Minnesota will be without star wide receiver Eric Decker for this game, which is a huge blow to the Gophers offense. They struggled late in the season without him in the line-up, as they don’t have many weapons on offense. The motivational edge in this game is clearly on the side of Iowa State in this game. They haven’t been to a bowl game in several years, so they will be very fired up to play against Minnesota. Meanwhile, the Gophers have been to a few bowls recently, so they won’t be as motivated to play in this game. Iowa State had to deal with injuries throughout the season, including to their starting quarterback, which effected how well the offense could have performed. Therefore, I feel that the Cyclones are slightly undervalued here. Minnesota’s offense has been fairly anemic at times this season, but their defensive statistics have been fairly decent. However, those good statistics came against some very weak offenses in the Big 10 Conference. Iowa State’s poor defensive statistics are slightly misleading because of the potent offenses they have had to face this season. Iowa State will win this game comfortably with their edges in motivation and match-ups.
Evan Altemus 12/31
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