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After two games on the road, the Minnesota Golden Gophers are heading back home. Minnesota and the Wisconsin Badgers will face off in a Big Ten battle at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium. The point spread is more or less neutral, so fans should expect a close contest.
Minnesota ran circles around the Northwestern Wildcats last week, and the extra yardage (415 yards vs. 185 yards) paid off. The Golden Gophers strolled past Northwestern with points to spare, taking the matchup 38-22.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin was no stranger to outgunning their opponent yards-wise, either, with 598 yards compared to the Purdue Boilermakers' 366. Everything went Wisconsin's way against Purdue as they made off with a 45-24 victory. No one put up better numbers for the Badgers than RB Jonathan Taylor, who really brought his A game. He rushed for 222 yards and one TD on 28 carries. One of the most memorable plays of the game was Taylor's 51-yard touchdown rush in the first quarter.
Their wins bumped the Golden Gophers to 9-1 and the Badgers to 9-2. A couple defensive numbers to keep in mind before kickoff: The Golden Gophers enter the game with only 176.3 passing yards allowed per game on average, good for ninth best in the nation. As for Wisconsin, they rank fourth in the league when it comes to sacks, with 39 on the season. We'll find out if either of these strengths ends up making the difference in the contest.
