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Posted at 10:45 AM EST

12:00 PM EST. We’ll continue our assault on the Golden Gophers because the market has yet to adjust to its shortcomings. The Gophers started off well at 3-0 under the captainship of incoming Head Coach P.J. Fleck. The Gophers have since gone 1-5 but have a catalogue of losses that look far better than they actually appear. In retrospect some of those results continue to bolster the Gophers’ credentials because the teams that Minnesota earned “quality losses” against are teams that continue to impress down the backstretch. Most notably, Michigan State and Iowa who knocked off the B1G’s two big dogs, Penn State and Ohio State last week. The Golden Gophers lost to these two constituents by a combined margin of 10 points but we already highlighted previously that the scoreboard was not reflective of the manner in which those games were played. A series of junk-time touchdowns by the Gophers and backdoor scores made the final score look better than it actually was.

While the culture change will likely bear fruit for Minnesota in the long-term, this is an outfit that is not equipped to compete in the Big-10. Minnesota's extreme youth will continue to wear down as it navigates the rugged conference season and they’ll take the field here very likely not recovered from the beatdown and bruises that the Wolverines put on them last week.

Nebraska fell at home 31-24 in overtime last week to Northwestern. The Wildcats currently sit at #25 in the College Football Playoff Poll with a 6-3 record on the season. Despite the loss, Nebraska held a lead for most of the second half until the ‘Cats pulled even in the final six minutes. In the week prior, the Cornhuskers pulled off an outright upset at Purdue as a 3½-point pup. That occurred after a brutal back-to-back against Ohio State and Wisconsin in successive weeks. However, this market has not forgave Nebraska from an ugly home loss to Northern Illinois early in the year that included a change of athletic director. It also had third-year coach Mike Riley feeling the heat despite being just a few games into a program reset centered around new defensive coordinator Bob Diaco and transfer quarterback Tanner Lee. Diaco's unit has shown progress despite losing its best player, cornerback Chris Jones, to a knee injury in the summer. The Cornhuskers are losing but Riley has acknowledged issues within the offensive staff and it’s coming together. This bunch has had good chemistry all along, is rediscovering its running game and is becoming more efficient with each game. The popular narrative is that the Mike Riley era is already a failure and that this is a lame-duck staff. Here's a more likely alternative: The ‘Huskers close the season strong, Riley is retained, then in 2018 the Blackshirts really shine in the second year of Diaco's scheme, Lee stars as a senior thanks to Riley's well-documented prowess with second-year quarterback pupils, and Nebraska posts its best season since Frank Solich left town. There are lots of positives here and we're not ready to give up on this outfit just yet, especially as a dog to this bunch. Nebraska likely wins going away so that’s how we’ll play it.

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