The Minnesota Golden Gophers and Rutgers Scarlet Knights meet Saturday in week 9 Big Ten college football action from TCF Bank Stadium. Rutgers is coming off a matchup versus Indiana. In that game, the Knights won by a touchdown. As for Minnesota, they played Penn State over the weekend. The Gophers ended up falling in a blowout in that one.

Rutgers opened up the season with a three-game win streak, taking out Boston College, Wagner and Temple in succession. The Knights hit the skids after that trio, falling to Iowa 27-10, Ohio State 49-10 and Nebraska 14-13 over the next three games.

In the Indiana game last weekend, Rutgers was down 14-0 early. The Knights managed to score in each of the final three quarters during a 24-17 win. QB Noah Vedral put up 113 yards and a score, while Samuel Brown rushed 28 times for 101 yards and a TD.

Over on the Minnesota side, they opened the season with a win streak as well. The Gophers took out New Mexico State, Western Illinois, Colorado and Michigan State before falling to Purdue. Minnesota took another loss to Illinois 26-14 in game six.

Matched up against Penn State, the Gophers were down 17-10 by the break. Minnesota didn’t get any closer than that, eventually falling 45-17. QB Athan Kaliakmnis managed 175 yards, one TD and one pick. Mohamed Ibrahim rushed 30 times for 102 yards and a TD.

PICK: I’m probably staying with Rutgers but not going near this one. The Knights posted a tepid 113 pass yards with 4.1 yards per play in their win over Indiana. That said, Rutgers did a good job at taking care of the ball and ended up with 38:53 in time of possession. That discipline will serve the team well in this matchup.

As for Minnesota, they were simply outplayed by a better team in their last game. The Gophers were pretty inept on offense as well, notching just 2-of-13 on third-down tries and 16 first downs total. They’ll probably look better here, but I don’t think the Gophers will cover.