Minnesota’s Oct. 24 trip to Purdue has all the ingredients of the kind of game good teams hate to see on the schedule.
The Golden Gophers are expected to be the stronger side when they walk into Ross-Ade Stadium, but CBS Sports college football analyst Brad Crawford pointed to the matchup as Minnesota’s trap game because of what surrounds it. The timing is the issue as much as the opponent.
Purdue is still trying to climb out of the Big Ten basement under Barry Odom, who did not win a conference game in his first season. That record looks ugly on paper, but it also leaves the Boilermakers in a spot where they can circle a game like this and treat it as one of their best chances to spring an upset.
“The Boilermakers were winless in Big Ten play during Barry Odom,” Crawford wrote. “That may not bode well for the Golden Gophers, who will arrive at Ross-Ade.”
Minnesota’s path into this one could make things tricky. The Gophers face Washington and Michigan in back-to-back weeks before the Purdue game, and both matchups figure to be physical. Crawford noted that those games could leave Minnesota worn down by the time it gets to West Lafayette.
“The Gophers could be banged up after consecutive matchups against Washington and Michigan,” Crawford added.
There’s also the matter of how Minnesota has fared in this series on the road. P.J. Fleck has had success against Purdue overall, but the road results have been far less comfortable.
“P.J. Fleck is 5-3 against Purdue at Minnesota, but every road game in the series has either ended in a loss or been decided by a touchdown,” Crawford wrote.
That’s the danger here. Purdue’s season-long struggles don’t automatically make this an easy win, especially if Minnesota arrives flat or a little beat up. A home underdog with nothing to lose can make a Saturday ugly fast.
For Fleck, the message is simple: treat Purdue like a serious assignment, not a breather between bigger names. Minnesota’s formula depends on discipline, controlling the line of scrimmage and winning the field-position battle. If those details slip, the Gophers could find themselves in a fight they never wanted.
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