The Minnesota Golden Gophers will open up Big Ten conference play this Saturday when they face the undefeated Northwestern Wildcats at Ryan Field. Northwestern is one of the biggest surprises so far this season, beating respectable programs in Stanford and Duke with a redshirt freshman quarterback and an intimidating defense.
Defense on the Rise
After four games, Northwestern is ranked third nationally in scoring defense, allowing an average of just 8.8 points per game to opponents thus far. They have also given up an average of 137.8 passing yards per game, which currently ranks tenth nationally.