Back Bowling Green To Stop Minnesota's Third-Stringer

Bowling Green vs. Minnesota, 2:00 ET

This weekend was one of the best sports weekends we've had in a while. I didn't do great in terms of sports betting, but it was an enjoyable weekend with the sports available. We had college football on Friday and Saturday. Then we had the NFL on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. The NBA always is big on Christmas, and the NHL also kept us with some games this weekend. The NBA goes again today, but the big games are on the gridiron once again as Bowling Green takes on Minnesota in the Quick Lane Bowl.

Bowling Green is just 7-5 on the season and finished third in the MAC. They started their season with a loss against Liberty and then beat an easy Eastern Illinois team. After that they had to face Michigan and were throttled 31-6, which isn't quite terrible, but they followed it up with a 38-7 loss against an Ohio team that is not nearly as good as Michigan. They beat Georgia Tech with a solid rushing attack and then lost to Miami of Ohio. That put their record at 2-4 for the year and then they were able to get four straight wins over MAC opponents with only one of those games being a one-score victory. They lost to Toledo by just one point but finished the year with a victory over Western Michigan. Now they need to take on a Minnesota team that is probably not better than their record suggests. Bowling Green's defense is their key to victory here. They are a rather stingy team and have been very good against the pass. Who starts at quarterback in this game? Minnestota's third-string quarterback. That means they are probably going to see a lot of ground attacks, something they are used to this season. I think it will be hard for Minnesota to score consistently on Bowling Green.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - OCTOBER 28: Head coach P. J. Fleck of the Minnesota Golden Gophers takes the field before the game against the Michigan State Spartans at Huntington Bank Stadium on October 28, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Speaking of Minnesota, they are just 5-7 on the season. Before November started, they were 5-3 and putting together a nice campaign. Since that point, they ended up dropping games against Illinois, Purdue, Ohio State, and Wisconsin. Only one of those games was a one-score contest and the rest saw them pretty easily embarrassed. Now they start this game with a quarterback with exactly one pass attempt this season. That pass came against North Carolina, and it was intercepted. The schedule that Minnesota faced was harder than that of Bowling Green. However, without their typical player under center, does any of the learning experience of who they played matter? They can run the ball fairly well, but Bowling Green will have to expect it in this game. The question comes down to if Bowling Green can score against them. Minnesota allows roughly 27 points per game, but, again, that is against much better opponents than Bowling Green.

Both of these offenses are going to take their time figuring out their opponent, but I think if one team is more likely to break than the other it will be Minnesota. I expect Bowling Green to dare Minnesota quarterback Cole Kramer to throw on them and just load the box. This could be a game where field position is the biggest key to winning and I think Bowling Green will have more opportunities to control that than Minnesota will. I'll take Bowling Green +3 and sprinkle the +130 moneyline.

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