 447.3 ypg). So, they've really struggled a lot in that area. The secondary has been decent, especially their cornerbacks. Benjamin St-Juste is out. He has some COVID issues that have come up with him. I think he's tested positive. So, he missed the Iowa game. He’s expected to be out for Purdue. And, obviously, he's got to do the 21- day quarantine. So, you got Coney Durr on the other side, but then you’ve got Phillip Howard, who started out as a wide receiver and now he’s a cornerback. He’s in that that other cornerback spot, replacing St-Juste.

GoldandBlack.com: Tell us how you think this game is going to unfold.

Williams: I think Purdue will be able to move the ball at will against Minnesota. I think Purdue is going to score a lot of points. The question is, will Minnesota be able to score with them? Minnesota’s offense is pretty good, but obviously they ran into some issues against Iowa (35-7 home loss last Friday). The biggest thing is penalties kind of crept up and got them against Iowa (8 for 85 yards). I can't trust the Minnesota defense right now. So. I see this going Purdue’s way. It could be a final score of Purdue 38, Minnesota, 28.

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