2006 Minnesota Football Picks & Predictions

The 2006 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team wants to keep up the tradition of having made it to 6 bowl games in 7 years, but with our college football predictions we find it tough to see. This may not seem overly impressive in an era in which if you have a winning record and come from a major conference you’re in. However, it wasn’t too long ago when Minnesota football was laughable. I don’t think it will return to that in 2006, but without Laurence Maroney, Minnesota’s formidable running attack may be near non-existent. If Gary Russel is eligible, he could be a decent back, but I’m not sure even Michigan’s Mike Hart could standout running behind the Golden Gophers inexperienced line. I don’t want to sound down on the Gophers, but it’s hard to find positives. The Minnesota defense won’t be able to atone for a rough offensive season. The Gophers gave up 34.1 points per game last season. Only Indiana and Illinois gave up more. The Gophers will try to use speed and quickness to make up for their lack of size on the defensive front. This is just a way of sugar coating the fact that Minnesota’s front 4 will be smaller than every Big 10 opponents’ offensive line. Not even the individual efforts of Steve Davis, who as a freshman recorded 9 tackles for loss and 6 sacks, will be able to keep opponents from moving the ball at will against the Gophers. Remember to look at the matchups each week when doing your college football betting, or at least view our free football picks to let us do the work.

The Gophers are the only Big 10 team to open the season with consecutive road games. They’ll open with a win at Kent State, but in week 2 they’ll fall to the California Golden Bears. The toughest stretch of the season for Minnesota will be from September 23rd to October 14th. During this span they’ll face Purdue, Michigan, Penn State, and Wisconsin and likely won’t win a single game. Having a sub par defense isn’t out of the ordinary for the Gophers, but under Glenn Mason they have always managed to at least move the ball on the ground with high quality backs. This season the Gophers will be lucky to finish 8th in the Big 10 and will likely finish 9th behind the Northwestern Wildcats.

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