The Gophers face a tough road test Saturday night when they travel to Seattle to play the #23 Washington Huskies. The Gophers went 0-5 on the road last season and haven’t won a road game since they beat little brother to the east in Madison in the final game of the 2024 season. To make matters worse, the Huskies are 22-4 in their last 26 games at home, making it a very tough place to play. However, a win in Washington would get the Gophers’ season back on track and help the fans forget about that ugly loss to Mississippi State a few weeks ago. Here are key items I will be looking at in Saturday’s game along with my final score prediction:
Recent Road Games Have Been Ugly
Playing on the road in the Big Ten is hard. Nobody is disputing that. But there’s a difference between losing a difficult road game and looking completely overwhelmed by the moment. Too often, the Gophers have fallen into the second category.
Last season the Gophers got completely dominated on the road by Ohio State, Oregon, and Iowa. They lost to Cal and Northwestern, two opponents that many view as inferior to the Gophers. In all of those games, the Gophers just didn’t quite look like themselves and the defense in particular struggled mightily.
That can’t keep happening.
The Gophers need to be competitive and make it a game on Saturday. Washington is a ranked team but is dealing with a ton of injuries that the Gophers can take advantage of. They can’t have another showing where the game is over by halftime. I want to be up until 1:30am on the edge of my seat seeing how the game ends, not in bed by 11:30pm.
P.J. Fleck Needs to Coach to Win
Too often is recent road games it’s felt like P.J. Fleck has coached not to lose rather than win. He’s coached to make sure the scoreboard doesn’t get too ugly, and worrying too much about time of possession and not making mistakes.
Sometimes I feel like that plays into how the Gophers have a tendency to get completely out matched in previous road games. One team is playing to win, one team is playing not to lose too badly. The players start playing to not make mistakes rather than trying to score points because of how their coach is managing the game.
P.J.- you have the best quarterback this program has seen since Adam Weber. Why not get aggressive and let him air it out? So what if he throws an interception? You supposedly have one of the best defensive lines you’ve had in years facing a depleted Washington offensive line, set them loose and let them run wild.
The Defense Needs to Show Up
More than anything, I want to see some life from this defense. The defensive issues have become increasingly difficult to ignore throughout the Danny Collins era. Missed tackles, poor positioning, explosive plays and drives where the opposing offense seems to move down the field with almost no resistance.
At some point, somebody needs to make a play, and as I alluded to earlier, I’m looking at the defensive line.
Go get a sack on third down. Force a turnover. Blow up a run in the backfield. Get off the field when you have the opportunity.
Anthony Smith is the pre-season Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and only has 0.5 sacks going into this game. The offensive line at Washington is depleted and in-experienced. If there was ever an opportunity for Anthony Smith to have a huge game, this is it. Show everyone why you should be a first round pick in next year’s NFL Draft.
And Danny Collins, we’re still waiting for you to show us that you can put together a feasible game plan in a hostile road environment. Demond Williams is a damn good quarterback who can beat the Gophers with his arm and feet. Show us that you learned something from Kamario Taylor and the Mississippi State debacle. If Washington can move the ball at will against us, it’s going to be over by halftime again.
Prediction
Although I’m worried I’m going to look like an idiot saying this, I do think the Gophers will at least be competitive in this game. Washington’s offense hasn’t quite looked like itself with all of the injuries they’re dealing with and I do believe the Gophers will have an opportunity to attack some of the Huskies weaknesses.
However, I just have a hard time believing in the Gophers until they show me they can play well and win on the road. I do feel optimistic about the Gophers special teams making some important kicks, and I think Drake Lindsey will have another solid game. If the Gophers can run the ball, I think they’ll be able to put up some points against the Huskies.
But the defense worries me like usual, and I do not trust that the Gophers coaching staff can put together a game plan to stop Demond Williams. So for that reason my prediction is Washington 31, Gophers 27.
RTB!!!!!