Indiana vs. Minnesota
College Basketball Pick: Minnesota +6.5 -110 odd (February 26th 2013)
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Yes, I realize Minnesota opening with 15 wins in its first 16 games is a distant memory. The Gophers have lost eight of their past 11. Their bad stretch began with an 88-81 road loss to Indiana on Jan. 26. The Gophers nearly came back from a 23-point deficit in that matchup.

The Gophers have gotten blown out in their last two games, losing on the road to Ohio State and Iowa. The Gophers have turned the ball over a combined 41 times in those two games while shooting just 32.6 percent from the field.

But Minnesota is much better at home, has played a difficult schedule (17th in the Ratings Percentage Index rankings) and this is a circle-the-wagons, let-everything-hang game. The Gophers know they need a good showing to regain their confidence and get back off the mat not to mention keep them firmly on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament. A blowout home loss would look bad.

The Gophers have baeaten Michigan State and Wisconsin at Williams Arena during the past three weeks. The Spartans are ranked ninth and Wisconsin is 17th, respectively, in the latest The Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Indiana is No. 1. The Hoosiers are in a bit of if not a letdown spot at least a situation where their motivation doesn’t figure to be as high as Minnesota’s. The Hoosiers won a hard-fought 72-68 road battle at Michigan State in their last game to give them a two-game lead in the loss column over the Spartans for the Big Ten Conference crown.

On the injury front, senior forward Rodney Williams, the Gophers’ second-leading rebounder and third-leading scorer, has recovered from his shoulder soreness and will start. Indiana guard Victor Oladipo, who is second in scoring for the Hoosiers, isn’t 100 percent due to a sprained ankle. Don’t miss out on more free college basketball picks daily at Touthouse.com, Accuwager.com and Handicapperspicks.com

This is the Big Ten. Desperate home teams protect their turf. The Gophers are in that spot. They’ve beaten Top 20 teams at home and they can hang in here against the best.

College Football Picks: September 29th 2012
Minnesota vs. Iowa
Prediction: Minnesota +7.5
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Not only do I think Minnesota will cover the spread here, but I think the Golden Gophers have an excellent shot of winning this game outright.

Iowa’s only real convincing win this season is a 27-16 win over Northern Iowa, who is a member of the FCS! Even that game wasn’t in the bag until the final minutes. The Hawkeyes needed a last minute touchdown to escape their opener with a 18-17 win over Northern Illinois. They then lost at home to Iowa State 6-9 in a game that they were luckily to even be in. If it wasn’t for four Iowa State turnovers, including two in the redzone, they would have lost that game by 3 scores! If that isn’t enough to convince you that the Hawkeyes shouldn’t be laying a touchdown against any FBS team, they were just upset at home by Central Michigan!

Now you are trying to tell me they are going to beat a Minnesota team by more than a touchdown. I don’t think so. Minnesota has won two straight in the series against a much better Iowa team than the one that will take the field this Saturday.

Minnesota is off to a 4-0 start with impressive wins over Western Michigan and Syracuse. Second year head coach Jerry Kill is quietly turning this program around. They already knocked off both Western Michigan and Syracuse, who would each have their way with this Iowa team.

Central Michigan came into last weeks game against Iowa with one of the worst offenses in the country, yet they were able to march the ball up and down the field against the Iowa defense. Minnesota is averaging over 400 yards of total offense and I simply can’t see Iowa’s defense doing much to keep them off the scoreboard. BET THE GOLDEN GOPHERS!

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College Football Picks: September 22nd 2012
Syracuse vs. Minnesota
Pick: Syracuse +1.5
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I think we are getting some great value on Syracuse at +1.5 on the road against a overrated Minnesota squad. This will be by far the toughest game the Golden Gophers have played this season, as they have got off to a 3-0 start thanks to a soft schedule against the likes of UNLV, New Hampshire and Western Michigan.

The Orange are just 1-2 on the season, but could just as easily be 2-1 (lost in the final seconds to Northwestern). They have clearly played the harder schedule, as they also squared off against then No. 2 USC, a game in which they only lost by 13-points.

Syracuse features an explosive offense led by senior quarterback Ryan Nassib, who has thrown for 1,139 yards and 9 touchdowns on the season. They are averaging just under 33 ppg.

Minnesota’s soft schedule has allowed them to look much better defensively than they really are. There is no way their 19.0 ppg is going to hold up once they start playing better competition. Minnesota’s defense had just six starters back and lost their top two tacklers from 2011.

The Golden Gophers come into this game having had a lot of success running the football. They are currently 32nd in the country averaging just under 210 ypg on the ground, but that soft schedule has allowed them to continue to pound the rock and not test the average arm of quarterback MarQuise Gray, who has attempted just 44 passes in 3 games. Minnesota has never trailed by more than 7 points in any of their first three games.

I think Minnesota will struggle to keep up offensively with Syracuse in this game, and in turn will fall behind early. That will force Gray to throw the ball a lot more than he is comfortable doing, which I believe will lead to turnovers and short fields for the Syracuse offense to operate on. BET SRYACUSE!

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Minnesota vs. Stanford
Pick: Minnesota -1 (March 29th 2012)
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Tuesday, the Golden Gophers defeated Pac-12 regular season champion Washington. Tonight, I have them taking down the team that finished 7th in the Pac-12. Keep in mind that Stanford played Washington this season and was defeated by 13 points. Also, Minnesota defeated USC (the other like opponent) by 15 points. Stanford’s best win over USC this season was a 12-point victory.

Minnesota has been on some kind of a roll since losing 6 in a row in February. It has won 6 of its last 7 SU and has covered the spread in 8 consecutive games. It should be noted that the Gophers played Wisconsin twice, Ohio State, Michigan State and Indiana during the previously mentioned losing streak. This emphasizes the superiority of the Big Ten in comparison with the Pac-12. The Golden Gophers are 4-1-1 ATS in their last 6 vs. the Pac-12.

The Cardinal are 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games following an ATS win, 0-6 ATS after covering the spread in 5 or 6 of their last 7 games over the last 2 seasons and 5-14 ATS when the line is +3 to -3 over the last 3 seasons. We’ll take Minnesota.

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