I watched the 2nd quarter of the Gopher game today on the treadmill. The ESPN Classic crew gave some credit to Tiller and Purdue for introducing the spread offense to the Big 10, but Minnesota is a fairly young team if memory serves (you can fill us in on that if you choose.) Sure can’t go wrong with 7-1 with the only L being to Ohio State. :)
I remember a few weeks ago I went to the sports bar/restaurant nearby where Ohio St fans gather to watch the game. Some one asks for my prediction on the game (as I signed up for the e-mail list) and I said OSU 31-17. They looked at me like I was crazy since Minn was winless last year. I told them I thought Minn was a better team this year. I got the final score pretty close.
They've got a halfway decent shot at 11-1. They get Northwestern (who lost to Indiana, whom the Gophers beat) at home, and they'll probably be rated about even with Michigan (home), Wisconsin (away), and Iowa (home).