New Mexico St. @ Minnesota
New Mexico St. +36 -107 over Minnesota

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Posted at 1:15 PM EST and odds are subject to change.

The best price here is at Pinnacle with New Mexico St. +36 -107

Huntington Bank Stadium - Minneapolis, Minnesota

New Mexico St +36 over Minnesota

9:00 PM EST. The Gophers begin their sixth season under coach P.J. Fleck with an opener that normally wouldn't carry much intrigue. That, however, changed when New Mexico State hired coach Jerry Kill, who guided the Gophers from 2011-15 and reiterated comments about his dislike for Fleck, his former assistant at Northern Illinois. Jerry Kill and us have something in common, as we, too, cannot stomach that “Row the Boat” freak, who believes he’s the most important man in the state and tries to get his players to believe it too.  To be sure, Fleck’s antics can be grating at times, stomping up and down the sidelines after routine plays and trademarking “Row The Boat” like some latter-day Red McCombs purple people bleeder.

“I just think sometimes, ego gets carried away,” Kill said during a SiriusXM radio interview. “When he went into Minnesota and treated the people the way he treated my guys and telling ‘em he had to go in and completely change the culture, and it was a bad culture and bad people, you know, he made it sound like we didn’t know what we were doing, and I took it personal.

Like Scott Frost in Nebraska, Fleck has some horrible losses under his belt. Upset losses to Bowling Green and Illinois last year hinged on a combined four interceptions and 10 sacks by the visitors. The fact that the Aggies had five turnovers and still only lost by 11 points to Nevada showed that Kill had his team playing hard.

With sixth-year senior QB Tanner Morgan reunited with offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca, the Gophers are certain to open things up this season and pass more than the 19.8 times per game they did last year. Don't, however, expect Mike Leach's Air Raid on Thursday, nor should we expect Fleck to blow out or overuse some of his key players in the first game of the year. Last year, he lost his top 2 running backs early in the year because he wouldn’t relent. We also know that the media hypes things up more than is warranted and that’s precisely what they’re doing in Minnesota with the Fleck/Kill rival. We’re going to absolutely trust that Kill will have his team ready and that in the case of a potential Gophers’ blowout, Fleck will keep it businesslike. These are inflated points that we’ll gladly scoop up.



Our Pick

New Mexico St. +36 -107 (Risking 2.14 units - To Win: 2.00)