Know Your Opponent: Minnesota Golden Gophers

Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports Last week was a gut punch in every sense. Illinois played without 14 of its players due to the Big Ten’s COVID-19 protocol, and the Illini lost a fourth quarter heartbreaker to Purdue. Now the they face a desperate 0-2 Minnesota Golden Gophers team coming off of its best season in the modern era.

Similar to Illinois, Minnesota was blown out by a team with superior talent in Week 1. They followed that up by losing in overtime in Week 2 to the Taulia Tagovailoa-led Maryland Terrapins, the same team that lost by 40 points to Northwestern. For the Gophers, the game in College Park was no ordinary loss – the Gophers gave up 675 yards and blew a 17-point fourth…